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djotaku's review against another edition
4.0
With this issue, there were a ton of stories that had killer endings and worlds that I wanted to spend more time in. Strongly recommend!!! See below for a per-story review that may expand on my status updates:
Twisted Knots: A story involving a character who sees the world in geometric terms. It turns out to be a beautiful story about loss and dealing with loss.
Reversion: A story that seems to serve as metaphor for being trans (and maybe larger ideas in the same plane) involving someone who married an Alien as part of a diplomatic mission and ended up with a psychic link with that person, only to have the mission called off. The author does a great job of communicating the inner feelings of our protagonist. An awesome story and I want more in this world!
The Stone Weta: A neat story about a group of scientists working against falsification of data told through clever use of code names relating to various animal and plant species. Love this story even if the reality it conveys is depressing.
In the Blind: A psychological story about a couple of astronauts stranded in space.
A Man out of Fashion (translated): Over time I've read MANY SF Rip Van Winkle stories (and seen many movies), but the setup of this one, with our hapless protagonist was so unique and great to read. The author has put a lot of thought into this new world and seeing our protagonist evolve as he gets used to it is great reading. And what an ending it has!
Fleet: A story set after a huge EMP goes off in South East Asia. Very interesting culture has grown in what seems like just one generation since the EMP. Protagonist is trans, seemingly in a culture that's OK with it. Towards the end we find out the new timeline. And also, a GREAT ENDING. This issue is killing it with great endings.
Venice Drowned: In the aftermath of Global Warming - a piece about how those in Venice have adapted and made a new life. A nice piece. It has modest character growth, but what it's truly about is survival in a world that has been ravaged by nature.
Non-Fiction:
How to invent an Alien Language? A linguist perspective: A great primer on how to avoid various pitfalls when creating new languages for the aliens (or other creatures) in your SFF stories.
Pirate Pharma...Annalee Newitz: About her novel Autonomous and robot rights and economics.
The Subtle art of Promotion: Cat Rambo (SFWA president at least twice) talks about the challenges of promotion nowadays, especially with social media being such a fraught place for many folks. She also suggests some remedies.
Editor's Desk: Clarke answers a bunch of questions from twitter. It's fun and insightful.
Twisted Knots: A story involving a character who sees the world in geometric terms. It turns out to be a beautiful story about loss and dealing with loss.
Reversion: A story that seems to serve as metaphor for being trans (and maybe larger ideas in the same plane) involving someone who married an Alien as part of a diplomatic mission and ended up with a psychic link with that person, only to have the mission called off. The author does a great job of communicating the inner feelings of our protagonist. An awesome story and I want more in this world!
The Stone Weta: A neat story about a group of scientists working against falsification of data told through clever use of code names relating to various animal and plant species. Love this story even if the reality it conveys is depressing.
In the Blind: A psychological story about a couple of astronauts stranded in space.
A Man out of Fashion (translated): Over time I've read MANY SF Rip Van Winkle stories (and seen many movies), but the setup of this one, with our hapless protagonist was so unique and great to read. The author has put a lot of thought into this new world and seeing our protagonist evolve as he gets used to it is great reading. And what an ending it has!
Fleet: A story set after a huge EMP goes off in South East Asia. Very interesting culture has grown in what seems like just one generation since the EMP. Protagonist is trans, seemingly in a culture that's OK with it. Towards the end we find out the new timeline. And also, a GREAT ENDING. This issue is killing it with great endings.
Venice Drowned: In the aftermath of Global Warming - a piece about how those in Venice have adapted and made a new life. A nice piece. It has modest character growth, but what it's truly about is survival in a world that has been ravaged by nature.
Non-Fiction:
How to invent an Alien Language? A linguist perspective: A great primer on how to avoid various pitfalls when creating new languages for the aliens (or other creatures) in your SFF stories.
Pirate Pharma...Annalee Newitz: About her novel Autonomous and robot rights and economics.
The Subtle art of Promotion: Cat Rambo (SFWA president at least twice) talks about the challenges of promotion nowadays, especially with social media being such a fraught place for many folks. She also suggests some remedies.
Editor's Desk: Clarke answers a bunch of questions from twitter. It's fun and insightful.
kayeofswords's review against another edition
5.0
I really liked this issue. Chen Qiufan's "A Man out of Fashion" was the strongest piece in the collection, followed by Octavia Kade's "The Stone Weta" and Nin Harris' "Reversion." Kade's was also a bit personal for me because I was an organizer for one of the (climate) data rescue events in my city.
I found Kim Stanley Robinson's "Venice Drowned" really interesting. I wasn't certain that I liked the story at first. While reading it, I spent a lot of time separating my feelings about the anti-pagan iconoclasm of the Church in antiquity after it made polytheism illegal from the work's actual content — a Catholic Christian disturbed by the repurposing of his sacred iconography for secular show. It's similar to my feelings as a Hellenic polytheist who has to visit museums to see religious agalmata of deities I worship. After unpacking my reaction by talking to a friend, I discovered that I actually liked the story. The descriptive language was good, too.
As a conlanger, I also appreciated the "How to Invent an Alien Language? A Linguistic Perspective" essay by Olga Kuno. The advice is solid, especially where Kuno talks about using conlang words in a work using the example of why a character wouldn't suddenly use a conlang version of "table." As a writer-conlanger, I typically stick to concepts that are either not translatable or not succinctly translatable into English — such as pronoun systems, foods, genders, some less translatable profanity, and proper names. I also use it to highlight multilingualism, such as when characters' at-home language is not the same as the privilege language in a story. Kuno's use of Klingon in examples would be very familiar to many. If anyone's looking for stuff beyond this, there are a few primers on writing constructed languages from members of the conlang community, and the Language Creation Society also has a job board where writers can request language sketches at various price points.
I found Kim Stanley Robinson's "Venice Drowned" really interesting. I wasn't certain that I liked the story at first. While reading it, I spent a lot of time separating my feelings about the anti-pagan iconoclasm of the Church in antiquity after it made polytheism illegal from the work's actual content — a Catholic Christian disturbed by the repurposing of his sacred iconography for secular show. It's similar to my feelings as a Hellenic polytheist who has to visit museums to see religious agalmata of deities I worship. After unpacking my reaction by talking to a friend, I discovered that I actually liked the story. The descriptive language was good, too.
As a conlanger, I also appreciated the "How to Invent an Alien Language? A Linguistic Perspective" essay by Olga Kuno. The advice is solid, especially where Kuno talks about using conlang words in a work using the example of why a character wouldn't suddenly use a conlang version of "table." As a writer-conlanger, I typically stick to concepts that are either not translatable or not succinctly translatable into English — such as pronoun systems, foods, genders, some less translatable profanity, and proper names. I also use it to highlight multilingualism, such as when characters' at-home language is not the same as the privilege language in a story. Kuno's use of Klingon in examples would be very familiar to many. If anyone's looking for stuff beyond this, there are a few primers on writing constructed languages from members of the conlang community, and the Language Creation Society also has a job board where writers can request language sketches at various price points.
mikewhiteman's review
3.0
Twisted Knots - DA Shaolin Spires **
There are nice touches and details here - Lilian's focus on spaces and topologies, the potential in a reunion with her puppet master mother, the creation of a golem that takes on her imprint - but I struggled to get past giving sentience to, essentially, a steak and what a horrific thing to do that would be. Putting the sentience straight into a golem is one thing, creating the end of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, continuing to use a laser on it to make it more steak-like, keeping it in a drawer for an undefined length of time, then putting it in a robot suit is something else.
Reversion - Nin Harris **
A woman returns to her family after an excursion to an alien planet, where she fell in love with a member of the resident aquatic species. The family's culture demands she goes through reversion, to remove any trace of the alien and make her fully human again. The clash between earthbound tradition and the new world in space, the family politics and the forbidden romance angle are all fine, but "falling in love with an alien" is neither a useful metaphor nor an interesting story if taken literally.
The Stone Weta - Octavia Cade ****
Enjoyed the structure of this one, with a network of women smuggling and preserving environmental data, all taking their codenames from appropriate animals or plants. Gets a little vague but the continuation of each section and the series of efforts to save or share ecological information mesh together perfectly.
In The Blind - Sunny Moraine **
Two people stranded in space after communication with Earth is cut off increasingly resent each other and their attitude to the situation. Well enough written but, other than some musing on the nature of death and dying alone, never rises above the standard premise.
A Man Out Of Fashion - Chen Qiufan, trans. Ken Liu ***
Mostly a solid take on the classic premise of someone finding themselves in a drastically changed world of the far future; here it is a China of 300 years away, where people constantly chase the latest fashion in everything. The end, after the inevitable rebellion against the seemingly-perfect society, is particularly bleak and hopeless.
Fleet - Sandra McDonald ***
On a post-collapse Guam, an isolated society waits for the return of the titular Fleet, although why they are waiting is only revealed at the end of the story. The narrator is a Bridge, maintaining the memory of before the Silence in the current time. Keeps up its mystery and builds confidently to a satisfying conclusion.
Venice Drowned - Kim Stanley Robinson ***
A boatman in a future Venice struggles to come to terms with the removal of its underwater treasures following the rising sea levels. The boiling frustration and anger has real clarity and the slightly spooky/uncanny passage towards the end brings the wider main story to life.
There are nice touches and details here - Lilian's focus on spaces and topologies, the potential in a reunion with her puppet master mother, the creation of a golem that takes on her imprint - but I struggled to get past giving sentience to, essentially, a steak and what a horrific thing to do that would be. Putting the sentience straight into a golem is one thing, creating the end of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, continuing to use a laser on it to make it more steak-like, keeping it in a drawer for an undefined length of time, then putting it in a robot suit is something else.
Reversion - Nin Harris **
A woman returns to her family after an excursion to an alien planet, where she fell in love with a member of the resident aquatic species. The family's culture demands she goes through reversion, to remove any trace of the alien and make her fully human again. The clash between earthbound tradition and the new world in space, the family politics and the forbidden romance angle are all fine, but "falling in love with an alien" is neither a useful metaphor nor an interesting story if taken literally.
The Stone Weta - Octavia Cade ****
Enjoyed the structure of this one, with a network of women smuggling and preserving environmental data, all taking their codenames from appropriate animals or plants. Gets a little vague but the continuation of each section and the series of efforts to save or share ecological information mesh together perfectly.
In The Blind - Sunny Moraine **
Two people stranded in space after communication with Earth is cut off increasingly resent each other and their attitude to the situation. Well enough written but, other than some musing on the nature of death and dying alone, never rises above the standard premise.
A Man Out Of Fashion - Chen Qiufan, trans. Ken Liu ***
Mostly a solid take on the classic premise of someone finding themselves in a drastically changed world of the far future; here it is a China of 300 years away, where people constantly chase the latest fashion in everything. The end, after the inevitable rebellion against the seemingly-perfect society, is particularly bleak and hopeless.
Fleet - Sandra McDonald ***
On a post-collapse Guam, an isolated society waits for the return of the titular Fleet, although why they are waiting is only revealed at the end of the story. The narrator is a Bridge, maintaining the memory of before the Silence in the current time. Keeps up its mystery and builds confidently to a satisfying conclusion.
Venice Drowned - Kim Stanley Robinson ***
A boatman in a future Venice struggles to come to terms with the removal of its underwater treasures following the rising sea levels. The boiling frustration and anger has real clarity and the slightly spooky/uncanny passage towards the end brings the wider main story to life.
paulweymouth's review
2.0
Video Wrap-Up: https://youtu.be/mVMVnzSAgvM?t=1m16s
Favorite Stories:
Drowned Venice by Kim Stanely Robinson
A Man Out of Fashion by Chen Qiufan
OK Stories:
In the Blind by Sunny Moraine
Reversion by Nin Harris
Favorite Essay:
Cat Rambo's Another Word: The Subtle Art of Promotion
Favorite Stories:
Drowned Venice by Kim Stanely Robinson
A Man Out of Fashion by Chen Qiufan
OK Stories:
In the Blind by Sunny Moraine
Reversion by Nin Harris
Favorite Essay:
Cat Rambo's Another Word: The Subtle Art of Promotion
More...