Thia Reads A Lot’s Reviews > Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 233, February 2026 > Status Update

ruler's hand bones. She throws them away afterwards.

Three Fortunes on Alcestis as Told by the Fraud Baeliss Shudai: 3* The ruler of a galactic empire seeks out a sothsayer from a famed family, killing a planet for her to read his legacy. She refuses again and again. The people from that planet come to war against the ruler, who dies. The soothsayer tells the future of an injured soldier, making things up. Later, she sees the future of the soldier's baby with the

The Wondrous Nature of Existence: A Conversation with Michael Swanwick Very interesting. I want to read The Mongolian Wizard.

The Literary Buffet: A Conversation with James Sallis Starts with a very long bio because that man did a lot of things!

The Iron Piper: 4* Morag goes to a Rugby " festival", meets Maeve and Tam from the Campus, a place recruiting people interesting in tech. Tam is indentured (slave), she trades him a flamethrower for one of his robot suit hands. He burns down Maeve's tent, then leaves. She finds the robot suit abandoned a while later.
It's a series of short stories I should check out.

A Sleeper Ship Is Like a Game of Go: 2* I should have DNFed this story after the first day. Three perspectives (San Francisco, onboard the spaceship Diviner, on a planet that doesn't even get a proper name) with unclear povs. A billionaire is sending a ship to space with his son as the ship's brain. People pay millions to join, and bots do everything for them, but they are still not satisfied? +1* Tech sounds cool

Skipping the essay on black holes, I'm simply not interested enough to distinguish between the various theories

Chip: 4* A newcomer to the city takes a cab to the botanical gardens. The AI driver plays ads and has to stop for 6 minutes outside a fast food restaurant (they could have paid to skip it). They talk, the AI driver wants to be a tour bus and takes the newcomer to their best spots at the end. Very interesting and realistic/depressing.

Think of Me Before I Disappear: Between 3 and 4*. Aniqa took her girlfriend of 4 years to the hospital, only to find out she was a malfunctioning android all along. She wonders if she should file for ownership or accept the 1.5M offered by the company. She spends a few days rediscovering her love for Maria/Delilah.

Editor's Desk: 2025 Readers' Poll Finalists Voting is already over, results next month