Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #350, Special Double-Issue for BCS Science-Fantasy Month 6

by Scott H. Andrews (Editor), Aliette de Bodard, A.T. Greenblatt

Beneath Ceaseless Skies podcast from issue 350 episode 290

115 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 16, 2022

About the author

Scott 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.

Reviews

[Jassmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read At the Foot of the Dragon Stair by Aliette de Bodard 3,5⭐
This was a solid short-story, but Aliette de Bodard's stories are normally absolutely amazing, so I wasn't that thrilled with this one.

This is a very metaphorical story about cycle of chaos and order and about the value of sacrifice. All of that + the dragon in the title reminded me of R.F. Kuang's The Nine Curves River, which I didn't love but I think they form an interesting contrasting duo together. I guess it's just really hard to tackle those themes well and in a manner that would be satisfying to me personally...

Overall, if you want to try out Aliette de Bodard short-story, I would recommend that you try Scattered Along the River of Heaven which is one of her masterpieces is one of my humble opinion (and also free: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/de_b...) but this short-story is also good. Would recommend but if you are only ever going to read one short-story from Aliette de Bodard, don't pick this one...

Read it for free here: https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.c...
BRed at WBtM: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read "A Record Of Our Meeting With The Grand Faerie Lord Of Vast Space And Its Great Mysteries, Revised" by A.T. Greenblatt. Novelette length, with the story telling structure both experimental and complex of a ship of time travels marooned in a space-time limbo and the interactions, time travelling, its owner has with a supernatural being to help free the ship. Involving many time loops and annotations. Despite the many time loops and recursiveness, the tale is relatively straightforward, retro-ish in tone almost and, in my personal opinion, even a bit twee. The very unstructured structure is interesting particularly if the reader loves time travel themes (I don't) or unusual story telling techniques (I do not, not for their own sake). I rolled my eyes at the ending though not sure if I did not have demanding expectations of the length (7k words is not that short). 3 stars (or 2, will think...)

[Michael Whiteman · Rating 4 out of 5]

At The Foot Of The Dragon Stair - Aliette De Bodard ****

A Record Of Our Meeting With The Grand Faerie Lord Of Vast Space And Its Great Mysteries, Revised - AT Greenblatt ***

It Never Was - RZ Held ***

Empty Appendages - William Broom ****

To People Who'd Never Known Good - Thomas Ha ***

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read the two main stories, A Record of Our Meeting with the Grand Faerie Lord of Vast Space and Its Great Mysteries by AT Greenblatt (4*) and At the Foot of the Dragon Stair by Aliette de Bodard (5*).

Both deal with time/space travel in different ways, the first an interesting interlocking of fae lore with interstellar travel, and centring on finding yourself. Really enjoyed the space faery, their characterisation, description (many eyes) and traits (e.g. living on bargains with humans). Loved the tricksy nature of the writing.

The second describes the fall of a monastic order which deals in history, and what the narrator is willing to sacrifice for it. It uncovers a deep mystery about the monasteries that was just so shocking to read. I love this author's writing style, and this is yet another added to my list of favourites.

I might read the other 3 at some point in the distant future, though.