Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 57, February 2015

by John Joseph Adams (Editor), Brooke Bolander (Contributor), Maria Dahvana Headley (Contributor)

LIGHTSPEED is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine. In its pages, you will find science fiction: from near-future, sociological soft SF, to far-future, star-spanning hard SF--and fantasy: from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and contemporary urban tales, to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folktales.

This month, we have original science fiction by Brooke Bolander ("And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead") and Caroline M. Yoachim ("Red Planet"), along with SF reprints by John Kessel ("Buffalo") and David Barr Kirtley ("Veil of Ignorance").

Plus, we have original fantasy by Maria Dahvana Headley ("And the Winners Will Be Swept Out to Sea") and Will Kaufman ("Things You Can Buy for a Penny"), and fantasy reprints by Mary Rickert ("The Girl Who Ate Butterflies") and Adam-Troy Castro ("Cerile and the Journeyer").

All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author and artist spotlights, a feature interview with Ann Leckie, and our review column, this month written by Sunil Patel.

For our ebook readers, we also have an ebook-exclusive novella reprint of "In the House of Aryaman, A Lonely Signal Burns," by Elizabeth Bear. We're also delighted to share an excerpt from Elizabeth Bear's new novel, KAREN MEMORY, and an excerpt from GEMINI CELL, Myke Cole's latest book.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Ebooks, Anthologies

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only just discovered Brooke thanks to people at Goodreads and I can tell you that I'm super thrilled and not merely because it's filled with tons of f-bombs. :) Her characters are not only gritty but realistically hard-bitten and delightfully crass and full of shit. It's a delight!

Seriously, though, this story is much more than meets the eye, from uploaded consciousnesses into meat shells, a cool cyberspace adventure, mobsters, hitmen, and even a travel to the underworld to bring her love back from the dead, pure Hades style, going all Orpheus and Euridice on us.

Did I say I loved this? Then again, I'm a total absolute sucker for retellings of Greek legends in a hardcore, take-no-prisoners, cyberpunk mindspace gore-strewn nightmare of computation. :)

Bravo! :)

The end may be a bitch, but then, so was the original.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander:

Cyberpunkish story of the beautifully foul-mouthed and delightfully gun-happy heroine, I love thee.

Brooke Bolander of the gloriously revengeful Talons that Crush Galaxies, thy punch-packing tales I find slightly scrumpalicious.

Trish of the not so despicable book taste, bless your bloodthirsty little heart for drawing my nefarious attention to this enchantingly gritty piece.

➽ This story is short. This story is free. READ IT.

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

boilerplate mission statement intro:

for the past two years, i’ve set december’s project aside to do my own version of a short story advent calendar. it’s not a true advent calendar since i choose all the stories myself, but what it lacks in the ‘element of surprise’ department it more than makes up for in hassle, as i try to cram even MORE reading into a life already overcrammed with impossible personal goals (live up to your potential! find meaningful work! learn to knit!) merry merry wheee!

since i am already well behind in my *regular* reviewing, when it comes to these stories, whatever i poop out as far as reflections or impressions are going to be superficial and perfunctory at best. please do not weep for the great big hole my absented, much-vaunted critical insights are gonna leave in these daily review-spaces (and your hearts); i’ll try to drop shiny insights elsewhere in other reviews, and here, i will at least drop links to where you can read the stories yourselves for free, which - let’s be honest - is gonna serve you better anyway.

HAPPY READING, BOOKNERDS!

links to all stories read in previous years' calendars can be found at the end of these reviews, in case you are a person who likes to read stories for free:

2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

scroll down for links to this year’s stories which i will update as we go, and if you have any suggestions, send 'em my way! the only rules are: it must be available free online (links greatly appreciated), and it must be here on gr as its own thing so i can review it. thank you in advance!

DECEMBER 19

The river goes along, as rivers do, and then, out of fucking nowhere, like cockroaches circling the last can of cat food before a paycheck, suburban neighborhoods begin popping up along the banks. They stare down the bluffs with broken window eyes, yards gone to weeds and dog shit and strips of old paint. Who would have thought Hell had pink flamingos?

The ferryman lets Rhye out on a shore made of splintered bone and more spent brass. Why the fuck he needed that shit for a toll when there are dunes of it lying within easy reach, Rhye doesn’t know. She sets out for the houses without looking back. They’ll meet up again soon enough for real, she figures. No need for handshakes when she’ll be probably be back in the boat before her shelf life hits forty.

once you get into this one (and it takes a second to orient oneself - or perhaps just ME-self), it's well worth it. it's a little over the top in its "grrrrr, i'm a fuckin' hard cyberlady - you can tell by my cussin' and my guns n'such!" but it's purposeful and the story ends up in a place that made me AWWWWW a little, through the blood-splatter on my glasses.

i'm too weary to do much more than that for a "review" tonight. i went to michaels on december 19th. not all heroes wear capes &etc.

read it for yourself here:

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...

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come to my blog!

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard-bitten, tough mercenary finds herself in a difficult corner when a deal goes bad and a bunch of mobsters have her hacker partner's consciousness trapped in a machine... To try to save him, she'll have to face not only her real and physical opponents, but will also have to win a virtual battle against a security system that resembles herself... and not herself now, but herself at her hardest, most invulnerable peak.
An action-packed, violent, gritty cyberpunk adventure.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is about the short story And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead. With a title like that, how could I not read this?! Bwahahahahaha.

Ok, first things first: The very first thing I read by this author was for International Women's Day, a short story called The Last of the Minotaur Wives . Then followed Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies , also a short story.

These few pages were enough to introduce an author with a VERY unique style. She likes strong language, probably to shock, but she mixes it up with scifi and mythological elements, presenting the perfect blend in the end. Not to mention all the heavy social themes she addresses.

This story is about two people working together. It's a bit cyberpunky and definitely gritty. The two protagonists work a job for a mafia boss that goes south and they have to find a way out. Sounds rudimentary but I really don't want to give too much away. What I can say is that there is the River Styx, the ferryman, a lot of futuristic tech and old-school mobster violence.
And yes, there is also some strong language in there and that seems to have deterred many readers. Not me though. Language is my bread and butter and I actually like swearing every once in a while (funnily enough, the history of swearing is interesting too). In other people I often prefer it even, because it has a kind of honesty to it.
It's the same with the MC here: she uses profanity like others use their lungs to breathe, but it endears her more than anything else.

The ending was predictable ever since the "problem" arose, but that was ok - reading about it made me giggle maniacally and the main attraction is the character-development and world-building anyway.

Definitely something you do not see every day; new and fresh (though also oily ;P).

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review & rating solely for the reprint of "Buffalo" (1991) by John Kessel, a Hugo & Nebula nominated short story. Highly recommended mood & period-piece. Sample:

“Creole Love Call,” Ellington whispers into the microphone, then sits again at the piano. He waves his hand once, twice, and the clarinets slide into a low, wavering theme. The trumpet, muted, echoes it. The bass player and guitarist strum ahead at a deliberate pace, rhythmic, erotic, bluesy. Kessel and Wells, separate across the room, each unaware of the other, are alike drawn in. The trumpet growls eight bars of raucous solo. The clarinet follows, wailing. The music is full of pain and longing — but pain controlled, ordered, mastered. Longing unfulfilled, but not overpowering. ..."

Story link: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...
Highly recommended. And the price is right!

[Max]

GUNS GUNS GUNS

Killer kung fu awesome cyberpunk. A writer needs masterful line-by-line style to keep this much action exciting, and Bolander's a master, slamming together character growth and self-discovery with the blood; it's the kind of action you only find in prose, beautiful with sharp edges.

Just go read it, 'K? Or else the guns come out.

[Soorya · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The mobster has a gun pressed to Rack’s forehead. The mobster has a god-shitting gun pressed to her partner’s fucking forehead, and the only thing Rhye can do is watch and scream as the man smiles at her and pulls the trigger and blows Rack’s perfect brains out from between his ears."

How about that for an opening? I don’t usually go for cyberpunk - especially violent cyberpunk - but I loved the writing style here. It’s brutal yet beautiful, literally crackling with energy, and Bolander sustains the breakneck pace till the very end. She manages to inject quite a bit of emotion into it too. It is a love-it or hate-it kinda writing style, but it really worked for me.

I’m not giving it 5 stars because I wanted a bit more from the story by the end. More structure to the way it was resolved, or a longer aftermath. But as it is, it’s still really good.

It’s free to read at http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic....

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A free short story from Lightspeed - link here.

For me, a great story, in a dismal futuristic world, but way too overdone with the swearing and the overly complicated metaphors and clever sayings. I have no problem with swearing, none at all, but use it for effect, not in every sentence. We get that Rhye is a bad-ass, you can sell that with her actions and description of her, don't confuse the plot with a massive "fuck" count.

Other than that, as I said, good story.

Short story, short review. 3 stars.

[La Pomme · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you manage to peal off the 151 f**ks in these twenty or so pages (yep, I counted) you'll find a terribly non-novel novelette. No idea why this is a Nebula nominee, unless the 151 f**ks subconsciously affected the Jury?

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...

[Jassmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead by Brooke Bolander

The mobster has a gun pressed to Rack’s forehead. The mobster has a god-shitting gun pressed to her partner’s fucking forehead, and the only thing Rhye can do is watch and scream as the man smiles at her and pulls the trigger and blows Rack’s perfect brains out from between his ears.

This short-story slapped! It's gritty and foulmouthed and if cursing is issue for you, don't read this. (Also... apparently, I can't talk about this story without swearing... that is how good it was...) The beginning of the story goes for a shocker and it's fucking great. Really, it works and then it goes and goes in direction I wasn't expecting and then it's a little predictable, but that doesn't matter because Rhye is fucking legendary. (It turns out that I have a problem using "fucking" in sentences... something about this doesn't feel right, but you know what... fuck it!)



Where was I? Ah... this is what I call a great ending! I so knew this was going to happen, but still. So fucking amazing!
You saying I didn't actually tell you anything about the story? Who cares...
I have a few questions about the worldbuilding though. The cyborgs are made, right? And they are made as a kids and then they grow up similarly as humans do, right? They also seem to be pretty expensive to make, right? So why is it that they are growing on streets? Where is the economical decision in that?
I really loved this, I would highly recommend it, but take into account that it's quite dark and violent, there also is a lot of cursing... but the characters... *chef's kiss*

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...

[Netanella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander, only.

I will go back and read the rest of the magazine, promise.

Wow. A title that references Jesus' teachings in the Book of Matthew ("and you shall know them by their fruits...") and an opening line with whip-smart cursing and a bullet in the head.

The mobster has a gun pressed to Rack’s forehead. The mobster has a god-shitting gun pressed to her partner’s fucking forehead, and the only thing Rhye can do is watch and scream as the man smiles at her and pulls the trigger and blows Rack’s perfect brains out from between his ears.

This is a Nebula nominee, and damn I don't realize why it didn't win. It's a tale of a mercenary cyborg who must rescue her hacker partner's consciousness which is trapped in a box. Inside, she encounters a hellish landscape that's dominated by a security system modeled after herself...a version of herself four years ago before she gained a conscious. The action, the dialogue all blend together swiftly for an incredible story.

I loved this. And on the plus side, I expanded by vocabulary.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brooke Bolander, "And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead"

Great imagery and a fuckton of gratuitous profanity. Unsettling. So over the top with coarse language and a plot that wasn‘t going anywhere fast, that I considered not finishing this. Unexpected and surprising ending, that made up for the over-the-top and dragging part in between.

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...

[Verlkungen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, goodreads friends, for dragging this angry red blinking dot of a novella onto my radar.

Rhye is a grade A, no bullshit, bonafide badass - the kind you would really want to stay far, far away from lest you get a punch in the face and a boot up the arse. She finds herself in a sticky situation when her partner's brains get blown out while trying to extract important data from a security system. She has to plug in herself, destroy the security system, rescue her lover, and retrieve said data.

This story barrels along at breakneck pace, impossible to tear your eyes from. Each sentence is carefully crafted to shock and squeeze (and sometimes bark with inappropriate laughter). There's blood and guts and whale penises and grime and acrid smoke you can almost taste. There's enough profanity and gore to rival a Tarantino marathon. Safe to say, it's not for the faint of heart, but for those whose dream movie is a mashup of Goodfellas, Blade Runner and Kill Bill - MAN, are you in for a treat.

[Lance Schonberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 2015 Nebula nominee for best novelette, but I’m not sure how or why. This story didn't really work for me.

Mix a little cyberpunk with a lot of profanity and near-future extreme violence and start with the basic plot of a Mafia rescue operation gone wrong leading to extra complications. There’s a little bit of literal interpretation of the most difficult battle (facing yourself), but while there’s a little character growth, for both the primary POV and the one who takes over near the end, I’m still not sure if that primary POV is some kind of clone or a screwed up computer program with a meat body.

I love kick-ass heroines, but I prefer them to make a little more sense, and the story doesn't give me either the context or the character depth for that to happen.

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽]

I've been trying to read all of the 2015 Nebula short fiction nominees, but I'm going to give this one a pass. In the first four paragraphs there were about a dozen F-bombs, which is too much even by my somewhat relaxed standards. Also a shootout and brains getting blown out.

DNF after 4 paragraphs.

If you don't mind tons of profanity and want to go check out this novelette, it's free online at Lightspeed Magazine.

[Kathy (Kindle-aholic) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this kickass sci fi short story. LOVED IT. Cyborgs, security programs, lots of fight scenes.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I can see why this didn't win. It read like bad Shadowrun fanfic from the late nineties, as transcribed by someone who had watched too much Tarantino inspired cinema.

[DivaDiane SM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on StarShipSofa podcast. This was a great, fast-action story. Lots of profanity, but in audio it works quite well especially in the capable hands (voice) of Gabrielle de Cuir.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

And You Shall Know Her By the Trail of Dead - 4 stars
I may be incorrectly remembering the exact intricacies of the plot, but the main characters is an android or some similar manufactured sort. She has feelings and thoughts like humans, but is second class. In the story she must "dive" into her partner's "brain" to try to save his life and fix a situation that went wrong. It's futuristic pulp with an intense writing style. Rich world.

Buffalo - 2 stars
Reading the author notes afterwards made the story more richer, but I'm sticking with my original rating. A Polish immigrant meets H.G. Wells and has a conversation with him. There is some accurate background about Wells, so if you are a Wells fan, this would be an enjoyable short story for you. Although fantasy themed, there are no real fantastical elements.

Red Planet - 3 stars
A very short story. A blind biologist wants to work on Mars, but is discriminated against because she must have her vision restored to be eligible. She undergoes an experimental treatment that doesn't work all the way. I liked the exploration of how "fixing" a disability isn't necessarily the best option, and that it's society's constraints on those with disabilities to function in the preferred manner, when it may not be necessary to do a task.

Veil of Ignorance - 3 stars
A group of friends take a drug in which they share everyone's identity at the same time. They cannot tell their self from one another. They all experience the different selves and learn things about one another that affect the group dynamic. Something bad happens at the end and they can't tell who did it. An interesting crime to solve if no one knew who they were at the moment!

The Girl Who Ate Butterflies - 2 stars
A love story between a strange girl and a boy who wants to take her away from everything. Focus on how the girl is different from everyone else. I wished that the story had been tighter. I'm kind of over moonstruck teenage boys at the moment.

And the Winners Will be Swept Out to Sea - 3 stars
Viewpoints of a selkie whose human lover has left her. A different perspective than most magical realism stories, as the selkie lives in the lover's house after he is gone and clings to human things, rather than returning to the water. There is background of a strange hippie sea festival, somewhat akin to Burning Man.

Cerile and the Journeyer -3 stars
A very short story. Fairy tale-like. A man is questing for Cerile the witch and must travel a far distance to reach her. A nice twist in the end about the nature of his journey.

Things You Can Buy with a Penny - 3 stars
Fairy-tale tone. Warning stories about interactions with a wet gentleman that lives at the bottom of a well and grants wishes. His wish-granting is never straightforward and generally has a negative spin on what the wisher wanted.

In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Sigil Burns - 4 stars
Elizabeth Bear novella. Really excellent world-building. Takes placed in futuristic India with a focus on green living and technology. A detective is investigating a death with her partner, and finds a super cute engineered parrot cat that must hold a clue. While solving the crime, there is background about the character's relationship with her mother, who is an addict to virtual reality and archiving. I thought there was great balance between character development and story-telling, and highly recommend this.

[ShingetsuMoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some great stories in here and I liked this issue better than last month's.

I do admit that while the first story presented a very intriguing concept and plot the sheer amount of swearing in it finally made me give up on reading it and move on.

The next story Buffalo was a nice story but aside from discussions between characters it didn't really offer a while lot in the way of science fiction or fantasy content. It was great but just felt a bit out of place in the magazine.

Red Planet was by far my favorite in this issue. It's a great short science fiction story and has a main character with a disability. One that doesn't necessarily bother her personally. When a person who has always lived without something now has a chance to obtain it would they really consider themselves as being better off? The main character in this story doesn't and how she deals with the sudden aspect of actually being able to see was handled very well by the author and was a great way to present the character's story and to show off her personality.

Veil of Ignorance utilized the speculative fiction theme quite well. What happens to people's viewpoints when they can no longer distinguish who they are from those around them? It's an interesting idea and was executed nicely in this short story.

The Girl Who Ate Butterflies was a bit more disturbing then anything especially in regards to the main character's love interest. And The Winners Will Be Swept Out To Sea felt to me like it had more of a supernatural edge to it and reminded me of different stories of mermaids, sirens, or other mythical sea beings.

However, Cerile and the Journeyer and Things You Can Buy For A Penny were definitely my favorite fantasy stories in the book. The first an interesting message about love, hardship and searching for that one thing you truly desire. The second felt to me like a classic theme of "be careful what you wish for" but taken in such a way to make it fascinating and impossible to put down.

It also has an excerpt from the book Karen Memory which is out now and has been getting quite a bit of good press and reviews from what I've seen.

This was a great issue of Lightspeed and I definitely want to keep reading.

[Norm Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander
A Lightspeed Magazine audio production.

Here's one I'll be struggling with regarding rating for some time. For the sake of expedience I rated it 3 stars, “I liked it” verses 4 “I really liked it”. Where the truth lies in between. I rounded down because I was somewhat confused a great deal of the time. The concepts of the characters didn't really dawn on me until possibly the end, with hints I was getting it all along the way. If I were to re-read it, I would go with 4, having figured out the concept of the characters which was somewhat foreign to me.

The language. Rough. Imagine a Lora Croft or Mrs. Smith (later in the movie) kind of character with a vocabulary that could peel the eardrums of a oil rig worker. And if you have the stomach for it, it's hilarious. The protagonist sort of reminded me of a daughter of mine in her teen years who had yet to develop the socially acceptable filter yet between her brain and her mouth.

Starts strong. Actually with a big bang. Rhye, our female terminator of a character watches a gangster put a hole in her partner, Rack's forehead. Then the science fiction, computers, robots think kicks in and Rhye, with Rack's help must locate the gangster's son. Perhaps if I was reading instead of listening while driving I would not have been as confused.

I want to recommend this short story on audio. I usually read along with the audio... just something I do, and that might serve folks better. Brooke has a unique cynical/sarcastic voice in this story. Coupled with the scathing vocabulary... I wouldn't recommend it to youngsters. R rated for sure.

This is irrelevant to the story and is more about me, but I'd like to see these characters, Rhye and Rack, and their world on film. I think this particular story might be too short but it has room to build into a film. Or the characters/world developed in any other story that suits Brooke's characters.

[Lis Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rhye is an AI, and like all AIs, a second-class citizen. It's not at all clear to me how these things work in this world, but she reports wandering the streets until age twelve, when she was snatched up to become a soldier. She was a soldier until she turned 25, and she was very, very good at killing. After her service, she earns a minimal living fighting in deathmatches.

Have I mentioned lately that I Don't Do Grimdark? No, probably haven't had occasion to because, in fact, I don't do grimdark. But this is Hugo season so, like Our Hero, I soldier on.

Eventually, Rhye meets Rack, also an AI. He picks her up and tends her wounds when she's inconveniently badly injured in a deathmatch. Rack is a programming genius, and a mercenary for organized crime. Rhye becomes his partner when he needs a hired gun, and in other ways.

On their latest job, they need to rescue a mob boss's little thug of a constructed AI heir from where he is trapped in cyberspace--cyberspace with security built by Rack. He goes in, and when everything goes horribly wrong, Rhye goes in after him.

It doesn't get any more cheerful from there, a highlight being what exactly Rack used for the basis of the security system programming. Let us say, I did not find the title to be false advertising.

I did not like this at all, but I don't like this kind of story at all, and I wasn't wincing at poor writing, so take that dislike with appropriate seasoning of salt.

Personally, I can't recommend it.

I received this story as part of the 2016 Hugo Awards nominees packet.

[Ric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for "And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead" by BROOKE BOLANDER.

Cyberpunky and irreverent, as counter-culture as early William Gibson (think Molly with the slasher fingers) or Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon). Prose raining with hard similes, fresh as newly-poured concrete.

Effin good. Nominated for a Nebula in 2015, novella length. Free to read online here.

[chvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's got one of the most ... original? fun? balls-to-the-wall nuts? depiction of "hacking" I've ever seen. Instead of keystrokes and lines of code, the "hackers" are uploaded into a virtually rendered suburban hellscape and "hack" their way past "security programs" via a John Woo-choreographed gun-duels. It was definitely inspired by The Matrix. The language is also extremely colorful (and quotable); the analogies, metaphors, and similes would make a cuckolded drill sergeant proud. Brooke Bolander knows her way around a dictionary like a stray cat knows alleyway dumpsters.

Recommended if you want a cyberpunk Dresden Files, but with better mouthing off.

Available for free online:

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...

[Ita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was brilliant, but then, I don't mind profanity. I'm surprised that some of the reviewers were put off by it. It felt true to the world the MC was immersed in.

It was so grim, I didn't really want to finish it, but the excellence of the writing kept me reading. And then, the ending!! PERFECT!!

I nominated it for the Hugo and am delighted that it made it to the final five. I think it's the only non-RABID puppy nominee, so it's got a good shot at winning. Hope it does.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cyberpunk action story is extremely fast paced, impossible to put down, and fun to read. The main character, Rhye, is an artificial woman, created, used, and discarded by "regular" humans. Her hard upbringing made her somebody you would not want to mess with. She is a rough, violent, foul mouthed machine, but her meeting with Rack, a hacker, is going to profoundly affect her life.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody, profane, bawdy, and surprisingly touching.

I keep wanting to quote it at people, but I can't because it's like, 90% profanity, and also the quotes don't work unless you have the several thousand word lead up. I really enjoyed this.

[Will · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to read this. I tried since it was highly recommended. But after four pages saturated with the same threadbare gutter expletive, I simply could not take any more. Doesn't she know any other words?