Shapers of WorldsEdited
by
Edward Willett
(Shadowpaw Press, March 25, 2025, kindle & tpb, 460 pp.)
“The Rusalka Wakes Up” by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
“The Bones of Heroes” by Chadwick Ginther
“Mad Dog” by Evan Graham
“Bleach” by M. C. A. Hogarth
“The Good Gornak” by James S. Peet
“Magic That Cannot Be Undone” by Jeffrey G. Gardner
“The Grove” by Mallory Kuhn
“Coming of Age” by Edo van Belkom (reprint, not reviewed)
“Never Again the Same” by L. Jagi Lamplighter
“Rumspringa in Sanzheika” by Alex Shvartsma
“The Palmist” by Robin Stevens Payes
“Forest Dark” by P. L. Stuart
“’Twas” by Richard Sparks
“Quid est Veritas?” by Edward Willett
“Grey Scale” by Hayden Trenholm
“Someone to Dream With” by Eli K. P. William
“Pole Dancer” by Brad R. Torgersen
“Cupid 2.0” by Brad C. Anderson
“The Panda’s Dream” by Lawrence M. Schoen
“Red-Eye and Thunderbird” by Alan Smale
“Nowhere Falls” by Kevin Moore (reprint, not reviewed)
“The Crumbling Walls: A Tale of Nahwalla” by Omari Richards
“A Juggler’s Farce” by Natalie Wright
“The Beasts at the End of the World” by Brian Trent
Reviewed by Mina
All of the authors in this anthology were guests on the editor’s podcast, The Worldshapers. Overall it’s a mixed bag, highlighted with some great treats.
In “The Rusalka Wakes Up” by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore, Lada, a Russian siren, tells her story to a man she has bewitched. She remembers being human, reading Pushkin in secret and a mysterious, handsome stranger. She gave into lust, knowing it was not love, and was brutally disappointed. Abandoned by her family for having a child out of wedlock, Lada chose to become a siren. A well-written, bitter tale.
“The Bones of Heroes” by Chadwick Ginther begins with mercenaries hunting a dragon on an island. A sorcerer, Marganne, promises to lead them to the dragon but she is also seeking vengeance for her murdered people. The mercenary, Cutter, persuades the ferryman to let his spirit return to his body after the sorcerer kills him. It’s a brutal tale without a proper ending and ultimately dissatisfying.
The first line in “Mad Dog” by Evan Graham is attention-catching, “AIs are bastards.” The narrator runs an anti-AI and robotics private security force: “when the AIs forget their place, we put them back in it.” They are called to a desert planet to deal with a rogue AI, Erebus. Finding carnage on arrival, they begin to suspect it was not an AI but good old human raiders. Dirty Harry meets SF.
“Bleach” by M. C. A. Hogarth also begins with a bang: “I have killed angels.” The narrator kills angelic beings from another universe and sells their body parts which all have magical properties. Then they meet an angel that calls them The Unjoy, resists and asks them why they kill. They admit to killing because of an inferiority complex. The angel spares their life and there is no escaping mercy. A very good study of those that are driven to destroy beauty because of their own inadequacies. Can bleach wipe your sins away?
Andolth, in “The Good Gornak” by James S. Peet, works for the Imperium in conservation. There is a report of gornaks having been released on a planet, which went “from feral to civilised” in just 10,000 years. The planet sounds a lot like Earth, the gornaks a lot like humans. Once the conservation body has determined the extent of the environmental damage, they devise a plan to deal with the “gornak infestation,” a time-released virus. There is a nice touch of humour in the vector chosen for the virus.
“Magic That Cannot Be Undone” by Jeffrey G. Gardner is very good. It’s a simpler yet deeper tale — no blood and gore, just uncomfortable realisations by a postulant wanting to have their magic unlocked. After several trials: “But then he looked deep within himself, into that black place where he buried all the emotions he didn’t want to feel and the memories he didn’t want to recall, and realised there was only one answer to the question.” Read and find out what the answer was.
A boy goes missing at the beginning of “The Grove” by Mallory Kuhn. His gang, Derek, Curtis, and Allison miss him, even as the town accepts yet another mysterious disappearance in the grove. The three decide to investigate what lies at the heart of the grove. The tale builds up tension nicely the good old-fashioned way but is oddly unsatisfying at the end.
“Never Again the Same” by L. Jagi Lamplighter begins with a little boy arriving to spend the summer with his Japanese great-grandfather. His Papa-san warns him away from reading a life-changing book locked in a temple in the garden. It is a charming tale and like a breath of fresh air after too many tales convinced that SF and fantasy always need an element of horror in them. A nice comment too on how positive discrimination is not always in the best interests of those it is supposed to help.
“Rumspringa in Sanzheika” by Alex Shvartsman flips the idea of Rumspring around: instead of experiencing a world with technology, the protagonists have to spend a week without Augmented Reality. The tale is simple enough on the surface but asks a lot of good questions about technology, addiction, and social interaction. If you never felt alone or afraid, would you ever feel the need to hold hands?
“The Palmist” by Robin Stevens Payes recounts the encounter between Phoebe and Rhea, creating a new life, Asteria. It blends gods, cyborgs, transformation, rebirth and Dalí. I was never a fan of Greek mythology, which is incredibly bloodthirsty, revenge-fuelled and full of sexual violence. I’m still not a fan, even when blended with SF. Still, my very dislike of this tale shows it is true to its roots.
At the beginning of “Forest Dark” by P. L. Stuart, I was uncertain that this tale would go anywhere good, but it surprised me by turning into a tale with a message about tolerance, love, and acceptance. It is uncompromisingly anti-slavery but also examines why it happens and what feeds it. It begins with a good man teaching his daughter about hunting for food, but also about not believing others are less because of the colour of their skin. He alone in the whole village speaks up for the black slave, Ija, and shows her kindness. This will save him and his daughter from slaughter and offer her a choice.
“’Twas” by Richard Sparks commits my number one sin for a short story — it doesn’t have a real ending. It is fun though, so I could almost forgive its transgression. A band of deserters set off to help Esmeralda find her godmother. It asks a very important question, is rhyming enough to make a poem?
“Quid est Veritas?” by Edward Willett is very good. Jonathan Timmins is Truth-immune and has hidden it so well his entire life that he is now Prime of the Central Office of the Instrumentality of Information. He oversees the dissemination of the Daily Truth through the mental implants everyone is literally reprogrammed with. Falling in love gives Jonathan the courage he needs to challenge the system. In the tradition of 1984 and Equilibrium and very satisfying.
“Grey Scale” by Hayden Trenholm is achingly sad yet ultimately hopeful. It begins with a man waking up after thirty-five years of his life have been erased for a crime he cannot remember. The world he wakes up in is crushingly grey. As he learns to live in the present and to envisage a future, colour returns to his life. Even a desert blooms after rain.
In “Someone to Dream With” by Eli K. P. William, the protagonist’s dream life becomes filled with a woman that is more than a dream, who promises him forever but has no name. The dreams begin to take over his life until a man appears in his dream who tells him he can free him from a dream virus. But is all as it seems? A modern take on succubi.
“Pole Dancer” by Brad R. Torgersen gives a nice spin to AI-enhanced reality. Instead of the usual menace of “this is going to take over and ruin your life”, we have an “adult content” programme giving marriage counselling to an overworked and overwhelmed husband and father. A very “real” story.
“Cupid 2.0” by Brad C. Anderson is fun. In an age of artificial general intelligence replacing real human interaction, Cupid finds himself unemployed. Desperate, he gets a job with the dating app, Cupid 2.0. His success at helping people find happily-ever-after disturbs the bottom line of the company, as they rely on returning customers. So Cupid must find another way to beat the system. Warning for arachnophobics: it involves a spider.
“The Panda’s Dream” by Lawrence M. Schoen builds its ideas slowly. It begins with a panda being, who runs a space station, having disturbing dreams. In his dreams, his views on reality are challenged by a child of the dreaded (fur-less) Fants. His views are further challenged by his capybara therapist. It’s as if The Wind in the Willows were set in space.
“Red-Eye and Thunderbird” by Alan Smale starts slowly but then speeds up, gripping the reader to the end. Sukana is a shaman sent into the future to bring back life-saving medicine. She must harness the energy of a plane full of people to sling herself back in time. Things do not go quite as planned.
This tale contains my favourite passage in this anthology: “Trusting souls, so simple to ensorcel; their soft and undisciplined minds almost relished the loss of volition, so used to yielding up control to their games and entertainment. Such a self-absorbed lack of critical thinking was almost a sin in itself… This world’s new rulers were not thinkers. They used only a tiny fraction of their minds. In their victory, they had forgotten everything of value.”
When I started “The Crumbling Walls: A Tale of Nahwalla” by Omari Richards, I did not expect much from a tale whose title suggests it is part of a series and likely not to have a proper ending. I was pleasantly surprised. Abbeba is caught in the middle of an indiscreet affair that could obliterate her clan. A magic book allows her to see three possible futures and Abbeba must decide which path to take. It is fascinating watching a character grow in strength and wisdom when there are no easy choices. A coming-of-age tale.
“A Juggler’s Farce” by Natalie Wright is a tale with a simple moral, but one that is particularly relevant in the current political climate. A court jester with a stutter longs to become a bard. When some magic juggling rings give him the gift of stutter-free speech, he discovers that lies which are clearly fiction spread faster than fire and are harder to shift than a beetroot stain. This being a fairy-tale and not reality, the bard sets about trying to make things right.
“The Beasts at the End of the World” by Brian Trent was an intriguing mix, borrowing from The War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr Moreau. The creatures, who are no longer beasts but not quite human either, have escaped their island to arrive in war-torn London. They are led by five-fingered Burton, once an ape, but determined to keep his friends from returning to their primitive state. Where can they find a new home? The solution is fun.