And Yet, by A.T. Greenblatt

[Uncanny]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Uncanny Horror) When you were eight, the haunted house changed your life. Twenty years later, you’re determined to study it, but it’s determined to change your life again. (4,627 words; Time: 15m)

"And Yet," by A.T. Greenblatt [bio] (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas), appeared in Uncanny Magazine issue 21, published on March 1, 2018.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: Even after twenty years, the narrator is obsessed with guilt over the death of their little brother. They’re sure the house changed reality because they came back to a slightly different reality after that one visit. As a physicist, they’re determined to study it and understand it.

When the narrator finds Avery, they have a choice: stay with Avery, but stuck 20 years in the past. Or bring Avery back with them, knowing that the next venture into the house could leave him stranded and alone in a future alien to him. Either choice implies no actual research on the house.

And we don’t know the final decision; just that the narrator made one.

Con: If these are all different universes, then the narrator is only saving one particular instance of Avery. The little brother they knew and loved is still dead. The narrator ought to realize that; what they’re doing is pointless.

Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 21)
A.T. Greenblatt Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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