★★★☆☆
(Horror) Dez is abandoning his acting career in mourning for Cherie, his one true love. But there is a technology that can temporarily bring her back—or something like her, anyway. (4,408 words; Time: 14m)
"A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy," by Rebecca Roanhorse [bio] (edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe), appeared in The Mythic Dream (RSR review), published on September 17, 2019 by Saga Press.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.546 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: Dez’s desperate mourning makes perfect sense, and his ability to get brief glimpses of her from things she left behind (like fingernail clippings) is both understandable, clearly unhealthy, and profoundly sad. It’s no surprise at all that he jumps at the chance to experience her official “engrams.”
He certainly pays a heavy price for ignoring the instructions. He’s effectively haunted by a permanent ghost/zombie of his lost love.
Con: It’s hard to be too sympathetic to Dez, since he’s a drug user who keeps compounding his own problems.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Rebecca Roanhorse Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Pro: Dez’s desperate mourning makes perfect sense, and his ability to get brief glimpses of her from things she left behind (like fingernail clippings) is both understandable, clearly unhealthy, and profoundly sad. It’s no surprise at all that he jumps at the chance to experience her official “engrams.”
He certainly pays a heavy price for ignoring the instructions. He’s effectively haunted by a permanent ghost/zombie of his lost love.
Con: It’s hard to be too sympathetic to Dez, since he’s a drug user who keeps compounding his own problems.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Rebecca Roanhorse Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Now online at Apex 126 (Oct 2021): https://apex-magazine.com/a-brief-lesson-in-native-american-astronomy/
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