Thia Reads A Lot’s Reviews > Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 236, May 2026 > Status Update

The Scent of Memory: A man cannot let his ex-girlfriend marry someone else so he commissions another man to make a memory fragrance for her to remember their relationship. I was glad she didn't change her mind, and then she did. 2*

Immortal Trauma: A Conversation with Martha Wells: some questions about the Murderbot tv series, but nothing much on the book series.

Torn From Context: A Conversation with Ray Nayler Good. Not sure I'll check out the Palace of Crows, but his upcoming short story collection maybe

Three Curious Animal Strategies for Immortality: fine. Title is misleading, presents 4 examples from nature.

Decimation Circles: 1* All the citizens of Kowasu are constantly reborn into new bodies connected to a network. Layla is tasked with finding her old body, she finds out she had a daughter (why would the bodies be able of pregnancy if it's illegal?) She keeps getting more and more into depth too, how is that profitable for the company?

Aly 4*: Xavi lives with an AI implanted in his brain since he was 3mo. He meets Adrian when he asks for help (his GPS isn't working well since he isn't from Australia and doesn't have an AI). X helps him and returns to the store location, but not-a-bakery opens. Then a few months later he finds the bakery opened by A and his sister. X tries to go without his AI, but he reactivates it after A leaves (bakery closed).

Paper Airplane Poet: 2* Tillie's father has got the infliction. Her mother catches it too. She lives for a while with her friend Gemma, but she needs another place to stay in the lower city. She recognizes the PAP as the deacon who consoled her, and she gets into a brothel house with his help. He writes a poem to ask for forgiveness. Meh.

Archaeological Evidence for the Time Traveler 4*
Teresa raised her son Daniel alone after her divorce from Iaga, taking him with her on various archaeological sites in Brazil. She finds messages in English at many sites, she thinks they are from Iaga. Daniel decides to join Iaga's time traveling lab, then he disappears. She asks Iaga for help to find the time capsule she gave him after realizingthe messages from him.

Editor's Desk: The Stars in Out Sky many nominations

The Profitable Sentience of Household Goods: 5* Excellent. Fridge is talking to the new Light Switch, welcoming it and explaining things, as a good Buddy does. Then Fridge becomes the Perimeter Fence. It gets an offer to be "born" from the Company. It becomes a war machine of some kind.