Weekend Shorts - 10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days by Samantha Mills

Name - 10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days

Written by - Samantha Mills

Published on - Uncanny Magazine (Issue 63)

Alternate realities are all the rage nowadays and this one is quite a fun attempt to put this genre into action, mixing it with a post-apocalyptic and cosmic twist. The prose was fun with bits of humor and an overarching theme of romance, but nothing that seemed rather new to me.

The narrator describes 10 possible futures that she experiences through visions, occurring mostly after an apocalyptic event that keeps the populace trying to survive in various disastrous situations.

This is my first reading of the works of this author, and I found her prose and character work quite enjoyable despite nothing remarkably original on offer.

3 out of 5 stars from me.

Weekend Shorts - We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read by Caroline M. Yoachim

Name - We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read

Written by - Caroline M. Yoachim

Published on - Lightspeed Magazine May 2024 (issue 168)

This was a very experimental short, trying to convey a simple story in a rather unique manner. Although the gesture is definitely recommendable, when you really get down to it there isn't much substance in it; rather, the message it tried to convey.

This is my first experience with this author, and I quite liked her prose and style. She kept me guessing for the first half of the story regarding the direction she was aiming for, which is really a plus point in hindsight.

I would have liked it if there were a bit more stuff revealed regarding the nature of the species/race that was conveying their story, and if the story wasn't such barebones.

Kudos for style though, 3 out of 5 stars from me. 

Weekend Shorts - Five Views of the Planet Tartarus by Rachael K. Jones review

Name - Five Views of the Planet Tartarus

Written by - Rachael K. Jones 

Published on - Lightspeed Magazine January 2024 (issue 164)

Flash fiction is a relatively new kind of short stories, where it is often quite hard to express any remarkable message due to the constraints of space. The reader is often left imagining consequences and things are left without any resolution.

But sometimes authors can provide a satisfactory performance even despite such meagre room for maneuver. Rachael K. Jones tells a story without any viewpoint character, using crisp prose and blending science fiction with horror in only 549 words.

Special mention is to be given to the shocking twist at the end, which also kind of comes full circle by ties with the beginning. And like any good short story this one keeps a lingering presence in the mind of the reader for a while.

Despite everything, I would have liked the story to be a bit more divulging, especially about the setting.

This is certainly a worthy Hugo/Nebula nominee and gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Weekend Shorts (Hugo/Nebula Edition) - 'Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island'

Name - Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island
Written by - Nibedita Sen
Published by - Nightmare Magazine

Colonialism is a tragic part of history for a large portion of the populace of the world (me being a part of this being a Bengali). And for a long time fiction has aimed at attempting to describe some of the emotional impact of this invasion of culture and individuality. This curiously designed short, is yet another such attempt. But, what makes this one unique is the approach and the authors skillful attempt at making the readers guess what might be the truth of the whole affair.

'Nibedita Sen' uses a series of ten bibliographic entries of a sociology paper, to try to tell a story of a fictional group of indigenous people living in a secluded fictional island and their descendants. The approach is quite unique and the different perspective of the entries from people having varied opinion creates a sense of mystery regarding the actual facts which I am quite sure the author was aiming for.

And the overall experience comes to a satisfying end, while the author aiming another jab at the invaders of the island with a message that, no matter the amount of violation and invasion a culture can never be completely destroyed.

Despite being in a unique and unorthodox package, this one is short yet enjoyable and emotionally charged story.

My rating -  4.5 out of 5.

Link to the story -  http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/ten-excerpts-from-an-annotated-bibliography-on-the-cannibal-women-of-ratnabar-island/ 

Weekend Shorts (Hugo/Nebula Edition) - 'And Now His Lordship Is Laughing'

Name - And Now His Lordship Is Laughing
Written by - Shiv Ramdas
Published by - Strange Horizons

[ It's been more than 2 months, but I am back. As the nominations for both Hugo and Nebula is already out and there is not much time before the reveal of the winners, I will try to review some of the short stories and stuff from these nominations. ]

To be honest, being a Bengali myself ( I am from Bangladesh), I may not be the right person to review this one impartially, especially since the '43 Bengal Famine' is a very difficult part of history for us. But I will try to handle this from a casual reader's point of view nonetheless.

This short is a straightforward revenge story on the first glance, depicting the story of a native woman, who after losing her family tries to take to punish the ones she deems to be responsible. But the main aspect, is that the atrocities committed on this story are based on truth.

Almost 3 million people died due to the 'Bengal Famine of '43', and it is one of the most cruel man-made famine in the history of colonialism. The author did paint a vivid picture of the circumstances while adding a hint of magical realism in the context of doll making, but the main beauty lies in the emotional depiction of the main character 'Apa'. Any reader with a heart is bound to feel for her plight and would hope for some form of redemption.

The language used also deserves some praise in my opinion, as the Bengali terms used were used with such care as easily understandable by anyone. 

Despite being a formulaic tale, this one left a lingering sense of sadness which will linger in a reader's mind for a long time.

I rate this 4 out of 5.

Link to the story - http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/and-now-his-lordship-is-laughing/