Beneath Ceaseless Skies is officially 200 issues old! Which wow, is quite the accomplishment, and the celebration means a double issue filled with fantasies that reveal worlds distant and magical or much closer to our own (and still, yes, magical). Characters struggle with guilt and moral dilemmas where there are no good options. People try to heal in the midst of conflict and violence and history and people come together, find comfort in the press of bodies, in moments of small compassions. It's a great collection of tales, well worthy of a celebration. To the reviews!
For it's December issue, Clarkesworld's gift to you and me is a month of great fiction. Four stories anchor the issue, all of them science fictional in nature. This issue manages to mostly stick to hope, most of the stories finding a way forward despite ugliness, despite despair, despite adversity. And all of them tell some fine tales about the edges of space, about the edges of human achievement. About people surviving and thriving in environments that could easily kill them. It's a full issue of fiction, plus an interesting nonfiction piece dealing with a topic I have OPINIONS(!) on, the Classics. So let's get to it!
So normally I would be waiting to post my Tor.com review until later in the month when all the stories are out (I'm guessing there might still be two this month to go), but I'm really hurting for things to review right now and I suspect there might be a story out here as late as the last day of the month, so I'm just breaking the September publications into two groups. Two original stories and one graphic story that's technically a reprint. I'm looking at it though because it's only really been up at the artist's blog, so this is the first time it's being not self-published. And it's cute. The stories themselves this month are about not giving up, about loneliness and isolation and despair, but also about wanting to help people and not giving up on them. In ways that run both uplifting and disturbing. Some good stuff, though, that I'm just going to get to reviewing.
