Status Updates From Clarkesworld Magazine, Issu...

Destination: The Asteroid Belt interesting essay about asteroids

Indomitable Persistence: A Conversation with Alastair Reynolds good interview

The Desolate Order of the Head in the Water: 4*
A family flees into the woods after the Great Fall, where the superintelligence killed half the population with brain implants. One of their tents is damaged, the father goes into town for supplies, never comes back. The mother goes next, same thing. The boy goes, gets new parents from the superintelligence. He wonders if his parents are in the lot somewhere.

writer skill set is interesting, I might note that down in my commonplace notebook.

My process for short fiction and novels can be pretty different, but what they both have in common is that I can’t begin anything until I see, smell, taste, hear, and feel a moment experienced by the protagonist. For stories, almost always the beginning. For novels, either the beginning or end; both would be great, but that’s rare.

Extraordinary Things: A Conversation with Nicola Griffith: "My protagonists are not victims. They never suffer because of who they are, for being queer or crips or Black or broke, or whatever; their problems (and solutions) and conflicts (and triumphs) arise from what they do or don’t do, the decisions and mistakes they make. They are subjects, not objects."

Editor's Desk: 2025 in Review : read quickly

Je Ne Regrette Rien: 2*
A robot expert visits the ni ren (or human robots) in China. Their project ends the next year and he might be carrying their highly compressed memories in the gift he received from them. Too long for the tenuous payout.

Down We Go Gently: 2*
A boy goes to a planet for the first time with his father to trade stuff. He is judgemental, but maybe wants to stay?

Space is Deep: 2*
Narrator went to space for a one-year-contract with his two wives. He wants to go back to Earth, his wives want another woman to join their union. He wakes up one day and his feet are weird. He shows his wives and Penelope, they fight. Then he becomes one with the universe? Maybe? The end is really confusing.

Tomorrow's Beautiful Dream: 3*
A man is working as a soulseller. He is hired by this new company, finds out it's a conspiracy. He is forced into a twenty-year "contract", where he will be rich if he survives.

Donor Unknown: 3*
An android Ori is hired by Eugenia Rosenthal to find a painting that disappeared in 1939. Eugenie knew all along who had the painting, Ori negociates the return. Which year is this set in? Station 10 is an enclave of jews and androids, with Nazis still around. Rumors of android uprising.

The Stars You Can't See by Looking Directly: 3*
Snow is falling in Australia in summer. It affects the babies, giving them 12 pairs of genomes instead of 4. They look weird. The main character is pregnant at the same time as her sister-in-law (induced, her baby will be normal), her husband is a conspirationist.