Reviews and Comments

A lovely tale of an orc woman who, in the prelude, does one last adventure and, with the treasure she obtained, now goes to lead a totally different life: running a coffee shop in a city that has no idea what coffee is.

With the aid of people she discovers as she sets up shop and runs it, her business grows and expands. But it attracts the wrong kind of attention from a local group of extortionists and from a former acquaintance who also has his eye on her treasure. Against them, she only has the new people she has met and some former members of her adventuring group. When a major crisis happens, she has no choice but to re-evaluate what is important to her and to decide what she wants to do with her life and who she wants to live the life with.

A light, entertaining fantasy and an easy read. I might also consider it as an urban fantasy as some modern trappings, like a coffee making machine, ice, an 'electric' guitar and (later) amplifier makes an appearance, presented as advanced technology or thaumaturgy.

A better than average issue, with interesting stories by Dominica Phetteplace and Carrie Vaughn, with two emotional pieces, one humorous, one saddening, by David Ebenbach and Jana Bianchi.

• "The Officiant" by Dominica Phetteplace: an official is asked to officiate at a wedding on an alien planet. But her requests for more information to perform the task are blocked until she grants them a 'vision'. That, she would not do, until she learns more about the nature of the visions, which she has been getting since childhood, and has affected society on her original planet and may be connected to the wedding of the aliens.

• "Vast and Trunkless Legs of Stone" by Carrie Vaughn: Aliens request a first contact with humans, but only involving one individual. What takes place would be unexpected and involve what would represent humanity to the aliens.

• "Day Ten Thousand" by Isabel J. Kim: various tales about the death of a person who died thousands of years ago, followed by his present day cloning and the repercussions to the cloned person.

• "Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down the Moon" by Angela Liu: starting what a prompt for AI image generator, the story follows the down-and-out life of a girl who paints images for 'orb' that can change a person's character for a living and who also 'services' men at a house. Both converge when a customer requests a special painting that would change her life in a way she would not like.

• "The Moon Rabbi" by David Ebenbach: the entertaining tale of a Rabbi who, emotionally disgusted with the state of the world, goes to the moon, where he is to do the first Passover on the moon. But a special moment with the world he wants to run away from would change him emotionally just before the ceremony.

• ". . . Your Little Light" by Jana Bianchi: an incident on a spaceship leaves only two survivors, a pregnant woman and an alien, who now have to struggle to survive. Things get even more critical when the woman gives birth and life support on the ship starts to fail. In the end, the woman and alien comfort each other in this rather emotional story about facing the end with the baby you love.

• "To Helen" by Bella Han: two women meet to discuss their lives, in a world where people can now 'freeze' their ages but at huge financial and social costs.

• "Mirror View" by Rajeev Prasad: an alien entity arrives at Earth and takes the form of a mirror that can subtlety change the reflections of people. It is looking for a reason for why it is 'wasting' away, but learns more about life from a pregnant girl who takes an interest in the entity.

A better than average issue, with good stories by Fawaz Al-Matrouk, Matthew Hughes, Kiran Kaur Sain, Ferdison Cayetano and Fatima Taqvi.

• "On The Mysterious Events at Rosetta" by Fawaz Al-Matrouk: via a series of letters, a story is told during the time of France's conquest of Egypt, of the discovery of a mysterious Egyptian tomb, and the curse that is unleashed when the tomb was opened.

• "The Dire Delusion" by Matthew Hughes: an investigation into the theft of religious relics, taken from thieves who had stolen them from various temples in the city, leads to the discovery of a plot that might unsettle the city.

• "Amrit" by Kiran Kaur Saini: a story of an elderly man who is reluctantly assigned a robot helper and housekeeper named Amrit. Amrit gradually changes the grumpy mood of the old man, but apparently goes too far when Amrit suggest he reconnects to his estranged son. What happens next would change the character of the old man and Amrit.

• "In Time, All Foxes Grieve Westward" by Lark Morgan Lu: a fantasy story about a magical fox who, with a human, returns to his ancestral land to settle the affairs of her fox mother before she dies. But it is tense, with the mother disagreeing with the son over his modern lifestyle while he has to deal with her hoarding things over the century that he now has to deal with.

• "A Conjure-Horse in San Ouvido" by Ferdison Cayetano: set in the time of the American occupation of the Philippines, it tells the story of a black soldier facing racism and second thoughts as the white soldiers of his company abuse the natives. Then one native reaches out to him, and they find a connection, for they both have magic and use it to bond and connect to deal with the soldiers.

• "Highway Requiem" by T. R. Napper: in a future where truck driving is becoming a dying job due to automation, one of the last truck drivers is struggling to make a delivery and keep his job. Then a crisis on his latest job forces a reevaluation of what is important to him while doing the job.

• "The Lucky Star" by Dr. Bunny McFadden: on Titan, one person in charge of mapping an area balks at the task when it would reveal the secret of a bar. But as it turns out, its secret isn't so secret after all.

• "For the Benefit of Mr. Khite" by Zig Zag Claybourne: an intelligence in charge of an artificial orbiting station ponders the meaning of living.

• "Time And Art" by Barbara Krasnoff: and old lady gets her wish for more time to do what she wants to do; but at a price.

• "I Paint the Light with My Mother’s Bones" by K. J. Aspey: a disturbing, horror story of a girl who wanted to hide away from everybody and gets her wish. But now she wants out.

• "We Are Happy to Serve You" by Margaret Dunlap: workers grumble at the 'smart' food dispenser which serves out what the workers don't really want. Until, one day, the dispenser has had enough.

• "Titan Retreat" by Ria Rees: a woman who used to see the dark skies with her children now wants to get away from it, and goes to the only place where that is possible.

• "Knotty Girl" by Melissa A. Watkins: a variation on the fairy tale about a girl who stays in a high tower and lets down her hair for a magical person to enter. At first, the relationship appears affectionate. But as she grows older and gains knowledge of the outside world via books, she realizes the relationship is not to her advantage. And then, one day, she gets the chance to escape and, perhaps, to regrow the world she knows.

• "A Truth So Loyal and Vicious" by Fatima Taqvi: a story that starts with a mother that gives birth to twins, one fated to be fortunate, the other to be unfortunate. As the story develops, you start to wonder who are really the fortunate and unfortunate ones.

A better than average issue, with a lovely Bot 9 story from Suzanne Palmer, an interesting one about social engineering by Naomi Kritzer and a good story by An Hao.

• "Better Living Through Algorithms" by Naomi Kritzer: a new smartphone app appears, suggesting to people things to do to lead happier lives. But the motives of the people behind the app become suspect and, as with most apps, scammers begin to take it over, its popularity falls. But maybe by then, people have learned to lead happier lives anyway.

• "Through the Roof of the World" by Harry Turtledove: creatures living in a place when there is a bottom and a roof to their world are startled to hear what appears to be a giant creature grinding its way down to them through the roof. Those familiar with speculations of life in other parts of our Solar System may recognize where the story is probably set.

• "To Sail Beyond the Botnet" by Suzanne Palmer: another story involving Bot 9 and Ship, who are still on their journey back to Earth. But now, hostile aliens have taken over their ship, and Ship was forced to eject Bot 9 into space towards another alien ship in hopes of getting help. What Bot 9 finds will test its sense of individuality and group coordination as it puts together a plan to save itself and Ship with the help of the aliens it finds.

• "LOL, Said the Scorpion" by Rich Larson: two people go on holiday, wearing special biological suits that only allow approved compounds through it. But as one wearer discovers, the suits also come with some extreme protection measures.

• "Sensation and Sensibility" by Parker Ragland: two droids enter a human café for a meal and a discussion over what they can sense from the meal and whether it is sensible for droids not to be equipped with all the human senses.

• "The Giants Among Us" by Megan Chee: two intelligent species from a planet are at war with each other. But their researchers work together, exchanging information about how various other species on other planets live with each other. That exchange may save one of the species at the end of the war.

• "Action at a Distance" by An Hao, translated by Andy Dudak: an asteroid with a strange kind of material is found. Equipped with a strange crystal 'transmitted' from the asteroid from a previous mission, one person would learn more of its secrets, after a change in his way of seeing.

• "The Fall" by Jordan Chase-Young: an astronaut on the moon has an encounter with another astronaut from an earlier time; or does she?