The Magazine of Fantasy \u0026 Science Fiction, July/August 2021 (F\u0026SF, #756) by Sheree Renée Thomas

The Magazine of Fantasy \u0026 Science Fiction, July/August 2021 (F\u0026SF, #756) Reviews

• 
  Kam Yung Soh

  A better than average issue with some interesting stories. Those that I enjoyed are by Michael Swanwick, Yukimi Ogawa, Lauren Ring, Phoenix Alexander, Lisa Lacey Liscoumb, Paula Keane, Rowan Wren and Tato Navarrete Díaz.
  
  - "Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell into the Lake?" by Rob Costello: a dark fantasy take of an abused boy who lives with his father after his mother vanished. Yes he feels echoes of his mother, and it is only with the discovery of an old fairy tale does he understand the connection between himself, his mother and the sea.
  
  - "Dreadnought" by Michael Swanwick: a man who cares for nothing but living his own life in his own way. But an apparently crazed priest keeps harassing him, along with a man with a name like Cthulhu, who appears to be waiting for a sign that evil would take over the land.
  
  - "Her Garden, the Size of Her Palm" by Yukimi Ogawa: a girl gets a job helping an old lady tend her garden and collect samples of life for her. Only, the samples are from different worlds accessible from her garden. But the job is tough, and she might decide to take another job.
  
  - "Tulip Fever" by Bo Balder: in a future where global warming has flooded the world, a girl with 'immunity' to ingested microplastics ekes or a living on a floating platform. But visitors fun a land give her an opportunity to leave her current life, but not if it means abandoning the others on the platform.
  
  - "(emet)" by Lauren Ring: an interesting story that looks at a programmer whose is starting to get second thoughts while working on an image surveillance program. Her own skills at crafting living Jewish golems and programming would combine to provide a way for her to protect people who may be harmed by her own work.
  
  - "Cat Ladies" by L.X. Beckett: in a future where global warming has dispersed people, one person works as a law officer in a mobile village, going to make enough to return to get family. But her latest investigation may involve turning in friends who have misused resources for a greater good involving cats.
  
  - "The Penitent" by Phoenix Alexander: a tale of a being born as a kitten full of malice. But in a twist, it knows it should not be evil and returns again and again to try to put right what it has done wrong.
  
  - "And for My Next Trick, I Have Disappeared" by Chimedum Ohaegbu: a fantastical tale of a person somehow caught in a bus and slowly having her emotions and thoughts consumed by the bus, until she figures a way off it by thinking back on her emotions and relationships.
  
  - "How to Train Your Demon" by Lisa Lacey Liscoumb: the usual woman summons a demon story, only here the demon is asked to do housework for the woman and gets to eat cookies. But it is still a demon and does a favour for her in the only way a demon knows how.
  
  - "Woman, Soldier, Girl" by Priya Chand: a story is a woman soldier in a steampunk India that, after being defeated by the British, is forced to work for a British family while hiding her machinery and soldier background from them.
  
  - "Bridge for Sale" by S. Cameron David: a short short story about a conman selling the Brooklyn Bridge to an unusual customer.
  
  - "Picass-O-Matic" by Paula Keane: a robotic plastic surgeon decides to get artistic on its patients, but perhaps takes the changes to be made too literally.
  
  - "Minotaur" by Maia Brown-Jackson: a story of a maze, a Minotaur and two girls destined to meet in the maze.
  
  - "Perdition" by Rowan Wren: a story of the daughter of the Devil who is sent to Earth to make it into a better Hell. But instead, she finds love, and it would change lives.
  
  - "Mamá Chayo's Magic Lesson" by Tato Navarrete Díaz: a young witch listens to a story from her grandmother, also a witch, and picks up a lesson on being selfish and thinking only of ourselves.
• 
  John Loyd

  8 • Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell Into the Lake? • 14 pages by Rob Costello
  OK+. Tick is the child of an abusive father. His mother ran away and drowned herself. He does have one friend that he confides in. Declan tells him his life sounds like a fairy tale gone wrong.
  
  22 • Dreadnought • 17 pages by Michael Swanwick
  OK. Luke is a homeless man who is bothered every once in awhile by the reverend who comes around a couple times a week with a boy who he has “saved.” One day the boy comes alone and tells Luke he is evil and just biding his time.
  
  39 • Her Garden, the Size of Her Palm • 14 pages by Yukimi Ogawa
  Fair. The narrator leaves home seeking a job, her father gambled away her college fund. She finds a weird gardening job. I didn’t get into the setting.
  
  53 • Tulip Fever • 14 pages by Bo Balder
  Fair. Jones has an abusive grandfather, but can’t run away. Leaving the slat would be going into slavery. Again the setting was hard to fathom.
  
  67 • (Emet) • 20 pages by Lauren Ring
  Good. Chaya is working for a software company ramping up to push out face recognition technology. There have been protests about invasion of privacy. Chaya’s lived her life staying out of situations, following orders, in a way like her golems.
  
  104 • Cat Ladies • 27 pages by L. X. Beckett
  Good+. Zoey is on a routine day patrolling No-Man’s land when her partner calls in sick and she has work. Missing food points at a possible cat smuggler. A workplace fight that she has to break up. A police procedural with speculative elements.
  
  131 • The Penitent • 14 pages by Phoenix Alexander
  Good/OK. The Middle Consciousness inhabits the kitten the George adopts. Then other life. We get to see the scene from several angles.
  
  147 • And For My Next Trick, I Have Disappeared • 23 pages by Chimedum Ohaegbu
  Poor/Fair. After four years together Ada and Penny have been apart for four months. I guess. Too metaphorical/poetic/read between the lines for me.
  
  176 • How to Train Your Demon • 18 pages by Lisa Lacey Liscoumb
  Very Good+. Edie summons a demon to do the household chores she can no longer do. Then they have tea.
  
  194 • Woman, Soldier, Girl • 16 pages by Priya Chand
  Fair/OK. Jan's side lost and now her country/world/territory is being occupied by the empire. Thankfully she doesn't have any scars that would mark her as a soldier and is able to get a job as a cook.
  
  210 • Bridge For Sale • 3 pages by S. Cameron David
  OK. Took a turn of phrase and made it into a story.
  
  214 • Picass-O-Matic • 7 pages by Paula Keane
  OK. A plastic surgery robot doing routine procedures deviates from instructions and then decides to become an artist.
  
  231 • Minotaur • 7 pages by Maia Brown-Jackson
  Fair/Ok. Keket and Cassandra independently go into a maze and try to avoid the Minotaur. Too poetic for me.
  
  238 • Perdition • 8 pages by Rowan Wren
  Good. The Devil sends his daughter to Earth where she falls in love with a human. It can't last and eventually she is called back to hell.
  
  246 • Mama Chayo's Magic Lesson • 11 pages by Tato Navarrete Diaz
  Good. Celestina has magic and uses it wisely. Mama Chayo reinforces this with a story of a man who used his magic with no regard for others.
• 
  Fernando Goulart

  An average edition. My favorite stories were:
  
  “Dreadnought” by Michael Swanwick - Luke is a dropout from society, living at its margin, until he meets a boy named Chthulhu, but fails to recognize his warnings of humanity’s doom.
  
  “How to Train Your Demon” by Lisa Lacey Liscomb - An Old Lady summons a demon to help her in her house’s chores, and end up establishing an unusual relationship with him.
  
  “Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell into the Lake” by Bob Costello - A boy, abused by his father, is attracted by a body of water where his mother drowned herself years before.
  
  “Her Garden, the Size of Her Palm” by Yukimi Ogawa - A curious and surreal tale about a girl who leaves his gambler dad, enters a hole to another dimension, and start collecting for specimens from different planets, in her Grandma bubble garden/spacecraft (!?)
  
  “Perdition” by Rowan Wren - The Devil ‘s daughter is sent to earth, but falls in love with a human.
• 
  Leroy Erickson

  This issue contained too many stories which didn't really seem to have a purpose.
  
  Rob Costello - Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell Into the Lake? - 4 stars
  - A good story about a Selkie maiden who is trapped by a human man into becoming his wife. She has a son and, through the son, she gets her revenge.
  
  Michael Swanwick - Dreadnought - 3 stars
  - A good story, but just a little bit too unreal.
  
  Yukimi Ogawa - Her Garden, the Size of Her Palm - 4 stars
  - A young woman applies at the job center for a job and gets one, but it's a very unusual job on the other side of a wormhole!
  
  Bo Balder - Tulip Fever - 3 stars
  - Far future (?), mankind is split by location, race, and disease. A young woman gets a chance to move to Australia to a better life, but insists on bring along her friends. A little odd.
  
  Lauren Ring - (emet) - 3 stars
  - A young Jewish woman was taught by her mother how to create golems and she makes good use of them, even for protest marches.
  
  L. X. Beckett - Cat Ladies - 3 stars
  - Women protecting each other in order to protect the environment (?).
  
  Phoenix Alexander - The Penitent - 2 stars
  - A consciousness occupies several animate objects in sequence and, finally, in parallel in order to change history?
  
  Chimedum Ohaegbu - And for My Next Trick, I Have Disappeared - 2 stars
  - A woman finds herself partially disappearing while riding a bus (?). That's not really the story, but I couldn't seem to get anything more out of it.
  
  Lisa Lacey Liscoumb - How to Train Your Demon - 4 stars
  - Finally, a good story! An elderly woman finds an old book which shows her how to call up a demon. She does so, but just to help her move some boxes. The next time it's to rake her leaves, then to shovel snow. Each time she provides the demon with tea and treats. Well, the demon becomes fond of her.
  
  Priya Chand - Woman, Soldier, Girl - 3 stars
  - A woman fights during a war, then has to survive after her side loses the war.
  
  S. Cameron David - Bridge for Sale - 4 stars
  - A man at a bar brags about being able to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. Somebody offers to buy it from him and offers a large amount of money. The man takes the money and, later, the bridge disappears! They then ask him about buying the pyramids at Giza. Neat.
  
  Paula Keane - Picass-O-Matic - 4 stars
  - An AI controls an automated plastic surgery system. It starts making it's own decisions about whether or not to do requested changes.
  
  Maia Brown-Jackson - Minotaur - 2 stars
  - A surrealistic story about 2 people living in places which may or may not actually be there, they may or may not actually meet, the story may or may not actually be worth reading.
  
  Rowan Wren - Perdition - 3 stars
  - The devil's daughter is sent up to Earth to direct more people to go to Hell.
  
  Tato Navarrete Díaz - Mamá Chayo's Magic Lesson - 3 stars
  - A witch teaches her daughter that you only perform magic which is helpful and which guides things to do what they naturally want to do.
  
• 
  Michael Frasca

  This issue contains many excellent short-short stories by new writers. I’m looking forward to seeing more from them in the future.
  
  Here are my favorite stories:
  
  - (emet) by Lauren Ring.
  Martin Niemöller—Milgram—Pirkei Avot—Reality Winner—אֱמֶת
  A cautionary tale for our time.
  
  - Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell into the Lake? by Rob Costello.
  A Scottish folk tale helps an abandoned, abused boy make sense out of his horrific life. A disturbing, yet hopeful, story.
  
  - Dreadnought by Michael Swanwick.
  Street people. Invisibles. Throw-aways. The city pays them no heed. Who are the ל"ו צַדִיקִים?
  
  - Her Garden, the Size of Her Palm by Yukimi Ogawa.
  A wonderful Dr. Who/The Master-ish sort of story. Down the rabbit hole and through a wormhole with a Tik-Tok Grandma.
  
  - How to Train Your Demon by Lisa Lacey Liscoumb.
  All we need to solve our country’s elderly care problem is a grimoire, salt and some fresh-baked gingersnap cookies. Demon-assisted living—a story that warmed my geriatrician heart.
  
  - Woman, Soldier, Girl by Priya Chand.
  TIL about the dark side to colonialism and the tragedy of the Bengal famine of 1943. Steampunkers—remember that the Victorian era was not all fun and games to many folks.
  
  - Bridge for Sale by S. Cameron David.
  At least it wasn’t for a $24 worth of glass beads, right?
  Right?
  
  - Picass-O-Matic by Paula Keane.
  Is there beauty in perfection, especially when perfection is just average? A surgical robot stumbles on the concept of wabi-sabi—the beauty of imperfection—and begins to practice it’s art a little too well.
  
  - Minotaur by Maia Brown-Jackson.
  Keket and Cassandra—ka-tet in the maze, the Minotaur and Daedalus be damned.
  
  - Perdition by Rowan Wren.
  To truly love requires free will; the ability to choose between two almost equal desires. Does the devil’s daughter have free will?
  
  - Mamá Chayo's Magic Lesson by Tato Navarrete Díaz.
  Mamá's marvelous parable has a lesson for all--the secret of (insert power here) is not to force your will on the world. And a scared (power) wielder is a dangerous (power) wielder.
• 
  Greg

  A couple of particularly good stories….and a whole lot of workshopped self-absorbed dreck.
• 
  David H.

  This was a relatively strong issue, though it had a few weaknesses (all with respect to my personal taste!). There was a whopping 15 stories in this issue, mainly because there were no novellas and a lot of the short stories were shorter than normal.
  
  My favorite stories were Lauren Ring's "(emet)" (about a programmer who can make golems) and Lisa Lacey Liscoumb's "How to Train Your Demon" (about a lonely old lady who summons a demon for the most mundane reasons). Ring's story was a great meditation on individual power when it comes to "faceless" corporations chipping away at your rights and the sterilization of empathy. Liscoumb's story was just so darn sweet and humorous.
  
  Other stories I enjoyed a lot were Beckett's "Cat Ladies" (futuristic mystery tale in their Bounceback setitng), Priya Chand's alternate steampunk story "Woman, Soldier, Girl," and Paula Keane's very amusing "Picass-o-matic."
  
  Some of the stories were a bit dark for me, like Swanwick's "Dreadnought," and Ohaegbu's "And for My Next Trick, I Have Disappeared" definitely has an audience, but I wasn't it.
  
  I enjoyed the various departments and such.
• 
  Jordi

  A somewhat irregular issue, but with a lot of stories to pick up from, and many writers making their debut in F&SF.
  
  Some of my favorites were the opening and closing stories, which almost work as a negative of each other in terms of mood. The opener “Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell into the Lake?” by Rob Costello is a very dark story - a child longing for his mother, disappeared in tragic circumstances, and constantly abused by a father that only sees in him a reflection of the mother. Almost a grim sequel to the classic Mermaid’s tale.
  
  On the other hand, the closing story “Mamá Chayo’s Magic Lesson”, by Tato Navarrete Díaz, emanates a warm tone. Set at night in the Sonora desert, it features three peculiar characters: a young witch apprentice, her grandmother, and a sentient hut that moves around using a very convenient set of chicken legs. Also reminds of a classic tale as well, a word of caution on the dangers of being selfish.
  
  Another couple of good stories that were sort of linked were “Dreadnought” by Michael Swanwick and “The Penitent” by Phoenix Alexander. The first one is a self-confessed attempt to write a Cthulhu Mythos story, but it takes you from the beginning on unexpected paths. “The Penitent” is another odd story that follows a sort of cosmic conscience jumping between lives of different beings, forward and backward in time, in its infinite task of trying to fix the universe.
• 
  Patrick Hurley

  Lots of stories in this one and most were quite good--I think my favorite was "Mamá Chayo's Magic Lesson" by Tato Navarrete Díaz--just lovely.
• 
  Adriel Algiene

  The Penitent was my favorite story in this issue. But there are also great stories here!!
• 
  A.C. Spahn

  While I enjoyed the stories in this issue quite a lot, I specifically wanted to review Chimedum Ohaegbu's novelet "And For My Next Trick, I Have Disappeared."
  
  This is a masterpiece.
  
  Here are the reasons I adored it:
  
  1. Lyrical prose - The writing is stunning.
  
  2. Style - This is one of those stories that dips into non-straightforward writing styles, and it does it SO WELL. There's a section just in dialogue, a section that uses spacing between characters to give you the feeling of coming apart, musical notation at the start of some sections, and more. And rather than alienating the reader, which is easy to do, this makes you feel like you're living and breathing the text. It's really an experience.
  
  3. Theme - This story is about the slow death of a friendship and how much that hurts. This is not a theme I've often seen in my reading, but it hit me hard. The raw emotion and the open ending made me sit with my own past experiences. It challenged me, and I think I grew as a person reading this.
  
  4. Emotion - The story basically takes you inside the grieving process, but you don't even realize that's what it's done until you're almost finished.
  
  So yeah, if you see this on a magazine rack, grab it fast.
• 
  Corinne

  Only read:
  
  -- Whatever Happened to the Boy Who Fell into the Lake? by Rob Costello - 1* WTF!
  CW: Content warnings: child abandonment and child abuse
  Why did the author tell this story? Why did he do this to the boy? The abandonment was more painful for me than the abuse. Bullshit ending. I hated it. Will not read another by this author.
  
  -- How to Train Your Demon - Lisa Lacey Liscoumb - 3.5*
  That was fun and much needed after the last story. *grumble*. A summoned demon and an older woman are "getting things done". That's a Dead Like Me references for those that don't know:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxzx9yp-Zwc
  
  -- Picass-O-Matic by Paula Keane - 3*
  A plastic surgeon robot misunderstands their boss's "your no Picasso" statement. And works on fixing that. hehe
  
  
  -- Mamá Chayo's Magic Lesson - Tato Navarrete Díaz 2.5*
  A grandmother teaches her granddaughter (witches) about not forcing her will on the elements that she has power over.
  
  Skipping the others
• 
  VexenReplica

  3.5/5, rounded down. This was an pretty okay collection, just with a bit too much horror for my tastes.
  
  Highlights for me included "(emet)," "Woman, Soldier, Girl," and "How to Train Your Demon."
• 
  Maria Do

  Uma excelente coletânea de contos e poemas, ficção científica e fantasia de altíssimo nível. Adoro esta revista, recomendo.