{"id":10912,"date":"2019-08-06T20:38:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T20:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=10912"},"modified":"2019-10-04T11:20:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T11:20:17","slug":"tor-com-short-fiction-may-june-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=10912","title":{"rendered":"Tor.com Short Fiction, May-June 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stories<\/a><\/p>\n

Other reviews:
\nGreg Hullender and Eric Wong, Rocket Stack Rank<\/a>
\nJason McGregor, Featured Futures<\/a><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Editors, Patrick Nielsen Hayden (x2), George R. R. Martin, Lee Harris, Ellen Datlow (x2)<\/p>\n

Fiction:
\nMurder in the Spook House <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 by Michael Swanwick \u2217<\/strong>
\nLong is the Way<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Carrie Vaughn and Sage Walker \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nAny Way the Wind Blows <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 by Seanan McGuire \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nSkinner Box <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 by Carole Johnstone \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nThe New Prometheus<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Michael Swanwick \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\nA Forest, or A Tree<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Tegan Moore \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong><\/p>\n

Non-fiction:
\nInterior artwork<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by John Picacio, Gregory Manchess (x3), Adam Baines, Samuel Araya<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

The first thing to mention is that the cover above is a placeholder made by me1<\/sup>: I needed an image as the third issue of Tor\u2019s new bimonthly magazine\/anthology has not yet appeared (they still seem to be in the process of filling a staff vacancy2<\/sup>). What follows are reviews of the stories that appeared on the Tor.com website3<\/sup> during May and June. I\u2019ve already commented on the two Swanwick stories in my last post, so I\u2019ve cut and pasted them at the end of this one for the convenience of anyone who hasn\u2019t seen them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

John Picacio<\/p><\/div>\n

Long is the Way<\/em><\/strong> by Carrie Vaughn and Sage Walker is a story from the \u2018Wild Cards\u2019 franchise, and starts with an \u2018Ace\u2019 (superhero for anyone not up on the \u2018Wild Card\u2019 terminology) called Jonathan Hive driving to an interview with another Ace called Zoe Harris. Harris may have been involved in a terrorist attack on Jerusalem twenty years ago but now, apparently, runs a perfume factory.
\nHive is so-called as he has the ability to transform himself into a swarm of wasps, and he reconnoiters the facility where Harris works by sending a couple of individual insects ahead:<\/p>\n

One bug caught a glimpse: a woman approaching . . . and she saw him. Them. She was a joker, with a face that looked melted on one side, average white middle-aged matron on the other, with brown hair tied in a ponytail. She held a tightly coiled newspaper in one hand. The pair of bugs crawled along the ceiling\u2014well out of reach of the universal weapon of \u201cdeath to insects.\u201d
\nAnd then her arm stretched. She whipped it back and flung it out, once, twice, and both wasps smashed into spots of goo. Well, then. Jonathan felt the buggy deaths as an itch. He decided not to send out any more bugs, at least not right now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Harris meets Hive she dismisses his cover story about interviewing her about perfume, and tells him she knows who he is. Harris then proceeds to tell him what she has been doing over the last two decades. This story involves an old lover called Croyd (an Ace fugitive who is also known as \u201cThe Sleeper\u201d) springing her from an asylum and taking her to deliver his pregnant lover\u2019s baby.
\nThe childbirth is described graphically, and at length, and (spoiler) it does not go well (the mother dies of pre-eclampsia). When they take the child to a village to get help, Croyd disappears overboard from their boat, and Harris and another Ace called Needles are left with the child. They go on to the local village.
\nAs a result of this experience Harris sets up the perfumery (really a refuge), and eventually saves ten people from unfortunate circumstances.
\nThis is an okay read, but it is obviously a fragmentary and interstitial piece of \u2018Wild Cards\u2019 backstory and doesn\u2019t stand on its own. If you are not into the \u2018Wild Cards\u2019 series it will probably not do much for you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gregory Manchess<\/p><\/div>\n

Any Way the Wind Blows <\/em><\/strong>by Seanan McGuire is a short piece written to commemorate the move of Tor Publishing out of the Flatiron building4<\/sup> in Manhattan. It is narrated by an airship captain from one of many parallel worlds, and there is a lot of backstory about the multiverse that they travel. We learn, among other things, that there are Greek Gods, and creatures who eat reality. In among these discursive descriptions there are moments of Crew Banter:<\/p>\n

I turn. Our navigator is looking over his shoulder at me. Well. One of his heads is. The other is still watching the curved window that makes up the front of our airship, crystal clear and apparently fragile. Most people who attack us aim for that window first, not asking themselves how many protections we\u2019d put on a sheet of glass that size. The fact that it\u2019s not a solid mass of bugs doesn\u2019t seem to be the clue it should.
\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d
\nHe smiles uncertainly. \u201cI think I see the Flatiron.\u201d
\nThat makes me stand a little straighter. Not every parallel has a Flatiron Building. Oh, every one we\u2019ve discovered where the European colonists constructed a settlement in the area we know as \u201cManhattan\u201d has had plans for a Flatiron Building, but they don\u2019t always get built, and once they\u2019re built, they don\u2019t always survive. Some of them have burnt. Others were bombed. One of them was infected by an artificial bacterium intended to help destroy landfills by converting them into arable soil, which had converted it into the largest pile of loam I\u2019d ever seen. An intact Flatiron is reason to celebrate.
\nMaybe. \u201cHow secure does the structure look?\u201d
\n\u201cSeems stable.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s . . . good. \u201cIs there a docking station on the roof?\u201d
\n\u201cNegative, captain.\u201d Daphne looks up from her instruments. \u201cThe mammals below us are pointing and stopping as we pass overhead. I don\u2019t think the airship caught on in this parallel.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, lovely. Primitives.\u201d
\n\u201cThere are flying machines,\u201d says one of the other bridge crew. \u201cThey seem to operate on an internal combustion basis, but they get where they\u2019re going. Fast, too. If we had one of those, we\u2019d be home within the quarter.\u201d
\n\u201cWith our surveys half-finished,\u201d I snap. \u201cYou can\u2019t chart ground properly if you\u2019re moving across it too fast for anything to record. Use your head, or we\u2019ll get you a new one.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019d like a new head,\u201d says the navigator. \u201cThe ones I have don\u2019t provide me with a full range of vision. Three heads, now. Three heads is where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After the leisurely setup they arrive at the building and the incursion team is deployed. The locals request a meeting with the captain, and when he descends to the building he meets what I presume are a number of the Tor publishers and editors:<\/p>\n

One of the locals, a cadaverous man who looks like he\u2019s already been killed and resurrected three or four times\u2014so maybe these people are more civilized than they seem\u2014is practically vibrating, smiling so broadly that he\u2019s in danger of splitting his lower lip. \u201cThis is really happening, this is really, really happening,\u201d he says. He turns to another of the locals, a shorter woman with graying hair and a politely bemused expression. \u201cYou owe me ten dollars.\u201d
\n\u201cI never made that bet,\u201d says the woman. \u201cExcuse me, ah, Captain, but are you saying these people really came from your, ah, airship up there? From another dimension?\u201d
\nHow much has the incursion team told these people? \u201cYes,\u201d I say stiffly, lowering my hand. \u201cWe come in peace. We don\u2019t intend you any harm.\u201d
\n\u201cThose two sentences mean the same thing, usually,\u201d says the third local, a balding man who seems short next to the living cadaver, but is about the same height as most of the men in my crew. He has an Albian accent. It sounds weird here in a New Amsterdam cognate. He\u2019s as out of place as we are. \u201cIs there a reason you need to say both?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A pleasant if minor piece.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Adam Baines<\/p><\/div>\n

Skinner Box <\/em><\/strong>by Carole Johnstone has a content warning for \u201csexual content, including abuse and assault\u201d (are today\u2019s readers really so fragile?), and good hook line:<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t always fantasise about killing him. I used to fantasise about fucking him, and when that lived up to expectations, I fantasised about marrying him. Which didn\u2019t.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The narrator is Evie, who is on a spaceship that is heading out to beyond Jupiter, and which has two other crew members: Mas, the Zimbabwean ship engineer and her lover, and Don, a scientist and her abusive husband. Evie\u2019s job is to conduct behavioural conditioning experiments on nanites in a Skinner box.5<\/sup> Although there is some material related to this\u2014the control of AI and neural networks\u2014the story largely focuses on Evie\u2019s relationship with Mas, and her plan to get him to kill her husband Don. As the story progresses we also learn about Boris, a previous lover of Evie\u2019s on an earlier trip.
\nEventually (and it is \u201ceventually,\u201d as the story is quite a long haul) we learn that (spoiler) Boris and Mas may be the ones who were\/are the subjects of a conditioning experiment\u2014we also learn that Boris is an android who is deactivated, and lying in a locked cabin. Then Evie locks Mas (who we later find out isn\u2019t<\/em> an android) in his cabin to prevent him following through with their plan\/his conditioning. There are even more reveals, and we find out that almost no one is who or what we (or they) think they are.
\nThe last section of the story has Evie coming to terms with the fact that she<\/em> is the subject of the experiment, and a transhuman to boot. She is later reunited with Mas.
\nThis is reasonably engaging for the most part, but the rug is pulled out from under the reader so many times in the final section that it\u2019s hard to care about anything by the end. As I\u2019ve already noted, it is longer than it needs to be (and it also outstays its welcome\u2014the last part seems somewhat anti-climactic).
\nIt reminded me a little of the movie Moon<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Samuel Araya<\/p><\/div>\n

A Forest, or A Tree<\/em><\/strong> by Tegan Moore concerns four young women on a hike. Although it is a little difficult to work out who is who to start with, it soon becomes clear that: Elizabeth is a foul-mouth who thinks everything is \u201cdicks\u201d; May is the solitary black character; Piper has digestive problems; and Ailey is an experienced woodsman\/leader.
\nThere is some sparky dialog, such as this spooky story-telling scene at an evening campfire:<\/p>\n

[Elizabeth said,] \u201cHave you heard of Stick Indians?\u201d
\n\u201cThat sounds racist,\u201d Ailey said.
\n\u201cStick Native Americans,\u201d Piper said. A trace of sunlight flickered over her closed eyes.
\n\u201cThey call it Stick Indians. I didn\u2019t make it up.\u201d
\n\u201cRepeating things doesn\u2019t make them not racist,\u201d May said. She hadn\u2019t meant to say it so vehemently. She glanced around their circle to see if anyone had flinched, and relaxed her shoulders.
\n\u201cOkay, so,\u201d Elizabeth said. \u201cSomeone posted this story\u2014it was obviously a story, it had characters and a plot and whatever; real stories aren\u2019t that well organized. A bunch of kids were out camping and were hassled by this tree monster. Whatever, it was dumb, but I hadn\u2019t heard about Stick Indians before.\u201d
\nNow Piper watched Elizabeth, interested. Ailey poked at the fire.
\n\u201cAnyway. I looked around and there wasn\u2019t much info. A couple old websites with Yakama Indian legends, but all the sites had basically the same story, and you could tell it was copy-pasted. That first site I saw referenced some books I couldn\u2019t find on Amazon, but I later I saw the same titles in a couple different places. Enough to make me think the books might at least be real.\u201d
\n\u201cYou could try a library,\u201d Ailey said. \u201cLike, where actual research is done.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The women eventually retire for the night but, when they wake the next day, Ailey and May discover that their pile of firewood, and more besides, has been scattered all over the campsite. They also find Piper is sick, and can\u2019t stop going to the toilet. After some discussion, Ailey, Elizabeth, and May go hiking on their own, leaving Piper to rest.
\nWhen they return at the end of the day they find Piper\u2019s condition has deteriorated. As they\u00a0 question her, Elizabeth sees a deer-like shape with antlers like \u201chuge fucking trees\u201d. They decide that, as night is falling, they will go for help in the morning.
\nThe final section (spoiler) has Elizabeth and May go for help. During their trip, Elizabeth is spooked by a deer (apparently a normal one this time) and she runs towards the ridge (the most direct but steepest route to their car). May is left to go on her own by the normal route, and gets to the car before Elizabeth. Rather than waiting she decides to set off and look for help.
\nAfter trying at a couple of empty houses\/stores, May finds a house with a hostile female occupant. She finally breaks in to use the phone, and the climactic scene takes place inside a house as the Stick Indian crashes through the French doors, and the old woman waves a shotgun around.
\nThis final scene did not work for me for a number of reasons: why had the Stick Indian followed May rather than Elisabeth (there is an inference earlier that it was following the latter of the two)? Why did it not attack May in the forest when she was on her own? Why does the householder act in such an odd way? What actually happens in this scene? Is it actually happening? (\u201cIt\u2014the thing, the creature, if it was even truly there\u2014lifted its dreadful, awful crest and looked at May with no eyes.\u201d)
\nA pity this doesn\u2019t have a better ending, as it is quite good for the most part.
\nAs mentioned above, I\u2019ve already reviewed the two Michael Swanwick stories,6<\/sup> both of which are set in a magical, early 20th<\/sup> Century version of Europe under threat of invasion from the Mongolian Wizard and his hordes. The story\u2019s main protagonist is a German called Ritter, who works as an investigator for an English wizard and MI5 spy chief called Sir Toby.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gregory Manchess<\/p><\/div>\n

Murder in the Spook House<\/em><\/strong> starts with Ritter arriving at a tank depot to investigate yet another murder (a repeating plot device in this series), and this time it is (spoiler) Sir Toby who has copped it. As Ritter is taken by the officer in charge to see the body, the pair see a raven appear and disappear\u2014this is another time anomaly event, similar to the one Ritter experienced in the previous story.
\nAfter some of the usual sniffing about by Ritter\u2019s wolf Freki, Ritter uncovers the murderer. The ending resurrects Sir Toby\u2014and his dead doppelg\u00e4nger disappears back to whatever timeline it came from.
\nThis story suffers not only from having yet another murder investigation at its core, but also from the same unconvincing temporal shenanigans as the previous tale: if the writer can magically undo any of the story\u2019s previous events by timeline manipulation, how can they expect to maintain any dramatic tension?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gregory Manchess<\/p><\/div>\n

The New Prometheus<\/em><\/strong> is this world\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em> story, and opens with Ritter driving a dog-sled across the Arctic in pursuit of his quarry. When the creature sets up camp, and Ritter establishes it is safe to approach\u2014he sends Freki ahead and watches as the wolf gets its tummy rubbed\u2014he enters his quarry\u2019s tent and listens to its story. We find out that the creature is a homunculus created by the Mongolian Wizard:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a gruesome process. First the skeleton is assembled from the living bones of various animals. Human bones would not do, for it was desired to give me the features and physiognomy of a god. Bones taken from dead creatures would be . . . dead. So animals were required to suffer. It took a phalanx of surgical wizards just to keep the skeleton viable while muscles and cartilage were attached, nerves grown to interlace the flesh, organs coaxed into interaction, skin convinced to cover all . . . More magical talents were employed in my creation than for any other single purpose in human history. It is doubtful that anyone but my father\u2014for so I consider him\u2014could have arranged for such a thing. And even he had to effectively bring the war to a standstill to free up the resources necessary for it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ritter later learns of the homunculus\u2019s education (part of which was done by Ritter\u2019s uncle, a prisoner under compulsion), and that it is capable of all the magical arts\u2014not just single talents like humans. However, its gift for mind-reading means it suffers from constant exposure to human thoughts, hence the flight to the Arctic.
\nAt the end of the story (spoiler) the homunculus paralyses Ritter and leaves the tent to take what seems the only logical course of action. After it disappears over the horizon, Ritter sees a terrific explosion.
\nI found this an engrossing account of the short life and death of an almost godlike bring, and it\u2019s one of the series\u2019 better stories.<\/p>\n

I liked Manchess\u2019s three illustrations the best, and thought the others okay or better. Again, the cover at the top is a fake created by me.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Another weak issue: given this venture\u2019s superior word rates, I expected more quality than I\u2019ve seen in the last three volumes. Given Tor.com\u2019s numerous award nominations in the past, I wonder if they are going through a weak patch? Do any regular readers have an opinion on this?\u00a0 \u25cf<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

1. Designed from scratch.<\/p>\n

2. The Tor job advert is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. You can find Tor.com\u2019s stories in web-format here<\/a>, and the bi-monthly \u2018newsletter\u2019 here<\/a> (if it is still going).<\/p>\n

4. There is a Wikipedia<\/a> page for the Flatiron building.<\/p>\n

5. There is a Wikpedia<\/a> page on Skinner boxes or, as they describe them, \u201cOpearant conditioning chambers\u201d.<\/p>\n

6. All of Swanwick\u2019s \u2018Mongolian Wizard\u2019 stories are reviewed here<\/a>.\u00a0 \u25cf<\/p>\n

Edited 23:59, cover image replaced.<\/em><\/p>\n\"rss\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stories Other reviews: Greg Hullender and Eric Wong, Rocket Stack Rank Jason McGregor, Featured Futures _____________________ Editors, Patrick Nielsen Hayden (x2), George R. R. Martin, Lee Harris, Ellen Datlow (x2) Fiction: Murder in the Spook House \u2022 by Michael Swanwick \u2217 Long is the Way \u2022 by Carrie Vaughn and Sage Walker \u2217\u2217 Any Way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tor-com"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-2Q0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10912"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11198,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10912\/revisions\/11198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}