★★★☆☆
(Space Opera; Great Ship) A captain on the Great Ship gives a nameless robot the task of studying the enigmatic wreck of an ancient starship. (8,983 words; Time: 29m)
Showing posts with label Clarkesworld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clarkesworld. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
The Immolation of Kev Magee, by L.X. Beckett
★★★☆☆
(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.
An Important Failure, by Rebecca Campbell
★★★★★ A story of an obsession to make something beautiful in a world that’s falling apart.
(Climate SF) In a world desperate for wood for fires and paper, a man and his brother look for a tree good enough to make a world-class violin. (9,702 words; Time: 32m)
The Plague, by Yan Leisheng
★☆☆☆☆
(Epidemic SF) A plague that turns people to stone is depopulating the planet, and the narrator has the job of incinerating the bodies. Weirdly, some of them scream. (5,692 words; Time: 18m)
Drawing Lines Between the Stars, by Frank Smith
★★☆☆☆
(New Age SF) Bexar's life changes when his ship rescues a young woman whose ship was hit by a passing comet. (6,104 words; Time: 20m)
The Lori, by Fiona Moore
★★★★☆ Worth it just to see a realistic story about AI failure.
(Military SF) After corporal Cooper recovers from the disastrous battle of Kuching, he’s sure the sentient tank he worked with is still there somewhere, so he takes extended leave and goes to hunt for it. (3,623 words; Time: 12m)
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
The House That Leapt into Forever, by Beth Goder
★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(SF Horror) The house and its single occupant sit alone on a moonlet, but the food is almost exhausted, so it’s time to leave, even though the house has a strong feeling that’s a bad idea. (1,126 words; Time: 03m)
The Oddish Gesture of Humans, by Gabriel Calácia
★★★☆☆
(Alien SF) Karier and Hiimar struggle to interpret the behavior of humans reported by a probe that recently visited Earth. (1,893 words; Time: 06m)
Strange Comfort, by Tegan Moore
★★★☆☆
(Horror) All alone, ten kilometers below the surface of Europa, Jens copes with the loss of his partner and the lack of support from his company, and wonders how he’ll get out. (8,203 words; Time: 27m)
Power to Yield, by Bogi Takács
★★☆☆☆
(Psionic Horror) The māwalēni protect the colony of Eren, but to unlock their psychic powers, they have to get implants and endure a torture program run by a self-admitted sadist. (20,135 words; Time: 1h:07m)
Three Stories Conjured from Nothing, by Shakespace
★★☆☆☆
(SF) Three different stories about how big changes came to three very different worlds. (7,404 words; Time: 24m)
One Time, a Reluctant Traveler, by A.T. Greenblatt
★★★☆☆
(Post-Apocalypse) The narrator tries to find the path to the impossible ocean at the top of the mountain to dispose of the ashes of his/her parents, but there are obstacles in the way. (5,798 words; Time: 19m)
Artificial People, by Michael Swanwick
★★★☆☆
(Robot SF Epic) Raphael, a prototype humanoid robot, tells us the story of his life. (4,001 words; Time: 13m)
Monday, June 15, 2020
Own Goal, by Dennard Dayle
★★★☆☆
(Apocalypse) On the eve of a planetary war, Leon works for an ad firm, and he’s working on ads for a city-killing weapon that throws tungsten rods. (3,628 words; Time: 12m)
Optimizing the Path to Enlightenment, by Priya Chand
★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Post-Apocalypse) Reinforced by implants, a Jain society rejects coercion of all kinds, but Anju sometimes finds it stifling, and she and her friends find ways to get away from it. (3,137 words; Time: 10m)
Nine Words for Loneliness in the Language of the Uma'u, by M.L. Clark
★★★★☆ A moving tale from an alien perspective.
(Space Opera; The Partnership) Awenato is the only Uma’u on the space station after terrorists kill the rest of the diplomats from his world, including his lifemate. He wants revenge, but first he has to figure out how to just get by. (20,871 words; Time: 1h:09m)
This is the third story in the Partnership series that I’m aware of, but it involves different characters and a different setting from the other two, so I think there’s no need to read the other stories before this one.
How Long the Shadows Cast, by Kenji Yanagawa
★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(SF Drama) Shun didn’t expect to find love again. He’s still haunted by his girlfriend who died before he went to space, and he’s only staying in Tokyo a few months before he goes back, but then he meets someone special. (11,409 words; Time: 38m)
The Iridescent Lake, by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
★★★☆☆
(SF Thriller) Yunhe works at an ice rink on a planet where the ice has unexplained, miraculous properties and people are constantly trying to steal it. (7,858 words; Time: 26m)
Thursday, May 14, 2020
The Translator, at Low Tide, by Vajra Chandrasekera
★★★☆☆
(Climate SF) In a sad, future Sri Lanka, the narrator watches his/her city die from the effects of sea-level rise and abandonment. (3,981 words; Time: 13m)
The Language Sheath, by Regina Kanyu Wang
★★★☆☆
(SF Drama) A teenager struggles to relate to his mother who’s trying to help build an automatic translation system so he can speak their language more like a native. (8,674 words; Time: 28m)
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