Review of “The Red Expansion” by Matt Nagel

Plot:

LM081018 is a non-sentient robot tasked with highway maintenance, a job it has been performing faithfully for millennia. This morning, as the growing sun rises over the horizon and recharges its batteries, LM081018’s temperature gauge registers 75 degrees Celsius. The robot once had rain gages, but since all earth’s water has long boiled away, the question of rain is moot.

Thoughts:

The end is not a surprise, but author Matt Nagel provides a nice portrait of a machine doing its job without memory of things being different. It has no feelings, no hopes, no dreams. It simply has a job to do, whether that job has any relevance.

I liked this little story, though one could hardly call it cheery.

Bio:

According to his blurb, Matt Nagel says he writes stories influenced by his passion for space. He lives in Stroudsburg, PA, with his wife and the one-year-old son. His advice for new writers is to keep it simple and to write about something you know for your own pleasure.

The story can be read here.

Title: The Red Expansion
Author: Matt Nagel
First published: Theme of Absence, February 21, 2020

Review of “The Hole” by K. N. George

Plot:

James has been having recurring dreams involving six-eyed monsters and his death. These freak him out. He doesn’t know why. Dreams can’t kill, and six-eyed monsters don’t exist. He attributes the nightmares and their effect on him to childhood memories of bullies beating him nearly to death.

He tells himself he needs to see a shrink. He wishes he had someone to talk to and reflects on the recent losses his short fuse has caused him. The kid upstairs likes to practice his electric guitar at full volume. James protested the other day by banging a broom against the ceiling. Now there’s a hole in the ceiling.

“It hit him that,” the reader is told, “at thirty-three, he’d become the crabby old man he used to loath[e] when he was younger.”

(Been there, brother. Yeah, and get off my lawn, you goddamn kids.) But James resolves to buy earplugs. It’s the adult thing to do.

And then he hears scratches in the ceiling. Oh, great. Now cockroaches are moving into the apartment.

Thoughts:

James is a jerk. He didn’t deserve the beating he got when he was a kid. He probably deserved his dearly beloved leaving him and losing his job. Just the same, when the boom is lowered (you weren’t expecting a happy ending, now, were you?) the reader can’t help wondering what the poor sap did to deserve his fate.

Add to this that the ending is not a surprise, and this story is something of a disappointment. It gets the horror-story formula right, but there is, at least for me, nothing beyond that. This is not a bad story by any stretch. It’s just been told so many times before.

Bio:

According to his author’s blub, K. N. George attended the Art Institute of Washington for Animation, but found his creative writing classes to be the most rewarding part of the experience. He lives in Northern Virginia, where he enjoys his hobbies of writing, reading, drawing, and drumming. He was an award-winning stage actor as a child.

The story can be read here.

Title: ”The Hole”
Author: K. N. George
First published: Theme of Absence, February 14, 2020

Review of “Some Form of Contact” by Marie Vibbert

Plot:

Jody climbs up to the apartment roof, followed by Mick, the hottest guy in the apartment complex. Instead of paying attention to her, he sits down on an air conditioner housing and pulls out his phone.

“This is the perfect place to watch invasion footage uninterrupted,” he tells her.

The alien ships have appeared over major industrial and population centers, ignoring places like Dayton, Ohio, where Jody and Mick live. Jody is terrified and well, aroused.

“What if we’re all about to die?” she asks Mick.

In the meantime, Jai and Mai swim along the corridors of Exploratory Ship Number Seven. Jai had talked Mai into taking night watch with em, but all Mai wanted to do was watch the feeds of the humans.

“Look how they gather under the ships. It’s just like in that entertainment where the mind-controlled mutants attack.”

Thoughts:

There are no surprises in the ending, but the story is cute. Author Marie Vibbert uses novel pronouns for the aliens as well as novel words describing the alien bodies. This is an entertaining use of language and shows a bit of thought. It also leaves some room for the imagination for the reader.

While there’s nothing deep here, it is a fun little read. I enjoyed it.

Bio:

According to her author’s blurb, Marie Vibbert’s work had appeared in Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF. (Damn, girl! Three biggies!) Her day job is a software developer in Cleveland.

The story can be read here.

Title: Some Form of Contact
Author: Marie Vibbert
First published: Daily Science Fiction, February 10, 2020

Review of “The Death of Bees” by Avra Margariti

Plot:

The unnamed narrator has an online girlfriend, Anastasia, who is writing an essay about the population depletion of bees. When the narrator looks out her (?) bedroom window, she sees fuzzy insects landing on the lilacs.

Homeschooled, she later asks her parents why the bees on their property seem to be thriving. This question makes her computer-programmer parents nervous and provokes warnings to stay away from the bees. She could be stung—or—or what if she’s allergic?

This, in turn, provokes a question to Anastasia: How do you know when a thing’s real?

Apparently of a practical bent, Anastasia replies: You investigate, silly. Her practicality doesn’t prevent her from adding a string of throbbing heart emoji.

Thoughts:

I’ve called the narrator “she,” but there really is no indication of her gender. Another reader might see a male here, I suppose. It would be perhaps the first logical conclusion after seeing the narrator has a girlfriend. I just read her as female, but I obviously don’t know the intent of the author.

The ending is visible from a mile away. Just the same, watching the narrator test the limits of her world is engaging. Author Avra Margariti works in lightness via the eye-rolling teenager fed up with her hand-wringing parents to make the reader smile and to mask something perhaps more sinister.

While not among my favorites, this short, enchanting read has charms. I enjoyed it.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Avra Margariti is a queer Social Work undergrad living in Athens, Greece. She enjoys storytelling in all its forms. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Online, The Forge Literary, SmokeLong Quarterly, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, and Argot Magazine, among others. Margariti won the 2019 Bacopa Literary Review prize for fiction. Her Twitter handle is @avramargariti.

The story can be read here.

Title: “The Death of Bees”
Author: Avra Margariti
First published: Daily Science Fiction, January 27, 2020

Review of “The Unicorn Keeper” by Mary E. Lowd

There is no plot in this short work, only a portrait of a put-upon unicorn keeper. Amilioona, the unicorn, has dainty gleaming, tufted—perfect— hooves which gleam “the same sparkling shade of white as a hillside of snow in the sun.” Those dainty hooves manage to kick the slop bucket over regardless of where the keeper leaves it. They also kick up fresh hay, making the keeper sneeze.

The unicorn’s trespasses go from inconveniences that could view with indulgence to more serious things. Is Amilioona conscious of the pain she inflicts? Or, like a spoiled toddler, does she simply not understand?

Amilioona earns her keep, performing in a carnival and visiting children’s birthday parties. However, she insists on being fed by hand. She won’t eat three-leaf clovers. They taste different from the four-leaf clovers she demands. If the keeper tries to set limits, Amilioona stops eating and loses her silver-as-moonlight ethereal glow. Everyone blames the keeper and cries for her fix to the unicorn.

Thoughts:

It’s hard not to see this as the quintessential abusive relationship. Everyone is enchanted with the unicorn who performs ludicrously impossible acts in the carnival. A trapeze artist walks the unicorn home and says goodbye to the unicorn while ignoring the human because after all, the human is only the unicorn’s keeper.

The keeper sees the situation as her fault. Amilioona is a difficult eater because she babied her when she found her as a fawn. The bandages she wears when the unicorn cuts her with her horn are the result of things the keeper has done. (Again, is this deliberate? Out of negligence? Or does Amilioona simply not know better?)

This nicely crafted little piece leaves the reader unsettled.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Mary E. Lowd lives in Oregon with her husband, two children, a bevy of cats and dogs, and the occasional fish. Her fiction has won an Ursa Major Award, two Leo Literary Awards, and two Cóyotl Awards. She is also the editor and founder of the furry e-zine Zooscape.

The story can be read here.

Title: “The Unicorn Keeper”
Author: Mary E. Lowd
First published: Theme of Absence, January 17, 2020

Review of “Kill Switch” by A. P. Howell

This is more of an essay. There isn’t a plot as such.

The reader is told that what is referred to as a “kill switch” is more complicated than a single switch. What is referred to as a gene is more complicated than a single gene.

“That’s the history of genetics right there. Applying chosen labels to half-understood phenomena of infinite biological and social complexity.”

The narrator is a working technician. Just the same, he (or she?) says if she’d been born a generation earlier, he’s been regarded as a wizard. Nevertheless, he’s happy with no more reward for his tweak here and snip there than a regular paycheck.

Thoughts:

The message of the essay is obvious from the opening paragraph when the narrator makes a point of identifying “morons.” This appears to allude to the infamous 1927 Supreme Court decision, Buck v. Bell, in which Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote denying that the 14th Amendment protected people from forced sterilization—if they didn’t measure up. Regarding plaintiff Carrie Buck and her family, he rather uncharitably added, “Three generations of morons are enough.”

This decision lent justification to the eugenics movement in the United States. The movement lost steam after the horror of the Holocaust and Nazism was revealed, but the recent resurgence in white supremacy shows how often a bad penny shows up.

There are other allusions, of course. Author A. P. Howell has done her homework.

I would be remiss if I didn’t add, despite its harrowing warning, the writing itself tends to be dull. This may be intentional, underlining another point the author wished to make, but it can strike the reader like reading the same sentences several time.

I liked this sad little piece, but I would not read it a second time.

Bio:

In her author’s blub, author A. P. Howell has held various jobs, from ice cream scooper to webmaster. Her work has appeared in Corvid Queen and the anthology XVIII.

The story can be read here.
Title: “Kill Switch”
Author: A. P. Howell
First published: Daily Science Fiction, January 20, 2020

Review of “The Castle of Wine and Clouds” by Jenny Rae Rappaport

Plot:

“It begins with the Tyrant,” the reader is told. When the war is over, and a new king is crowned, the people are secure. They overlook the gradual eroding of less consequential rights. People disappear in the night. In the country, among those who work the land, the memory that things were ever different fades.

But the stones remember. They whisper to a farm boy, who will eventually save the country. And they invade the dreams of the tyrant.

Thoughts:

I thought as I read through this the first time that this was an abstract depiction of a police state, controlled, not by sociopathic humans (as is the usual case), but by stones who drink wine and blood. It never occurs to the people that their problems don’t stem from a bad king as much as the bad idea of kingship itself. It’s not the man in the castle, but the castle itself that’s the root of all evil. Make it a museum or a college.

Better yet, build a legislative building on the opposite side of town where not just one guy, but conceivably hundreds of men and women from the whole country can argue and gum up the governing of the country for years to come if you want to restore civil rights.

Seriously, this horror story hits close to home. No ghost or goblins. Maybe a jackbooted vampire, though.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Jenny Rae Rappaport’s work has been published in Lightspeed Magazine and Escape Pod among other magazines. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. She lives in New Jersey. She can be found online at jennyrae.com and on Twitter at @jennyrae.

The story can be read here.

Title: “The Castle of Wine and Clouds”
Author: Jenny Rae Rappaport
First published: Daily Science Fiction, January 13, 2020

Review of “A Matter of Fax” by Susan Rooke

Plot:

The house is perfect with its acreage, gatehouse, and large conservancy. After all her years of recording and concert work, and all the travel, this is the place for her. Never mind the silly rumors about the place being haunted.

Then the relatives she hadn’t seen for years descend on her. When polite hints to leave her alone don’t work, she takes to more underhanded measures and invites them to stay the night… in a haunted house, even if she has to do the haunting herself.

Thoughts:

On the one hand, the reader sympathizes with the narrator right away. It’s understandable that the poor woman wants a little peace and quiet after a long hard professional life. The relatives who help themselves to her hospitality get in the way of that.

Not all is as it seems, of course. Unfortunately, the ending is visible from a mile away. Other than that, this is a fun little piece I enjoyed it.

Bio:

According to her blurb, author Susan Rooke is a Pushcart-nominated poet and author of the Space Between fantasy series. Her work has appeared in such publications as inkscrawl, Eye to the Telescope, The Twilight Zone Magazine and The Christian Science Monitor, among many others. She lives in Texas.

The piece can be read here.

Title: “A Matter of Fax”
Author: Susan Rooke
First published: Theme of Absence, January 10, 2020

Review of “Inertia” by Wendy Nikel

Plot:

The unnamed narrator and her unnamed mate meet at the launch pad.

“Is it love at first sight?” he asks her.

“Does it matter?” she responds.

They are one of a one hundred assigned couples about to be sent off to replenish the human race on a distant world. They will sleep in suspended animation until they reach the new world. What could go wrong?

Thoughts:

It crossed my mind that this might be a rerun of the tired Adam and Eve story. It is not. The narrator volunteered for this project after the man she loved told her that he would be marrying another woman, a pregnant girlfriend. She has, understandably, soured on the male of the species.

The author intersperses the recitation of various principles of physics throughout the story, beginning with the statement of (what else?) inertia: “A body in motion will remain in motion, and one at rest, at rest.” Generally, this device annoys me as a reader. However, in this story, author Wendy Nikel uses it to enhance rather than to decorate the story. It works.

I liked this story.

Bio:

According to her author blurb, Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education. Her short fiction has been published by Analog, Nature: Futures, Podcastle, and elsewhere. Her time travel novella series, beginning with The Continuum, is available from World Weaver Press. Her website notes she is a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), currently serving as the Publisher Liaison for the 2020 World Fantasy Convention.

The story can be read here.

Title: “Inertia”
Author: Wendy Nikel
First published: Daily Science Fiction, January 6, 2020

Review of “A Plague of Santas” by Emily Dorffer

This is not really a story, as there is no plot. It is a portrait, a satire of the frenzy surrounding Christmas time. And it is cute.

“It starts innocently enough in November,” the reader is told. “A shortage of cookies and milk at the grocery store, a faint jingling at night, the lingering scent of peppermint.”

The imagery is evocative, poking fun, and sparing some pity for harried parents who exchange tips and discuss strategy “over mugs of eggnog.” There is advice for wise children and wise families.

There is also mention of the often unwise practice of buying puppies and kittens for the holidays, which then sometimes end up abandoned.

Thoughts:

When I began reading this, I thought, Oh. Christmas—yeah, it’s a wonderful life, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it does achieve some nice satiric moments. Having worked retail for more than twenty-five years, I have come to dislike Christmas. Almost everything I detest about Christmas is portrayed here—without anger.

Is all the turmoil around Christmas worth the effort, for those who celebrate it? It’s a question only each person can answer.

Bio:

According to the author’s blurb, author Emily Dorffer is a technical writer who has cerebral palsy. She loves Christmas.

The story can be read here.

Title: “A Plague of Santas”
Author: Emily Dorffer
First published: Daily Science Fiction, December 23, 2019