Interzone #268 (January-February 2017)

A pretty good issue. The stories range from good to excellent, apart from one story, and some will make you ponder more deeply about the stories after it ends.

• "Everyone Gets A Happy Ending" by Julie C. Day: an urban fantasy tale about the end of the world caused by, of all things, bunnies. Yet, even now, the protagonist cannot help but fall in love with them.

• "The Noise & The Silence" by Christien Gholson: a tale that didn't connect with me about a man living in a city with constant vocal noise who is seeking for Silence.

• "The Transmuted Child" by Michael Reid: a fascinating tale of a monk and a child who go to the world of aliens to ask them for help. The aliens' technology embedded in the child is slowly driving the child to perform murderous acts, and the monk hopes the aliens can help. But her attempts at making the aliens understand the problem seem to fail; unless she makes a sacrifice that they can absorb to gain understanding.

• "Weavers in the Cellar" by Mel Kassel: a fascinating short tale of about spiders weaving garments for ants. But this is no idyllic fantasy, for the spiders are slaves and yearn to be free; but are enslaved for the horrors they did in the past.

• "Freedom of Navigation" by Val Nolan: a tightly written military story about a pilot who is shot down on an enemy asteroid. But his biggest problem is his mentally connected drones who, due to a failed communication uplink, become convinced he is a traitor and proceed to hunt him down. His only hope lies with the enemy and the nature of the uploading process to his only remaining loyal drone.

• "The Rhyme of Grievance" by T.R. Napper: in a future where machines have thrown most of humanity out of jobs, comes the first real AI. One person is determined not to let the AI be considered human and plans to destroy it with the help of an anarchic group. While she and the group mostly succeed, the story reveals that the AI has very long term plans; and the future may not be kind to humanity.