Lightspeed, Small Wonders and Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Lightspeed 9/24
Small Wonders 9/24
Beneath Ceaseless Skies 9/5/24, 9/19/24

Gabriela Santiago returns to Lightspeed in September with the metatextual “Reconstruct­ing ‘The Goldenrod Conspiracy,’ Edina Room, Saturday 2:30-3:30”, which is framed as a pre­sentation at a fan convention dedicated to the Doctor Who–esque television show Backwards Man. The presentation is on a lost episode that has been remade by fans based on what people could remember and then partially restored when censored parts of the episode were uncov­ered thanks to a global agreement to make previ­ously forbidden media available again. There’s a lot to piece together about the world this story unfolds in – a fractured place where the United States of America were not so united and extreme government censorship was common. And the act of putting those pieces of worldbuilding to­gether mirrors in some ways how the characters are putting together this episode – part memory and part imagination. The result is a striking look at fandom and the messy truth that sometimes it’s an act of censorship that might preserve an otherwise lost text, with everyone involved grappling with the complex reality of their world alongside the equally complex fiction this particular episode reveals. It’s fascinating and well worth spending some time with. In Osahon Ize-Iyamu’s “We the People Excluding I”, the narrator is singled out by the presumptive leader of their people, Fox, who tells them that in order to protect everyone, there needs to be a sacrifice – someone who will disappear, who will run and not stop running, because if Fox finds them, the protection and safety of their people will be put at risk. And the narrator is that sacrifice, running far beyond the borders of their home in order to try and do something to help their family and people. But what they find as they run is that Fox hasn’t been entirely honest, and that nothing can stop the world from being itself, even when it’s dangerous and chaotic. Ize-Iyamu follows the narrator in order to ultimately reject the idea that individual sacrifice or scapegoating can replace collective and more specifically communal care and effort, trusting in the power of people rather than any one person to solve problems and reach for a better and safer world. It’s a great read.

The latest from Small Wonders features Emmie Christie’s poem “Fox-Fires”, which follows the life cycle of these living fires, which hatch in au­tumn and help keep things warm in the winter. There is an energy and wonder to the language that both reveals the magic of these creatures and also grounds them in the real world, their fleeting nature almost fragile in its simplicity and beauty. It’s vividly imagined and rendered and Christie does a fine job in making me want a fox-fire of my very own to make the cold months a bit easier to face. In the issue’s fiction, “Meant to be Shared” by Rachel Gutin introduces Lia, a woman who has recently had her relationship dashed when she and her partner shared an umbrella, a more intimate and magical experience in this setting, where people sharing can read some of the other person’s thoughts. So despite the rain, Lia has no intention of taking an umbrella, either with someone or alone, because lone umbrella users also transmit their thoughts, but to everyone around them. When a man walks by whose transmitted pain hits a bit close to home, though, Lia has to decide whether to leave him to suffer or help, and the story follows what happens next. Gutin balances the novelty of the magical um­brellas with the genuine and heartfelt emotions of the characters, and it adds up to a charming and enjoyable story.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies opened September with an issue focused on people faced with the authoritarian rule of their cities and countries, as in Timothy Mudie’s powerful “From Each One, the Strength-of-All”. It centers Berean, who after a period of unemployment just wants the chance to contribute to the godlike power behind the empire, a living fungus slowly spread­ing across the world. When they meet their new co-worker Stonecroft, however, their loyalties are tested like never before, as the two fall into a passionate relationship and Berean has to face that Stonecroft, from a place newly colonized by the god, isn’t as ardent a believer as Berean (to say the least). The piece looks at complicity and rebellion, pushing Berean to make the ter­rible choice between the empire they’ve been raised to value above all else and the love that is taking hold in their heart. It’s a deep story, and Mudie does a fine job exploring the messy and ragged edges of Berean’s desire and faith. The second issue of the month is themed more around people escaping magical prisons, and in “The Thirteenth Dancer” by Leah Cypess, the person is Raina, who escaped a fae island years ago, and has since made a living being an expert on it, offering advice to people who want to go to the island to bargain. Not that they ever listen to her warnings. When a young man she sends there fails to return, though, her guilt becomes great enough that she takes the ferry back to the home that is no longer her own. Part mystery, part tragedy, the story builds up the world and magic of the island and the terrible costs it often extracts from people who think they can outfox the fae. For Raina, it’s a chance to confront her past and possibly finally be able to chart a path forward free from the hooks the island has in her. It’s a lovely and grim story.

Recommended Stories
“Reconstructing ‘The Goldenrod Conspiracy,’ Edina Room, Saturday 2:30-3:30”, Gabriela Santiago (Lightspeed 9/24)
“From Each One, the Strength-of-All”, Timothy Mudie (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 9/24)

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

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