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sonofthe's review against another edition
4.0
Finally getting back to my magazine reading, and this is another good entry from Clarkesworld.
Two stories required extra reading for me.
With Catherynne M. Valente's The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild, I had to go back and re-read the first part. I remember when reading it for the first time, I thought something was missing and found that I'd missed it was part one of two. Reading the two parts back-to-back did slightly improve the overall story for me, but it just didn't come together in the end. Valente lets her imagination roam in wonderfully vivid ways, but I found myself wanting a stronger storyline.
I'm eager to see what else she writes.
Then there was Lavie Tidhar's The Book Seller. I was interrupted a few times during my first read-through, and there seemed to be something more going on in the story, so I came back for a second read-through when I could do it all at once. My mind turned philosophical with this one. Golem myths came to mind, as did map and territory ideas. E.g. if vampires were created beings, what would it mean if they turned around and made their creator into vampires? The meatiness mentioned combined with the strength of characters and vividness of setting would've made the story a five, but it jumped around a bit too much stylistically.
Tidhar's another author I'll be keeping an eye out for in the future.
Gregory Benford's The Clear Blue Seas of Luna had me excited for a while. It seemed like a creation myth for a future Luna at first, with with the beauty and poetry that sort of story can have. There were interesting things going on with transhumanism as well. If Benford had stuck to that early style, it would've been such a great story, but the cut to an adventure tale made things feel disjointed, though still quite good.
Naim Kabir's Slowly Builds an Empire brought to mind gun issues because another real-world school shooting had just happened. It also brought to mind issues of evolution and competing species. Ken Liu's Cassandra naturally (to me, at least) brought 12 monkeys to mind, along with thoughts about prophecy and fulfillment and what that means, exactly.
So lot's of the stories here have my mind churning on deeper issues. Which is good.
Orrin Grey's article on insects in Guillermo del Toro's films was the stand-out piece of non-fiction for me. Grey over-reached a bit with the bit on Pan's Labyrinth, but I'd love to re-watch Cronos and the director's cut of Mimic.
As usual, my status updates have initial thoughts and reactions to each story and article.
Two stories required extra reading for me.
With Catherynne M. Valente's The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild, I had to go back and re-read the first part. I remember when reading it for the first time, I thought something was missing and found that I'd missed it was part one of two. Reading the two parts back-to-back did slightly improve the overall story for me, but it just didn't come together in the end. Valente lets her imagination roam in wonderfully vivid ways, but I found myself wanting a stronger storyline.
I'm eager to see what else she writes.
Then there was Lavie Tidhar's The Book Seller. I was interrupted a few times during my first read-through, and there seemed to be something more going on in the story, so I came back for a second read-through when I could do it all at once. My mind turned philosophical with this one. Golem myths came to mind, as did map and territory ideas. E.g. if vampires were created beings, what would it mean if they turned around and made their creator into vampires? The meatiness mentioned combined with the strength of characters and vividness of setting would've made the story a five, but it jumped around a bit too much stylistically.
Tidhar's another author I'll be keeping an eye out for in the future.
Gregory Benford's The Clear Blue Seas of Luna had me excited for a while. It seemed like a creation myth for a future Luna at first, with with the beauty and poetry that sort of story can have. There were interesting things going on with transhumanism as well. If Benford had stuck to that early style, it would've been such a great story, but the cut to an adventure tale made things feel disjointed, though still quite good.
Naim Kabir's Slowly Builds an Empire brought to mind gun issues because another real-world school shooting had just happened. It also brought to mind issues of evolution and competing species. Ken Liu's Cassandra naturally (to me, at least) brought 12 monkeys to mind, along with thoughts about prophecy and fulfillment and what that means, exactly.
So lot's of the stories here have my mind churning on deeper issues. Which is good.
Orrin Grey's article on insects in Guillermo del Toro's films was the stand-out piece of non-fiction for me. Grey over-reached a bit with the bit on Pan's Labyrinth, but I'd love to re-watch Cronos and the director's cut of Mimic.
As usual, my status updates have initial thoughts and reactions to each story and article.
aretaa's review against another edition
3.0
My favorite story was Cassandra by Ken Liu and surprisingly I also really enjoyed the essay about insects in Guillermo del Toro's films.
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