[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]
Strange Horizons, January 19, 2026
“Fingerprints on Glass and Clay” by Fernanda Coutinho Teixeira
Reviewed by Geoff Houghton
“Fingerprints on Glass and Clay” by Fernanda Coutinho Teixeira is set in an alternative Universe where the laws of physics and biology differ greatly from our reality. Within this universe there is a mansion afloat in the void of space. This is the home of the Lifemaker, a humanoid creature who bioengineers new, often sentient, lifeforms.
The first person narrator is one of the Lifemaker’s creations, a sentient goldfish with human-level intelligence and functional vocal cords. We also meet an itinerant art critic in the form of a sentient whale who regularly visits the mansion to take some of the Lifemaker’s creations to other realms within this alternative universe.
Our goldfish protagonist is eventually permitted to leave the constraints of his aquarium to join the free-living fish that fly through space around the mansion, so it could be argued that, in this specific case, the end justifies the means. However, in general, the life-creation process appears to have little point except for the self-gratification of the Lifemaker. Plainly sentient creations are treated as if they are disposable commodities and it is expressly stated that one such creation has been reworked and rebuilt multiple times in the way that a human artist might work and rework a painting or sculpture.
This unusual piece of extremely speculative fiction certainly creates a Universe very different to our own. The Lifemaker is not overtly evil, but he appears to lack any reasonable moral compass to control his actions. Most specifically, this reader felt uneasy with the basic concept that the Lifemaker creates, alters and even scraps sentient lifeforms with no attention to their wishes and desires. Godlike powers should be paired with equally godlike levels of compassion and prudence or such powers quickly deteriorate into abuse.
Geoff Houghton lives in a leafy village in rural England. He is a retired Healthcare Professional with a love of SF and a jackdaw-like appetite for gibbets of medical, scientific and historical knowledge.