Status Updates From Clarkesworld Magazine, Issu...

The nonfiction is another Zero-G article from Spires, and interviews with artist Donato Giancola and writer Erin K. Wagner, and a fun editorial from Clarke describing the cover art process for the magazine.

The Coffee Machine - Corral-Vázquez: Amusing story of a coffee machine gaining sentience.

Life Sentence - Gelian: A time-loop scenario for this astronaut by a black hole.

Retirement Plan - Starkey: A starhopper sets up a retirement plan 400 years ago. Quite funny to me.

Souljacker - Paul: Woman's body keeps getting souljacked. Ending is very much a "back away into the bushes" moment.

Lucie Loves Neutrons and the Good Samarium - Dyer: Story dragged a bit, 2 women and a baby in a nuclear-war-torn Europe.

Driver - Siddiqui: Great story of a chauffeur who isn't quite what he seems.

Stranger Seas Than These - Chan: Trapped in a submersible inside a dead Godwhale.

From Across Time - Umeh: What to do when your time-traveler lover has erased herself from your life?

The Painted Skin and the Final Stroke - Zhu: Painting a soul to prove you have one.

retirement plan - 1★ - dense worldbuilding for such a short page count, but not worldbuilding I was interested in. mythmaking but like.... why did the myth take root... what about it spoke to the people of this planet... "he saved a girl" okay? romance of the wild wild west, I guess. not my bag.

life sentence - 3★ - wobbles hand back and forth. interesting ideas. wish it had been a bit longer, because the rapid cuts began to lose their impact after few pages, and it relies heavily on the implication of their relationship rather than the relationship itself. effective for what it is, though; good use of a compressed word count.

coffee - 3★ - okay, it was stupid but it was fun. the homage to cornball 80s-90s scifi did get me to smile, can't lie. yes I got the joke about the number."

driver - 5★ - oh, bravo. a nice little inversion of a midlife crisis story; I actually started grinning in delight at the page as I realized what was going on. beautifully structured narrative, great execution, and interesting questions asked. one's place in the world, needing to be needed in your niche, the desire to be seen (and to see yourself).

lucie loves neutrons - 1 ★ - dnf. skimmed. even tediously rich folk are affected by nuclear war and can feel hope etc etc etc so fucking boring

souljacker - 2 ★ - interesting idea but weak storytelling and bland worldbuilding. what exactly is motivating these characters, esp Angelina? the ending in particular does nothing to address the tension established early in the story. it's not even a cliffhanger, it's just a sudden swerve.

painted skin - 4 ★ - deeply romantic. poetically written. tech as magic, magic as human, tech as human. what does it mean to have a soul? where is the dividing line between the real and unreal? is the act of creation inherently human? can we find meaning in the art created by machines? all sort of moot points bc as far as we can tell AI isn't ensouled atm but a topic I find interesting

from across time - 4★ - fantastic worldbuilding, enticing concept. clear and concise writing used to outline interesting characters in few strokes. I appreciated the bit. what would you be willing to sacrifice?

stranger seas - 3 ★ - interesting and I appreciate the willingness to kill a character, but The Face of God did alien divinity better + I wasn't fully sold on the worldbuilding. delightfully oppressive tone to match the cramped quarters tho, good job on that.

Paul Starkey and I have similar thoughts. I have also calculated how long it would take to slow down a craft traveling close to the speed of light.

Celia Corral-Vasquez and I have similar sensibilities.