Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 109, June 2019 by John Joseph Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
SCIENCE FICTION
Between the Dark and the Dark (Deji Bryce Olukotun) – the story starts off with the common trope of generation ships and leaving a ruined Earth. I’ve even come across it a bunch of times during my current SFF magazine binge. But the author introduces some cool new ideas, like the council. The story, therefore, goes in some interesting directions.
An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book Of Comparative Cognition (Ken Liu) – in addition to a fun exploration of various concepts related to the sharing of memories, there’s another frame story emphasizing the points.
The Harvest of a Half-Known Life (G.V. Anderson) – a society that reminds me of the Fremen in Dune. Very well written as I only figured out the plot twist a free part’s before the reveal.
Warhosts (Yoon Ha Lee) – very, very confusing although I think I figured out what was going on in a general sense by the end, many of the details escaped me
FANTASY
The Last Worders (Karen Joy Fowler) – an interesting tale of twins who seem to be in a sort of detente over their struggles as twins. Also deals with themes of rich tourism to poor countries. I thought the ending was very interesting.
The Weight of a Thousand Needles (Isabel Cañas) – a story composed of Turkish tropes that nevertheless seems familiar.
When Two Swordsmen Meet (Ellen Kushner) –
Unpublished Gay Cancer Survivor Memoir (Caspian Gray) – this was very interesting in that it didn’t go where I thought it would. I kind of like that it’s a bit nebulous whether what happens after the end turns out great or badly. Also, as an open source fan, it was near to see OpenOffice mentioned.
NOVELLA
Dust to Dust (Tochi Onyebuchi) – A story that’s a mystery and also about the fall of European Communism in the 1990s. I wasn’t a fan of the narrative and found myself a little lost at times.
EXCERPTS
Gather the Fortunes (Bryan Camp) – sounds extremely fun and I added it to me TBR list.
Reentry (Peter Cawdron) – the narrative style looks compelling, but the plot seems a bit too depressing for me.
NONFICTION
Book Reviews, June 2019 (Arley Sorg) – a series of books that seem very depressing.
Media Review: June 2019 (Carrie Vaughn) – a review of Avengers: Endgame
Interview: Cadwell Turnbull (Christian A. Coleman) – author interview
View all my reviews