Beneath Ceaseless Skies #365, September 22, 2022
“Five Aspects of River and Sky” by Adam R. Shannon
“Of the Body” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
The 365th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies has two short stories.
“Five Aspects of River and Sky” by Adam R. Shannon
In this short fantasy, the sky has become hostile to the people living alongside a river. They must limit themselves to one couple per hut. If they have a child, then one of them must soon leave to keep the accepted number at two.
Meanwhile, giant monsters upriver rip out trees to cast them into the river. One day, a young boy climbs onto a floating trunk to drift downriver. After all, his father has shown nothing but scorn for him anyway.
The author’s mysterious story was hard to follow and only started to make sense toward the end. Still, it made the reader think as it portrayed a troubled world.
“Of the Body” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Sali is expecting his first child in this short fantasy. Humanity has settled on a strange planet, and to survive, Sali’s ancestors joined themselves to the planet’s spiritual essence, called the Body. As part of the Body, couples now will their offspring into the wombs of wild creatures. The births come after the human parents find and kill the surrogate mother.
Sali and his wife Osarah go with friends who hunt for the nightstrider carrying their daughter. Nightstriders are one of the deadliest predators on the planet, and the villagers expect the child to be strong.
But the new child is strange instead, and the death of the nightstrider unleashes its offspring to decimate the local grazers that the villagers need for food. Suddenly the ordinarily harsh but supportive world turns against Sali and his friends.
The author’s mysterious story was both unusual and entertaining.
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 debut novel.