Short Fiction #4

More short fiction from the vast corners of the Net.


"Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters," by N. K. Jemisen (originally published 2010, The Company He Keeps, reprinted 2015 Uncanny Magazine Issue #6)
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/sinners-saints-dragons-and-haints-in-the-city-beneath-the-still-waters/

A good man and a family of miniature dragons face the evil that grows in the heart of the city drowned by hurricane Katrina. Powerful and painful.


"The Oiran's Song," by Isabel Yap, September 2015, Uncanny Magazine
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-oirans-song/

Akira, a former pageboy in a pleasure house is taken as a soldier, trained to fight but also used with casual brutality as a servant and sex slave. When they buy an unusual oiran (courtesan), Ayame, to serve them as well, a strange bond forms between the two victims of war. The subject matter is painful, but the story is both powerful and beautiful.


"September 1 in Tblisi," by Irakli Kobiashvili, Summer 2015, One Throne Magazine
http://www.onethrone.com/#!september-1-in-tbilisi/ccw8

A strong and discomfiting story about the often violent policing of gender norms, set in post-revolution Tblisi, Georgia. (Not sff.)


"Security Check," by Han Song (translated by Ken Liu), August 2015, Clarkesworld
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/han_08_15/

At first, this story seems to be a typical dystopia. Louis, the protagonist, lives in New York, in a future America that has given up everything for security. People travel only by subway, and everyone must pass through a thorough security check to get to the subway system. The goal is to make everything - and everyone - completely, constantly safe. But to read further is to see each previous assumption about the country, the world, and ultimately the universe in which this is happening - and what is responsible - rendered an illusion, an experiment in reality. Thought-provoking, but ultimately not quite satisfying.


"City of Ash" by Paolo Bacigalupi, July 27, 2015, A Medium Corporation
https://medium.com/matter/city-of-ash-94255fa5d1a9

In an America devastated by climate change, where only the wealthiest have access to fresh water or greenery, a young girl dreams of a better future for herself and her father. As emotionally devastating to read as the future it describes.


"The Midnight Hour" by Mary Robinette Kowal, Uncanny Magazine Issue #5
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/midnight-hour/

A royal couple agree to pay an almost unbearable price for the wellbeing of their kingdom, and will do anything to keep their promise. The tragic elements - and they are many - are thankfully relieved by the strength of their love for each other and their people.


"In Libres" by Elizabeth Bear, Uncanny Magazine Issue #4
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/in-libres/

This is a wickedly funny story about a student of sorcery who needs just one more source citation to complete her thesis - but to get it, she must face the perils of the Special Collections Branch of the Library. To make clear the nature of the threat, the epigraph is from Borges, and the one essential thing needed to navigate the Library is a ball of twine.

Anthology: Future Eves: Great Science Fiction About Women by Women

Future Eves: Great Science Fiction About Women by Women, edited by Jean Marie Stine, is an anthology of "Golden Age" science fiction stories written by women, reminding us that despite the attempts of some to frame science fiction as something 'ineluctably masculine,' women have been part of science fiction from the beginning. As Stine comments in her Introduction,

This anthology showcases nine classic tales by female science fiction writers, penned between 1926 (the publication of the first science fiction magazine) and 1960 (the dawn of modern SF), each featuring its own, unique future Eve. Although it is generally assumed that no – or few – women were writing science fiction during this period, research reveals a strikingly different picture. Recently a review was conducted of every issue of every SF magazine published from the debut first science fiction magazine in 1926 (Amazing Stories) and the modern age in SF magazine publishing in 1959 (when Imagination, the last pulp-influenced periodical went broke and the more literary, purse-sized magazines typical today became dominant). An unsuspected one hundred women contributed stories to their pages during those three and a half decades. Some researchers estimate the true number may well be twice that, as doubtless many women – believing, perhaps rightly, that their work would find readier acceptance – concealed their gender behind androgynous names, the anonymity of initials or beneath male pseudonyms.

The first of the stories is "The Conquest of Gola" by Leslie F. Stone (Wonder Stories, April 1931). A variation on the "battle of the sexes" theme, the story recounts the victory of invaders from the "planet of men" over a matriarchal society - and how the women fight back.

Margaretta W. Rea's "Delilah" (Amazing Stories, January 1933) is more of a psychological mystery than a science fiction or fantasy tale, about a painter who believes someone else is completing his paintings, and the clever fiancée who figures out the truth.

In Hazel Heald's "Man of Stone" (Wonder Stories, October 1932), two men set out to discover the truth behind a friend's story of finding amazingly detailed statues in a cave in the Adirondacks. A dark fantasy with links to the Cthulhu Mythos stories authored by Lovecraft and others. (It should be noted that Lovecraft edited and on occasion revised the work of members of this group of writes, Heald among them, and this story is sometimes credited to both authors - but it doesn't read like Lovecraft.)

In "Days of Darkness" by Evelyn Goldstein (Fantastic Stories, January 1960), a woman who has put others first for most of her life is saved by her self-sacrifice, but at a cost she may not be able to bear.

Marcia Kamien's "Alien Invasion" (Universe Science Fiction, March 1954) features a woman who must decide whether to bear and raise an unwanted child to save some small part of a dying world.

"Miss Millie's Rose" by Joy Leche (Fantastic Universe, May 1959) is a story about a most unusual miniature rose tree and its effects on the woman who owns it.

"The Goddess Planet Delight" by Betsy Curtis (Planet Stories, May 1953) features a travelling galactic salesman who finds himself on a planet where bureaucracy has been taken to a high art - and where goddesses really exist.

In "Cocktails at Eight" by Beth Elliot (Fantastic Universe, March 1959), a frazzled Martian housewife prepares for an important cocktail party while her twin boys get into all kinds of trouble. Very much the 50s middle class American Dream transplanted into an interplanetary future.

"The Last Day" by Helen Clarkson (Satellite Science Fiction, April 1958) is a sad and evocative story about the last survivor of a nuclear holocaust.

All in all, an interesting mix of short stories, some more memorable than others. The highlight for me was the last story in the book, Clarkson's "The Last Day," but I also found "Miss Millie's Rose" to be quite a strong offering.