Augur: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise
Augur 7.3 starts off on a high note with A.D. Sui’s “One Becomes Two”, a gorgeous and subtly eerie story. A couple married for 15 years travels to Greenland to study a mysterious sludge causing the local wildlife population to act like a single-cell organism, sharing thoughts and knowledge. The narrator is tired of existing in their spouse’s shadow and feeling their own life and ambitions subsumed. When they share these feelings, their spouse proposes drinking the sludge, saving the marriage by making the two of them one and the same. Sui does a wonderful job of infusing the story with tension and drawing parallels between the couple’s relationship and the animals’ behavior – there is nothing overtly terrible, but a series of small wrongs building into a situation that needs to be escaped. Overall, very nicely done.
“Flesh and Blood” by D.D. Miller is set in a world where travel is limited, everyone has personal assistant AIs in their heads, and copies of people can be uploaded after their deaths. Jhn regularly talks to his deceased father, updating his memories and trying to make him more like his real father, but things begin to unravel when the copy of his father contacts Jhn’s mother, not realizing he’s dead. The story provides an interesting exploration of technology, looking at the question of what virtual copies of the dead would accomplish – would it ease grief or simply prevent people from moving on? “The Water Doesn’t Want You” by Rebecca Bennett is a moody story with a great sense of atmosphere. Jay works at the local ice cream hut, but the sea taints every new flavor their boss creates, embodying the oppressiveness of the town. The story is an effective slice of life, capturing the feeling of being trapped in a small town in a way that is both comforting and smothering, and trying to carve out a space for yourself there.
“Roots That Abide” by Fatima Abdullahi is a sweet and gentle story about Amad, who all his life has heard houses speak to him. Houses allowed him to cope with an abusive father and comforted him after his mother’s death, but he’s been forced to move repeatedly. Amad is facing yet another move, but his friend Yani helps him purchase a place where he can finally put down roots – not just in a house, but a home. “Moth Lake” by Erin MacNair occupies a space between flash fiction and prose poetry, using evocative imagery to look at the lure of dangerous things as people are tempted from their homes by a supernatural creature. “Confessions of a Mech Made of Flesh” by KJ Sabourin is a painful exploration of dysphoria as a trans man struggles to become more truly himself. He builds a mech, wanting to become one with it, but even his mech requires constant work and sacrifice when all he wants is to simply be himself without having to suffer for it.
The issue closes on another high note with “Logoptera” by Diana Dima, a beautifully written and heartbreaking story. Nadia attends Tialko, where everyone speaks in wingless words while her words manifest as insects. A professor offers to help her speak winglessly, but in the library, Nadia finds words like hers pinned to a board, lifeless and mistranslated, showing her what assimilating will cost. Dima does a wonderful job portraying microaggressions and showing a character asked to give up parts of herself to “fit in.” Overall, this is a particularly strong issue of Augur, and the art deserves a shoutout as well. The cover illustration by Lorna Antoniazzi and the illustration by Sean Mikio accompanying “Moth Lake” are especially striking.
Recommended Stories
“One Becomes Two”, A.D. Sui (Augur 7.3)
“Logoptera”, Diana Dima (Augur 7.3)
This review and more like it in the February 2025 issue of Locus.
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