The Men in the Mirror, by Steve Ray*

A well-told tale of alternate time travel, this story was engaging and carefully plotted.  I occasionally found the descriptions long-winded, but they were also poetic.  Some nitpics: In the first scene it is clear from the pov character’s reaction to his older self that he’s not met Chuck before, but it’s not clear how he would have come to the meeting in the first place if he hadn’t met and worked with Chuck.  It’s also not clear, on an emotional level, why he would be willing to carry out the instructions Chuck gave him.  His interest in the matter seems mild, so his sudden violence was too far out of character to be really believable.  Another question I had was, what’s in the safe?  The story posed a lot of limitations to the time travel, and the oldest Chuck character had a hard time capitalizing on his find, but in the end the question of how, or what, could overcome the limitations is left unnamed.

All in all, though, the story’s complex twists and turns worked for me, and I was impressed with the time the author must have spent getting the convoluted parameters of the story all ironed out.  A very enjoyable read, and a good representation of solid sci-fi with empathic characters.

 

Devil May Care, by Jason Kahn*

I enjoyed the concept of hell as a place with politics and lunch breaks, while essentially remaining quite hellish.  The humor was subtle without losing its edge, and the pov charater was sympathetic and human, for all that he was also a devil.

I did think that, while many of the niche concepts were original, some of the prose and a few elements of the plot were a bit stale.  Nothing that kept me from enjoying the story, just the occasional use of a cliche term slipped in here or there and brought the story quality down.

But overall the tale worked for me, and I recommend it.  Read it when you’ve had a bad day at work, and feel a renewed affection for life, coworkers, and all things non-hellish.

 

Songbird, By Jeremiah Sturgill*

This story demonstrated nicely what I find most admirable about Taoism, and what I find most irritating about Taoism.  The distant, un-reachable quality of a true Taoist.  Of course, the writer never comes out and says that this story inherited from the Tao Te Ching, or any other book of that vein, but the root influence seemed clear to me.

More of a concept and idea story than an action or adventure story, “Songbird” feels almost like poetry that’s slipped over into prose form.  The characterization was very nice, the song concepts were lovely, the imagery was clean and fresh.  I can heartily recommend this story.

*I would have liked to link these writer’s names to a blog or page, but my search found nothing.  If the writer or anyone else has a lead, please mention it in the comments.  Thanks!

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