One of my favorite things about science fiction and fantasy literature is its ability to portray nonhuman viewpoints. This month, all my favorite stories do that. “Person, Place, Thing” by Marissa Lingen (published in Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 234) is a fantastic first contact story, told from a very alien point of view. “You Are Invited to Our SPRING CELEBRATION” by Thoraiya Dyer (published in Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 234) is another tale from an alien perspective, this time featuring humans who have ventured to a new planet. Lastly, “The Devourers of War; or, An Excerpt from the Cookbook of the Gods” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe (published in Lightspeed Magazine Issue 190) is an epic tale of a god on a quest to restore balance to the universe.
“Person, Place, Thing” by Marissa Lingen
I’m not quite sure how to describe the narrator of “Person, Place, Thing,” and I think that’s the point. The narrator is an alien entity called Camilla. They are on Deimos, the Martian moon, and they are learning to communicate with humans who are stationed there.
Technically, Camilla is the translator subcolony of a larger entity. It has a hive mind of sorts — it operates as a single unit, and it struggles to understand that humankind includes different organizations and different individuals with competing, and at times conflicting, goals. Here’s part of how Camilla describes it:
I think the closest analogy for our behavior in a species humans have encountered before is the sugar ants that do not attack other sugar ants from other colonies. Other ants attack based on colony. These do not. And we do not.
That forms the excellent core of this story: Camilla is learning to communicate with humans, but when the humans Camilla has been working with are replaced with others, Camilla comes to better understand their differences with humans and realizes that some humans are not their friends. It makes for poignant story that’s an exercise for your imagination and your empathy, and I love it for that.
Although it’s challenging to understand what exactly Camilla is, their narration is approachable and fun. Camilla is a weird and playful alien, and I enjoyed seeing things from their perspective as they interact with humans. For example, here’s one line I enjoyed: “At least I have more to do than the olfactory subcolony. Humans make a great many smells but not to very much purpose. That subcolony is bored a lot.” Indeed, we humans do not purposefully make smells to communicate! It makes me wonder, what might it be like if we did? I suppose we mimic this with perfumes, but that’s not really the same thing.
If you enjoy weird alien narrators or stories that stretch your imagination, check this out!
“You Are Invited to Our SPRING CELEBRATION” by Thoraiya Dyer
This is another story that’s challenging for me to describe. I understood it well enough as a reader, but it is hard to describe precisely as a reviewer. So let me try describing it with its own terms.
This story is narrated by Unnecessary Expender Of Energy To Satisfy Curiosity, a being on Planet With Overrepresentation Of Hexagonal Crystal Systems. Humans have arrived by spacecraft, and Unnecessary Expender (I’ll abbreviate it to that) is interested in them and “can’t resist observing their alien ways.” Unnecessary Expender works to learn the human’s language, but they have to write rather than speak with the humans because their breath will kill them, and they don’t want to kill the humans. (Unnecessary Expender is a very different type of lifeform.)
I love how this story handles language as Unnecessary Expender learns to communicate with humans — and learns more about them and their culture in the process. In one case, Unnecessary Expender learns about the concept of birthdays, and then decides to observe an “Anniversary of Life Memory Ritual” with their own child. In another scene I enjoyed, humans introduce Unnecessary Expender to the concept of a food web, a novel concept to Unnecessary Expender, who doesn’t need to eat. It’s fascinating trying to understand Unnecessary Expender and their perspective, and I liked seeing ordinary human life and culture estranged through Unnecessary Expender’s perspective.
It’s also honestly kind of cute how much Unnecessary Expender enjoys learning about humans. After celebrating their child’s Anniversary of Life Memory Ritual, they narrate, “Humans have some fun traditions. Worth learning about.” If we meet intelligent aliens one day, I hope they have this sort of attitude about us.
I liked how this story made humans seem weird, in particular our tendencies toward in-fighting and violence. It’s nice to imagine that other lifeforms out there might be more cooperative and peaceful. That’s a thread this story has in common with “Person, Place, Thing.”
“The Devourers of War; or, An Excerpt from the Cookbook of the Gods” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe
The major gods have been wiped out, and now it’s up to Eshu, god of fate and pathways, to restore balance. To do so, Eshu must take out the most powerful of the ajogun. Eshu says the ajogun are “the forces behind the gods’ demise” and Eshu describes the ajogun as “devourers … designed to bring turmoil to the lives of humans.” When the story opens, Eshu is up against one ajogun they describe as “the incarnation of Death itself.” The fight isn’t going well; in fact, Eshu suspects they are about to die.
Eshu is a fun narrator. He’s likable, with a playful, informal voice. For example, at one point he says, “I will not bore you with details of my travels. Okay, maybe I’ll bore you a little.” (Don’t worry — I wasn’t bored.) Eshu isn’t exactly trustworthy. For example, at another point he says, “You’re probably wondering why they [the ajogun] even exist in the first place. The answer to that is both simple and complicated. But first, you should know that I created them.” If you appreciate unreliable narrators like I do, you’ll likely find something savory in this story. Eshu’s voice is a delight and easily carried me through the story, making this 7,200 word tale feel quite a bit shorter than it was.
Eshu’s casual tone is an excellent contrast between the grand scope and scale of the plot. This is an epic and wondrous story, featuring gods and witches, divination and curses, the heavenly realm and the underworld. As I was reading stories this month, I found myself getting bored with more mundane settings and plots and gravitating toward more epic and fantastic tales. This story definitely satisfied that desire. I find sometimes these sorts of grand myths can feel over-the-top and unrelatable, but thanks to Eshu’s diction and tone, the story remained accessible and felt comfortably modern.
