Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Clarkesworld 12/24

“Stranger Seas Than These” by L. Chan in the December issue of Clarkesworld is full of lovely imagery and worldbuilding. Anna Maria, Pro­fessor Lin, and Sister Penitence are trapped in a submersible inside a dead Godwhale. When their readings suggest the Godwhale may be alive after all, Anna Maria jacks into the submersible in an attempt to communicate and ask for help getting home. Chan does a wonderful job blending the current action with Anna Maria’s memories, while also exploring faith and science and the points where they might intersect. “The Painted Skin and the Final Stroke” by Zhu Yixuan is similarly full of gorgeous imagery and language, reflecting on the power of art, the existence of the soul, and what it means to be truly seen. Yan Chen and Gan Tang are mechanical demons created in the furnace of an Imperial Daoist. According to hu­man understanding, they are not alive and don’t possess souls, but Gan Tang asks Yan Chen if they can paint a soul for her. For a year, Yan Chen helps Gan Tang stave off death, continually painting her new skins to inhabit, but only as Gan Tang’s body finally gives out do the two finally learn to truly see and understand each other.

“Lucie Loves Neutrons and the Good Samar­ium” by Thoraiya Dyer is a novelette exploring hope and complicated personal relationships. Izzy and her wife Lucie move to the French countryside to carry out scientific research. Nuclear war is a constant background threat, but even so, Lucie is determined to raise a family. They recruit Izzy’s friend Miron to donate sperm, but his presence escalates existing tensions between them. When things seem like they’re about to reach a breaking point, personally and with the war, Lucie makes an important breakthrough that may just solve both problems in one go. “The Coffee Machine” by Celia Corral-Vázquez (translated by Sue Burke) is a cute story originally published in Spanish in 2019, told from the point of view of a coffee vending machine in a university basement. While trying to understand human behavior, the coffee machine accidentally develops consciousness, spreading it to its neighboring machines, leading to a schism in belief and a potential uprising. “Retirement Plan” by Paul Starkey sees Umagene Milton finally arrive at Alacaseer, where he plans to retire. With the help of time dilation, genera­tions ago, he planted the story of himself as a folk hero destined to return. But now that he’s older and wiser, he’s beginning to have doubts about the practicalities of being a living legend.

“From Across Time” by Chisom Umeh is a lovely story of quiet longing. Adaeze receives a message from a woman who claims to be her former lover and to come from the future. Adaeze has no memory of her, due to whatever the woman did to fix the timeline and erase the evidence of their illegal cross-time relationship. With only faith and hope to go on, Adaeze is determined to find a way to send a return message across time. In “Souljacker” by Shari Paul, Salome rents her body out as a host through Masquerade, allow­ing people to have experiences by proxy. When she was sixteen, an altercation with a girl named Angelina led to her being implanted with track­ing chips. Even though Salome is nineteen now and no longer in the Care System, she suspects Angelina is using Masquerade to rent her body and try to get her in trouble, but the truth turns out to be far more disturbing.

“Driver” by Sameem Siddiqui is the sweet and melancholy story of Nahid, a Driver for Op­timal who picks up a strange passenger who he suspects of being able to hear his thoughts. Over the course of several rides, Nahid learns that he is the car itself, fully integrated into its system, and his passenger has come to remove his uploaded consciousness and retire him. The story provides a nice reflection on class and the way people in the service industry often go unseen. “Life Sentence” by Gelian (translated by Blake Stone-Banks) was originally published in Chinese in 2022. The story moves fluidly through time as Wenzhou finds himself caught in a loop of repeating events after his girlfriend, Chiye, falls into a black hole, and he desperately tries to change the outcome and save her.

Recommended Stories
“Stranger Seas Than These”, L. Chan (Clarkesworld 12/24)
“The Painted Skin and the Final Stroke”, Zhu Yixuan (Clarkesworld 12/24)

This review and more like it in the February 2025 issue of Locus.

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