Well that was depressing. Short, but not worth it. 1, that sister was an evil piece of work and the brother was a weak push over, Star.

John Chu’s “Beyond the El” is the story of Connor, a high-end “food crafter” who uses magic to make gourmet meals but can’t for the life of him recreate his late mother’s pot sticker recipe. His manipulative older sister Prue, who has been abusing him since he was a child, shows up at his restaurant one night demanding that he turn over his share of their mother’s money to their father, and he can’t bring himself to connect with the handsome singer from work who makes eyes at him every day. The

I remain ambivalent about the magical element (this story could be straight up contemporary fiction with no SFF aspect, and it would still work perfectly), but the journey the protagonist goes through with his family relationships...This was so satisfying, without being a tearjerker or being angry.

🍳 Free Cooking Fantasy short from Tor 🍳Supposedly magical cooking + boring family stuff + paper dumplings + abusive siblings + handsome band singer *eyeroll* =

The second story I've read from John Chu, the other being his Hugo winning The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere.I have to say I'm a bit frustrated with this. Because aspects of it are wonderfully done. Chu's deft characterization provides exactly the thing that I find missing in (and generally prevents my enjoyment of) the vast majority of short stories. And yet this feels very pointless. What is the use of magic? to prepare food supposed to add to this story? The ending is feeble. There's n...

A man grieves for his mother by trying to recreate her cooking, only to find that he must cope with a toxic sibling in order to move forward. The emotional honesty of the story perfectly balances the magical element.

I dislike books that go into too much detail about food and describing what's the pantry. Now imagine my hell with this novella. From the book Some Of The Best From TOR.com: 2019 Edition What the actual hell, Tor! Some of the best? You cray cray. So far, I think I've read one decent story out of the book.

Yes, there are several distracting typos in this story. Despite that I gave it 5 whole stars. :pThe speculative element was understated at best, limited at worst. It was mostly in the wonderful descriptions of food crafting, but I'm not mad about that. There could have been an implication that the handsome singer, Nick, had some ability beyond the mundane, but it was unclear.Some people called Connor weak or a pushover, and perhaps he was by their reckoning, but overall, he felt familiar to me,

I really liked John Chu's work in the past and I was eager to read hist latest short story. I was not disappointed. It's a very interesting story, focusing on complex family relation and on their emotional toll.This is the story of Connor, a food crafter, just getting back into the business after his mother's death. To cope with his grief, Connor spends day after day recreating her potstickers, but they are never quite what he remembers. To move on with his life, he will have to confront his pas...

Hmmm, I loved Chu's short, The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere, but this one is a disappointment. Maybe because I hate the big sister, she's abusive and manipulative, and the brother just gives in. Plus the whole story is rather depressing, compared to the previous short that has tenderness and family love to it.It also makes me wonder about Chu's own experience with his family -- because I remember The Water... also has a horrible big sister character :(

If you like short-form genre fiction, tor.com now has a fantastic option whereupon you can subscribe and receive a bimonthly ebook containing everything published on its website for that period. The website has quickly established itself as a leading publisher of genre fiction that pushes boundaries, and which also gives up-and-coming writers a fantastic platform to reach a wider audience. I looked for this compilation on Goodreads, but I see that all of the tor.com novellas are listed as standa...

Other than making me hungry, this fell flat.

I loved this Tor short story because it's not just well-written as a sci-fi, but it touches on my love for cooking world foods and the almost meditative and cathartic qualities of folding dumplings are something I intimately understand. I liked the fact that unlike the easy to read sci-fi short story, Beyond the El also delves into complicated family dynamics, reinforcing how human we all are even after transitioning into something that could be summed up as a post-human existence.

Yet another story about food (& memories) at tor.com. I wonder if writers somehow picked up a marketing trend of ' food as an experience' or whatever it is called. In any case, the story is very good. I definitely recommend it. Btw, I also recommend you try fried dumplings if you haven't yet. Read it here: https://www.tor.com/2019/01/16/beyond...

Connor struggles to recreate his late mother's dumplings, never quite reaching that bit of perfection. He really doesn't need the stress of his cold abusive sister back in his life. Although maybe he does.Very low key. The relationship between Nick and Connor was more interesting to me. As to use of magic to prepare foods, was it really necessary? 3 out of 5.

There were simply too many typos and poorly constructed sentences to give this a higher rating. It says that it was edited by Ann VanderMeer, but this person either has no experience or is not good at their job. Or possibly, it was never actually edited at all. And because of all the errors, it made it quite difficult to understand what was trying to be said. Here are some examples: "Also, some of Mom's "estate" -- their parents aren't not [sic] exactly rich -- must be in Taiwan." - This might b...

It’s fine, perfectly cooked even, but it’s no more than that. It doesn’t taste like Mom’s. They never do. He can diddle with the flavors. Hell, if he put his mind to it, he could make the dumplings taste like a crisp, tart apple tinged with cinnamon and cardamom. What he can’t do, at least not yet, is make them taste like the ones he remembers, the ones his mom made when he was fourteen when she wouldn’t show him what to do no matter how much he begged.another lovely, sad free tor short. the bit...

I'll also put the name of the story here, in case Goodreads decides to merge it into some other work...Beyond the El by John Chu - 3-/5★I have a hit-and-miss relationship with Asian writers/stories; this one was kind of in the middle, I liked the emotions depicted, but I kept expecting for some growth or depth in some of the characters, that I didn’t get..The short story is found in Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2019 edition and can also be read on Tor.com.

The first story in Tor’s short fiction newsletter. It was pretty good. I found the inclusion of the food “crafting” an odd choice since it really had no effect on the story. It was kind of like- oh yeah, this is supposed to be fantasy, how should I do that? I know! Food crafting.And I’m over here like: 🙄I almost think it would have been more impactful without the crafting? I’m just assuming it would be easier to remake mama’s dumpling with magic food hands than without them. Therefore, no food c...

OK+, 2.5 stars, rounded up. Not one of his better stories, imo.