Uncanny Magazine Issue 47: July/August 2022

Uncanny Magazine #47

by Lynne M. Thomas (Editor), Michael Damian Thomas (Editor), Marie Brennan

Cover:
The Wizard of Light by Kirbi Fagan

Editorials:
“The Uncanny Valley” by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
“The Pregnant Body Problem” by Meg Elison

Fiction:
“Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe” by Marie Brennan
“Family Cooking” by AnaMaria Curtis
“At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea” by Juliet Kemp
“Blessed Are the Healers” by K.S. Walker
“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu
“To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith” by Radha Kai Zan
“Bramblewilde” by Jordan Taylor

Reprint:
“The Hurt Pattern” by Tochi Onyebuchi

Nonfiction:
“Finding My Way Back to Solitary Fandom” by Keidra Chaney
“Wonderful Things I’ve Seen in Science Fiction Fandom” by Gay Haldeman
“In Defense of the To Be Read Pile” by Jim C. Hines
“She Is Sword, and She Is Sorcery: Womanhood in The Witcher and The Wheel of Time” by Jeannette Ng

Poetry:
“Quiet and Fragile Try on the Same Romper” by Brandon O’Brien
“Tuesday, Late Commute” by Sarah Grey
“Sibylline” by Sonya Taaffe
“Mirrors” by Millie Ho

Interviews:
AnaMaria Curtis interviewed by Caroline M. Yoachim

Jordan Taylor interviewed by Caroline M. Yoachim

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Romance, Adult, Speculative Fiction, Urban Fantasy

201 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 5, 2022

About the author

In my day job, I am the Head of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library and Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Rare Book and Manuscript Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the largest public university rare book collections in the country. I used to manage pop culture special collections that include the papers of over 70 SF/F authors at Northern Illinois University. I also teach a Special Collections course as an adjunct in the iSchool at Illinois, and used to do so at SJSU.

I'm an eleven-time Hugo Award winner, the Co-Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Uncanny Magazine with my husband Michael Damian Thomas. The former Editor-in-Chief of Apex Magazine (2011-2013), I co-edited the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords, Whedonistas, and Chicks Dig Comics. I moderated the Hugo-Award winning SF Squeecast and contribute to the Verity! Podcast. You can learn more about my shenanigans at lynnemthomas.com.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for the Locus award novelette winner, “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You," by John Chu

A solid novelette that feels very topical, using a superhero parameters and including a number of diversity and inclusion elements. Ultimately, I'd say it was 3.5 for me, as I tend to be a pass on the superhero universe of all flavors. Decently written with balanced language, it focuses on a weight-lifter and someone he knows at the gym. Other elements are slowly but incompletely revealed and I didn't feel quite the same since of satisfaction and awe when I finish a better Zelazny short. I haven't read the other nominees so I can't speak to it's winning the award, but given that Scalzi won best novel, I feel like this is a year where I am not in alignment with the voters.

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[Nataliya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review only for “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu, the story that attracted the attention of Locus and Nebula and Hugo Awards.

The title is certainly catchy. The story, however, is unimpressive. Made to hit all the current heavy-handed topical talking points in a paint-by-numbers fashion and done in a strangely simplified manner, just banking on emotions it knows it’s supposed to elicit without actual reasoning, relying on caricature evil. Plus weightlifting/bodybuilding, which just by itself would have been enough to lose my attention. And meet-cute which to me lacked charm. And superheroes which…. Zzzzzzzzzz…..

Ultimately not interesting to me. Not actually terrible but simply lackluster and boring.

2 stars.

——————

Read it here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

——————
Also posted on my blog.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for John Chu's short story If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You.

My buddy-reader recommended this short story to me. Otherwise, I might have never known it even existed. But what else are book-buddies for, ey?

It is never explained when or where exactly we are. But a recurring lcoation is a gym. Steve is lifting weights there and so is a guy he keeps noticing. A guy who tried to hide his impeccable physique under sweatshirts.
While Steve is eyeing Sweatshirt Guy, he's also noticing more and more news about a mysterious and apparently invulnerable stranger who is starting to save people.
But what sounds like Superman, isn't - or at least not as far as many people are concerned. Because they hate him and provoke him. Why? Well, that is spoiler territory for what this short story is about.

The thing I probably liked most about this story was the lightness. The text flowed and I was constantly between a heartfelt "d'aw!" and beign anxious for the characters. Not to mention hjow angry I was at other people. Because I can 100% picture exactly this happening in real life. *sighs*

Rather wonderful and heartwarming in its simplicity that is just a disguise.

You can read the story for free here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[Silvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating only for John Chu's 'If you find yourself speaking to God, address with with the informal You'. I don't really enjoy romance story and this one has a bit too much of it, with very little SFF and the backdrop of Stop Asian Hate stuff in it. Plot wise also not very interesting. I don't hate it, really, it is fine, nice idea and all.

I read most of the Nebula nominated novelettes now and I could not find the one I like. Different with the short stories, I think they are more to my taste.

[urwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You by John Chu.

Very very cute. The romance in this was heart-fluttering, and I enjoyed reading this, however, there wasn't a lot happening in it. Which is fine! I still enjoyed it a lot, but I don't think it's something groundbreaking. Yes, I agreed with the Fuck the Police sentiment (because honestly fuck the police). The persecution of Asian Americans especially Asian American women was a huge issue last year specifically so I see where the author is coming from. But there wasn't any set conclusion to it, which I guess is fair enough, how do you fix systemic racism?

I loved the title for this, and what it meant in the story. It was very clever and witty so props to Chu for that.

This won Best Novelette in both the Locus and Nebula Awards 2023. Not sure if this was the best choice since I have yet to read the other nominees, but I did feel like the scifi/fantasy aspect was a very very small part of the story.

Content Warnings: Police Brutality, Racial Profiling/Violence

Read as part of Short Stories July 1/31. Inspired by Hirondelle's challenge of reading a short story every day for a month (let's see how long I last!).

[Brok3n · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am baffled...

I am rating only the story "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You".

I read this because it won the 2023 Locus Award for best novelette. Honestly, I just don't understand why. My impulse was to rate it two stars, but then I decided I would bump that up by one star since it's clearly just not my kind of story, and I don't want to be unfair.

The story is about Carl, who is a superhero (or god -- hence the title), and about a romance between Carl and an ordinary human body-builder, Steve, who is also an actor and musician and the first-person narrator. The story consists mostly of two kinds of scenes: Carl and Steve at the gym, pumping iron together, and Carl doing his superhero things, flying around, protecting innocent people, and being superhumanly strong, and impervious to bullets, missiles, and lasers.

I am obviously missing something. There's a lot of technical discussion of body-building, a subject I have no interest in. The romance between Carl and Steve has some charm, but not what I would have thought was award-winning charm. So, OK, I admit -- I don't get it.

This story can be read for free at https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic... .

Blog review.

[Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows❈ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You by John Chu, winner of the 2023 Locus Award, Nebula Award, and Ignyte Award for Best Novelette, and finalist for the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

And this was fine. It was enjoyable, straightforward, readable. Well written, well executed. Did I think it was the best of the year in so many ways? Not even in the slightest.

It related to a lot of hot topic current events, about a mysterious superhero who appears in a time and place unknown, who appears to defend the abuse of Asian Americans in a time fueled with Anti-Asian sentiment and hate. And it had some things to say, but ultimately I don't think its going to stick with me. I've read so many stories from authors who have just done what this story is trying to do better. MAybe I'm not much for superhero stories, I dunno. It was a good story and it was well-written and I'm not trying to disrespect this author who does have talent, I just felt it was too pedestrian and too straightforward (maybe a little too politically correct maybe?) to be deserving of so many awards of which there is such fierce competition. But that is just one girl's opinion.

But it was enjoyable and readable, and perhaps I may have enjoyed it more had it not been so decorated. And so 3.5 stars it is.

Read it for FREE here:
https://www.uncannymagazine.com/artic...

[X]

Read the novelette “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God With the Informal You” by John Chu only.

It was fine! Idk the political stuff went nowhere imo but I enjoyed the gym stuff and the romance-y stuff.

[Banshee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The review is for short stories only.

Generally, either this was a very weak issue or this magazine is not for me.

Family Cooking 3.5 stars. The magic part was cute and cozy, but I'm not that much into the whole "you shall always love and forgive your blood relatives, because they're your blood relatives".

Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe. 3 stars. Promising + very good humour, but it felt like the story was cut off before it even began.

Blessed Are the Healers 2 stars. Huh?

At the Lighthouse out by the Othersea 1 star. Unreadable.

If You Find Yourself Talking to God, Address God with the Informal You. 3 stars. On one hand, the two main characters were really cute together + I liked the humour, even if the gym lingo went a bit over my head + an important American-centric problem was explored. On the other hand, the actions of the police must have been caricaturised to some extent (because if all police people would be 100% stupid and evil like in this story, then the US would be a dystopia and not a semi-civilized country it is today - and if it's not exaggerated, then I'm grateful I'm not American) + the conclusion wasn't satisfactory.

The Hurt Pattern 3 stars. You probably need to be an American to understand half of the context and references?

Bramblewilde 2.5 stars. The first half was awesome, the second half was weird.

To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith 3 stars. *shudders*

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with many multi-author compilations, some of these stories and poems were more to my liking than others. That's fine, though; it means more people are likely to find something they enjoy here even if they don't share my taste in reading. There were a couple of stories here with fantasy religion as a big plot point; I haven't seen many of those stories lately and it was good to see even if neither of those pieces were my favorite stories.

A few thoughts on some of the individual pieces:

"Family Cooking" by AnaMaria Curtis is a look at how our feelings about family can get complicated. I liked that the story's ending left the resolution up to the reader.

"If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You" by John Chu gives superheroes an Asian-American flavor. I always appreciate when some stereotypically white character types (in this case a Superman-style hero) are given a POC re-do.

“To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith” by Radha Kai Zan has a bit of body horror mixed with religion and sacrifice. Not my cup of tea but fans of horror might like it.

“At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea” by Juliet Kemp is a new favorite. I love the quiet beauty in this story—both the setting and the theme of self-discovery.

“Bramblewilde” by Jordan Taylor was a fun fairy tale of a story, not as deep as some of the other pieces in this issue but perhaps a better read because of it.

Poem “Mirrors” by Millie Ho was really enjoyable, there was more plot there than I usually expect from a poem and I love how the piece goes from being vaguely innocent to unsettling.

I also very much agree with Jim C. Hines' essay “In Defense of the To Be Read Pile”. He says a lot of things there that I agree with, and I will (try to) no longer feel defensive about owning a bunch of books I will likely never read.

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, by John Chu, approx. 20 pages

2023 Hugo Award finalist - Best Novelette
2023 Nebula Award winner - Best Novelette

A superhuman who can fly, is incredibly strong, apparently invulnerable, and with other powers suddenly appears in viral videos helping ordinary people in various ways. At the same time, a weightlifter at a gym begins to suspect who the mystery hero is. This is a story about hiding our true identities, whether it be superpowers or sexual orientation. There is also a lot to be said about racist treatment towards Asians. However, the story more stops than ends, leaving many unanswered questions.

I did not read any of the rest of this issue of Uncanny Magazine.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong issue of Uncanny

I really enjoyed:
Family Cooking by AnaMaria Curtis
Fate, Hope, Friendship, Fod by Marie Brennan
If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You by John Chu
Bramblewilde by Jordan Taylor
and the reprint The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi

[Thia Reads A Lot]

A very good issue. My favourite is The Hurt Pattern.

Family Cooking: 4* Young woman is asked to prepare food for her mother's wedding using her magic. The dip is poisonous because she hates her abuela. She talks with her mother and makes peace with the fact that her grandmother left her mother when she was young.

Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe by Marie Brennan: 4* One of the three goddesses of Fate is travelling, about to cut the thread of the [Midwest?]. Hermes was moving her around to send her a message (Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe on highway signs) and Moros tried to stop her by killing her car. She is helped by a human named Bill. She decides not to do it in the end.

Blessed Are the Healers: 2* I want to love it, people turning into statues that can heal other people sounds awesome, but I'm not sure I understand things well enough. Written in second person doesn't help.

At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea: 3* Lighthouse keeper is worrying about the motives of Peres, who is coming to [surf] the Othersea in [their] sister Inez's place since she passed away. [They] want to understand the Othersea, so Felix is reassured [they] will be back from the experience (3/4 make is out). I'm using the wrong pronouns for Peres, it's late and my brain can't process the right ones.

If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You: 3* Actor guy Steve makes friends with Carl, a bodybuilder in the 5AM crowd. Turns out Carl is the superhero who has been helping around town. The police are intent on stopping him, instead of stopping the racial crimes he stops. They will go on a date soon.

The Hurt Pattern: 5* That story hurts. Kenny is working on sorting news about shootings, catastrophes, terrorism, etc. He transfers to US [department] and finds out that the robots used by law enforcement kill people so city can go into debt so that banks can get richer. His "friend" Sasha is checking up at the end and he probably gets shot on his way home.

Bramblewilde: 3* I rarely like fairy stories, this one has feminist vibes so good. Three mothers ask the village's resident fairy Bramblewilde to find husbands for their magic-practicing daughters. They agree, disguise themself as elligible husbands and marry each daughter in exchance for their help with their mother, the Queen of Faery. They become the Ruler, the daughters live together happily in the cottage.

To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith: 2* The narrator, as a girl, was given to the abbey, but she is inpure and can't be offered to the Goddess. She is older now, sneaks in the Goddess's chamber with Sister [V] is going to meditate, finds out V and the Goddess are [having sex?]. The virgins keep the Goddess alive, but she is captive. The narrator offers herself, kills V and replaces her. I'm not sure I get the ending.

Not rating poetry or the rest of the content, but here's some thoughts.

Quiet and Fragile Try on the Same Romper: Two friends are trying on the same romper and buying it, but never wearing it?

Tuesday, Late Commute: Narrator is talking to another late night commuter about feeling eaten alive by the train? Not rating poetry.

Sibylline: I'm not sure I "get" this one, but it's also very short

Mirrors: Not sure I get this one either. Hiding crimes, maybe?

The Pregnant Body Problem: different interpretations of the pregnant body in SFF. Very interesting.

Finding My Way Back to Solitary Fandom: Good

Wonderful Things I’ve Seen in Science Fiction Fandom: Very sweet

In Defense of the To Be Read Pile: Yes, yes, yes! My opinion exactly

She Is Sword, and She Is Sorcery: Womanhood in The Witcher and The Wheel of Time: Having not seen those shows, I probably didn't get the full thing, but the end was interesting.

"This all begs the question of why if the producers were so interested in exploring themes of womanhood, they didn’t just adapt something that didn’t need this teasing out and rearrangement."

The two interviews with AnaMaria Curtis and Jordan Taylor were good too.

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

MORE FICTION
Family Cooking by AnaMaria Curtis - 4/5 (that ending! i don't know if its supposed to be redemptive or ominous)

Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe by Marie Brennan - 3/5 (nice modern mythological story but the ending was too abrupt compared to the long built-up)

Blessed Are the Healers by K.S. Walker - 3.5/5

At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea by Juliet Kemp - 3/5 ( this just wasn't for me, unfortunately)

If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You by John Chu - 3/5

The Hurt Pattern by Tochi Onyebuchi - 4/5

Bramblewilde by Jordan Taylor - 4/5

To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith by Radha Kai Zan - 2/5 (the story doesn't make much sense and I don't know what the point of it was besides gratuitous fornication between immoral beings)

POETRY
I liked the poetry in this edition but nothing really stood out for me personally

EDITORIALS
The Pregnant Body Problem by Meg Elison - 5/5
"No body that can carry a child and give birth is free. Until the right to privacy is secured, codified, enshrined, and acknowledged by every government around the world, no body is free. No body is safe."
"The pregnant body is simultaneously the most valuable and the most vulnerable one in our society. The pregnant body has the absolute inalienable right to own and to defend itself, within and without.

ESSAYS
Finding My Way Back to Solitary Fandom by Keidra Chaney - 4/5
This essay talks about the writer coming to terms with something I understood a long long time ago. Being an introvert means you didn't really have anyone to share your latest pop culture obsession with. So I already knew how to enjoy my slice of the fandom alone. You don't always need to consume the latest fad when everyone else is doing it. Or share your opinion asap. It's ok to watch that show, listen to that artist, see that movie way later than when it's popular. It's not the end of the world. There are lots of fandoms where being online isn't the mainstream of dialogue.

Wonderful Things I’ve Seen in Science Fiction Fandom by Gay Haldeman - 5/5
Such a well-lived life!

In Defense of the To Be Read Pile by Jim C. Hines - 5/5
"I purr every time someone compliments me on the rows of books spread out behind me. Those bright, broad bookshelves are like a peacock’s tail, and my ego swells whenever I get the chance to show them off.

And then someone asks the dreaded question: “Have you read them all?”

This is so me!

"That’s a hard no. There are simply too many books and too few years in the human lifespan. To make matters worse, authors keep writing more books I want to read."

Also this [regarding Marie Kondo's view on books] "I’m not here for Kondo-bashing. But I disagree with the implication that a book’s sole value and purpose is to be read."

I wish I could quote this entire essay, that's how relatable it was to me!

She Is Sword, and She Is Sorcery: Womanhood in The Witcher and The Wheel of Time by Jeannette Ng - 4/5

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

I have only read, so far, of this issue, "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You" by John Chu, a novelette which won both the Nebula and Locus awards, for 2023 (no word on Hugo nominations yet)-

I had been recommended the story before and I wanted to read it anyway based on the title - the observation is true for some languages namely mine, and it is such an interesting title. But not much is made of the title!. The one time they speak in a language not english, the "god" uses a formal tone in Mandarin which made again think of the title and hope for a bit of trivia about how Mandarin uses informal tones, but nothing is mentioned.

This is a very cute story, though too long, about two asexual guys who love weightlifting developing their relationship softly (with some heavy political stuff on the background). It is sweet and the working out, lifting, spotting, the gym buddy thing is interesting and it has symbology to it - and it is something rarely found in novels, particularly sf/fantasy, talking about working out, or the feeling of a good workout, or it as motivation. But the sweet love story is mixed with some rather surreal superman-superhero themes and very heavy handed police is bad, bad, bad messaging and fighting against racism literally but just in scenes which do not seem to have consequences and it is all much too long and muddled. There is no big reveal (I think Steve knew from the start? The reader did...), no big decision, and the events outside seem only to serve as episodes in their relationship story and the world seems to have almost no weight... Insert my usual comments, my taste and those of who pick award winners in sf/f seems to be diverging fast. But this was cute, just not my idea of best sf/f novelette published in 2022-

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe” by Marie Brennan: I liked this, but I’m not sure I understood the ending. 4/5
“Family Cooking” by AnaMaria Curtis: AHHHHHH THIS IS SO GREAT 5/5
“At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea” by Juliet Kemp: This was really neat, about loss and legacy and choice. I liked it a lot. 4/5
“Blessed Are the Healers” by K.S. Walker: Short and sweet and intriguing. 3/5
“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu: Why yes I will take a story about queer superheroes doing activism thank you 5/5
“To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith” by Radha Kai Zan: A woman is working in an abbey where all is not as it seems, I liked it (especially as an allegory for wider religion). 4/5
“Bramblewilde” by Jordan Taylor: This one was a tale about a witch outwitting some mothers, and I thought it was readable but not particularly interesting. 3/5
“The Hurt Pattern” by Tochi Onyebuchi: chilling, but really didn’t stick the landing. I enjoyed it a lot. 4/5

[Chrysten Lofton · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0⭐“Abuela doesn’t notice. I wish she would.”

**mild content spoilers**

♡ LBR 2022 ♡

We’re on the highly anticipated season 11 of LeVar Burton Reads and we’re probing at our deepest intentions with “Family Cooking” by AnaMaria Curtis.

I listened to this twice.

It really hit me on a personal level. There’s not enough stories where the closure, is that there isn’t any closure. We have to make peace around a lack of closure and reconciliation sometimes.

There’s also too many stories that insist on a certain moral or redemptive code that isn’t practical in every situation.

We don’t get to pick our families. We often can’t even influence them.

At the end of the day, we have to love bigger than we hate. That’s the magic.

Thanks for reading and if you wanna chat about the latest LBR episodes, come join us at the LeVar Burton Reads Official Community.

- 📚☕♥

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good fiction in this issue. I particularly liked At The Lighthouse Out by the Othersea which reads like a story that would be right at home over at Clarkesworld, If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You which felt very heartfelt and surprisingly fresh for a "superhero" story and The Hurt Pattern which is a brutally close to reality gutpunch just like everything else I've read by Tochi Onyebuchi.

Honor mentions for Bramblewilde and To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this specifically for “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu

Winner of this year's nebula.

I'll tell you this: I didn't expect to find something so wholesome. I mean, yes, the world is crap, the racism and homophobia extremely nasty, but when it came to the two of these bodybuilders (one a bit more special than the other), the true meaning of life can be summed up with the ending.

Obviously, there's a lot of connections between being hated for doing what you think is right and just wanting to find a little love when everyone else gives you hell about it. And then there's the admonition not to try to fix something that isn't broken.

Tom of Finland Guy is decent, doing a ton of decent things, and cops just don't get it.

Everyone else just needs to back off, on many levels.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three really strong fiction for me in this issue, but the others didn't connect so much. Marie Brennan's is well written, but too much of the story's success relies on knowledge of mythology and getting the references.

“At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea” by Juliet Kemp is touching and beautiful. “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu is engaging and profound, making a superhero story that is at once very personal and also broadly suited, showing bravery in the face of racism. Finally, “To Hunger, As with Perfect Faith” by Radha Kai Zan is a wonderfully atmospheric story of empowerment, full of darkness and just the right voice.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review is for Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe, by Marie Brennan.

There was a town visible in the distance behind the station, but even from here, the old woman could see boarded-up windows and weed-tufted sidewalks. “That Hope?” she asked as the pump chunked to life and began bleeding gasoline into her tank.

The girl nodded.

“Doesn’t look like much.”

“Isn’t very much,” the girl said. “But it’s more than nothing.”

I really like stories that mix old stories with our new world, whether that's mythology or fairytale. Marie Brennan does it well, if a little short at the end for me.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story: “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”
Read for the 2023 Hugos

There are some things in this story that are worth exploring. The idea of meeting a super hero in disguise is always a good one. There a lot of really uncomfortable racist actions throughout the story, and there's something to unpack there. Unfortunately, this story doesn't really seem to go anywhere with any of its ideas. It's tricky to follow and then just sort of .... ends.

[machinaheart]

Editorials:
“The Uncanny Valley” by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
“The Pregnant Body Problem” by Meg Elison

Fiction:
“Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe” by Marie Brennan
enjoyed it, but didn't fall in love or anything

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You” by John Chu
the reason I got here, but unfortunately not for me when it comes to the subject matter (superheroes), but I loved the writing. so all in all: good to know that I'll want to read more of john chu's writing when the ingredients sound more delicious to me.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only listened to the short story Family Cooking by Ana Maria Curtis from this collection thru the LeVar Burton Reads podcast.

A granddaughter with magical cooking skills is tasked with preparing food for her grandmother's second wedding but finds that her complicated feelings about her Abuela interfere with her magic. I didn't really get the magical realism angle, but I applauded Isa for caring so much about her mother's feelings.

[Michael Whiteman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe - Marie Brennan ***

Family Cooking - AnaMaria Curtis ***

At The Lighthouse Out By The Othersea - Juliet Kemp ***

Blessed Are The Healers - KS Walker ***

If You Find Yourself Speaking To God, Address God With The Informal You - John Chu ***

To Hunger, As With Perfect Faith - Radha Kai Zan ****

Bramblewilde - Jordan Taylor ***

The Hurt Pattern - Tochi Onyebuchi ***

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for "If You Find Yourself Speaking To God..."
2023 Hugo Nominee for Best Novelette

This was fine, I suppose. It didn't really grab me. Superheroes are always a hard sell, and while this addressed some timely issues (racialized violence), the actual heart of the story (the romance) left me kind of cold. Also, the title is fabulous but in my opinion kind of a mismatch - I had a very different idea in my head of what kind of story it would belong to.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is John Chu's short story If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You.

Steve is lifting weights in the gym, but his eyes keep wandering over to ‘Sweatshirt Guy’, a veritable God. However, much to Steve’s surprise Sweatshirt Guy has noticed him too, and they become gym buddies. This short story follows their strengthening relationship. Kind of a superhero fighting against racism.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You": What seems like a fun superhero story becomes a sweet romance and thoughts on anti-Asian racism and the fact that, as much good as individuals can do, not even superheroes can solve deeper more systemic problems alone. That last point is a nice reflection for me on the attraction to and limitations of the superhero genre.

[Anurag Sahay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating is for Fate, Hope, Friendship, Foe by Marie Brennan. I'm a major fan of mixing Greek myth with modern times, and Brennan does so quite deftly -- this is a road trip taken by Atropos. My strongest thought was: "I wish Brennan wrote more stories like this one".

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the Novelette “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”.

Strange, a love story (?) that melds superman and racial violence and police brutality. And weightlifting.