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Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #299, Special Double-Issue for BCS Science-Fantasy Month 5
Issue #299 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, a special double-issue for BCS Science-Fantasy Month 5, featuring stories by Rich Larson, R.Z. Held, Jason Sanford, Emily C. Skaftun, and Laine Bell and science-fantasy cover art by Andis Reinbergs.
94 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 4, 2020
2 people want to read
About the author
Scott H. Andrews
463 books24 followersScott H. Andrews is a writer of science fiction. He teaches college chemistry. He is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.
Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 24, 2020
The Sniper And I - Rich Larson ****
The narrator is assigned to monitor a sniper who has been experimentally bonded with their weapon, blurring the distinction between the person and the gun. The war itself is shown as largely pointless, and the sniper - although highly effective, begins to take cruel pleasure in their kills. A physical, visceral look at human/machine convergence and the trauma arising.
Truth As A Prize - RZ Held ****
Naomi is a ghost, trapped in the Game after failing to win it but able to be chosen as a guide or foe by new players. Ostensibly there are strict rules but the Game funnels choices to maximise pain and suffering, which sustains it. Among the blood magic and rules of truth and lies, a strong story of moving beyond desiring to win the Game towards ending it entirely.
Where The World Ends Without Us - Jason Sanford ***
In a post-apocalyptic world maintained in a rural, low tech state by nanotech "grains", Alexnya is an anchor - allowed a level of technology to help prevent change to the environment. The grains' intelligence demands her to be judged for the crimes her predecessor committed before the story began. Mostly a journey, with lots of family and friends bickering and forming connections, leading to the judgement event. Something of a middle episode, but made me want to seek out the beginning.
Only The Messenger - Emily C Skaftun **
Astrill is an octopode crewmember on a smuggling ship, coming to terms with the breakup of their relationship by bonding with a strange new arrival, after the ship literally bumps into them. Some nice ideas - the reincarnation and memory of past lives weighs on the experience of love but also feeds into the FTL messaging powered by repeated murder and slavery - but the setup felt thrown together and much of the story clumsy.
Song Of The Water Bear - Laine Bell ***
Cel finds themself the leader of their group after deaths in a hibernation period, just as their society and the water bears they coexist with come under attack from strange grey, shapeless beings. A hopeful story about finding the courage to go on, working together and overcoming adversity, but the micro scale and vagueness of the threat make it hard to fully invest.
The narrator is assigned to monitor a sniper who has been experimentally bonded with their weapon, blurring the distinction between the person and the gun. The war itself is shown as largely pointless, and the sniper - although highly effective, begins to take cruel pleasure in their kills. A physical, visceral look at human/machine convergence and the trauma arising.
Truth As A Prize - RZ Held ****
Naomi is a ghost, trapped in the Game after failing to win it but able to be chosen as a guide or foe by new players. Ostensibly there are strict rules but the Game funnels choices to maximise pain and suffering, which sustains it. Among the blood magic and rules of truth and lies, a strong story of moving beyond desiring to win the Game towards ending it entirely.
Where The World Ends Without Us - Jason Sanford ***
In a post-apocalyptic world maintained in a rural, low tech state by nanotech "grains", Alexnya is an anchor - allowed a level of technology to help prevent change to the environment. The grains' intelligence demands her to be judged for the crimes her predecessor committed before the story began. Mostly a journey, with lots of family and friends bickering and forming connections, leading to the judgement event. Something of a middle episode, but made me want to seek out the beginning.
Only The Messenger - Emily C Skaftun **
Astrill is an octopode crewmember on a smuggling ship, coming to terms with the breakup of their relationship by bonding with a strange new arrival, after the ship literally bumps into them. Some nice ideas - the reincarnation and memory of past lives weighs on the experience of love but also feeds into the FTL messaging powered by repeated murder and slavery - but the setup felt thrown together and much of the story clumsy.
Song Of The Water Bear - Laine Bell ***
Cel finds themself the leader of their group after deaths in a hibernation period, just as their society and the water bears they coexist with come under attack from strange grey, shapeless beings. A hopeful story about finding the courage to go on, working together and overcoming adversity, but the micro scale and vagueness of the threat make it hard to fully invest.
August 24, 2020
A very strong issue. Many of the stories feature non-human protagonists which provide an interesting perspective.
November 2, 2020
I'm always a Larson fan, and I enjoyed the Held, but the Bell story is a fascinating transfer.
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July 5, 2022Placeholder for "The Sniper And I" by Rich Larson
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews