★★★★☆ Inexorably Chilling
(Horror) Zeke and his friends at the half-way house try to use near-death experiments to change the past. (3,785 words; Time: 12m)
"baleen, baleen," by Alexandra Renwick [bio] (edited by Andy Cox), appeared in Interzone issue 274, published on March 15, 2018 by TTA Press.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The dialogue and narration are spot on, and the progression of events has a cold, inevitable logic to it.
First he loses Char-char, then he loses everyone but Char-char, and finally he loses himself. Logically it makes sense that if he makes everyone else’s lives right (so they’re not in the half-way house), then there won’t be anyone up there to pull him up. Likewise, it’s appropriate that Zeke must make a sacrifice to bring his brother back, and there’s only one sacrifice big enough to do it.
Con: It’s not clear why Char-char is the one to drown at the very start of the story.
The very last line, about a “world without Zeke” hits a false note for some reason.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 274)
Alexandra Renwick Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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First he loses Char-char, then he loses everyone but Char-char, and finally he loses himself. Logically it makes sense that if he makes everyone else’s lives right (so they’re not in the half-way house), then there won’t be anyone up there to pull him up. Likewise, it’s appropriate that Zeke must make a sacrifice to bring his brother back, and there’s only one sacrifice big enough to do it.
Con: It’s not clear why Char-char is the one to drown at the very start of the story.
The very last line, about a “world without Zeke” hits a false note for some reason.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 274)
Alexandra Renwick Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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