★★★☆☆
(African High Fantasy) Dion’s village makes it’s living selling special blue salts to magicians, and she is one of the best harvesters. But she has prophetic dreams, and lately she’s dreaming of a catastrophe. (2,518 words; Time: 08m)
"If Salt Lose Its Savor," by Christopher Caldwell [bio] (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas), appeared in Uncanny Magazine issue 33, published on March 3, 2020.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.153 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The story does a nice job of setting up the world, where the villagers are prosperous because of the salt they refine, even though the village does other things as well. And Dion’s role as salt gatherer and minor prophet is well developed.
When she interprets her dream as meaning the new salt will make an end of their village, she feels compelled to get rid of it.
Con: But she’s crazy to do this! At a minimum, she should have shared her worries with the people who run the village. Her decision, on her own, to destroy the salt and the drying equipment that everyone else depends on is just criminal, particularly on no better evidence than a dream.
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Christopher Caldwell Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The story does a nice job of setting up the world, where the villagers are prosperous because of the salt they refine, even though the village does other things as well. And Dion’s role as salt gatherer and minor prophet is well developed.
When she interprets her dream as meaning the new salt will make an end of their village, she feels compelled to get rid of it.
Con: But she’s crazy to do this! At a minimum, she should have shared her worries with the people who run the village. Her decision, on her own, to destroy the salt and the drying equipment that everyone else depends on is just criminal, particularly on no better evidence than a dream.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Christopher Caldwell Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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