So… In October, I pretty much promised that this month’s recommendations would include a bunch of Daily Science Fiction stories. Instead–and I’m not really sure why–I ended up reading far more broadly than I had planned. I continued my journey down the rabbit hole that is Uncanny’s backlog and returned to reading old, neglected favorites like Apex and Podcastle.
I barely touched my DSF backlog so if that’s what you came fore, I hope have something for you in December. Either way, I hope you’ll enjoy this month’s selection.
How to Survive an Epic Journey by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Uncanny):
This is a retelling of Greek myths. It’s the story of Atalanta and of Jason, but mostly, it’s the story of the Argonaut. The retelling is done through a feministic lens, focusing on some of the elements which are only glanced at without much detail in the original myth like, what it’s like for Atalanta to be the only woman on board the Argo and Jason’s careless exploitation of Medea.
The writing was solid, the pacing spot on, but what really made this story stand out to me was how much more interesting this retelling was compared to the original story and how much new material Roberts managed to wring from a myth that has been told a thousand times over.
The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval (Shimmer/Podcastle):
A weirdly unsettling tale about woman having returned from the world of the fae. The experience of this strange place tears at her mind, and while she fell compelled to keep others from being tricked to enter this other realm , she also secretly longs to go back.
Plot-wise, this story was so-so with nothing much happening except in the beginning and the end. However, the eerie feeling that suffused the story took it up a level. Add to that the way Sandoval managed to make the protagonist unrelatable situation (that is, unless you’ve been to the world of the fae youself) feel very real, and you end up with an excellent story.
Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts by Merc Fenn Woolfmoor (Apex):
This story managed to impress me despite being slightly overwritten and there never really being much at stake. The world building, though, and the gritty and detailed setting Woolfmoor brought to the page were impressive.
The protagonist is a soldier, fallen from the Prosperous Above to the giant cesspit of a city below where demons, monsters, and dark creatures living off peoples’ grief roam. She is a half-dead thing herself, physically and emotionally, but for some reason, she decides to help a broken girl get back the soul that was stolen from her. This leads our protagonist on a quest throughout the darkest parts of the city, facing off with old friends and foes alike, and leading her to a battle with her own past.
The prose is rife with metaphors, linking every setting detail to the sorrow and pain that permeates the protagonist and the city she lives in. It becomes a bit too much for my liking, coming across as overwritten. However if you do not mind that, the descriptions and the worldbuilding makes this story well worth reading.
Piety, Prayer, Peacekeeper, Apocalypse by Rati Mehrotra (Podcastle):
Mehrotra packed a lot in to a small short story. It’s a tale of political intrigues, colonialism, unwilling assassins, and involuntary romance.
The story follows Soru Khara, a near-immortal emissary from the star emperor, sent to one of the emperor’s domains, one of Earth’s eight kingdoms. Soru has to deal with political intrigues, assassination attempts, and her own ambivalent feelings as she returns to a planet she can no longer call home. While there, she tries to figure out who is to blame for all the misery she sees: the conquering star emperor? The puppet queen? humanity itself?
Aside from the awesome premise and world building, what I really liked about this story was that it didn’t try to give simple answers to complex problems. The emperor might be an evil colonialist conqueror, or they might be a benevolent deity. It doesn’t really matter. The story is not about good and evil but about people trying to do good, whatever that might lead to.
My only complaint was that the story was perhaps a little too short. The character relationships weren’t really given the time they needed to develop. Still, it was a story well worth reading.
That is it for November. I hope you’ll enjoy these short stories as much as I did.
Toby Backman 