Thia Reads A Lot’s Reviews > Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 240, September 2026 > Status Update

Skin and Glass: 3* A woman encounters a man with pale sage eyes and remembers the sea when she was young, but the crowd separates them. The world believe humans can live to 150 years if they avoid eye contact. A bit too short for my taste

Country Music: 3* I wanted more of the sf element. A woman got a job from Bren who runs a farm when her car broke down. She drives tractors and such. One day she scans the FM broadband and find a transmission from a space ship on their way to Mars. 10 months later another transmission. Then 5 years later from around Jupiter. Then a long while later from a newer ship near Mars.

Fistful of Antimatter: DNF
I've read half of the story and I just don't care to continue.

Devastating and Liberating: A Conversation with Cadwell Turnbull: good. I might check out the collection, many stories sounded interesting

And So I Open My Fists: 2* Interesting worldbuilding but the pronouns are flipped annoyingly (husband get pregnant, then become wife and give their seed). The young husband has a singleton child (usually twins or triplets), then forms a relationship with a nunik, a young man without family. The MC arranges things when the young man falls pregnant, after the other became a woman.

To Walk This Distant Shore...: 4* Two friends dream of going to a space colony. The narrator is trained as a pilot, one of the remote jobs building the colony ahead of the colonists while his friend is one of the colonists.

Talking to Whales: good essay about the importance of understanding whale songs

When Humans...: 4* A pregant woman has to be certified human to get to vote for a Born Human bill. Her examiner feels less human than she is. They both vote at the end. Very timely for me.

The Water-Eaters: 3* A woman is negotiating with aliens on behalf of her ship for a piece of land on their planet. They ask for her arm and she reluctantly agrees. They give her a replacement arm like their own.

Editor's Desk: The Other Shoe: The Best Science Fiction of the Year series is resuming, skipping 2023 and 2024. I might check it out, there is a Martha Wells story that I haven't read in it.