[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, July 6, 2026
“Promises, Promises” by Cara Masten DiGirolamo
Reviewed by Philip Hutson
The story “Promises, Promises” by Cara Masten DiGirolamo starts in a normal office, giving no clues at first that it’s a fantasy story. The protagonist, Pat, is a social worker waiting in her office for an application developer, Jack, to help her track down a missing client, Ellie. The police have already given up on Ellie and have categorized her as a troubled runaway, as they don’t seem to care about finding her. Pat, knowing Ellie, doesn’t feel that she ran away. In the story, the narrator says, “Pat didn’t believe she’d run from without something compelling to run to.” Pat has decided to find Ellie partly because she feels she is the reason Ellie is gone and partly because she sees too much of herself in Ellie. During her search for the girl, she discovers that Ellie has an app called Promises, Promises. When the app developer arrives, Pat tries to bully him into giving her what she wants, information on Ellie, by threatening, “I’m sure someone would be interested to hear about the connection between your app and her disappearance.” The threat falls flat. Later in the narrative, Pat again states, “Your app is perfectly set up to lure children into danger.” Instead of succumbing to her demands to give her the information, he defends the app.
The story continues as dialogue between Pat and Jack, interspersed with flashbacks to give the reader context. We learn more of Pat and her troubled relationship and more of Ellie, a young girl searching for her place in the world.
The story starts to give hints of its nature shortly after the app developer arrives; the narrator says, “…revealing pink socks. A little fey for the traditional tech bro.” Later, during Jack’s defense of the app, he describes it as granting wishes, making me think of an episode of The Librarians titled “And the Rule of Three.” He quickly clarifies, saying that “the algorithm makes networks out of wishes so that everyone with something to offer can have their wish fulfilled.” With this everyday explanation of the algorithm, the possibility of the app being of magical origin has been removed, but still the seemingly reasonable words Jack uttered add to the growing pile of hints as to the possible nature of the app. As the clues are dropped, the narrator ensures the reader sees them by letting us know that Pat heard them. Being a bit dense, I found the extra hit on the head by the narrator helpful to make sure I was understanding.
The beginning of the story sets the tone and frame of reference for Pat. Within the first paragraph, the narrator tells of the fact that Pat is a lesbian but that she is uncomfortable with herself and her body. Additionally, there is a brief section discussing what drives a person to be trans, and the narrator quotes Pat, “Sometimes all you know is that something’s wrong, and it seems like gender might be playing a role, so you start binding, or try T. And you find relief in that. The relief is how you know,” to describe the process of discovering one is trans. The author does a decent job of discussing the trans issue without preaching either the pro or con side but introduces it for the benefit of the narrative.
Now I am going to wander close to the edge of revealing too much. Close to the end of the story, Jack says, “Me? You know all I do is grant wishes …with my app.” Jack makes one last attempt to hide his nature by the addition of “with my app,” but the story is already concluding, and the last few paragraphs show him in his true form. This is a decent retelling of the old story of Faust in a modern setting. Whereas in the older versions the protagonist is saved by some act of a pure soul, this one, in line with modern tastes, shows the protagonist is lost as well as Ellie. In the end, both of them get their deepest, darkest desire, one they could not bear to face in life.
Philip Hutson’s ramblings and poor attempts at storytelling can be seen at https://tr8t.com