Beneath Ceaseless Skies #447, Dec. 11, 2025

“A Good Brother” by Anne Wilkins

“Vanya and the Dog Witch” by Walter J. Wiese

Reviewed by Axylus

This issue includes two tales about the bond between brothers and sisters written in a simplistic style, both of which left me wrestling with the question of whether or not to recommend them. Each was to some degree moving, but in the final analysis, neither one delivered a strong enough setup for its payoff. “A Good Brother” by Anne Wilkins is a touching flash fiction tale in a rather grim otherworldly setting. The narrator is a young male whose beloved sister has a dire disease that slowly turns anyone who contracts it into a poisonous tree. Her feet are transforming into roots, reminiscent of “Unhuman Sacrifice” by Katherine MacLean (1958). At first he takes her to a dark place of quarantine, but she begs him not to leave her there. He then carries her away, and faces a devastating decision. This story would have benefited either from an increased air of the macabre, or from a more in-depth unpacking of the brother’s conflicting feelings as its events progress. Perhaps a stronger emotional tinge to the cautionary words of the parents could also have added intensity to their son’s plight. Common to all three of these suggestions is that they play more firmly and explicitly on emotional notes.

“Vanya and the Dog Witch” by Walter J. Wiese is also a good tale, apparently set in pre-Industrial Russia. In this short story, Vanya is a fourteen-year-old boy, and his stepsister Zila is twelve. Vanya’s father is an angry drunk whose second wife, Zila’s mother (spelled “Yoroslava” twice and “Yoraslava” three times), has recently disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The father beats Vanya and is in the early stages of sexually molesting Zila. They turn to the vidma sobak, the dog witch, and her potions for help. Although the plot itself is straightforward almost to the point of being generic, the memorable magic lore of the dog witch is unquestionably the unique selling point. Somewhat akin to my suggestions for “A Good Brother,” I felt that the stakes could have been emphasized by communicating the emotional state of one or more characters more vividly prior to plot points. However, readers who love dogs will find this story especially touching.