Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 230, November 2025

by Neil Clarke (Editor), R.H. Wesley (Contributor), D.A. Xiaolin Spires (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 November 2025 issue (#230) includes:

Fiction

"The Stone Played at Tengen" by R.H. Wesley
"Jade Fighter" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
"The Apologists" by Tade Thompson
"Trees at Night" by Ramiro Sanchiz
"Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World" by Chisom Umeh
"Ratlines" by Brent Baldwin
"The Fire Burns Anyway" by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Non-Fiction

"What is the Retirement Age of a Jedi?" by João Pedro de Magalhães
"Breaking A Conversation with K.A. Teryna" by Arley Sorg
"Needing to Make Sense of the A Conversation with R.T. Ester" by Arley Sorg
"Editor's Four from our Readers" by Neil Clarke

Cover Art

"Neo Mars" by Guy Warley

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

168 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 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

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Stone Played at Tengen" by R.H. Wesley -- (4*) Monolithic power and the importance of playing through -- life as Go. Interesting.

"Jade Fighter" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires -- (5*) Honestly delightful friendship in unusual circumstances. I actually rather love this story.

"The Apologists" by Tade Thompson -- (5*) Tade rocks some wonderfully weird tales. Murder mystery gone hard SF. Totally my kind of mystery.

"Trees at Night" by Ramiro Sanchiz -- (4*) I got a very Roadside Picnic vibe from this one. Only for a librarian. :)

"Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World" by Chisom Umeh -- (5*) On-target tale of perception and reality-building. Doubly current for our own amusement park we call life.

"Ratlines" by Brent Baldwin - (3*) While I like the idea of a brain-in-a-box being forced as a starship getaway driver, I think I might have preferred a slower, more detailed story. Alas.

"The Fire Burns Anyway" by Kemi Ashing-Giwa -- (5*) This was a massive gut-punch to me. As a writer, myself, facing the same issues, it feels like death... and yet we all still keep going, if in despair.


Decent collection this month. I prefer Jade Fighter and Apologists the most, but The Fire Burns Anyway hit the hardest.

[Nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came here for Tade Thompson’s novella “The Apologists” and have only read that for now: A very normal appearing police procedural that evolves into…something else. Wowowow. Absolutely well written novella with a progression that at first makes you take a double take and then keeps you on edge; you will sense something is off. I really wondered if this was going to be a companion of sorts to Molly Southbourne, but it WAS NOT. I consider myself a Thompson fan and I think this is his best work yet. The crescendo of the storytelling, the unlayering of pieces, and then the END….just jeebus.

[Jukaschar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World by Chisom Umeh

[Matthew WK · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars
R.H. Wesley 4.5 stars
D.A. Xiaolin Spires 4.25 stars
Tade Thompson 5 stars
Ramiro Sanchiz 4 stars
Chisom Umeh 4.25 stars
Brent Baldwin 3.75 stars
Kemi Ahing-Giwa 4 stars

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average issue, with interesting stories by R.H. Wesley, D.A. Xiaolin Spires and a striking Philip K. Dick type tale of altered reality by Tade Thompson.

- "The Stone Played at Tengen" by R.H. Wesley: an interesting story about a Go board made up of stars that suddenly appear in the sky. In Japan, a Go master and a group of intellectuals believe somebody in space is challenging them to a game. The Go game starts with an unusual position that the Go master is familiar with. As the game proceeds, the group eventually realise they are dealing with a true Go master in space.

- "Jade Fighter" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires: a person enters a VR world to do taichi exercises, only to discover that one of the NPCs (non-player characters) inhabiting the world has more agency than expected. She strikes up a friendship with the NPC and together, they will discover more of themselves and the possibilities of inhabiting other virtual and the real world.

- "The Apologists" by Tade Thompson: a striking Philip K. Dick like story that starts with a cold-blooded murder of a mother and child, which is investigated by a detective. As we follow the detective's investigation, it becomes clear that something is off with the London she inhabits, with people unconsciously avoiding the Underground, and periodically plugging their ears against strange sounds. It is only when a violent confrontation between the detective and the murderer occurs do the pieces fall into place about this world that is not what it seems, and who the Apologist in the title may be.

- "Trees at Night" by Ramiro Sanchiz, translated by Sue Burke: a person arrives at a sanitorium on another planet for therapy to become who he used to be.

- "Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World" by Chisom Umeh: a company that recreates historial periods of earth prepares to reveal one based on a World's Fair. But something apparently goes wrong during the recreation, and it would require the imagination of a person to help convince visitors to keep 'alive' the recreation.

- "Ratlines" by Brent Baldwin: a 'brain in a box' controls a spaceship that carries criminals, flees from pursuit. But when they are caught, the brain has to decide whether it wants to carry out one final order.

- "The Fire Burns Anyway" by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: a person who creates imaginary worlds for sale contemplates whether to give it up for a better paying job or not.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Stone Played at Tengen" by R.H. Wesley: a meditative look at pre-grief and persisting even in the face of inevitable loss, both on the Go board and in life. I really enjoyed this one.

"Jade Fighter" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires: I had trouble connecting to this story because I found the writing style a little dry. It's a slow burn if you're into gradual self-improvement, but I'm not that interested in AI personhood right now.

"The Apologists" by Tade Thompson: a weird novella that opens with a murder, then follows the detective on the case who's trying to solve it as things get more and more weird. It flirted with becoming too much like other works I've seen before that play with a particular trope (I can't say which due to spoilers), but then it swerved and became more interesting. I enjoyed it a lot.

"Trees at Night" by Ramiro Sanchiz, translated by Sue Burke: didn't feel like much story here. Maybe I'm not used to passive protagonists like this, but it felt more like a thought experiment telling me about a wild and heart-breaking situation than a story.

"Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World" by Chisom Umeh: didn't do a lot for me. It just kind of ended.

"Ratlines" by Brent Baldwin: this is flash, whatever Neil tries to claim to the contrary. It was decent but you know, short.

"The Fire Burns Anyway" by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: also flash, and it was alright. It felt like a heavy-handed allegory for being a writer.

Other than the stories, I enjoyed the interview with R.T. Ester. I haven't read anything by him yet but his inspirations, writing process, and publishing journey is relatable and now I'm curious about his work.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition of Clarkesworld's unifying theme is the commercialization of art and creation of worlds. It is a strong edition.

“The way the opponent plays the mid-game—it seems atypical,” Kellner said finally. “I’ve been learning about Go. It’s fascinating. Abstract. I wish that we had it in America. But what I’ve learned is that one should always endeavor to take moves that leave open many possibilities. Do not attach early to an opponent’s stone when you can stand at a distance and give yourself the advantage of choosing later.”

"The Stone Played at Tengen" by R.H. Wesley is a meeting of two of my interests: Go and tuberculosis. The main character's wife is suffering from Pott's disease in Meiji era Tokyo as the emperor and his court play a celestial game of Go. 4/5

不鳴則已,一鳴驚人

"Jade Fighter" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires is a story about existence in virtual reality that includes falling in love with a computer program who tells you to go outside more often. The description of unreality was my highlight. 4/5

Nico, watching, says, "How do you feel, Eve Stevens?"
"I feel like a real boy," says Eve.

"The Apologists" by Tade Thompson is a London murder mystery involving damaged personalities hunting for a serial killer. This is a member of the New Weird genre and the eerie atmosphere sold me on the story. 5/5

I thought about how sometimes children with the Illness make up stories, and they let a deeper truth seep into their story, and eventually they themselves understand what they’re saying between the lines. That’s when they stop talking.

"Trees at Night" by Ramiro Sanchiz, translated by Sue Burke feels like Vandermeer's Southern Reach series. It is set in a Sanatorium where people infected with the Illness are treated. I liked this translation, which has the most Spanish-like English I've ever read. I'm trying to find the original in Spanish, and I will read more of Sanchiz. 5/5

These were humanity’s lucid dreams that never came to be. Their vanities. Their feared dystopias. Their enthusiastic utopias. The people at Curio V were interested in those fleeting worlds, and so, as it happened, was the rest of the world. They couldn’t have enough. They not only wanted to see what humanity’s past looked like, but what people in the past thought the future would look like, and why it wasn’t achieved.

"Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World" by Chisom Umeh is about a company that creates worlds that might have been to indulge corporate shareholders. 4/5

It works like this: you are found guilty—the trial is optional—of crimes against the state. That can be anything from loving the wrong person, to praying to the wrong deity, to teaching an accurate history of how our leadership class took power and kept their filthy claws wrapped around it. After guilt is pronounced, you can choose between the work camps that no one ever leaves, or—if you’re (un)lucky enough to have high aptitude scores—a fifty-year indenture as a biological computation engine. Sometimes a choice is just another lie.

"Ratlines" by Brent Baldwin revolves around imprisonment as a human computer by the 1%. 4/5

The moment you do something you love for money is the moment you love that thing a little less.

"The Fire Burns Anyway" by Kemi Ashing-Giwa is a thinly veiled story about the loss of passion when art becomes paycheck. 4/5

[Pontus Doverstav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very high highs in this issue!

Not sure what I enjoyed the most, either The Apologists or Trees at Night. The Apologists was very well crafted, nicely teasing the mystery without giving too much away, but content wise it was not entirely for me. Trees at Night on the other hand spoke more to me on content front, but wasn't as successful in building intrigue and interest. But both were enjoyable to read!

I should also mention Ratlines, a fun little revenge story!

[Udy Kumra · Rating 4 out of 5]

12/28/25: 4 stars. A really interesting murder mystery set in London that reveals secrets of the cities and the (fantastic) characters as it goes along. I was wanting the tension/emotions to ramp up a bit quicker (despite this being a novella!) so the first half dragged a bit but once it got into things it was quite good.

[chris mango reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

mostly unremarkable, but I quite enjoyed The Apologists by Tade Thompson

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Stone Played at Tengen" had an interesting premise but I ended up not liking the ending
"Jade Fighter" was a solid short story

[Ellen Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the short stories in this issue, but The Fire Burns Anyway and The Stone Played at Tengen will be the ones that stick with me.