Apr. 2025 (Issue 179)

We’re serializing an original SF novelette by Sarah Langan: “Does Harlen Lattner Dream of Infected Sheep?” We also have two terrific flash pieces: “Meditations from the Event Horizon” from Deborah L. Davitt and “TALK: ‘The Siren Song of the Otherworld Goggles’” by Dominica Phetteplace. Plus, we have original fantasy by Oyedotun Damilola Muees (“The Potter, His Daughter, and the Boy with Tribal Marks on his Face”) and Jon Lasser (“The Other River”). We also have a flash story (“To Navigate the Night”) from Rich Larson, and another (“The Price of Miracles”) from Nigel Faustino. All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with book reviews from our terrific review team.

Cover art by Tithi Luadthong (aka Grandfailure) / Shutterstock

Apr. 2025 (Issue 179)

Editorial

Editorial: April 2025

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the Editorial for a rundown of this month’s content, plus all our news.

Science Fiction

Does Harlen Lattner Dream of Infected Sheep?, Part I

by Sarah Langan

Author spotlight

The body opened too easily, like paper wrapping on room temperature butter. “This isn’t right,” Lattner said, at first to himself, then louder, for the trauma nurse and anesthesiologist to hear. The patient, a John Doe, had arrived at the ER reporting pain in his right side and copious bloody vomit.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Sarah Langan

by Alex Puncekar

I think a lot of people live their lives very small. We internalize barriers that don’t exist. I think this is heightened by tech, which would have us sit in chairs all day, reacting to nonsense. The human mind can expend only so much energy, and we sap a lot of it scrolling pointlessly.

Fantasy

To Navigate the Night

by Rich Larson

For the seventh dusk in a row, the human girl comes to our tree with an offering. She approaches on all fours, moving almost as clumsily as I do when I crawl from the knothole and amble out along my favorite branch. Her face is hidden by a ceremonial mask. It’s a simple wooden thing, not half so ornate as the ones I know humans fashioned in the time of our ancestors.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Psychopomp by Maria Dong

by Arley Sorg

Arley Sorg digs into Psychopomp by Maria Dong, a new SF work packed with messy characters and great worldbuilding.

Science Fiction

Does Harlen Lattner Dream of Infected Sheep?, Part II

by Sarah Langan

Author spotlight

February 4, 2034: AI Compendium—Classified documents stolen from Congo last year were released this morning. These indicate morally, ethically, and legally dubious research on their own workforce as they seek more productive employees.

Fantasy

The Price of Miracles

by Nigel Faustino

Author spotlight

“You can’t bid more than we agreed on. Please don’t get swept into it,” Jules said as we exited the BART on Market Street, the sun beating down at us. He shed a denim jacket while I suffered in my hoodie, which had made sense in Oakland, less so here. “You can’t believe what I saw when I temped at one of these divine auctions. I’m talking golden cattle, firstborn children, the smell of their grandma’s cookies.”

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Nigel Faustino

by Mayookh Barua

This is me trying to capture what it feels like to live under systems that incentivize short-term, profit-over-people thinking. Genuinely, if you’re trying to figure out why some aspect of modern life has gotten worse in the past twenty, thirty years, you could probably point to private equity.

Nonfiction

Book Review: A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang

by Melissa A Watkins

Looking for a fantasy novel with truly fantastic worldbuilding? Find out if Ai Jiang’s A Palace Near the Wind fits the bill!

Science Fiction

Meditations from the Event Horizon

by Deborah L. Davitt

Never look down. Same rule as mountain climbing, high wire acts, or trapeze artistry. Once you lock eyes with the gravitational monster beneath you, it’s all-but-impossible to look away. You’ll see particles flowing down into the abyss that is the black hole—and whole suns unspinning themselves as their plasma and raw essence is sucked away into nothingness.

Fantasy

The Potter, His Daughter, and the Boy with Tribal Marks on His Face

by Oyedotun Damilola Muees

Author spotlight

The reign of King Musa III had no place for things of the fantastical. He, unlike the previous kings, frowned against the thought of people who wielded the ability to veer situations with their hands. These types of people were wizards; grizzled and old, with vast years of experience at their disposal. King Musa III considered them dangerous, and that their primeval deeds would stain his reign.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Oyedotun Damilola Muees

by Phoebe Barton

When I started out as a writer, I wrote a lot of poems. My style of poem was story-like in verses. A good piece of writing should take the reader on a visual journey, diving them further into a clear sense of imagination. The main aim of my choice of words is to leave a long-lasting imprint of my story in the minds of the readers.

Science Fiction

TALK: “The Siren Song of the Otherworld Goggles”

by Dominica Phetteplace

Thanks, everyone, for coming. My name is Tandy. I’m here to talk about how I used my Otherworld goggles to become a better version of myself, but first—here is a partial list of questions I will not be answering tonight: What is consciousness? Is reality real? Does the AR I see in my Otherworld goggles represent an actual parallel universe that exists or is it just a computer simulation?

Fantasy

The Other River

by Jon Lasser

Author spotlight

Driving alone through the Sahara blew Sarah-Beth’s mind. She woke up in the back of the Jeep, smoked a joint, popped a Black Beauty, and revved her engine full of thoughts and plans. She’d imagined driving with her head empty, like she’d thought the desert would be, but everything was full: palm trees, all sorts of scrub brush she couldn’t identify.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Jon Lasser

by Mayookh Barua

The first version of the story I wrote for a friendly contest in a writing group. I used a pair of prompts—a set of words to use—from which I picked joint, monolith, stole, Jeep, and perhaps one more; and the idea of something that has lost its symmetry. A flat tire on a Jeep in the desert came to me almost right away.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Luminous by Sylvia Park

by Chris Kluwe

Chris Kluwe loved the way Sylvia Park wove together threads and genres ranging from the coming-of-age to the detective thriller to the futuristic. Will you dig Luminous, too? Read Chris’s review to find out.