Wednesday, February 6, 2019

The Magician's Clown, by ML Kejera

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[Strange Horizons]
★★★☆☆ Average

(Modern Fantasy) When winter won’t let go, the town holds a sacred ritual in which a magician and a clown try to summon spring by making the children laugh. (3,181 words; Time: 10m)


"," by (edited by Jane Crowley and Kate Dollarhyde), appeared in issue 02/04/19, published on .

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

Review: 2019.096 (A Word for Authors)

Pro: The story alternates between the present, when the young woman shows up to demand to challenge the clown, accusing the magician of having stolen her ability to laugh, and the past, showing us the performance in which she lost that ability.

Con: It’s not clear what the story is trying to say. It seems the girl lost her ability to laugh because she was too slow to get the joke or else just too hard to please. Now, by screwing up the ritual for the current year, she gets her revenge, but that’s about it.

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