[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, May 5th & 12th, 2025

“Everything We Lost in the Apocalypse” by Mar Vincent (May 5th)

“Five Things You Can See” by Nadia Radovich (May 12th)

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Barely over two hundred words long, “Everything We Lost in the Apocalypse” by Mar Vincent consists of one long sentence and one short sentence. The former lists a large number of objects, presumably destroyed in the title disaster. The latter casts a new light on the list.

There is not much to say about a work that has no plot or characters. The intent may be to contrast materialism with concern for people. In any case, this tiny piece might be better appreciated as a prose poem rather than as fiction.

In “Five Things You Can See” by Nadia Radovich, a high school student is visited by her future self when her mother dies. The future self takes the place of her mother. She forces the student to undergo severe physical training, to the point where it seems abusive. Her motive is to prepare the student for an upcoming, unspecified apocalypse.

The story has an unusual structure. As the title implies, the first section contains five parts, numbered backwards. The next section, given a similar subtitle, consists of four parts, also in reverse order. This countdown pattern appears throughout the text. Perhaps this is meant to suggest the feeling of time travel.

Mention is made of time travel paradoxes familiar to readers of science fiction. Despite this, the work is more of a character study than a plot-driven story. The exception is the ending, which adds a peculiar twist that I did not fully understand.

Victoria Silverwolf notes that this review is quite a bit longer than the first story.