The Book Plank

In the Queue for the Worldship Munawwer by Sara Saab [no synopsis provided]  Not that long ago I watched the movie "2012". The movie that showed the events if the Mayan calendar were to be correct. When I read the title of this story and the mentioning of a Worldship I was triggered. Because it is all fine when you are on a ship headed for survival but a completely different story when you are in line for on board.  Now the events of In the Queue for the Worldship Munawwer were something different than I imagined. The Munawwer was made for evacuation of the Lebanese Republic, the actual reason for evacuation isn't really made clear. Just that it is needed. The story is not focusing on the queue per sé but more on how one person in charge of the crew of the Worldship perceives everything. Suraya Khouri-Smith retells her personal story to her commander. Saying from the beginning that she is breaching protocol and that she has kept silent for a very long time but ...

The Algebra of Events by Elizabeth Bourne no synopsis provided Not that long ago I read a very cool science fiction story in Clarkesworld, Today I am Paul . Clarkesworld is definitely a magazine to keep an eye on for top science fiction stories. Browsing the September issue I came across the story of Elizabeth Bourne, The Algebra of Events. The Algebra of Events begins with a most peculiar introduction " The alarms vibrated while I was in the comfort room sharing essence with M’m’shamir. We immediately untethered so I could couple into my duty station. The unthinkable had occurred. In the myriad calculations of probable choices guiding us to colony Whole/Three/Green the sym encountered the chance of failure and slotted it." I am going to be honest I thought what is going on? My interest readily gets piqued by such stories, as it can go any which way. Just a few paragraphs later you discover that you see several beings in a space ship driven by a probability engine to...

Today I am Paul by Martin L. Schoemaker, Clarkesworld #107 [no synopsis provided] I guess I got a way of finding stories that are emotional. Today I am Paul  mights not have the title of one, but trust me this is one big emotional rollercoaster. Imagine a future where healthcare is provided with androids (and not the Baymax kind). Today I am Paul  offers a near future experience in this field. The story starts of with the question of where Paul is and soon the reply comes. But before that you learn that there is something that can change it's appearance, cheek line and eyes colors etcetera. Completely emulating a person. Meet Medical Care Android BRKCX-01932-217JH-98662, who takes care of the old lady Mildred. As I said this android can emulate, copy cat people. What I could make up of the story is that Mildred has lost some people and is probably suffering from dementia. The family members of Mildred either life not closeby, have busy lives or are dead the sole caretaki...

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu, Clarkesworld #55 . [no synopsis provided] I came across this story when I was look for World Fantasy Awards nominated and winning stories. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees a WFA nominee back in 2012, it was further nominated for HUGO and Locus awards and won the Nebula award back in 2011. A whole lot of praise for E. Lily Yu, and it is well deserved.  The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees is a hard story to place in a category, the best suited post would be Science Fiction, not the general part but a niche of its own. I always keep on saying that this genre is made for the genre benders and E. Lily Yu is precisely one such author. Going the extra distance to deliver a stunningly original story. Going in to the story I didn't know what I could expect. Were the Wasps and the Bees purely a metaphor for something bigger? Well no. The story of The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees sh...

Tyche and the Ants by Hannu Rajaniemi, Clarkesworld #104 [no synopsis available] When I was first presented with Jean Le Flambeur series of Hannu Rajaniemi I thought they were daunting to read and to be compeltely honest I had a ehh? moment more than once. Hannu Rajaniemi has very lively imagination that he isn't afraid to show in his stories. Somethings might be seen as bizar but in the face of Science Fiction, it fits. Science Fiction is about breaking new grounds and this is precisely what Hannu Rajaniemi does, also with this short story Tyche and the Ants.  What caught me first on this Tyche and the Ants was the very first sentence  "The ants arrived on the Moon on the same day Tyche went through the Secret Door to give a ruby to the Magician". It sounds promising doesn't? What this first sentence does is too say boldly, that this is far from a Science Fiction story but also has roots into a more fantasy way: Moon, Secret Door and Magician. If that doesn...

The Osteomancer's Son by Greg van Eekhout, Clarkesworld #101 Last year Greg van Eekhout published his first book in the Daniel Blackland series, California Bones . Which was for me highly enjoyable book and showed a highly inventive new idea in Urban Fantasy: Osteomancy. Special people are able to suck on bones or smoke or digest them in some way and gain special powers associated with those beings. Now I was looking in Clarkesworld issue #101 and I saw that Greg van Eekhout was in it with his story of The Osteomancer's Son . Now the Daniel Blackland series directly came to mind and was hoping to read another blast of a story. Which I got! But I also found out that The Osteomancer's Son isn't actually a prequel to California Bones . It featured as the start of it all!  In The Osteomancer's Son you are introduced to Daniel Ludeking as a young boy who wonders with his father on the beach and stumble on a bone, and not just an ordinary bone, the bone of a Kraken....