A Vastness - Bo Balder **Some nice bits of writing in this story of an obsessed scientist chasing after the wormhole-creating, universe-hopping creatures of her studies but the plot felt rushed and forced. It didn't flow, inconsistently barreling towards its conclusion. Not Now - Chelsea Muzar **Focuses on a young girl whose room is destroyed by a robot arm falling from the sky, as her family become the centre of a media storm. Reflects the victim blaming mentality of a mob and the empty gesture...

A Vastness - Bo Balder **Some nice bits of writing in this story of an obsessed scientist chasing after the wormhole-creating, universe-hopping creatures of her studies but the plot felt rushed and forced. It didn't flow, inconsistently barreling towards its conclusion. Not Now - Chelsea Muzar **Focuses on a young girl whose room is destroyed by a robot arm falling from the sky, as her family become the centre of a media storm. Reflects the victim blaming mentality of a mob and the empty gesture...

A Vastness - Bo Balder **Some nice bits of writing in this story of an obsessed scientist chasing after the wormhole-creating, universe-hopping creatures of her studies but the plot felt rushed and forced. It didn't flow, inconsistently barreling towards its conclusion. Not Now - Chelsea Muzar **Focuses on a young girl whose room is destroyed by a robot arm falling from the sky, as her family become the centre of a media storm. Reflects the victim blaming mentality of a mob and the empty gesture...

A Vastness - Bo Balder **Some nice bits of writing in this story of an obsessed scientist chasing after the wormhole-creating, universe-hopping creatures of her studies but the plot felt rushed and forced. It didn't flow, inconsistently barreling towards its conclusion. Not Now - Chelsea Muzar **Focuses on a young girl whose room is destroyed by a robot arm falling from the sky, as her family become the centre of a media storm. Reflects the victim blaming mentality of a mob and the empty gesture...

A Vastness - Bo Balder **Some nice bits of writing in this story of an obsessed scientist chasing after the wormhole-creating, universe-hopping creatures of her studies but the plot felt rushed and forced. It didn't flow, inconsistently barreling towards its conclusion. Not Now - Chelsea Muzar **Focuses on a young girl whose room is destroyed by a robot arm falling from the sky, as her family become the centre of a media storm. Reflects the victim blaming mentality of a mob and the empty gesture...

The military-colony SF novelette “Fleeing Oslyge” by Sally Gwylan follows Senne, who escaped from her home city of Oslyge after it was sacked by the invading Tysthänder and is now a refugee travelling with four resistance fighters searching for the rest of their camp. They are constantly on guard because of the tech the Tysthänder can use to track them, and the group’s highest-ranking officer, Gunter, suspects there may be a traitor among them. I was impressed with how the author kept me, as the...

My first Clarkesworld! Consider me hooked.A Vastness by Bo Balder ★★★☆☆"She had something they didn’t. The guts to go for it." A scientists life long study of enormous space creatures brings her close enough to touch. But what happens when you know the unknowable?The podcast readers voice worked well for the lyrical aspects of this story but didn’t give it passion. Overall, more artistic than exciting.Not Now by Chelsea Muzar ★★☆☆☆“People don’t like change and they don’t like different.” The

A nice balanced collection. My favorite was Cold Comfort. Below are my per story reviews and/or thoughts.-------A Vastness: A very interesting story of what we do when we're so driven, we are willing to risk everything. And a great ending that was very unexpected. It felt a bit shorter than these usually are, so it was extra neat to have it work so well.Not Now: A story about how messed up the media can be and how uncaring about those they're covering. It focuses specially on how it can tear fam...

Read 2 from this editions so far:~Farewell, Doraemon by A Que - DNFI tried for a second time to listen to this story but I'm just not engaged. People have such nice things to say about it but it's just not my preference.~ Cold Comfort - novelette by Paul Doherty and Pat Murphy - 3* - I read someone say it was the perfect example of "Solarpunk" so had to check it out. // The MC is a scientist who figures out a way to capture gases that are contributing to global warming. It's a realistic futurist...

Another in a series of periodic reminders: If you support Clarkesworld on Patreon, they send you an e-magazine of fiction every month. It is very good fiction. You should support independent publishing just as a general rule. Make this happen...

A Vastness - ****Not Now - ***Fleeing Oslyge - ***Farewell, Doraemon - ***Cold Comfort - **In Panic Town, on the Backward Moon - ***

Originally published on The Curious SFF ReaderA Vastness by Bo Balder ★★A Vastness follows a scientist obsessed with a group of alien creatures. It is about searching for the meaning of your life and what you do when you finally realize what it is.The premise was interesting but I had trouble engaging with the story. I don’t know if it was because of the writing or the characters, but something was off for me. Also I found the ending was a bit anti-climatic. Not Now by Chelsea Muzar ★★★A pro-rob...

Originally published on The Curious SFF ReaderA Vastness by Bo Balder ★★A Vastness follows a scientist obsessed with a group of alien creatures. It is about searching for the meaning of your life and what you do when you finally realize what it is.The premise was interesting but I had trouble engaging with the story. I don’t know if it was because of the writing or the characters, but something was off for me. Also I found the ending was a bit anti-climatic. Not Now by Chelsea Muzar ★★★A pro-rob...

A Vastness and the reprint of Cold Comfort were the standouts for me.

A Vastness and the reprint of Cold Comfort were the standouts for me.

A Vastness and the reprint of Cold Comfort were the standouts for me.

This volume was my first introduction to Clarkesworld, and it’s a publication I want to continue reading! My favorite piece was A Que’s “Farewell, Doraemon.” I also enjoyed the interview with Hannu Rajaniemi.

This volume was my first introduction to Clarkesworld, and it’s a publication I want to continue reading! My favorite piece was A Que’s “Farewell, Doraemon.” I also enjoyed the interview with Hannu Rajaniemi.

This volume was my first introduction to Clarkesworld, and it’s a publication I want to continue reading! My favorite piece was A Que’s “Farewell, Doraemon.” I also enjoyed the interview with Hannu Rajaniemi.