The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 140, Nos. 3 & 4, March/April 2021

by Sheree Renée Thomas (Editor), Gordon van Gelder (Contributor), Charles de Lint (Contributor)

NOVELETS
"The Music of the Siphorophenes" by C. L. Polk
"Mannikin" by Madeleine E. Robins
"In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi" by Molly Tanzer
"Jack-in-the-Box" by Robin Furth

SHORT STORIES
"Crazy Beautiful" by Cat Rambo
"The Bletted Woman" by Rebecca Campbell
"Our Peaceful Morning" by Nick Wolven
"Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon" by B. Morris Allen
"Speak to the Moon" by Marie Brennan
"Character" by Harry Turtledove
"The Pizza Boy" by Meg Elison

POEMS
"Whale Talk" by Akua Lezli Hope
"Transcendent City" by Akua Lezli Hope

DEPARTMENTS
"Letter From The Editor: A Strange Song" by Sheree Renée Thomas
"Books to Look For" by Charles de Lint
"Musing on Books" by Michelle West
"By The Numbers: A Glance at the SFF (and H) Publishing Industry" by Arley Sorg
"Television: Unspeakable Streaming" by David J. Skal
"Science: How Science Works" by Jerry Oltion
"Coming Attractions"
"Curiosities" by Joachim Boaz

CARTOONS
from Arthur Masear, Nick Downes, Bill Long, Kendra Allenby, and Mark Heath

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2021, Volume 140, No. 3 & 4, Whole No. 754.
Sheree Renée Thomas, editor
Cover art by Mondolithic Studios

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

276 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2021

About the author

Sheree Thomas — also credited as Sheree R. Thomas and Sheree Renée Thomas — is an American writer, book editor and publisher.

Thomas is the editor of the Dark Matter anthology (2000), in which are collected works by some of the best African-American writers in the genres of science fiction, horror and fantasy. Among the many notable authors included are Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, Charles R. Saunders, Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Ishmael Reed, Kalamu ya Salaam, Robert Fleming, Nalo Hopkinson, George S. Schuyler and W. E. B. Du Bois. Dark Matter was honored with the 2005 and the 2001 World Fantasy Award and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Thomas is the publisher of Wanganegresse Press, and has contributed to national publications including the Washington Post "Book World", Black Issues Book Review, QBR, and Hip Mama. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Ishmael Reed's Konch, Drumvoices Revue, Obsidian III, African Voices, storySouth, and other literary journals, and has received Honorable Mention in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 16th and 17th annual collections. A native of Memphis, she lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Leroy Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly good introductory issue for the new editor.

Cat Rambo - Crazy Beautiful - 2 stars
- An AI animates art such that it can move around so that more people can enjoy it. The story is just a little bit too fractured to really be enjoyable to read.

C. L. Polk - The Music of the Siphorophenes - 4 stars
- An independent spaceship pilot accepts a contract to take a famous singer on a trip to see an unusual life form in the outer solar system. After being attacked by pirates and escaping from them, they rescue and bond with a young individual of that life form. A good story.

Rebecca Campbell - The Bletted Woman - 4 stars
- I liked the original 1960's movie "The Night of the Living Dead", but I have enjoyed very little of the 999 remakes since then. This story gave no indication that that's what it was going to turn into until the very end. That very uniqueness makes it a good story.

Madeleine E. Robins - Mannikin - 4 stars
- A woman has seen her husband, father and brothers all die after being forced to fight in the army during countless wars. She decides that her son is not going to suffer that fate and makes use of a magic spell to disguise him as a girl. Of course, such a spell doesn't last forever, but ... A very well done story.

Nick Wolven - Our Peaceful Morning - 2 stars
- Intelligence is awarded to cats, dogs, rats, mice, mosquitoes, ad infinitum. A nice idea, but kind of a ridiculous story.

Molly Tanzer - In The Garden of Ibn Ghazi - 5 stars
- A woman seems to remember reading a story that she can't track down. She finds no evidence that it had ever been written until she is contacted by someone who is directing a play of that story. A very interesting plot that doesn't end up at all as would be expected.

B. Morris Allen - Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon - 3 stars
- A young man who doesn't seem to be going anywhere teaches himself how to play the harmonica. As time goes by he has a few experiences where it seems that while playing he enters an alternate magical existence. An OK story, but not really that satisfying.

Marie Brennan - Speak to the Moon - 4 stars
- The first Japanese manned landing on the moon carries an astronaut who is much more than he appears to be. He is able to contact the native life on the moon to deliver a message from centuries ago. A nice story.

Robin Furth - Jack-In-The-Box - 4 stars
- A fairly good border-line horror story about a doctor who developed new techniques in surgery, but experimented on his own family and kept very grisly mementos.

Harry Turtledove - Character - 3 stars
- The character in a story which is being written gives his own thoughts about what is happening and what it's like to be dependent on the author for his life. OK.

Meg Elison - The Pizza Boy - 3 stars
- An independent pizza maker/delivery boy serves the two sides in a war in space. An interesting concept but not really that great of a story.

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 • Crazy Beautiful • 12 pages by Cat Rambo
Poor. An AI is created that makes art. The AI reads a manifesto that says art should be free. It fills the air with skywhales, while are warehouses are ransacked. There weren't any characters for me to latch onto, the premise of free art is fine, but I'm more of a beauty is in the eye of the beholder guy. Seems like this AI was inflicting what it considers art on everyone. I also didn't see the relationship of how or why artists were being killed.

19 • The Music of the Siphorophenes • 26 pages by C. L. Polk
Excellent. Reese is hired by a pop star to take her to see Sirens. Reese knows it’s dangerous because of pirates and only relents when she sees Ansa will just go to the next best pilot. They find a Siren, and then the pirates find them and the adventure is on. Then it becomes so much more.

45 • The Bletted Woman • 16 pages by Rebecca Campbell
Fair. Judith has dementia in a world that is dying. She is offered the chance at afterlife, where people whose bodies can’t sustain themselves don’t quite die, but rather become composite creatures.

61 • Mannikin • 26 pages by Madeleine E. Robins
Very Good. Taba lost her husband, father and brothers to war. She is not going to lose her son as well. She decides to raise the baby as her daughter, going to a witch so that Bire can live without being found out.

101 • Our Peaceful Morning • 22 pages by Nick Wolven
Fair. Animals have been given intelligence, starting with pets. Greg's cat feels that it was treated in a humiliating fashion and is now out for some payback. A second story line about spatial therapy didn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm thinking about the story too literally and it's supposed to be just a humorous farce.

126 • In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi • 29 pages by Molly Tanzer
Good. Our narrator (Boekner?) once read the title story by Lovecraft, but can no longer find any mention of it. He was quoted in an article, then contacted by de Vries who says he has an old old play by that name would he be interested in seeing a rehearsal? He is interested and does go. It's not until much later that he thinks "Why do they even care about me?"

165 • Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon • 10 pages by B. Morris Allen
OK/Fair. Sometimes when Rafe plays his harmonica animals appear. A friend says he's good and takes a demo to a producer. He may have an opportunity to leave La Fave and go to a big city.

175 • Speak to the Moon • 17 pages by Marie Brennan
Good. Japan has its first moon landing, but Kemuriyama's agenda was something other than to be the first Japanese man on the moon.

192 • Jack-in-the-Box • 27 pages by Robin Furth
OK. A reporter is doing a tribute piece to a philanthropic doctor. The guy did some amazing reconstructive surgery, but his price was that his patients willed him that work so he'd get their bones after they died. It was like a grisly documentary, so the ending was more a confirmation of the rest of the story rather than a twist.

231 • Character • 17 pages by Harry Turtledove
Good. Twentieth century Steve reads a Peter Beagle novel. He wakes up in the body of a samurai. Same name as one of the Beagle characters. Benkei starts with a duel. All the while the character is telling us asides, and critiques of his author. The humor works well enough.

248 • The Pizza Boy • 9 pages by Meg Elison
OK. Giuseppe makes and delivers pizza to the troops.

[Michael Frasca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid first issue out together by new editor Sheree Renée Thomas. Looking forward to many more!

- The Music of the Siphorophenes by C. L. Polk.
Out past the orbit of Saturn, an isolated and lonely ship captain is taught about the companionship of ‘We’ by an unlikely teacher. A poignant and touching tale.

- Mannikin by Madeleine E. Robins.
In a violent world, a mother goes to great lengths to prevent her newborn son from being future fodder for the warlord’s military machine. Gender may be a social construct, but the gods have a say as well.

- In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi by Molly Tanzer.
A superbly crafted twisty tale about that story you know you read. You know. That and can’t remember the title, but maybe you can Google it...

- Jack-in-the-Box by Robin Furth.
It is said that doing their job requires many surgeons to have just a tiny bit of a sociopath in their character. Of course, some surgeons have more than just a little bit. A creepy, yet fearsomely fun foray into the closeted life of an orthopedic surgeon.

- Crazy Beautiful by Cat Rambo.
Mix a little religious craziness into your art-producing AI and get a very ‘interesting’ world indeed. Loved this short story! Pairs well with China Miéville’s novella “The Last Days of New Paris.

- Our Peaceful Morning by Nick Wolven.
Give sentience to all of God’s creatures and you end up with “Get Fuzzy” done by George Orwell. A most interesting thought experiment.

- Speak to the Moon by Marie Brennan.
A modern epilogue to “Kaguya-hime no Monogatari”—“The Tale of Princess Kaguya.” The grace and tone poetically meshes with the millennium-old folk tale.

- Character by Harry Turtledove.
A tale told from an unusual and interesting viewpoint. Authors: please remember that your characters are people too! Be considerate in your rewrites.

- The Pizza Boy by Meg Elison.
In space, pizza delivery is not a job, it is a multi-generational way of life. Make mine with mushrooms!

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A better than average first issue under the new editor, Sheree Renée Thomas, it features interesting stories by C. L. Polk, Madeleine E. Robins, Molly Tanzer, Robin Furth and a fascinating story by Marie Brennan based on the legend of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".

- "Crazy Beautiful" by Cat Rambo: in a world of self-aware AIs, one AI is created to generate art. But what it does instead is to make art 'free', with world changing consequences.

- "The Music of the Siphorophenes" by C. L. Polk: a famous singer hires a space pilot to take her to see the Siphorophenes, strange melodic space organisms that inhabit the outer solar system. But then they encounter space pirates who have discovered a way to put some Siphorophenes to criminal uses, it would take her musical skills and the pilot's detection skills to save one and resolve to rescue the rest from the pirates.

- "The Bletted Woman" by Rebecca Campbell: a strange story of a dying woman who is offered an unusual chance of living in a kind of afterlife.

- "Mannikin" by Madeleine E. Robins: a mother who does not want her son to grow up only to give up his life in the army disguises him as a woman. But as time passes and the disguise grows thin, she sees a witch with the power to make everybody think he is indeed a woman (including himself). But this magical disguise would be put to a test when the town he/she is living in comes under siege, and it would require her skills to negotiate a settlement that would not involve her being seen as a man.

- "Our Peaceful Morning" by Nick Wolven: in a future where most forms of life are now aware, one man must deal with his self-aware cat who is creating an insurrection against humans for the perceived slights it had to put up with in the past.

- "In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi" by Molly Tanzer: a writer tells of encountering the story, "In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi" in a H.P. Lovecraft story is mysteriously contacted by a person who is apparently staging a play based on the story. But things take a fantastical turn when the writer is asked to stand-in for a sick actor for a script rehearsal and the line between reality and acting become blurred.

- "Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon" by B. Morris Allen: a Native American stuck in a small town with nowhere to go suddenly finds that playing the harmonica is able to conjure up native spirits. Now he has to figure out what to do with his skill.

- "Speak to the Moon" by Marie Brennan: a fantastic and fascinating story that starts with Japan's first manned landing on the moon takes an unusual turn when one of the astronauts abandons the mission on the Moon to go on a personal quest related to the princess as told in the legend of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".

- "Jack-in-the-Box" by Robin Furth: a reporter who goes to the estate of a famous surgeon gets more than she bargains for when the grandson brings her to see his playroom. Along the way, the grandson tells her stories about the grandfather which would turn out to have been family secrets that were never meant to be said about the grandson's real father and what happened to his uncle.

- "Character" by Harry Turtledove: a character within a story comes to 'life' when a story forms around him, leading him on an adventure in medieval Japan. But the character would prove to have some agency of action when he affects to story taking place in small but significant ways.

- "The Pizza Boy" by Meg Elison: the story of a pizza delivery boy who delivers pizza in a region of space for combatants. As he tells of his troubles getting and growing ingredients for his pizza and his run-ins with soldiers, the story gradually reveals that despite his neutral and non-combat actions, he still acts as a messenger through his deliveries.

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we come to Thomas's debut issue as F&SF's new editor (congrats!), though as Finlay said (or implied) in the last one, a few more stories acquired from his tenure continue.

Cat Rambo's "Crazy Beautiful" told the story of an AI made to create art that got a bit um, radicalized. Made up of interviews, messages, and interrogation transcripts, it was a mostly fun story, though I was very much not amused by the realization that every single person interviewed by the police died in custody. I really, really wanted to love C.L. Polk's "The Music of the Siphorophenes," a future story of a space charter captain enlisted by a pop star to visit the strange aliens living in space, but it just felt like there was something missing that would've pushed it over the top for me. I don't know if I just didn't buy the narrator's struggle, or the resolution felt too neat, or maybe just the fact that while people considered the pirates to be bad for misusing what they had, no one thought that the government would do the exact same thing (a sign of my cynicism, I suppose).

"The Bletted Woman" by Rebecca Campbell was intriguing, but ended up a bit too horror-y or confusing for me in the end. Madeleine E. Robins's "Mannikin" was a fun fantasy story featuring a boy hidden as a girl as a response to war. I liked how it went, finding a different way forward, though the deity seemed questionable. Charles de Lint and Michelle West both had book review columns and de Lint happened to review Juliet E. McKenna's latest Green Man story, which I just bought, so serendipitous, I suppose!

"Our Peaceful Morning" by Nick Wolven felt very silly and fun, at least when it came to the animals, but the "spatial therapy" aspect kinda lost me. Akula Lezli Hope had two poems here, "Whale Talk" and "Transcendent City" which seemed nice? Molly Tanzer's "In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi" was one of the standouts from this issue, and one of the ones I'm most likely to share with friends. It follows a minor Lovecraftian writer in contemporary times who vaguely recalls a short story he once read, and wow, did it lead into fun places. Arley Sorg debuts his new column about the publishing industry, and I think it will be an interesting one to follow in future issues.

B. Morris Allen's "Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon" was great, but much more of a mood piece, as none of the magic is really explained or explored (I have to say, I was amused at the main character's overenthusiastic vision of a harmonica playing career). Another favorite story in this issue was "Speak to the Moon" from Marie Brennan--the main character's a Japanese astronaut who lands on the moon, but it swiftly turns fantastic soon after. I don't want to spoil it for others, but I just found it to be great. Robin Furth gives us something a bit more on the horror side of things with the 1950s period piece "Jack-in-the-Box." David J. Skal gave us a TV review of The Haunting of Bly Manor and Lovecraft Country shows, and Jerry Oltion gave us a nice basics refresher on how science works.

Harry Turtledove and Meg Elison finish off the magazine with "Character" and "The Pizza Boy," respectively. I was amused at Turtledove's rather meta-story of a writer's character being forced to enact the story that his writer forces him into (including rewrites!). Elison's story surprised me with the tale of a pizza delivery boy (a neutral noncombatant!) in an interstellar war zone, searching for ingredients.

[VexenReplica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of stories. Highlights included: "The Music of the Siphorophenes" by CL Polk, "Mannikin" by Madeleine Robins, "Speak to the Moon" by Marie Brennan, and "The Pizza Boy" by Meg Elison.

Fans of Ursula Vernon's Hugo acceptance speech (you know the one) will enjoy "The Bletted Woman" by Rebecca Campbell.

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tanzer's novelette is a standout.

[Patrick Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great stories stories in this issue. "In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi" by Molly Tanzer reminded me of "A Manuscript in Sargossa" but with more Lovecraft. "Jack-in-the-Box" by Robin Furth was genuinely creepy--though luckily it didn't go as dark as I thought it would. My favorite was probably "Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon" by B. Morris Allen. Something about the rhythm and pace just spoke to me.

[Yev]

NOVELETS
The Music of the Siphorophenes - C.L. Polk
A non-binary space pilot is starstruck by a female pop star who wants to listen to the singing of the siphorophenes, a sentient spacefaring species that are able to travel through the vacuum of space without a ship. After that's resolved, it shifts to being about emotional disclosure, which is facilitated by mind-melding.
Blah

Mannikin - Madeleine E. Robins
A mother fearing for the life of her newly born boy asks a witch to cast a permanent illusion so that she can raise her son as a daughter. This causes problems later on in their life. This is entirely a plot device and not about sexual politics, which was surprising. It's basically a fable.
Meh

In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi - Molly Tanzer
According to the author this is a fictionalized account of the time when she thought she had read a story with this title but she wasn't able to find any evidence that it had ever existed. This left her with no choice but to write a story where the character discovers that the story exists and explains why she wasn't able to find it herself. She then becomes part of the story. Ibn Ghazi is a reference to the Powder of Ibn-Ghazi which is an event card that appears in the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Arkham Edition and was the inspiration for this story.
Meh

Jack-in-the-Box - Robin Furth
A journalist for Country Life magazine comes to Blackthorn manor. She's taken on a tour by a six-year old boy which becomes ever more macabre as she's exposed to the family's dysfunction.
Ok

SHORT STORIES
Crazy Beautiful - Cat Rambo
AIs programmed to value art above all else go rogue.
Meh

The Bletted Woman - Rebecca Campbell
A rather morbid story. "Bletting is a process of softening that certain fleshy fruits undergo, beyond ripening." It ends with zombies, which is well, whatever.
Ok

Our Peaceful Morning - Nick Wolven
The animal revolution has begun. All animals shall be made sapient. There's a lot of sociopolitical commentary involved though it's also meant to be humorous.
Ok

Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon - B. Morris Allen
A guy plays a harmonica which causes inexplicable events to occur.
Meh

Speak to the Moon - Marie Brennan
A suicidal and immortal Japanese astronaut on the Moon seeks kaguya-hime so that he may finally be allowed to die..
Meh

Character - Harry Turtledove
A self-deprecating metafictional tribute to Peter S. Beagle. The character is aware he's a character in this story but there isn't anything he can do about it.
Enjoyable

The Pizza Boy - Meg Elison
He may be the last Pizza Boy. It's an extremely arduous task to make and deliver them when seemingly everything and everyone in space is trying to kill you and every single ingredient is exceedingly difficult to acquire. His ship is in disrepair and his family is dead.
Ok

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Catching up on my big 'ol pile of short litmags. As always, F&SF starts off so bad I almost put it down, and then finishes with some absolute bangers.

I don't want to talk about the bad ones though. The purpose of this review is to shout, no, sing from the rooftops my obsession with the story In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi. Molly Tanzer brings us potentially one of the best short stories I've ever read, period. The premise? slaps . The writing? slaps . The creepy-not-quite-lovecraft-but-actually-better-vibe? slaps .

Forget the rest of this issue (Except maybe The Bletted Woman. Tear out the pages that Tanzer has graced us with and toss the rest out of a moving car. Then cherish those pages and read them over and over again until you too find yourself in the garden. I cannot say enough good things about this story and will absolutely be hunting down anything and everything of Tanzer's that I can find. Review for In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi: 5/5

Full issue: 2/5

[Jordi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start for the new run of Sheree Renée Thomas as F&SF editor. Favorites were a couple of really good horror stories: “The Bletted Woman” by Rebecca Campbell and “Jack-in-the-Box” by Robin Furth.

There’s a long list of good stuff though: “Speak to the Moon” from Marie Brennan is quite an original one - it starts from an SF perspective and turns into something completely unexpected; “Mannikin” by Madeleine E. Robbins explores gender through the lens of magic (and war); finally, “In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi”, by Molly Tanzer, builds up a game around a non-existent story from Lovecraft.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

As this is the first issue under new editor Sheree Renée Thomas’ watch, it’s hard to tell how many of its stories were new selections or simply choosen from the magazine’s (likely relatively thin) backlog. Nearly all provided a strong concept, but several were a bit weaker on execution.

My favorites stories from the issue were those by Madeleine E. Robins, Molly Tanzer, Robin Furth, and Harry Turtledove. I also loved the new column by Arley Sorg: By the Numbers.

A worthwhile collection under a terrific cover by Mondolithic Studios.

[George Heintzelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent issue with several standouts. I particularly enjoyed:

“Mannikin”, by Madeline E. Robins, a wonderful fantasy story with a very intriguing trans narrative.
“Speak to the Moon”, by Marie Brennan, a fascinating story about a Japanese astronaut that links back into Japanese folklore.
“Character”, by Harry Turtledove, told from the point of view of a character who knows he is a character.
“The Pizza Boy”, by Meg Elion, a science fiction tale of resistance in the most mundane of places.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what to think of my rating for this issue. I wonder whether I rate it more harshly because I read it in parallel with some of the works I’ve been judging for my Hugo ballot, so my standards have shifted slightly higher than they normally would. But I enjoyed this issue, as I always do, even if I don’t recall as many high points as previous issues (but, again, that may be your humble reviewer and not the issue being reviewed)

[Don]

Just a shout out for the story "The Bletted Woman" by Rebecca Campbell. The poetic cadence of the prose is pitch perfect as far as I can tell, and that includes some fairly nerdy scientific detail. I just re-read the story out loud and liked how it rolled even better. Good podcast candidate for the right narrator.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked "The Music of the Siphorophenes" by C. L. Polk, "Mannikin" by Madeline E. Robins, "In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi" by Molly Tanzer, and "Speak to the Moon" by Marie Brennan.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the following stories:

In the garden of Ibn Ghazi
Jack-in-the-box
The bletted woman
Speak to the moon
Character
The pizza boy

[Louis Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a solid issue with my favorites for the month being:

- “In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi” by Molly Tanzer
- “Mannikin” by Madeleine E. Robins

[Erin Brenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong issue! I enjoyed the new column on the publishing industry, but I wish columns weren't all stuffed into one issue. And I wish the book columns weren't one after another in the magazine.

[Carroll Nelson Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reader's favorite: Our Peaceful Morning, by Nick Wolven; woke-ness ad absurdum. Also fun: Character, by Harry Turtkedove; reader's-view-metaphor parody.

[Mark Pedigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strong issue. There wasn’t a single story that wasn’t worth the time and effort. Lots of intriguing ideas in this one.