★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Modern Fantasy) Sonia accepts her ex’s teenage daughter as an apprentice at her witches’ shop, but the girl refuses to see that her fascination with albatwitches is dangerous. (8,033 words; Time: 26m)
"The Albatwitch Chorus," by Stephanie Feldman [bio] (edited by Sheila Williams), appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction issue 09-10|19, published on August 16, 2019 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.491 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: After all her travels, Sonia has come home to run a small witches’ shop. But it’s clear almost at once that she still has feelings for her ex-husband (and vice versa) and maybe, twenty years after they split up, they’re actually ready for each other.
What split them up was Jonas’s desire to have children and her insistence on not having any, so it’s rather ironic that she ends up hosting 16-year-old Gina and bonding with her. Gina’s fascination with the albatwitches and her refusal to believe they’re dangerous drives some of the action, but the most important thing is the way Sonia becomes so attached to Gina that she risks herself to try to rescue her.
Con: It’s mean to end it without us knowing whether Gina (or even Sonia!) is going to be safe or not.
We don’t get to see enough of Jonas to understand why Sonia liked him, nor do we see a good side of Gina to make it clear why Sonia did bond with her.
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Stephanie Feldman Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: After all her travels, Sonia has come home to run a small witches’ shop. But it’s clear almost at once that she still has feelings for her ex-husband (and vice versa) and maybe, twenty years after they split up, they’re actually ready for each other.
What split them up was Jonas’s desire to have children and her insistence on not having any, so it’s rather ironic that she ends up hosting 16-year-old Gina and bonding with her. Gina’s fascination with the albatwitches and her refusal to believe they’re dangerous drives some of the action, but the most important thing is the way Sonia becomes so attached to Gina that she risks herself to try to rescue her.
Con: It’s mean to end it without us knowing whether Gina (or even Sonia!) is going to be safe or not.
We don’t get to see enough of Jonas to understand why Sonia liked him, nor do we see a good side of Gina to make it clear why Sonia did bond with her.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Stephanie Feldman Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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