June 2023 (Issue 157)

We have original science fiction by Dominique Dickey (“Spaceship Joyride”) and Ruth Joffre (“Queen of the Andes”). We also have two terrific flash pieces: “Jaywalk the Stars” from Elad Haber and “Always Personal” by Rich Larson. Plus, we have original fantasy by Sarah Grey (“And All the Fields Below”) and Deborah L. Davitt (“Philoctetes in Kabul”). We also have a flash story (“The Bone-Gatherer’s Lament”) from Wendy Nikel, and another (“Bestiary viventem”) from Kyle E Miller. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our review team. Our ebook readers will also enjoy an excerpt from Lilith Saintcrow’s new novel Spring’s Arcana.

Cover art by Roman3d (primary image) / KanawatTH (background texture) via Adobe Stock

June 2023 (Issue 157)

Editorial

Editorial: June 2023

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the Editorial for a rundown of this month’s terrific content!

Science Fiction

Spaceship Joyride

by Dominique Dickey

Author spotlight

The most beautiful boy you have ever seen in your life is hot-wiring a spaceship. It’s an objectively unsexy spaceship, insofar as a spaceship can be unsexy—a six-seater built like a 2008 Honda Odyssey, a car model you’re only aware of because it continues to appear in memes. The boy is decidedly not unsexy, though. His name is Eddie, he’s your xenobiology lab partner, and he’s currently bent over the spaceship’s popped hood.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Dominique Dickey

by Laurel Amberdine

In the last semester of my BA, I took a writing seminar on taking risks. Our assignments were completely open ended—we were allowed and encouraged to write whatever we wanted, as long as we could point to some sort of risk that we took. I nebulously knew that I wanted to write something in second person, and I started toying with the opening line of “Spaceship Joyride.” I ultimately didn’t write the story during the seminar, but I kept going back to that opening line—I really loved the sound of it.

Fantasy

The Bone-Gatherer’s Lament

by Wendy Nikel

The desert is full of bones. Sometimes, if you listen, the bones will speak. From a distance, the Bone-Gatherer may look like he is wandering, with his basket made of dried hyssop on his back and his arms and legs and head all covered in black-blue feathers that flicker like tongues of lightless fire. He may look as if he is merely roving—a nomadic traveler stretching his lanky legs, with no singular destination in mind.

Science Fiction

Jaywalk the Stars

by Elad Haber

Take a deep breath. Hold on to something. When you open that door, it’s going to feel like you’re dying, but in the best possible way. You’ve done the homework. Studied the colorful maps, the security schedule, the camera placement. You’re rusty, but ready. You zip your jumpsuit up to the base of your neck and tighten your backpack. You’re in a crowded transit hub in the aft section of the ship. Huge transparent windows line the cavernous space.

Fantasy

And All the Fields Below

by Sarah Grey

Author spotlight

It’s only after they’ve loaded the moving truck halfway with boxes that the parents finally notice Parker’s gone. They spend three days yelling for him. Mom waits the longest, wanders the farthest into the forest in the dark. Her voice is a plea, an agonized howl, an echo of the day Eli closed his eyes and never opened them again. “Parker,” she cries, “Come on, be a good boy. Please.”

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Sarah Grey

by Laurel Amberdine

I love dogs! No, seriously, dogs are the absolute best. I wish I could have one (or five) but I don’t have the space they need, nor the time to give them the attention they deserve. I grew up with dogs—usually golden retrievers, always several in the household at a time—and I miss their silly slobbery faces. I’ve had to settle for cats, for the time being; they’re terrific in their own way, but the loyalty of a cat is a totally different thing.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

by Aigner Loren Wilson

If you’re looking for a read that’s a little bit spooky, Aigner Loren Wilson recommends Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward. Find out why!

Science Fiction

Queen of the Andes

by Ruth Joffre

Author spotlight

Every morning before work, I measure the Queen of the Andes. I’ve nicknamed her Nova because her trunk is a ball of spikes that reminds me of a supernova in slow motion, an explosion of leaves pointing in two hundred and three directions from the core of the bromeliad (the largest of her species—and the last). For almost thirty years, Nova has been growing, her presence in the garden expanding, like a true queen’s.

Fantasy

Bestiary viventem

by Kyle E Miller

Finch’s dad always said a book could neither plow the earth nor feed a mare, so Finch wasn’t surprised when his secret bestiary turned out to be alive. He inherited it upon his father’s death in the summer of Finch’s fifteenth year. After burying his father in the meadow near his favorite horse’s grave, Finch read the handwritten will that wouldn’t have withstood the rigors of Law, but was good enough for them.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Ruth Joffre

by Laurel Amberdine

With this story, I really wanted to tell a story about humanity’s relationship with plants, which have become/are becoming more and more important to me. Climate change and habitat destruction in the forms of logging, development, pollution, etc. are killing off entire species. Our planet is now in the process of being remade by the climate catastrophe. But what happens after the apocalypse comes and some people, some plants, go on living?

Nonfiction

Book Review: Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures, edited by Alex Woodroe

by Arley Sorg

If you’re looking for stories of science fiction blended with horror, Arley Sorg has a recommendation for you: the anthology Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures, edited by Alex Woodroe.

Science Fiction

Always Personal

by Rich Larson

Kess stepped through the scrolling yellow police holo, rubbing her bagged eyes. The latest victim was male, mid-forties, sprawled in a small dark pool of blood turning to slush in the winter air. His belly had been rent open with short, savage strokes. “Another inverse stabbing,” Barbier said, holding up a red-smeared evidence bag. “What a lucky cop you are, Kess. First month on the job and you get a serial killer.”

Fantasy

Philoctetes in Kabul

by Deborah L. Davitt

Author spotlight

Call me Philoctetes. My real name doesn’t matter, and I wouldn’t be allowed to tell you what it is, anyway. Security concerns, you understand. What you need to know about me is that I was a US Army Green Beret—one of the Quiet Professionals. Usually tasked with working with the locals in counterinsurgency efforts and the like. The stuff that doesn’t—or shouldn’t—make the newspapers.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Deborah L. Davitt

by Laurel Amberdine

There was an anthology call for stories that took inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology, but that used them for unexpected voices. Around the time of the anthology call, the US withdrew from Afghanistan. While many supported that decision, a great many soldiers were left feeling that they’d betrayed those to whom they’d made promises over there, and that they’d left a job undone.