Scan barcode
A review by kittyg
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 112 by Kate Baker, Sofia Siren, Neil Clarke, Robert Reed, E. Catherine Tobler, Robert Silverberg, Ken Liu, Bao Shu, Megan Lindholm, Chris Urie, Rich Larson
3.0
Okay, so this was the first time for me reading Clarkesworld and subscribing to a short sff magazine of any kind and I have to say there were some ups and downs, but that is to be expected of course.
I began by reading on of the 'Classic Fiction' reads (which are reprints) and I started out with "The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale" by Robert Silverberg which was very classic in tone. This is a story which somewhat reminded me of Poe (although maybe that was my imagination running away with me) and was all about a rather eccentric situation with a man who drank huge quantities of wine each day and complained about life. He also happened to be in possession of a vintage wine of some renown so that also added to the story. For me, this was easily a 3.5* read as it was fun and I liked revisiting the more classic style of fantasy writing. It was engaging throughout and I liked the way it was worded and the overall tones of the story. It felt very rich, kind of like I imagine good wine would be (although I don't like wine myself).
After a decent beginning things went a little downhill when I began to read the 'Original Fiction' with only one of the 4 actually making a good and lasting impression on me. "The Algorithms of Value" by Robert Reed didn't really interest me that much and felt a little unconvincing. 2*
"The Abduction of Europa" by E. Catherine Tobler was again not overly my cup of tea and so I wasn't really into it. 2*
"Extraction Request" by Rich Larson I didn't even try to really finish up becuase it just bored me unfortunately and I wasn't a fan. 1*
But, "Everybody Loves Charles" by Bao Shu was probably one of my favourite short stories as it was sci-fi and engaging in all the right ways. This is a fairly long story which talks about the various methods of technology evolving over time and how this works. It's all about 'livecasting' which I interpreted a the evolvement of 'livestreaming' which we already have today, and it was utterly fascinating to me to see the ways in which our society might move forward and be manipulated by new technologies. I really enjoyed the premise and characters, and it was by far the most interesting of all the 'Original Fiction', 4*s
Finally I went to the last of the 'Classic Fiction' reads which was "Old Paint" by Megan Lindholm (aka Robin Hobb) and I really enjoyed this one too. It was a story all about an old car, set in a futuristic version of our world. The cars have developed sentience of a kind, and it's a really quite sweet story to read and imagine. Again, 3.5*s
Finally the non-fiction by Ken Liu which spoke about the advancement of AI and how AI is being developed to a point where it can craft stories or help humans to make better stories was really fascinating and something that I hadn't heard of or read before so that one was a 3.5*s too.
There was also an artist interview which was nice to read through and a list of some of the best fiction of 2015 which I will be trying to track down and read some of as many of the names were familiar to me and I know they craft great stories.
On the whole, for my first Clarkesworld issue I wasn't disappointed and though not everything worked entirely for me, I did feel that the longer stories and non-fiction were all good in their own ways. 3*s overall and I look forward to next months one!
I began by reading on of the 'Classic Fiction' reads (which are reprints) and I started out with "The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale" by Robert Silverberg which was very classic in tone. This is a story which somewhat reminded me of Poe (although maybe that was my imagination running away with me) and was all about a rather eccentric situation with a man who drank huge quantities of wine each day and complained about life. He also happened to be in possession of a vintage wine of some renown so that also added to the story. For me, this was easily a 3.5* read as it was fun and I liked revisiting the more classic style of fantasy writing. It was engaging throughout and I liked the way it was worded and the overall tones of the story. It felt very rich, kind of like I imagine good wine would be (although I don't like wine myself).
After a decent beginning things went a little downhill when I began to read the 'Original Fiction' with only one of the 4 actually making a good and lasting impression on me. "The Algorithms of Value" by Robert Reed didn't really interest me that much and felt a little unconvincing. 2*
"The Abduction of Europa" by E. Catherine Tobler was again not overly my cup of tea and so I wasn't really into it. 2*
"Extraction Request" by Rich Larson I didn't even try to really finish up becuase it just bored me unfortunately and I wasn't a fan. 1*
But, "Everybody Loves Charles" by Bao Shu was probably one of my favourite short stories as it was sci-fi and engaging in all the right ways. This is a fairly long story which talks about the various methods of technology evolving over time and how this works. It's all about 'livecasting' which I interpreted a the evolvement of 'livestreaming' which we already have today, and it was utterly fascinating to me to see the ways in which our society might move forward and be manipulated by new technologies. I really enjoyed the premise and characters, and it was by far the most interesting of all the 'Original Fiction', 4*s
Finally I went to the last of the 'Classic Fiction' reads which was "Old Paint" by Megan Lindholm (aka Robin Hobb) and I really enjoyed this one too. It was a story all about an old car, set in a futuristic version of our world. The cars have developed sentience of a kind, and it's a really quite sweet story to read and imagine. Again, 3.5*s
Finally the non-fiction by Ken Liu which spoke about the advancement of AI and how AI is being developed to a point where it can craft stories or help humans to make better stories was really fascinating and something that I hadn't heard of or read before so that one was a 3.5*s too.
There was also an artist interview which was nice to read through and a list of some of the best fiction of 2015 which I will be trying to track down and read some of as many of the names were familiar to me and I know they craft great stories.
On the whole, for my first Clarkesworld issue I wasn't disappointed and though not everything worked entirely for me, I did feel that the longer stories and non-fiction were all good in their own ways. 3*s overall and I look forward to next months one!