Stephani’s Reviews > The Trans Space Octopus Congregation: Stories > Status Update

The last story in this book repeats a lot of the same themes as some of the other stories: an intimat-but-nonsexual bond between two magical people, one a dominant and the other a subordinate/submissive, war, politics, the stress on the body and mind from conjuring magic, a younger person learning from an older person about their power. This story compared to the others just leaves no emotional or mental impression.

I have to say that the 22nd story is really not a story. It reads like the first few pages of a story. A court jester with magical abilities encounters a new court mage appointed by a callous king. Some dangerous secrets get revealed. The End. This is the first work in this book of which I'm seriously critical. :-(

21st story is a fantasy that takes place in the real historical world of medival Magyars (Hungarians) traveling from their homeland through the land of the Croats (Croatia) to the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, which are part of the maritime empire ruled by the city-state of Venice. A táltos--a Magyar shaman--and her guardian go on a spiritual quest with an unforseen outcome.

20th story is another one with an intimate, but not necessarily sexual, relationship between a dominant and a subordinate, in this case a "master" of a spacecraft and a first mate whose magic powers the ship to make light-year jumps. Content advisory for a scene of consensual bondage with body blows and flogging.

19th story is another short-short, about a future beyond the fall of 21st century civilization where a humble watermill owner works with a mage to realize his dreams/visions of a vehicle that moves on the roads faster than horses.

18th story makes me think of the Blue Oyster Cult song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars." It truly is a sad story of a soldier who's mind is used to control and direct weapons and war machines and the toll it takes upon them mentally and physically.

A lot of people will not get the 17th story without looking up the nouns in the title, "The Oracle of DARPA." I know what an oracle is because I've been reading mythology tales since I was a kid. As for DARPA, I had to turn to Wikipedia again--and so can any reader, so I won't spoil it here. This short-short story may still be hard to get even after a little research.

There's not much "story" in the 16th story, a flash fiction about the meeting of minds--and dreams--of a visual artist who's a refugee from a near-future, war-torn Hungary and a tech company employee who uses hardware that taps into her REM sleep to create visible digital concepts that can be turned into game apps.

No need for Wikipedia to read 15th story. It's a fantasy about the symbiotic relationship between some kind of noble person and a servant, both of whom share magical energy and a non-binary gender. Content advisory for some unpleasant descriptions of illness, parasites used for medical purposes, bleeding/oozing wounds and feeding from these wounds.

Had to give Wikipedia a workout to get any kind of understanding of the 14th story, which uses the Hebrew names for Biblical figures Solomon and Moses along with quotes from the Torah and the Talmud. The story is an allegory that takes a tale from these scriptures and writings and links them to the modern and now-eternal dangers of buried nuclear waste.