Augur: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise
“Telling the Soul of Mars” by Alina Pete starts Augur 7.2 on a strong note. It’s a lovely story that explores the power and limits of language and narrative, and how the traditions of storytelling might change and evolve with space travel. A storyteller born on Mars visits Earth for the first time and struggles with how to express the essence of her home to those who have never been there and have a completely different frame of reference for understanding life. “Dead Operators All the Way Down” by Everett Alistair is a tense and atmospheric story, told effectively through the collective voice as an amalgamation of the dead operators who were sent into the caves on an alien planet to retrieve a dangerous substance, now haunt, stalk, and torment the living operators whose job it is to pick up where they left off.
“The Heart of Time” by Zez Wyatt is beautifully written and moves fluidly in time and through perspectives, exploring the weight of destiny as a prince prophesied to kill the heir of his parents’ great enemy falls in love with him instead, experiencing many possible futures through the Looking Glass technology embedded in his brain. “Cordelia’s List of Things Not to Say/Ask Around Bea on Our Birthday” by F.E. Choe does an excellent job with a list format story, as Cordelia, the youngest of three clones, gains access to a forbidden vault on the ship she shares with her sisters and discovers the painful truth about their purpose in life. The story is poignant, and Choe perfectly captures the feeling of a youngest sibling, observing her older siblings, wanting to be loved and part of a family, but not fully understanding the reason for their behavior toward her.
“Syringa Vulgaris” by Madi Haab is a brief, sweet story presented as a conversation between a life support system and a comatose patient, as the life support system tries to help Vess feel less alone. “On the Engineering of River Harmonics and Associated Tributaries of Grief” by Natasha King explores class and healthcare as Cai Sol is recruited to oversee the tuning of the rivers so that they will play the anthem to honor the Queen. However, his wife recently died, unable to receive a transplant she needed, so he tunes the rivers to play a funeral dirge instead, honoring his wife and sending a message about who has access to care.
Recommended Stories
“Telling the Soul of Mars”, Aline Pete (Augur 7.2)
“Cordelia’s List of Things Not to Ask/Say Around Bea on Our Birthday”, F.E. Choe (Augur 7.2)
This review and more like it in the January 2025 issue of Locus.
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