The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2018

by C.C. Finlay (Editor), Brian Trent (Contributor), Cassandra Khaw (Contributor)

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2018
- C. C. Finlay - Editor
Volume 135, Number 3&4, Whole Number 739
Published by Spilogale, Inc.
Contents:
Brian Trent - The Memorybox Vultures
Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard - Shooting Iron
Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam - The Men Who Come From Flowers
Jeff Crandall - What Loves You (verse)
Charles de Lint - Books to Look For
Elizabeth Hand - Books
Harry Turtledove - Powerless
Brenda Kalt - The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath
Bill Long - Cartoon
Jeremiah Tolbert - We Mete Justice With Beak and Talon
Yukimi Ogawa - Taste of Opal
Susan Emshwiller - Suicide Watch
Jerry Oltion - Science: The Telltale Vein
Tim Pratt - Television: A Better Place
Arthur Masear - Cartoon
Gregor Hartmann - Emissaries From the Skirts of Heaven
Sarina Dorie - Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story
Kendra Allenby - Cartoon
Geoff Ryman - Blessed
Mike Ashley - Curiosities
Cover by Michael Garland for "Powerless"

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Former Editor, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Author of The Prodigal Troll, the Traitor to the Crown Series, and Wild Things, plus dozens of short stories. World Fantasy Award Winner, and finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Sidewise, Sturgeon, and Locus Awards. Teacher at Clarion and elsewhere.

Married to novelist Rae Carson.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard offer a reversal of the “white savior” trope featured in most West meets East stories; in “Shooting Iron”, a Malaysian woman become a wild west gunslinger to liberate an American ghost town whose residents are frozen in time by a 100-plus-year-old curse. As a child, rich girl Jenny Lim crash lands in Angel Gulch, where the residents haven’t aged a day since the 19th century, thanks to a curse authored by Boss Lonely, a demonic cattle rancher who made the town disappear from the map to win a contract with the railroad company. The story toggles back and forth between Jenny’s origin story and the present, where adult Jenny travels to the UK to dispatch some of Boss Lonely’s goons. “Shooting Iron” is pure, action-packed fun; the authors have a grand ol’ time mashing together b-movie western and horror stylings. I wish the “present day” story had been more consequential: it does nothing to resolve the conflicts or answer the questions raised in the “origin” plotline. My guess is Howard and Khaw were going for a pilot episode feel and perhaps are planning a sequence of stories in this setting.
Brian Trent’s “The Memorybox Vultures” has a knockout premise: Epitaph Incorporated preserves online identities for deceased clients, allowing them to continue to post comments and send notices after preparing a “memorybox”. Virtual representations of the deceased, called “quasints”, serve as proxies for the deceased to interact with their living handlers. Donna Lane is a handler who finds herself in deep trouble when one of her clients “deadposts” evidence that the governor of Connecticut has a history of committing sadistic and violent acts. Trent’s story hums along nicely for a while – interesting protagonist, suspenseful storytelling – then lets the air out with an ending that only avoids deus ex machination thanks to a flimsy call back to a thing that was barely mentioned early in the story. It plays like the author was writing himself out of a corner and sunk what otherwise could have been a terrific story.
“Emissaries from the Skirts of Heaven” is the latest, and possibly best, story set on and around the Frontier planet Zephyr. It also traverses an epic scale of time and distance to tell the intimate story of Grace, a devotee of humanity’s dominant theocracy (called Pathway) who seeks to reconcile the moral and ethical inconsistencies in her church’s doctrine. The story jumps to different points in Grace’s life: from her origins as an orphan from a broken home, to her time in the exclusive seminary-like “Diversity”, through her military service fighting against a growing heresy, concluding with her time as a counselor and medic on Zephyr. As a child, Grace hides in the closet while her parents are having a violent argument. She plays an educational game on her tablet, and after correctly answering a series of questions the program rewards her with cheerful music and a quick animation: “The girl, who looked like Grace, shrugged off her breather pack. Her arms became wings and she leapt into space. Angels materialized like fractal snowflakes and escorted her into the starry sky. Watching herself fly, Grace moaned with joy.” Adult Grace, wiser and tempered by experience, again hides away from violent conflict on a remote island on a distant planet, searching for the right answers. Grace’s personal journey drew me in, but I felt the story offered an incomplete picture of the war she hoped to avert. Were there factors beyond the theological that led some Pathway worlds to embrace the heresy? If so, will a theological fix be sufficient? Will it be enough to make up for the millions (billions?) of lives lost?
Geoff Ryman gives a gentle poke in the ribs to “woke” white South Africans in “Blessed”. Ryman’s second-person protagonist has her white guilt cred listed for the reader (you benefitted from apartheid, but “your older sister went to jail” fighting the good fight, etc.) as she tours the inside of Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Nigeria. She loses her way, and a series of mildly fantastical events leads her to an unexpected conclusion. The story is amusing and full of puckish audio/visual cues (the snake that sounds like a crying baby is a goosefleshy one), and the point – that whites will never connect to the land the way native Africans can – is salient, if also an easy-to-hit target. I’m not sure what the final twist means to accomplish.

[Leroy Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best issues in a long time. Every story is above average and a couple of them are very good.

Brian Trent - The Memorybox Vultures - 4 stars
- A very well done story about a near future where when people die they can leave a social media/AI presence which can interact with people to a limited extent. Unfortunately, they can also be hacked.

Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard - Shooting Iron - 4 stars
- Good vs. Evil with the battle being fought by the hero/heroine in the white hat against the guys in the black hats.

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam - The Men Who Come From Flowers - 4 stars
- A very odd story about women having to grow men from plants, selecting only the best to be kept.

Harry Turtledove - Powerless - 4 stars
- A personal rebellion in Communist California.

Brenda Kalt - The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath - 5 stars
- A refugee woman barely surviving in her job running a personal laundromat/bath house is faced with helping another man of her race in a rebellion.

Jeremiah Tolbert - We Mete Justice With Beak and Talon - 5 stars
- The police fight attack drones with remote controlled attack birds.

Yukimi Ogawa - Taste of Opal - 4 stars
- A kind of nebulous story about children who have special blood which can be used to make medicine/narcotics and the people who take advantage of them for the benefit of society or, maybe, themselves.

Susan Emshwiller - Suicide Watch - 4 stars
- A social horror story? A company starts a service through which you can pay for exclusive rights to be present at a suicide.

Jerry Oltion - Science: The Telltale Vein - 4 stars
- What is done to analyze your blood when a sample is taken? Well written.

Gregor Hartmann - Emissaries From the Skirts of Heaven - 5 stars
- A future where mankind is living on many planets and everyone belongs to one religion which is a variation of the judeo/christian religion. This story is about one woman's journey through life as she does what she can to help other people, but in her own way.

Sarina Dorie - Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story - 4 stars
- An odd story about a man who doesn't quite become pregnant.

Geoff Ryman - Blessed - 4 stars
- Another odd story of a woman who becomes lost in a cave in Nigeria and what she discovers when she finds her way back out.

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

A darn good issue all around. I had a number of favorites:
- "The Memorybox Vultures" by Brian Trent: I've read and enjoyed several of Trent's stories, and this one creates a chilling and fascinating vision of the future where the dead continue to post on social media.
- "Powerless" by Harry Turtledove: Southern California under Russian communism, with a focus on a rebellious cog in the machine. Leave it to Turtledove to come up with a fresh alt history twist. I added this novelette to my awards short list.
- "Emissaries from the Skirts of Heaven" by Gregor Hartmann: The worldbuilding is what gripped me in this story, as it describes as space-faring civilization and a religion that intrigues.
- "Shooting Iron" by Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard: This is a violent, fun twist on the trope of white men venturing off to Asia to come back as enlightened fighters.

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 • The Memorybox Vultures • 22 pages by Brian Trent
Very Good+. When people die they can have their memories uploaded into a quasi-intelligence. Donna Lane works for Epitaph corporation that manages quasints. She is talking with Brent McCue when she is kidnapped, wakes up the next morning to find that a client has committed suicide. Donna thinks it was murder. With the help of Brent she is able to find the identity of the hacker. Now what can she do with this information?

30 • Shooting Iron • 41 pages by Cassandra Khaw, Jonathan L. Howard
Excellent/Very Good. When Jenny Lim is ten her plane crashes. The pilot dies and she walks into Angel Gulch. As an adult she is battling the Red T forces of Boss Lonely. Action packed western SF.

71 • The Men Who Came from Flowers • 4 pages by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
OK/Good. Susan grows flowers. She plucked one that was maturing early, did the first process to turn it into a man and he is now her boyfriend. She wasn't supposed to do this and she'll be taken away from this garden. When she confessed, she gave the second process to her boyfriend and his personality changed. What we're not told is if this happens to all men from flowers, or only this one because she did something wrong.

94 • Powerless • 38 pages by Harry Turtledove
Good+/Very Good. Charlie Simkins is tired of the tyranny of the party and today he is not going to hang their propaganda in his store window. He knows this will end up biting him in the ass, but he needs to do something.

132 • The Gallian Revolt As Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath • 11 pages by Brenda Kalt
Good/Very Good. Ter Zamora is the manager of a laundrobath. She tries to get the military personnel from the nearby ships to patronize the bath. One customer is a Gallian. When the local policeman stops by to extort money from her she stays mum. When questioned again she gives limited information.

143 • We Mete Justice with Beak and Talon • 12 pages by Jeremiah Tolbert
Good+. We view a police chase from the point of view of an eagle/drone/passenger. It his trying to catch a drone that has made an assassination attempt.

155 • Taste of Opal • 25 pages by Yukimi Ogawa
Good+. Kei is sold to merchants so her blood can be turned into jewels. She has opal blood that can be used to make jewels and has healthful properties in some cases narcotic. We learn some of her family history and that the contrast to opal blood is jet. More interesting as we learn more.

180 • Suicide Watch • 13 pages by Susan Emshwiller
Good/OK. The narrator watches his first suicide and it is addictive. He wants to feel the rush again and again. When he runs out of money Death Tours has a plan to allow him another tour.

206 • Emissaries from the Skirts of Heaven • 22 pages by Gregor Hartmann
Very Good. Grace rises from humble beginnings to become a sister in the Pathway of Diversity. They are fighting a war with the Niyans who believe that the expansion of humanity is diluting God. Grace will not compromise her principles. Great character.

228 • Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story • 17 pages by Sarina Dorie
OK/Good. Javier has a growth in midsection that he wants removed. When he goes to the doctor they tell him it is a baby. At first he wants it gone, after thinking about it, he wants a child. He and his wife have had to adopt.

245 • Blessed • 13 pages by Geoff Ryman
OK+. A woman who was popular growing up is now finding it hard to make friends. She's on a tour at a sacred rock. They go inside the rock and she becomes separated from the group. It's dark and all she has for light is her phone. No signal, of course, she can't call for help.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this magazine for the unique stories. The literary feel, the weirdness, the stretching of the cultural paradigm. Just what I like. I recommend this at least once. Get a copy. At first, the writing clashes. It's not mainstream, not popular, but it submerges you as you read them. You find a new part of you and a great pleasure at a unique experience you haven't yet found.

Brief snapshots of stories I liked most:



The Taste of Opal, Yukimi Ogawa,. A world in the future. Genetic engineering (I assume because not specified, another bonus). People enslaved for the medical and medicinal qualities of their blood (the main character's blood makes people feel the way I've heard the DMT experiments described-- worth research if you've never heard of it). Some of the blood causes plants to grow and evolves new worlds of plant life.



Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story, Sarina Dorie. Wonderful piece. Took me from feeling vulnerable about my masculinity to laughing out loud hilarity to deep feeling nearly invoking tears, to horror. Worth a read. Hope to read more from this author in the future.



Blessed, Geoff Ryman. The author took on the difficult role of the story evolving in the mind of a single character lost in a cave. The horrific and fantastic elements-- my word-- where the hell? It ended with a speculative bang. Check out this beautiful prose:

"Dreams are fragments of omniscience.
You step out into daylight, and out of a cloudless sky, rain begins to fall.
When the sky dreams, rain falls out of sunlight. Dreamwater washes and makes real."

Check it out. At least once. I've found a dozen unique voices in the pages of this magazine over the past couple years. It's different, and weird, unique. Just what I like. Even if it's not popular. What really matters in the end? That you read and wrote what you loved, one moment at a time, one day at a time, or that you achieved a delusion of bigness in your own eyes and the eyes of others. Everyone has their own opinion. One of these sounds like wisdom to me.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A better than average issue with fun stories by Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard, Jeremiah Tolbert, Yukimi Ogawa and Sarina Dorie. Susan Emshwiller's debut story was also interesting and continues her parent's involvement with the magazine.

- "The Memorybox Vultures" by Brian Trent: the story of a future where AI driven memories of dead people live on as 'posts from the dead'. But when one dead person's recorded videos of a politician's younger self abusing animals and others start to surface, it causes all kinds of scary conflicts between the living, the dead and a cult that 'worships' a dead musical group.

- "Shooting Iron" by Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard: a fun and interesting story of a girl who possesses a curious and magical gun who had made it her mission to find and kill an evil boss (and his assorted minions). It is told as two separate, inter-related stories. One is set in the present showing her confronting and hunting down one of the bosses top minions. The other is set in her past with her crashing into a town that is caught in a cursed existence by the boss and she decides to make it her mission to bring the boss to justice to free the inhabitants.

- "The Men Who Come from Flowers" by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam: a fantasy story about a woman who, as the title says, grows a kind of man from flowers. Flowers that aren't perfect are discarded but one day, she nurses one bruised flower into a man to become her companion which is against the rules. Life looks good until the day comes when her secret has to be revealed and the final behaviour of all men who grows from flowers is known.

- "Powerless" by Harry Turtledove: an alternate history story were communism has taken over the US and on the west coast, a family man ekes out a living running a grocery stall while silently grumbling about the state of the crumbling city and run-down economy. But one small act of defiance against the socialist party would lead to others and to a realisation that he may not be powerless in a one-party state. A nice story, but only works with the premise that a socialist state would be much poorer (both economically and politically) compared to a capitalist system.

- "The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath" by Brenda Kalt: the old owner of a combination laundromat and bath unwillingly gets involved in a revolt on a planet when one of the rebels uses her place for a bath.

- "We Mete Justice with Beak and Talon" by Jeremiah Tolbert: a fascinating and exciting tale of a future where the mind of a bird and a man can 'meld' as they go in pursuit of a airborne drone that has just made an assassination attempt on a city politician.

- "Taste of Opal" by Yukimi Ogawa: an interesting fantasy depiction of a world where a young girl is 'milked' for her blood which turns out to have strong medicinal (and addictive) properties. The story slowly reveals the details of the girl's world, her relationship with the 'merchants' who take care of her and carry her from client to client who use her blood. Then she is suddenly 'freed' by a stranger whose blood has other properties and their relationship together in hiding will yield yet more details about this fascinating world. A worthwhile read.

- "Suicide Watch" by Susan Emshwiller: a disturbing, thought-provoking story about a man who enjoys (and gets emotional highs) from watching people commit suicide. He's not the only one as the company at the heart of things links up suicide watchers like him with people who are committing suicide. But when his line of credit with the company runs out, he signs a new contract to continue his watching, only to learn that the contract ends with his own suicide. But he may have one last desperate plan to evade the company and deny the person watching his suicide from getting pleasure from it. (The author is the daughter of Ed and Carol Emshwiller, both of whom have long associations with the magazine.)

- "Emissaries from the Skirts of Heaven" by Gregor Hartmann: in a future, a poor girl struggles with her studies so as to enter a religious-based order to survive. As she rises in the religious hierarchy, we get a fascinating view of a future where a religious schism threatens to split humanity apart but, she believes, only she can prevent by looking for and finding out the truth behind her religious beliefs.

- "Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story" by Sarina Dorie: a story that starts off with good humour about a man who is somehow pregnant and worried about how it affects his 'manliness'. But as the story develops and he accepts his condition, the story suddenly turns serious and chilling when people start telling him that the 'baby' he harbours isn't what it seems to be. Now the question is whether the man believes them and what will he do about it. The ending is unexpected and chilling. The ridiculous click-bait sounding headlines that pop-up in the story enhance the plot and slowly reveal the truth.

- "Blessed" by Geoff Ryman: a woman on a pilgrimage to a cave system in Africa is suddenly plunged into a whole different world.

[Peter Emshwiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great issue, front to back! And, sure I may be a little biased, but my sister’s dark, haunting story, Suicide Watch, is just amazing! Heck, biases aside, even if we WEREN’T siblings I’d think it was fantastic! Go Sis!!

[Leo Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Memorybox Vultures was excellent :)

[Deborah Replogle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have I mentioned that this is my all time favorite Literature Magazine? Oh, I have? Well, it is. And again, I read every word of this issue.

[Standback · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully strong issue; almost every story hits its mark -- and the variety of marks is dazzling.

"Shooting Iron," by Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard, is the absolute standout in a very strong issue. A kickass protagonist in a pitch-perfect adventure story, that grabs tropes of East and Westerns and flips them on their head.

"The Memorybox Vultures," by Brian Trent, imagines living on in the cloud after one's death... and consequently, who might try to extinguish such lives. Fast-paced and memorable.

"Taste of Opal," by Yukimi Ogawa, follows a young girl, Kei, whose magical blood is precious commodity -- and an illict one. Gripping, and with excellent characters. At some point, the story pivots oddly from Kei's predicament, towards delving into an intricate system of magic -- but it remains compelling, and beautifully imagined.

"Emissaries From the Skirts of Heaven," by Gregor Hartmann, tells a space-opera story through a series of snapshots, from the hero's childhood to her old age. Vivid and artful.

---

I enjoyed most of the other stories as well. I was somewhat disappointed by the cover story, "Powerless," by Harry Turtledove --where, in an alternate, communist America, one man decides he's had enough of propaganda. The story is horribly simplistic -- the threatened merciless slapdown for resisting tyranny never materializes, and the protagonist feels feted for some random feel-good victories, and that's pretty much as far as the story gets. It's entertaining -- but, at this moment in time, on the topic of resistance in the face of totalitarian regimes, shallowly "entertaining" feels very insufficient. I'm very happy to see stories of resistance -- but I'd like them to be more intelligent, better constructed, with more nuance. And casting communism for this one, at this time, feels like a deeply weird choice.

---

I believe this is the first issue with Jerry Oltion writing the science column. I very much enjoyed the topic chosen for this one. It's science that's near to home indeed, although seldom given much thought: how blood tests work. Welcome aboard, Jerry!

[Mary Soon Lee]

This issue of F&SF contains three novelettes, all of which I liked, and eight short stories, all but one of which I liked. Of the novelettes, my favorite is Harry Turtledove's "Powerless," which is an alternate history where the main character lives in a totalitarian Communist state in California's San Fernando Valley. It's a very effective story about small, stubborn acts of defiance.

Among the short stories, two stood out for me. Susan Emshwiller's "Suicide Watch" is a deeply disturbing story about paying for the privilege of witnessing suicides first-hand. I consider it a very good story, though not an enjoyable one. I felt voyeuristic even reading it. The other story that I particularly liked is "The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath," by Brenda Kalt. The title gives a taste of the story's flavor, which offers an atypical perspective on a far-future rebellion. I liked the story's tone and it's laundry-woman protagonist, and will be watching out for more work by Brenda Kalt.

Overall, another fine issue.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the 4th issue in my subscription. It was the best so far! Two 5's and two 4's!

A slight spoiler follows?

The science story on blood was quite appropriately placed after the story "Suicide Watch", both story and science article were favorites of mine!

1-5 rating, Author, Title

3 - Brian Trent - The Memorybox Vultures
5 - Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard - Shooting Iron
1 - Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam - The Men Who Come From Flowers
4 - Harry Turtledove - Powerless
3 - Brenda Kalt - The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath
4 - Jeremiah Tolbert - We Mete Justice With Beak and Talon
1 - Yukimi Ogawa - Taste of Opal
5 - Susan Emshwiller - Suicide Watch
3 - Gregor Hartmann - Emissaries From the Skirts of Heaven
3 - Sarina Dorie - Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story
2 - Geoff Ryman - Blessed

[Michael Frasca · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite stories:

- Harry Turtledove - Powerless. You can't fight city hall. Or can you? Revolutions build from small actions at the grassroots.

- Brenda Kalt - The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath. Nice companion piece to Powerless.

- Gregor Hartmann - Emissaries From the Skirts of Heaven. Compressing an entire life story into a short story is no mean feat. Hartmann pulls it off masterfully. Sure to be on many award shortlists.

[Tad Kilgore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every story was well-written and intense. A Taste of Opal was particularly outstanding. . There are no compromises in this issue.

[Renee Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an exceptionally good edition. I often find myself skipping a story or two but not this time. Every store was really good.

[Antonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Memorybox Vultures had an amazing premise and was executed well, with a tight plot, a good balance of action and reflection, sleezy goverment types, badass heorines, and an ending that grips the heart. My favorite story in this issue

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Trent - "The Memorybox Vultures": 3 stars
Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard - "Shooting Iron" 2-3 stars
Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam - "The Men Who Come From Flowers": 4 stars
Harry Turtledove - "Powerless": 3 stars
Brenda Kalt - "The Gallian Revolt as Seen from the Sama-Sama Laundrobath": 3 stars
Jeremiah Tolbert - "We Mete Justice With Beak and Talon" 2-3 stars
Yukimi Ogawa - "Taste of Opal": 4 stars
Susan Emshwiller - "Suicide Watch": 5 stars
Gregor Hartmann - "Emissaries From the Skirts of Heaven" 4-5 stars
Sarina Dorie - "Impossible Male Pregnancy: Click to Read Full Story": 4 stars
Geoff Ryman - "Blessed": 3-4 stars

[George Heintzelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent issue. Every story was enjoyable, and several quite good ones. Khaw & Howard’s “Shooting Iron”, Turtledove’s “Powerless”, Brian Trent’s “The Memorybox Vultures”, Jeremiah Tolbert’s “We Mete Justice with Beak and Talon”, and Gregor Hartmann’s “Emissaries from the Skirts of Heaven” were all favorites, and from the fact I’ve named half the issue gives an idea of the quality.

[Richard Godfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

So So

Many of the stories drag on far beyond the point of being interesting. I prefer shorter stories in larger quantities.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked "Shooting Iron" by Cassandra Khaw and Jonathan L. Howard, and "Suicide Watch" by Susan Emshwiller