★★★☆☆
(SF Thriller) A young refugee on a floating arctic city struggles to find a role making videos and meets an unexpected mentor. (11,116 words; Time: 37m)
Note: Although the title relates to the short poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” by Robert Service, there’s no serious connection between the story and the poem. But by all means read the poem anyway; it’s short and it’s fun.
"The Immolation of Kev Magee," by L.X. Beckett [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 167, published on August 1, 2020.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.408 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: Breeze is a nice person trying to do the right things in an almost impossible situation. It’s easy to root for them, even as things continue to go wrong.
The conclusion is suitably exciting, although I predicted something like it would happen right about the time Breeze wound up in the hospital.
Con: Breeze doesn’t have a lot of agency in this story. They’re pushed around by events and then by Zero. The world itself is rather hard to believe as well, and the ideas of freezing enough ocean to make a difference and desalinating enough water to fill a river are ridiculous, particularly in the much-poorer future depicted here.
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L.X. Beckett Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: Breeze is a nice person trying to do the right things in an almost impossible situation. It’s easy to root for them, even as things continue to go wrong.
The conclusion is suitably exciting, although I predicted something like it would happen right about the time Breeze wound up in the hospital.
Con: Breeze doesn’t have a lot of agency in this story. They’re pushed around by events and then by Zero. The world itself is rather hard to believe as well, and the ideas of freezing enough ocean to make a difference and desalinating enough water to fill a river are ridiculous, particularly in the much-poorer future depicted here.
Other Reviews: Search Web
L.X. Beckett Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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