Clarkesworld: Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise
Zun Yu Tan’s “When There Are Two of You: A Documentary” in the January issue of Clarkesworld is set in a world where people can implant digital clones of themselves in their heads or have them uploaded into artificial bodies. The story is told in alternating sections between a woman with a Sentience in her head, and a digital clone in an artificial body, effectively exploring the concept of self, where creativity and ideas originate, and what/who counts as “real.” “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak is a heartbreaking and beautifully written novelette that explores a version of the problem raised in the classic story “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin. A sentient gestation ship finds 500 of the embryos she’s carrying suddenly unfreezing and developing far ahead of schedule. NEV-476, who thinks of herself as Never Eaten Vegetables, literally tears herself apart trying to care for the children but is ultimately faced with the terrible choice of whether or not to sacrifice the remaining embryos to save the few who were born. The result is a thought-provoking look at impossible choices, what we consider life, and what happens when corporations have more rights than humans and profit becomes the most important factor in decision-making.
“Beyond Everything” by Wang Yanzhong (translated by Stella Jiayue Zhu) evokes a travelogue-style story as an envoy journeys to various alien worlds, learning about vastly different ways of understanding concepts such as life, death, communication, and self, among other things. “Child of the Mountain” by Gunnar De Winter makes use of striking imagery to tell the story of Chime, created by the sisters to guide their resurrection, and permanently trapped in a child’s body. Wanting to choose her own destiny, Chime hatches a plan, ultimately accomplishing a kind of resurrection, but a very different one than the sisters intended.
“The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe” by Tia Tashiro is an excellent novelette with a great voice and wonderfully written characters. Jay accepts a job secretly recording a wealthy young man named Thomas Monroe, in order to use his voice to empty his bank account before she and her partner murder him. However, in the course of befriending him to get the recordings, Jay finds herself genuinely caring for Tom, sharing her own past, learning of his controlling parents, and the two hatch a plan of their own. The story moves fluidly between Jay’s and Tom’s perspectives, and between past and present, from Jay and Tom’s first meeting to Tom’s technologically assisted resurrection post-murder, trying to piece together his scattered memories of what happened to him. The relationship between the two is lovely, and overall, the story is very nicely done. “Autonomy” by Meg Elison is a brief and tense story that looks at the harassment women often face merely for daring to exist in public. Matma’s friend Janine tells her about a sneaky bit of code that helps a women fight back, and she ends up having to deploy it against a would-be attacker when he tries to get into the self-driving car taking her home.
Recommended Stories
“Never Eaten Vegetables”, H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld 1/25)
“The Temporary Murder of Thomas Monroe”, Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld 1/25)
This review and more like it in the March 2025 issue of Locus.
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