Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, and Worlds of Possibility: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8/8/24, 8/22/24
Lightspeed 8/24
Worlds of Possibility 8/24

J.A. Prentice returns to Beneath Ceaseless Skies with August’s “An Isle in a Sea of Ghosts”, which finds Kreisa on a journey to try and save her brother from a spell that changes him into a different animal every day. After two years, she has gone through almost everything she can think of, and her brother has slipped further and further into his beast shapes. All that’s left is a rumor of an Elf King who might be able to release him, and to get there they have to pass a number of dangers. Luckily they find Peredur, another woman on a quest of her own, and together begin to unravel the guilt and grief and love tying them all to past regrets. Prentice balances action and breathtaking worldbuilding with some heavy emotional threads that culminate in a stunning and thoroughly rewarding read. Grace Seybold also returns in August with “At the Stopping Place”, which unfolds mostly in a tavern where a goblin named Jinnie works following the death of her children and her need to spend some time away from her family and the comforts of her goblin home. Among the tall people, she is discriminated against and overlooked, as when she is drawn into a conversation between two ad­venturers when one received a prophecy to have an honest conversation with the lowliest person nearby. For all he doesn’t get what he wants from the talk, though, it does allow Jinnie to grapple with her own grief and needs, and make a deci­sion that maybe she’s ready to leave the tavern – to return home, or to face whatever dire threat to the area the adventurers were failing to deal with. Seybold does excellent character work with Jinnie, showing that even the most seemingly insignificant people have entire lives and stories that most people know nothing about. It’s well worth checking out!

The August Lightspeed features the return of Dominique Dickey with the unsettling and moving “Look at the Moon”, which opens with Lou, who is transmasculine, and his partner Holly joining a group for a bit of stargazing. When the night takes a drastic and terrible turn, though, it takes both Lou and Holly to a grim place mentally and physically, having to figure what to do next and how to live with how that night changed them. The story also explores their lives, the abuse they faced from Holly’s religiously conservative mother and Lou’s unique upbringing, and both of their relation­ships with divinity and faith. And all of it builds to a growing revelation that Lou’s search for the divine might be one he needs to look inward to complete. Dickey confronts readers with some shocking scenes in the story, but the care and the relationship at the heart of it shine even in the story’s darkest moments. It’s a complex and mar­velous read! The issue closes with Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe’s “Child of the River”, in which the narrator is a child of the river, just as his mother is a child of the air and able to transform into beings of the air like birds, among other powers. His father, meanwhile, was a child of fire, a very dangerous gift to have, and part of the reason why he has never been around. He grows up not fully understanding himself or his heritage, afraid of the power he might have and what it might do to him. But it’s not a choice, and when the river starts calling him, he has to find a way to rid himself of his fears and hesitations, or literally drown in his potential. Ajeigbe dives into that struggle and surfaces with a thought-provoking and interesting read!

And I’ll close with a look at August’s Worlds of Possibilities, which features a focus on small comforts, joys, and connections. In Rebecca Zahabi’s “Shooting Stars”, the connection is between different iterations of the same person in a dreamlike space they can meet within. The youngest iteration is trying to shoot stars with her bow, falling far short, while the twenty-year-old iteration is getting much closer, but is still intent on shooting a star that seems impossibly far away. The oldest, the 80-year-old iteration, mostly just naps on a chair, just out of where the other two can interact with her. Zahabi explores aging and ambition, revealing through the different iterations a changing of priorities but also a mystery as well, as time is a mystery to all people, and further out you look, the more confusing and disappointing the future might seem, when weighed against past dreams. It’s a beautiful and mystifying read. Finally, Y.M. Resnik follows an astronaut returning to Earth after a long mission in “Nova’s Epic Re-Entry Bucket List”. Nova has been to Mars and back and stayed sane mostly from her unrecorded conversations with her communications handler, Tasha. Through her father’s death and more, Nova leaned on Tasha to feel less isolated and alone, and now that she’s almost back to Earth, the most frightening thing might be meeting Tasha and finding out that her intense feelings aren’t reciprocated. But then, she might be worrying for nothing, as Tasha offers to be the one to meet with Nova in person when she’s released back to the world. Resnik captures a wonderful chemistry between the characters, as their fears and awkward moments are smoothed over by the ways they care for each other… and by tacos. It’s a wonderfully charming read that mixes romance and humor to great result.

Recommended Stories
“An Isle in a Sea of Ghosts”, J.A. Prentice (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8/24)
“Look at the Moon”, Dominique Dickey (Lightspeed 8/24)
“Nova’s Epic Re-Entry Bucket List”, Y.M. Resnik (Worlds of Possibility 8/24)

This review and more like it in the October 2024 issue of Locus.

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