Thia Reads A Lot’s Reviews > Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 209, February 2024 > Status Update

Tying Together Disparate Concepts: A Conversation with Bogi Takács: Good interview

Lonely Ghosts: 4* Sini is an exploration robot who is haunted by two ghosts (Marli and Eva, two women who played a role in sending it to the planet). It communicates occasionnally with CRABB, another robot who is building a city on the moon although it's been 4000 years since Last Contact. Sini doesn't want to be alone anymore, so CRABB sends its last warp packet to bring it to the moon so they can be together.

Editor's Desk: 2023 Readers' Poll Finalists Fine

The Beam Eidolon: 3* The planet's conciousness is invaded by teenagers and wants revenge, but they build a rocketship and leave and that tears it from the planet. Interesting idea, but how will the revenge happen? That part would have been more interesting, I think.

Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole: 3* I like how "they" is constantly redefined and it's an interesting concept but I don't know the original so I keep searching for the parameters of the hole.

Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole: 3* I like how "they" is constantly redefined and it's an interesting concept but I don't know the original so I keep searching for the parameters of the hole.

Tying Together Disparate ...
"Because drafting and editing are two separate skills. Drafting is where you have fun, you let your imagination and creativity run free without overthinking anything; and editing is where you become more deliberate and calculated about what matters in the story, what makes sense. I have learned that trying to do both at the same time reduces your ability to do either of them effectively."

The Peregrine Falcon Flies West: 3* I like the concept but the length is bringing it down for me. The narrative goes back and forth a bit confusibgly too. Relies on coincidences too much. A woman figures out that the alien floaters are trying to imitate bird brains and her mother has made just the right model before her disappearance (before the aliens, unsolved). Contacts the boyfriend she abandoned to share.

Eeriecology: What Nature Remembers and What It Tells Us: DNFed. I usually love the essays in Clarkesworld, but this one was too niche for me.

Kardashev's Palimpsest: 4* Dee and Vee are in love. They both get a Regen treatment to extend their lives to 1000 yo. They split up when Dee wants to explore. Dee is uploaded to the swarm as they neared 1000 yo, but they can't find Dee until much, much later. They are together when the sun unexpectedly explode, and Vee is lost. Dee is saved, becomes a Lone Traveler. Creates an Agent to relive their story, finds Vee.