Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise
“Twenty-Four Hours” by H.H. Pak starts off the June issue of Clarkesworld on a high note. The story is beautiful and heartbreaking as a mother spends a final twenty-four hours with a programmed version of her recently deceased daughter in an effort to gain closure. The story does a wonderful job of portraying grief in its various stages and capturing the feeling of wanting to spend just a little more time with someone, knowing that no amount of time will ever be enough. “Artistic Encounters of a Monumental Nature” by S.B. Divya centers on Nasadiya, a corporate accountant by day and a guerilla artist by night. Her latest stealth art project – tagging the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park with eco-friendly paint – is interrupted when a replica of the Washington Monument mysteriously appears in the park overnight. She and her crew are drawn into the investigation as monuments begin appearing across the world, and the actual monuments they represent are tagged with cryptic messages.
“Himalia” by Carrie Vaughn is a lovely novelette reflecting on friendship, diverging paths in life, and the meaning of home. Jenny returns to the remote station on a moon of Jupiter where she grew up. She left at 17; her best friend, Niri, was supposed to come with her, but at the last minute, changed her mind. Now the station is being decommissioned, and Niri is missing, bringing up complicated emotions for Jenny as she searches for her friend. “Off Track” by Luc Diamant is framed as a series of messages exchanged by a parent and a teacher about a student using her microclimate generator to cause a permanent rainstorm around her to protest her friend being barred from participating in the school’s track event because of his bionic leg. The light tone works well to highlight the serious themes of activism and ableism that the story explores.
“Our Chatbots Said ‘I Love You,’ Shall We Meet?” by Caroline M. Yoachim explores a potential application of AI in the realm of interpersonal relationships. Sandra signs up for “the laziest of dating apps” where chatbots have the initial get-to-know-you conversations by pulling from users’ social media and public data. The idea is to screen for possible matches by extrapolating the conversations that might occur. When Sandra matches with Ethan, she’s left wondering what counts as someone’s “true self,” among other things as she debates whether to go through with meeting in real life. The scenario feels like one that could plausibly occur and nicely dovetails with current speculation about where reliance on AI might lead society.
“The Reflection of Sand” by Tan Gang (translated by Emily Jin) meditates on the nature of place, history, and what is essential about a thing or a person – what can be replaced or moved and how much before what is essential is lost. Centered around the idea of cutting free the Mogao Caves, a world heritage site, from Dunhuang in order to protect and preserve them, but also share them with the rest of the world, the story effectively looks at history, identity, the purpose of art, and more. “Bodies” by Cat McMahan is a chilling story about a trio of workers at a chicken processing plant that specializes in replicated chickens. All three workers are Bodies, clones essentially, and in theory their organs can be harvested by “real” people when needed. The story effectively explores class, power, agency, who gets considered real, and the way people justify things for “the greater good”.
Recommended Stories
“Twenty-Four Hours”, H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld 6/24)
This review and more like it in the August 2024 issue of Locus.
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