Strange Horizons, January 2, 9, & 16, 2023

“The Tongue Remembers What the City Forgets” by R. K. Duncan (1-2/23)

“Missed Connections – Central Square Today Around 930” by Jess Cameron (1-9-/23)

“Has Anyone Actually Had Any Success Saging Their Home?” by T. Takeda Wise (1-16/23)

Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett

There are three newly published stories in Strange Horizon’s January issue.

“The Tongue Remembers What the City Forgets” by R. K. Duncan

Duncan sets his short SF story in the future, where Damo lives in a large cosmopolitan city that is foreign to him. Thirty years ago, Damo fled from his dictatorial homeland called the Commonwealth. Now he feels trapped and unable to return past the wall of clouds surrounding this city.

The one consolation for Damo is a restaurant serving authentic Commonwealth dishes. It allows him to live in the past while dreaming about the future. Then, one day, he sees a Commonwealth ship break through the cloud barrier and approach the dock.

The author dedicated the entire story to world-building as they established the protagonist’s situation, making for a slow read.

“Missed Connections – Central Square Today Around 930” by Jess Cameron

This short fantasy includes a type of time loop. She thinks a witch’s curse has destined her to rewind any relationship she has from now on. It goes like this: she meets someone, and they become friends or lovers. After a while, they split up, returning her to the point in time where they met. Except now there is no chemistry to the chance meeting.

Most of these encounters are short, but then she meets someone special, and they are together for over four years. Like in Groundhog Day, she thinks she has ‘learned her lesson’ and can have this love for the rest of her life. But her girlfriend leaves her for another woman, sending her back to the original meeting. This time, she doesn’t just pass over the chance meeting.

The story was interesting, though it slowed in a few places. Still, it was a pleasant read.

“Has Anyone Actually Had Any Success Saging Their Home?” by T. Takeda Wise

Like many others, she moves to a remote area in this SF tale set in a dismal future. The population has declined, allowing people to spread out and find places where it takes thirty minutes to walk to their nearest neighbor. But that population decline also implies many ghosts that haunt her home. So she searches social media sites for paranormal evidence.

Even using sage around her trailer doesn’t work on the ghosts lingering around her. She quickly falls into more paranoid reactions to every sound as she lives in her old trailer. Her neighbor helps a little, but they are both afraid of others. Then she sees a ghost approaching her trailer; it’s a ghost that looks familiar.

The story painted a grim future for humanity. But the plot fizzled away like a firework that didn’t ignite.

You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com. There are links there to join his mailing list for a weekly newsletter on the recent release of his second novel, The Fifth Kingdom.