Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 219, December 2024 by Neil Clarke


Stranger Seas Than These -- (4*) I love the concept, the whole idea of Godwhales. It's just... a thing. The story itself is just a taste of the awe and pretty much nothing more.

From Across Time -- (3*) I do love pattern-recognition stories, but this time-travel romance just felt slightly weak. I can't help but compare it to the glut of similar tales, even novels.

The Painted Skin and the Final Stroke -- (5*) Wonderfully imaginative, silkpunk hard-SF. Creativity, art, alchemy, Tao, a ghost market. Love it.

Souljacker -- (4*) Scary, interesting, and well-crafted warning about well-meaning implants and law enforcement. Of course, it's about anyone's rights once that door is wide open, but we don't talk about that in RL. Just cyberpunk like this. Right?

Lucie Loves Neutrons and the Good Samarium -- (3*) Nice play on words, fairly interesting juxtaposition of character-quirks, and a bit of near-future technothrill. But it still didn't do much for me.

Driver -- (5*) Muahahahahahaha. Driver. Yes, driver. A modern, hard SF version of Man-Car. Anyone remember that? Well, this is definitely better.

The Coffee Machine -- (5*) Definitely not a standard short story. For all that, I love it. Smart coffee machine has commentary in terms of users' behaviors. Delicious--especially the chocolate bars. Consciousness is a bitch. And Netflix? Don't get me started.

Life Sentence -- (4*) I'm always a pretty solid fan of black holes and sacrifices, so this works well enough.

Retirement Plan -- (3*) A little snarky glimpse of a future--of banality. To me, this is dystopic.

Martial Arts and Fight Scenes in Zero-G: Depictions in Science Fiction Literature -- A brief reference to some of the most popular depictions of zero-g events in SF. Nostalgic.

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