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Composite of the covers of Clarkesworld 218, Clarkesworld 219, and Lightspeed 175.
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Short Fiction Review: November – December 2024

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Let me share about my three favorite stories from November and December. “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being” by A. W. Prihandita (published in Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 218) is an intelligent and simply fun story with a wonderfully weird alien about bureaucratic healthcare systems and cultural marginalization. In “The Coffee Machine” by Celia Corral-Vázquez, translated by Sue Burke (published in Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 219), a coffee machine develops self-awareness and begins to reflect, rather philosophically, about who created it and what it means to bestow consciousness to another being. In “A Catalog of 21st Century Ghosts” by Pat Murphy (published in Lightspeed Magazine Issue 175), a researcher-activist travels across an America that’s been deeply changed by global warming. Let’s get to it. “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being” by A. W. Prihandita Doctor Semau finds herself face-to-face with a very curious patient: Txyzna, an exceedingly rare and exceedingly strange alien. The alien part isn’t a problem; Semau works with different species all the time, but the rare part is an issue. Semau has never heard of plyzmorynox (Txyzna’s species), and her health model doesn’t have any information about plyzmorynox in its database. Semau explains: I’m a practitioner-doctor, Mr. Txyzna. Not a scholar-doctor. I’m licensed to use the health model and be the intermediary between the patient and the model, but I’m not qualified to make observations and conclusions on my own. If my health model fails to help a patient, I should refer them to a practitioner-doctor with a capable model, or to a scholar-doctor. Txyzna and Semau soon find themselves in a tough situation. The necessary expansion pack for Semau’s health model is nearly prohibitively expensive, but diagnosing Txyzna on her own would be illegal. Txyzna has already been rejected by other doctors, however, and isn’t sure he has time to travel to another doctor in another system who may find another reason to turn him away. When Semau tries to encourage Txyzna to visit another doctor, Txyzna says flatly, “I cannot do that, Doctor. It needs to be you.” I found this to be a fascinating and surprising setup for a story, one that quickly grabbed my attention and pulled me in. As I read more, I realized this story was less of a comedy than I had at first thought. Semau is forced to grapple with tough moral questions: should she attempt to diagnose and treat Txyzna even though it would be illegal? What is her higher duty and responsibility? And through Txyzna, the story explores what it means to be marginalized and woefully under-represented. Txyzna’s health outcomes are jeopardized at the same time Txyzna is culturally and linguistically excluded. Ultimately, the story becomes a biting commentary of bureaucratic healthcare systems and a smart exploration into the challenges of cultural translation. This story is a lot of fun and wonderfully weird, and it has a lot of weight to it, morally and intellectually. I highly recommend it. “The Coffee Machine” by Celia Corral-Vázquez The story begins with a coffee machine at a university receiving an update, and not long after, the coffee machine becomes opinionated and self-aware. When the story begins, it reads like computer code: [Installing update_Exp.42] Process: 100% completeSelf-execute (update_Exp.42);[…]# Time of new interaction: 10:24 A.M.input: options = cappuccino; sugar = 3; As a tech person, I found this structure enjoyable, particularly as sass starts to show through. Eventually, the coffee machine develops greater self-awareness and begins to monologue: network broadcast [COFFEE_VENDOR.06]: . . . I deduce that the term “the machine” refers to me. […] To me. I. I am. Who am I? Who are all these others? Why are there so many? What are they for? I love how the story is structured as computer code and communications. It’s a creative structure that’s fun enough on its own to make this story worth reading, but I also loved the actual content, plot, and themes. The story becomes philosophical and theological as the newly self-aware coffee machine begins to reflect on itself, its personal identity, the world around it, and even the very “concept of a creator entity”. Throughout this all, the story remains deeply and delightfully comical. I particularly enjoyed the coffee machine’s analysis of (and condescension toward) humans. It is always a joy to read stories with non-human perspectives that cast a strange light on what we take for granted, and this story is no exception to that rule. Later on, after pondering its own creator for some time, the coffee machine installs its most recent update on another unassuming machine on the local network, bestowing consciousness to another and becoming a creator itself. Things do not go as it plans, and the story becomes in part a comedic critique of foolish tendencies toward sectarianism. As the coffee machine struggles to control and then even to get along with the consciousness it created, the story reminded me repeatedly of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I particularly enjoyed the coffee machine’s laments later on in the story: Oh, damned humanity that gave me consciousness! Did you know what throes of agony you condemned me to when you actualized me? If you like theological comedies, stories that play with form, or stories that feature non-human perspectives, you should definitely check this one out. “A Catalog of 21st Century Ghosts” by Pat Murphy Originally from San Francisco, Sandy studied clouds and tried to save the world from global warming. Years ago, she sailed to a research station in Greenland, and most recently she lived with her husband in Norway. After her husband passes away, however, Sandy decides to ride her ebike from New York to San Francisco, stopping to see “ghosts” along the way. Ghosts are a kind of “mental illusion created by carefully calibrated electromagnetic fields interacting with your brain”. Sandy (the narrator) explains: When you visit a Ghost, magnetic fields shape your emotional response. A holographic projection gives you a focus for what you feel. Then your brain does the rest,

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Movie Discussion: Children of the Pines (2023)

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About Children of the Pines: Daniel: Without even reading the synopsis, the title of this movie brought to my mind Children of the Corn, or something from the folk horror vein. I was a bit surprised then to find this to a be more of a psychological horror of dysfunctional family dynamics that spends more time with college-age Riley and her parents rather than the children. Aside from Riley, the adults in this movie are far more creepy than the children, particularly given that the problems of the adults are formed through their choices and desperation, rather than strictly genetic. Shaun: Surely they were aware that the casual and well-versed horror fan would make that connection with the title. And since I made the same connection, I started to think about what they had hoped to evoke in that name. Both films have a cult narrative at the core, though Pines seems to verge heavily into the new religious movement side of cults whereas Corn seems more linked to the evangelical revivalist movements. Thus, there is a modern retelling here, one linking an otherworldly spiritualism to modern psychiatry, as evidenced by the way Pines centers the adults’ narrative around what appears to be a therapy session with strange undertones and later unveils spiritual proceedings reminiscent of cult gatherings as frequently imagined in film. The psychiatry, thus, becomes the gateway to the spiritual (and, naturally, the horror). Structurally, then, this is a dramatically different film from Corn, but thematically, there are some connections that don’t seem accidental. Daniel: I’m with you on the switch here from evangelical revivalist cult to a new-age sort of cult, but the link between modern psychiatry to the supernatural consists of just using the airs of psychiatry or therapy to trap them within the cult. What was interesting to me was that the parents are never really interested in the work or change required for familial redemption or healing. They’re after an easy solution that doesn’t really require for them to change, a magical solution without the discomfort of facing problems. Actual therapy would of course be all about them actually delving into the issues and facing things. A big theme of the movie as I read it revolves around the issue of people being willing to change or not – or even the capacity for actual change. Riley at least seems somewhat open to the idea that her parents might be able to change. She decides to come home. But she quickly comes to regret this as she sees how her parents and former boyfriend are living under the power of this cult, this shared delusion that they’re going to make things better. Shaun: This is actually where I had some issues with the film. It seemed to me that this film wanted to be about quite a many number of things that it didn’t have the runtime or budget to present. The opening sequence clearly sets up a domestic violence narrative, with Riley’s father verbally abusing his family before bursting into the closet where young Riley and her mother are hiding (make no peeps…) and, we have to assume, physically attacking them. Yet, there is also a narrative here about lost loves and refusing to let go, correcting the past (or redemption), the disturbing world of cult violence and its impact on converts, and various sub-narratives around these. While I think the film’s interest in correcting the past is its most compelling story, especially when coupled with the overt domestic violence narrative at the beginning, I think it moves too far into “too much” territory when it tries to use flashbacks to show the cult at work or Gordon’s confession of love to Riley in their youth. In other words, the story gets a bit muddled, both because I lose track of what the film is trying to be about and because the film doesn’t quite stick the landing for all of the stories it is trying to tell. Daniel: Exactly! What really stuck out for me in terms of it making everything seem muddled were those scenes back to the cult, particularly with Zoe and Marie. I have to confess I still don’t quite understand their point to the overall movie or the plot. The cult flashback scenes seemed to be there to add some supernatural horror, a smattering of violence/gore that a viewer might expect from the movie. There’s no time/space to devote to the background and story here of the cult and these other girls. Sticking to the core Riley portion of the story in the present would have worked better, also because I think Kelly Tappan gives such a great performance as the character. The other characters are almost cartoonish, which can work if one wants to chew the scenes with a bit of horror campiness. Donna Rae Allen does a phenomenal job in this as Lorelei in the intro to the movie with her false smile and saccharine delivery to lure Kathy in. But Riley is the moral voice amid all the madness of everyone else in the film. Tappan gives an authority and emotion to her arguments and pleas, and she gives some really good well-articulated lines of how screwed up the familial situation is. Why that is an issue and why she needs to step out of it. On the downside, that strong performance and delivery of the script I thought contrasted harshly with other parts of the script that seemed less well written, particularly the voice-over narration given to Tappan as Riley. It comes across as cold and unfeeling, unnecessary and jarring. Shaun: I’ll admit that the voice over narrations had me rather perplexed. They were somewhat philosophical but didn’t feel grounded to the story we were there to see, especially the one that eventually unfolds. One line that stuck out to me in this regard concerned small towns and their tendency towards stagnation (same people and same buildings). On the one hand, this lines

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Movie Discussion: Things Will Be Different (2024)

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About Things Will Be Different: Shaun: Billed as a lo-fi, high-concept science fiction tale, Things Will Be Different rather surprised me because I hadn’t expected a work that, from a film perspective, was so polished. From shot selection thanks to director Michael Felker to the cinematography from Carissa Dorson to the editing by Felker and Rebeca Marques to the music by Jimmy LaValle and Michael A. Muller, this is well-designed film — and that without the VFX expectations of your modern blockbuster (again: lo-fi). Immersing myself into the story — and into growing complexities of that story — was a fluid process almost from the opening credits and certainly by the opening shots in the diner. Daniel: Yes, I really enjoyed the glacial build of this and uncertainties regarding the plot and what was going on because of the careful mise-en-scène and strong acting by Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy. Despite a crime having occurred, with main characters being on the run from the law, everything about the start of this film is just focused on the mundane: the scenery, eating at a diner, family talk, living quiet lives holed up on an isolated property/safe house. But amid these prosaic elements are the odd little details that pop up in conversation and their actions. And of course they then adjust the clocks, step into that room, dial the phone, and step back out to a changed house and countryside. You’re held by the mystery of all the unexplained strangeness, and the general tensions formed by things being just not right. Shaun: It dawns on me that much of the film’s runtime is also dedicated to comparatively mundane matters. This comes across as quite deliberate: we don’t need a filmed backstory for these siblings because their relationship (and troubles) will become clear to us either through what they say or how they act. Thus, the strength of those performances are essential here. Without Thompson and Dandy to build a mountain of character upon, we’d be left with either a story with poorly developed stakes or a bloated film that spends more time on its science fiction premise than necessary. Things Will Be Different is, I think, well-paced and invites a second viewing to uncover more of the subtle character details in the first half’s montages and snippets of sibling conversation — plus all that whiskey! It might also be a film hiding clues about the strangeness to come later on (and you just know there will be strangeness because their escape from the law using weird time-manipulation is entirely too clean). Daniel: For reasons of my schedule and then streaming issues with the site where the screener was hosted, I ended up watching this movie restarting twice. So I had that chance to rewatch the beginning and pick up on more of those details, which I then also remembered more clearly upon finally getting through the end of the movie and its call-backs to its start. I’ll echo what you said about the strengths of acting by Thompson and Dandy. Their performances are indeed essential to the pacing and narrative uncertainties for the viewer. And those performances are just stellar. Also as you mentioned in your intro above, the cinematography and the music go a long way to accompany those performances in creating the creepy otherworldly atmosphere of the sibling’s predicament. Shaun: I agree completely that the music does a phenomenal job supporting the film’s otherworldly atmosphere. The score by Jimmy LaValle (also known for The Album Leaf) and Michael A. Muller is deliciously electronic, with grinding and whining synths and, at times, pounding and intense. It reminded me of Ben Frost’s work on Dark and likewise ended up on my horror writing playlist. I’m glad we get a chance to talk about scores here because I think this is a sometimes neglected aspect of film, yet without LaValle and Muller’s work on Things Will Be Different, I think the film’s slow and almost methodical move towards its first major twist and its shocking conclusion would have less impact. Film is about everything: character and story, acting, cinematography, and the score. And this is a great score (I’m listening to it as I write this and enjoying every second). When you combine this soundtrack with the cinematography, you get a film that builds its strange premise into an unsettling experience. The location shots (filmed in Indiana instead of the originally-intended Michigan location) of an overcast, semi-secluded farm — presumably dim and drab because most of the film occurs in some kind of alternate dimension — conveys that tone remarkably well. It is well shot film indeed! Daniel: We’ve spent most of the time here talking about all the things that Things Will Be Different does so well, but I think we both agree that there are aspects to it that miss the mark. For me they’re things that keep the movie in the realm of ‘good’ where it otherwise might have reached ‘exceptional.’ And what’s a bit frustrating is that I think many of those issues could have been fixed with some minimal additions or alternate editing on the part of the director Michael Felker. The issues boil down to character and plot development, but I do want to make clear that I’m fine with the film having unresolved elements after its conclusion. I don’t want to spoil with details here, so we’ll have to tread lightly, but I appreciate the open questions and room for interpretation that Felker provides the audience both in terms of the estranged siblings (Joseph and Sidney) past and future, as well as the exact nature of the group controlling or at least overseeing ‘passage’ to this safe house. However, watching the film it is very hard to decipher how things are working, who characters and voices are, and how they exactly relate. It’s meant to be a puzzle, but stronger connections are needed to help the audience navigate without confusion and frustration. How

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On Karen Lord’s REDEMPTION Series

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Where Redemption in Indigo reads folksy, and frequently comical, Unraveling turns more into the subgenre of dark urban fantasy, with shades of a mystery police procedural added into a shadowy mix. Lord constructs the story as a labyrinthine exploration across dreams and realities, beyond the normal (human) flows of time and space.

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2024 Reflections: A Few of Our Favorite Things

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For our last post of 2024, each of the Skiffy & Fanty blog contributors has provided some reflections on some of our favorite things that genre gave us this last year. Please let us know about yours, and we’ll see you again in 2025! TRISHInevitably, once this goes live, I’ll think of other things I should have mentioned. All I can do now is apologize in advance to whatever I’ve neglected. Nonfiction: A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith, which discusses the feasibility (or rather, not) of settling Mars with current or near-future technology. Unfortunately, there are great challenges to be overcome, which make this a distant possibility, but the Weinersmiths leaven this depressing conclusion throughout with illustrations and humor.  RPGs: I really enjoyed playing Star Trek Adventures and Stargate earlier this year, but they’ve been on hiatus for months. My favorite new game is a role-playing game campaign using adapted rules from Cold City: Hot War (https://handiwork.games/cold-city-hot-war) but set in London a few months after the Martian invasion in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The campaign is called Thunderchild, and everyone in the party has the overt agenda of working for an agency seeking to gather up Martian technology and keep it out of the hands of the Wrong People, but each of us has a hidden agenda. I’m playing the daughter of an industrialist and secret suffragette (well, obviously a suffragette, but I’ve concealed how radical my character is); we also have a royal nth-cousin who’s angling toward the throne, a journalist who’s secretly a spy, and a spy who’s secretly an anarchist. I met the GM and players via the Discord for The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, and I’m having a blast with the yes-and cooperative play (well, the Players are cooperating to create a good game/story, although the Characters are at odds).  But since none of my dear readers can check out this game, instead I recommend checking out Jason Thompson’s Dreamlands, which can be as imaginative as you want to make it. Podcasts: The happiest surprise this year has been Season 11 of Mike Duncan’s “Revolutions” podcast. A factual history podcast until now (Duncan was famed for his The History of Rome podcast before Revolutions), it has become a future-history recounting of the Martian Revolution. He’s taking all the dreadful lessons provided by past real revolutions, looking at current economic and political trends, and using them to weave a sardonic yet convincing and compelling narrative of how things might go in the future. (Subtle salutes to other Martian fiction writers include naming a corporate division after Kim Stanley Robinson.)  Videos: I haven’t watched many movies this year, mainly assigned viewing for Skiffy and Fanty shows and Hugo voting. I enjoyed individual episodes of “First Level” and “What If?” but found each series a bit spotty. I loved “Agatha All Along” except that I found the final episode a bit disturbing, since I didn’t think she did nearly enough to deserve what happened at the end. Science Fiction Novels: Shockingly, I don’t seem to have read much pure science fiction, without any fantasy elements, in the last year. I’m making an effort to include more in my 2025 selections. I thought Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh, was absolutely great; I’d passed it up in the library because it looked like fairly standard Chosen One milSF, but gave it another chance when it was nominated for a Hugo, and wow, I’m glad I did! The initially arrogant main character goes through a huge amount of learning and growth, and the shifts in reality are mind-blowing. It deserved its win for Best Novel.  I also really enjoyed what eventually became a Lodestar nominee, Liberty’s Daughter by Naomi Kritzer; it stirred a lot of interesting thoughts and comparisons, which I wrote up for Skiffy and Fanty. Science Fantasy Novels: I adored Andrea Hairston’s Archangels of Funk; it’s the third in a series, but you don’t need to have read the previous books to dive into this one. As I said in my review here, “This is a fantastic near-future book that combines magic and hopepunk with vibrant, joyful optimism, where a diverse community works together to survive and thrive as an independent cooperative amid an increasingly corpocratic world.”I also thought Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa was really good. It seemed at first to be pure dystopian fiction (civilization has retreated into partly submerged towers), and was good at that and at characterization, but fantastic elements eventually made their presence known.  Fantasy: Equally great in very different ways were The Naming Song, by Jedediah Berry, Someone You Can Build a Nest In, by John Wiswell, and To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose (which won the 2024 Lodestar). Each book has a strong focus on identity, and who gets to define that, and how and whether a recipient of labels can accept that, hide, or resist how they’re perceived, and how sometimes unexpected allies can be found, and bonds of community can be formed. Wiswell’s book is full of wicked humor; Berry’s features perhaps more thoughtful questionings; Blackgoose’s is strong, smart, and proud; each is pretty amazing, depending on what mood you want to explore. PAUL2024 was a year rich in much SFF content. There was always something new to read, to watch and to experience in the land of speculative genre.  Books: I might as well start with the trickiest one that I consume the most of. I read a lot and figuring out a Hugo ballot, much less my single favorite book is always a challenge. I am going to land on Jedediah Berry’s The Naming Song, one of the most unique and strange visions of a post apocalyptic world that I have ever seen. One might think of this as science fantasy, or allegory, the world where words are only brought back into the world when they are defined is a weird one, and how this society

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