Beneath Ceaseless Skies #240, December 7, 2017
“Low bridge! Or the Dark Obstructions” by M. Bennardo (not reviewed)
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
The 240th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies has two original novelettes. One is a fantasy and the other is in a non-reviewed genre.
“The Wind’s Departure” by Stephen Case
Strange forces trap Diogenes in the old wizard’s floating house in this fantasy novelette. The wizard jumped from the floating house years ago to subdue the god that had settled in the Shallows, and now Diogenes has to learn wizardry to carry on the old wizard’s critical role. Sylva is his sole company; but she is but a breath of air after the old wizard’s brother cast her to pieces long ago.
As Diogenes’s power grows he promises to restore Sylva as a human, so she can be free. He searches throughout the floating house for the right spell. But after a fruitless quest, he directs the house to return to the city, in the Shallows, where the old wizard holds the god in a deep sleep. Diogenes asks the old wizard’s help, but this request will need help from the sleeping god.
The plot was interesting, but the prose dragged in several places and didn’t immerse the reader in the fate of the characters.