★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Near-Future Fantasy Horror) Klein has been fighting the changes the flood waters made to her body, but her new college friends keep pressing her to accept it—even the worst parts of it. (4,624 words; Time: 15m)
"Orphan Tsunami Heathens," by Tiera Greene [bio] (edited by Jane Crowley and Kate Dollarhyde), appeared in Strange Horizons issue 08/13/18, published on August 13, 2018.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: It’s clear that something horrible happened in the past--that Klein has good reasons to resist “feeding”—so there’s a good bit of tension as she gets closer and closer to Arlo. We’re told that different people “feed” in different ways, so it’s a surprise yet not unexpected when Klein’s friends turn out to be just like she is.
The setting resembles Steampunk in that it’s a recognizable variation of our world but with some low-key magic in it. It’s near-future rather than Victorian, and the magic involves water breathing, not sentient automata, but it has some of the same feel. If we see many stories like this one, maybe we can call this “Gillpunk.”
Con: There’s too much time spent trying to explain supernatural events. For example, a tsunami that doesn’t recede is impossible. The underwater scenes have some problems too. One isn’t going to get faint and fall to one’s knees, for example, due to buoyancy.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 08/13/18)
Tiera Greene Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
The setting resembles Steampunk in that it’s a recognizable variation of our world but with some low-key magic in it. It’s near-future rather than Victorian, and the magic involves water breathing, not sentient automata, but it has some of the same feel. If we see many stories like this one, maybe we can call this “Gillpunk.”
Con: There’s too much time spent trying to explain supernatural events. For example, a tsunami that doesn’t recede is impossible. The underwater scenes have some problems too. One isn’t going to get faint and fall to one’s knees, for example, due to buoyancy.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 08/13/18)
Tiera Greene Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
No comments (may contain spoilers):
Post a Comment (comment policy)