Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 222, March 2025

by Neil Clarke (Editor), Ryan Cole (Contributor), Anna Burdenko (Contributor)

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our March 2025 issue (#222)

Fiction

* "From Enceladus, with Love" by Ryan Cole
* "Pollen" by Anna Burdenko
* "Mindtrips" by Tlotlo Tsamaase
* "Those Uncaring Waves" by Yukimi Ogawa
* "Hook and Line" by Koji A. Dae
* "The Sound of the Star" by Ren Zeyu
* "Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities" by Damián Neri

Non-Fiction

* "For Sustainable Space Colonies, Let There Be Soil" by Gunnar De Winter
* "Falling for Characters: A Conversation with Lee Harris" by Arley Sorg
* "Permission to Experiment: An Interview with Julie Dillon" by Arley Sorg
* "Editor's Desk: The Best from 2024" by Neil Clarke

Cover Art

"Joust" by Pascal Blanché

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2025

About the author

Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

Additionally, Neil edits  Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us,  The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for Anna Burdenko's short story Pollen only.

The story is about a girl named Nika and her family who are space explorers that were sent to a planet called Beauty and what they encounter(ed) there.
The planet's ecosystem is a mindfuck and a half! Though, I was sad we didn't get to explore more of it (I mean, it's a planet so ther eis bound to be more).

I always loved stories of (space) exploration, survival and body/mind horror - preferrably when those elements get combined. ;) So despite me figuring the twist out early (well, I had 2 theories and one turned out to be correct), I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Really cool!

You can read the story for free here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/burd...

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"From Enceladus, with Love" by Ryan Cole -- (4*) Nice premise, a what-if all electronics became self-aware, and humanity's inevitable conclusions. The twist, however, is an old one, even if it's one I've always approved.

"Pollen" by Anna Burdenko -- (5*) Very, very good. A perfect mix of SF and Horror, with all the ghost feels mixed with survival madness. I love this kind of thing.

"Mindtrips" by Tlotlo Tsamaase -- (4*) I'm of two minds on this one. I tend to love any kind of mindspace, memory-resolution kind of story--and this one is pretty decent. I just... kinda wish it had gone a step beyond.

"Those Uncaring Waves" by Yukimi Ogawa -- (3*) While I do appreciate the SFnal parts of this story, I did start to get somewhat annoyed by the interwoven abuse/self-harm threads that had to be *necessary* for the plot.

"Hook and Line" by Koji A. Dae -- (4*) A very pretty ode to death and memory that just happens to be on a starship. Most notable is the "sinker" motif in the title. lol

"The Sound of the Star" by Ren Zeyu -- (4*) A pleasant alien-rich series of vignettes that really focus on snappy imagination.

"Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities" by Damián Neri -- (5*) This is easily my absolute favorite story this month. Lyrical, deeply fascinating, wildly imaginative, and spanning the cosmos. I love it.



The "Funerary Habits of the Low Entropy Entities" was easily the best of the lot, but my second favorite of the month was "Pollen". Both for different reasons, but the writing and creativity for both really stood out.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

* "From Enceladus, with Love" by Ryan Cole, 4970 words, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dizzie, a blind passenger hitches a ride on a colony ship headed for Enceladus. Human are leaving an Earth that is being taken over by AIs. Too strange that Dizzie keeps hearing a heartbeat below decks… This was fun. I can see a sequel or something longer. Good plot bunny.

* "Pollen" by Anna Burdenko, translated from Russian by Alex Shvartsman, 5330 words, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nika and Bunny are stranded in a habitat on a colony planet. Something unexpected happened and it’s not quite clear what is real and what isn’t.

* "Mindtrips" by Tlotlo Tsamaase, set in Botswana, 7730 words, novelette, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Neelo takes memory-inducing pills, prescribed by her doctor, to face triggering events in her past. Domestic abuse and an unusual investigation.

* "Those Uncaring Waves" by Yukimi Ogawa, Japanese, 18140 words, novelette, 🐚🐚🐚
Set in the future. Two artists create patterns to apply to humans as remedies for all kinds of physical and mental ailments. People carry colourful patterns anyway. And if they are colourless, something is created for them. A ghostly woman appears and the pair try to solve a mystery. It‘s an interesting concept, but the story didn‘t do much for me.

* "Hook and Line" by Koji A. Dae, 4150 words, 👻👻👻👻
Mediums on a generation ship, traveling away from Earth and trailing ghosts. The past and the people left behind and the present, trying to hold on to memories. And hope for the future, after all. Sweet!

* "The Sound of the Star" by Ren Zeyu, translated from Chinese by Jay Zhang, 3820 words, ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A traveller between planets. One the first planet people communicate in sound frequencies that change with age. The second planet is about light and bodies disappearing into the ultraviolet spectrum. On the third planet they communicate with touch, via pressure, temperature, and texture. There are three more planets… this story is basically an exercise in sound and communication.

“It‘s a vast universe out there, and every single living thing in it‘s got something that makes them special,“ he told me. “As long as you‘ve got the right eyes to see it.“

* "Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities" by Damián Neri, Mexican, 3500 words, 💣
This one was odd, I bounced off it, sorry… the first part wasn‘t bad, but it went downhill from there. Too abstract for my taste.

Non-Fiction
* "For Sustainable Space Colonies, Let There Be Soil" by Gunnar De Winter, interesting essay on soil biodiversity and the challenges of growing stuff on other planets. Nod to Mark Watney.

The full March issue can be found here:
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/issu...

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting issue, with good stories by Ryan Cole, Anna Burdenko, Yukimi Ogawa and Koji A. Dae.

- "From Enceladus, with Love" by Ryan Cole: a spaceship on its way to Enceladus has two stowaways: one is a girl, hoping to reunite with her mother there, while the other is a new 'intelligence' that wants to play games with her. A crisis emerges when the stowaway is found and the intelligence wants her back.

- "Pollen" by Anna Burdenko, translated by Alex Shvartsman: on a new planet, one girl attempts to survive while waiting for rescue. For while the planet is suitable for human life, it has one lifeform that produces hallucinogenic pollen as a way to attract prey. The tricky thing is for the girl (and the reader) to distinguish between what is real and what is just a trick of the mind while waiting.

- "Mindtrips" by Tlotlo Tsamaase: a woman with emotional problems is required to take pills that open up her internal mental states in an attempt to get her to confront her inner demons. But the people giving her the pills may have another reason for doing so, related to a murder investigation.

- "Those Uncaring Waves" by Yukimi Ogawa: a curious story about artists on an island who have the ability to 'paint' patterns on people, and through those patterns and the ink used, influence the body. One day, the artist discovers her paint is not as she expected. Tracing the source of the contamination would lead her to a woman with mental problems and even stranger body problems. Resolving the woman's problems would lead her to another person who has a secret related to the use of patterns and government attempts to change society.

- "Hook and Line" by Koji A. Dae: on a generation ship in space, one of the few remaining spiritualist struggle to pass on her ability to connect with the spirits of those left behind on Earth. In the end, a compromise would be reached between her and the people on the ship who now know little of Earth.

- "The Sound of the Star" by Ren Zeyu, translated by Jay Zhang: a visitor travels to many worlds, encountering strange sound scapes.

- "Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities" by Damián Neri: on the many ways death is honoured; from a planet with cicada-like forms to a concious photon.

[TOM SERVO · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty mediocre short stories in this one. Par for the course as far as maybe only one or two stories being mildly redeemable. I quickly learned to not bother with the non-fiction portion as it is very left leaning, crowd-pleasing, mindless drivel. It's always some 'current issue' pandering packed full of cringe. You'll find yourself rolling your eyes as you're being lectured and preached at, all under the guise of critical thought or 'futuristic speculation.' To say it's tiresome is a massive understatement.

I highly recommend avoiding this series overall. Maybe somewhere out there is a short list of top 10 best sci-fi stories from this publications lengthy history. If you can find one it would probably save you a lot of time and money.

The cover art kicks serious ass for this issue.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This issue of Clarkesworld is full of stories about biding time on spaceships, surviving and not surviving diverse planetary ecologies, and making friends. There is also an essay about the importance of soil and how Martian-grown potatoes can kill you, and interviews with Lee Harris and Julie Dillon.

"I just wanted you to like me. For us to have something in common."

"From Enceladus, with Love" by Ryan Cole is about a stowaway aboard a spaceship where the ship AI becomes self-aware and has the personality of a 6 year old. 3/5

"A type of tree ubiquitous on Beauty turned out to be a dangerous predator. When they bloom, these trees release psychedelic pollen. It affects the nervous system in a way that compels its prey to approach the nearest grove in search of another dose of pollen. There, under a thin layer of soil, are cavities containing something akin to stomach acid. The prey falls into the cavity and is digested."

"Pollen" by Anna Burdenko, translated by Alex Shvartsman is about a hallucinating family trying to survive on a beautiful, deadly planet. 4/5

"Our habits are our comfort zones and sometimes our comfort zones are our latent danger zones."

"Mindtrips" by Tlotlo Tsamaase is a story about therapy that is true to it's name. I don't understand everything that happened, but we aren't meant to and it is well written. 4/5

These colorful islanders were the real and sole asset to this small, good-for-nothing island. Accepting tourists, whose purpose for visiting was exclusively to stare at the jewel-like locals, was the only way this nation could gain enough foreign currency to barely survive. The remedy patterns prepared for them worked far better when the patterns directly touched the patron, but in this country where the locals’ “native” colors quite literally determined their whole career path and their very status in the industry and the society, drawing patterns on one’s skin, even for a short duration of time, could be deemed illegal, or extremely obscene at best.

"Those Uncaring Waves" by Yukimi Ogawa is a novella about a group of colorful islanders and the artists practicing alternative medicine on them. The story looks at genetic modification and nature versus nurture. It is too abstract and long for my tastes. 2/5

“My parents came on the ship as kids. Four and seven. They can barely remember Earth. But my grandparents told them stories, and they passed them down to me. The things that stick the most aren’t stories of mountains and the sun—they’re stories about my great-grandparents, who were too old or too sick to pass the selection process. One of my great-grandfathers was young enough and healthy, but his wife had early onset dementia. There was no way she would get accepted. So he stayed behind and died with her. Those are the kinds of people we left behind—people who loved deeply and made memories that would be passed down for generations even if we determined their bodies weren’t worth taking. Why wouldn’t I strive for a connection with them?”
...
Timothy’s hands are soft and smooth in mine. They have no freckles from unsupervised summers in the sun. His eyes are crystal green and have never seen a forest. He has no idea what an ocean is. My chest swells as I try to impart these sensations to him. I remember my childhood in the mountains. His legs have no idea what a hill is. His calves have never burned without the measured cadence of the physio chamber. I try to make him understand what it is to expand the lungs and breathe deeply of thin air, grinning in accomplishment. But I cough as I remember my adolescence. My lungs are weak, my body frail, and nothing comes across as vividly as my experiences actually were.

"Hook and Line" by Koji A. Dae takes place on a generation ship that has left Earth. What remains of the mystics and shamans try to hold what little remains of their connection to their homeworld as the younger generations forget. 4/5

"It's a vast universe out there, and every single living thing in it's got something that makes them special," he told me. "As long as you've got the right eyes to see it."

"The Sound of the Star" by Ren Zeyu, translated by Jay Zhang is about the limits to human sensation and how other creatures might go beyond that pale. 4/5

Only when falling does life truly exist.

"Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities" by Damián Neri is about how different alien creatures could conceptualize death. 3/5

[Heni · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Enceladus, with Love by Ryan Cole
Hmmm. Conscious AI "ravaged" the earth, a girl stowed herself into AI-piloted ship to Enceladus, befriend said ship. 2 ⭐

Pollen by Anna Burdenko, translated by Alex Shvartsman
Interesting planet where it rains hallucinogen pollens. It's a story about a survivor trying to cope. 4 ⭐

Mindtrips by Tlotlo Tsamaase
To escape reality using some kind of virtual reality. 2 ⭐

Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities by Damián Neri
This kind of writing always gives me goosebumps, like how do you write "honoring the dead" into complicated language & world building like this 😭. 4 ⭐

Those Uncaring Waves by Yukimi Ogawa
The magic system is good; a healer who uses ink / tattoo to alter something so the patient can heal, physically or psychologically. This system however can be easily duped by sabotaging the quality of the ink or the drawing supplies. 4 ⭐

Hook and Line by Koji A. Dae
Leaving the Earth, this old woman is the only one who is connected to earth and she's afraid that the remembrance, the tradition will die with her. Interestingly, this can be interpreted as diaspora lives. 4 ⭐

The Sound of the Star by Ren Zeyu, translated by Jay Zhang
Every planet has sounds or vocal system or communication system. 2 ⭐

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Enceladus, With Love
The setting is mostly constrained to a cargo hold on a spaceship travelling across the solar system toward Saturn's sixth-largest moon. Yet the story feels expansive because it speaks to the centrality of yearning to our human condition. We're reminded of how remarkable it is that we can yearn for someone in a moment still alive in the past, for a life no longer, for so so long. Seldom are there stories I care about the human and AI characters alike. Ryan Cole packages his story into a perfect bundle, a love letter to yearning. "From Enceladus, With Love" is so far my favourite story of 2025 from Clarkesworld Magazine.

Rating: 5/5

The Sound of the Star
It fascinates me to think of all the ways we have been bewitched and bewildered by waves of both mechanical (e.g. sound) and electromagnetic (e.g. light) nature. This short story dazzles in this respect, particularly in its mechanical form. No doubt, new generations will find these perspectives of sound wondrous, but I suspect even those experienced with how sound can be perceived will be awed by this story. At its core is yearning. To be understood in companionship. I think it is tender how Xitu searches for someone in her sound range. It is beautiful how the choir moves through the spectrum of age-based frequency bands; though not all can perceive the song in its entirety, it is in this way that the song is for them all. I simply love the idea that sounds can live forever on planets Eko and Volai, to be captured in a future moment. Our telescopes that receive light have always fascinated me in this respect. The narrator hints at a future story where an encounter with Xitu was had. I should wish to read such a story.

Rating: 5/5

Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities
Hmmm, these stories within a story didn't connect with me. I think I'll need to give it another read. Sometimes connecting with a piece is as much about the state I'm in as it is about the story.

Rating: 2/5

Hook and Line
Ok wow. This is my new favourite from Clarkesworld. Thank you Koji Dae for this thoughtful piece. I've read this story twice and I will likely revisit if my future allows. The prose is beautiful and I have so many passages I admire. For this brief review I'll simply paste my status update just before my second reading:

The short story "Hook and Line" is so good that I just poured myself a fresh mug of coffee so I could sit down elsewhere and read the story again. I don't think I've ever re-read a story immediately after I've finished it. This story reminds me how much I dislike those "30 Under 30" lists. Youth can be cringy, awkward, and contrived. Give me "calloused hands and tender hearts".

Rating: 5/5

Pollen
After finishing this story, I'm left wondering whether the Lerkoi are real or imagined. I'm also left contemplating how we construct internal worlds to make sense of the world around us, to cope. In the short span of the story, I felt the bittersweetness of letting go of those we truly love, much like Nika did. A story that stays with you resting in place until future contemplation is one worth reading. This is another great entry into Clarkesworld. This March issue is proving to be the strongest yet!

Rating: 5/5

Mindtrips
This novelette serves as an excellent example of using fiction to enable readers to explore their own trauma. Through the fantastical elements of storytelling, readers gain the distance needed to reflect on their healing process differently than when engaging with the factual elements of their own trauma. Sadly, there is too much trauma in the world, much of it unnecessary. Perhaps through the gentler companionship of fictional works, we can find open paths to think about personal trauma in ways previously obscured by pain. Even if readers cannot identify with the specifics of the protagonist's past traumas, they may experience a broader sense of connection, realizing that they are not alone, and through this, emerge with a renewed sense of hope.

Rating: 3/5

Those Uncaring Waves
Sadly, I didn't connect with this novella. Though parts of it provided intrigue, it never took hold. Elements of world-building using painting patterns and genetics have promise, though. Unfortunately, the prose was bland as well. I can't quite put my finger on it, but overall there's something oddly convoluted about the structure of this story.

Rating: 2/5

[Thomas Wüstemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty disappointing issue. At least the two central stories, with the largest word count (MINDTRIPS and THOSE UNCARING WAVES) are badly written, at times indecipherable, esoteric nonsense.
While there are a few decent, albeit very short ones (FROM ENCELADUS, WITH LOVE - POLLEN - HOOK AND LINE), the issue has one standout story with THE SOUND OF THE STAR.
Although there is not much narrative to be found in this short fragment, its depictions of different alien races and planetary structures are peak sci-fi-worldbuilding.

[Pontus Doverstav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pollen was the highlight for me in this issue - while a fairly simple story, I thought it was told very effectively.

Other than that, From Enceladus, with Love was also pretty good in the same vain as Pollen, but it didn't quite reach the same heights. The setting and world of Those Uncaring Waves had a lot of promise as well, but something about the way it was written didn't quite click with me.

[Matthew WK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flipping back through the issue I'm impressed by the sheer number of great stories. All of them are worthy of a read. I also really enjoyed the interview with Lee Harris & added 3 of the upcoming books he mentioned to my TBR. Another winning issue from Clarkesworld!

[Anurag Sahay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those collections where every story was a basic minimum level of fun: I remember bits and pieces of all of them quite well, and I didn't feel like skipping any one of them, which is rare in most collections with multiple authors. I recommend all of them!

[David H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anna Burdenko's "Pollen" was the absolute standout for me this issue, though I also liked Dezzi's voice in Ryan Cole's "From Encaladus, with Love." The nonfiction article about extraterrestrial soil was fascinating as well, I had no idea Martian soil was so "bad."

[Elaysee · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorites were the Burdenko and Tsamaase stories.

[MrKillick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Diesmal leider etwas enttäuschend, die meisten Stories habe ich nur überflogen.
Gut war "Hook and Line" von Koji A. Dae.