Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

We have original science fiction novelette by Lowry Poletti (“It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand”), which we’ll be serializing across two weeks. We also have two terrific flash pieces: “Books to Take at the End of the World” from Carolyn Ives Gilman and “My Girlfriend Is a Nebula” by David DeGraff. Plus, we have original fantasy by Eugenia Triantafyllou (“Some to Cradle, Some to Eat”) and Kristina Ten (“What We Don’t Know About Angels”). We also have a flash story (“An Omodest Proposal”) from Andrew Dana Hudson, and another (“Standardized Test”) from Seoung Kim. 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 liuzishan / Adobe Stock

Feb. 2025 (Issue 177)

Editorial

Editorial: February 2025

by John Joseph Adams

Be sure to check out the editorial for a rundown of this month’s great stories.

Science Fiction

It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand, Part 1

by Lowry Poletti

Author spotlight

On Miphre, a planet hardly larger than a moon, jagged mountaintops stab above the cloud cover and harbor small ecosystems in the palms of their hands: rock eels and ribbon mosses and seabirds with rodents clutched to their breasts, each one nestled between those stony fingers. “The perfect nesting spot for gastor,” the captain of The Cyclops Cradles Her Sheep said when they arrived on board a few hours ago. “It’s basically a buffet for them.”

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Lowry Poletti

by Alex Puncekar

This is one of my “creature stories,” so the gastor came first. I just kept wondering what an animal would look like if it had evolved to live in space. I honestly just had fun coming up with new physiological adaptations, and I even consulted my sister, who studies atmospheric science, for some help.

Fantasy

An Omodest Proposal

by Andrew Dana Hudson

Esteemed neighbors, emissaries, ambassadors, and dignitaries, I write to you today not only as a statesman but as a scientist. We in the city of Omelas have been exceedingly lucky in recent years. The wars, diseases, and financial instability that have rocked the world have so far passed us by. Partly that’s been due to prudent precautions and smart public investments, but it’s also true that our fine city benefits in unique ways from ancient, dearly-held customs.

Fantasy

It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand, Part 2

by Lowry Poletti

Author spotlight

“You have singularly bad timing, Sun,” Hati says as he leads Sun back into the lab. Glass cabinets overhang black-topped benches. At the end of the aisle, the hatchling is suspended in a tank of proteinaceous fluid. Sun gasps at the sight. It’s only been a few days since the poor thing was eating in the video. “What happened?” She steps past Hati, putting a hand on the glass.

Fantasy

Standardized Test

by Seoung Kim

DIRECTIONS: Fill in the correct letter with a #2 pencil on the answer sheet. Do not use ink or ballpoint pens. Questions left blank will be marked incorrect. Completely fill in each circle.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Silver and Smoke by Van Hoang

by Melissa A Watkins

Looking for a book about best friends and Old Hollywood? Then don’t miss Silver and Smoke by Van Hoang!

Science Fiction

Books to Take at the End of the World

by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Author spotlight

The stores are selling off their inventories and clearing out. The trains and buses have posted their shutdown schedules. People are returning borrowed objects, cleaning out their refrigerators, and packing to leave for the assembly spots. What to bring? Parents tell children to bring warm clothes, just in case, and toothbrushes, but no one knows if we will need them. We are vacating, leaving everything behind, taking only what we can carry or drag in a roller bag.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Carolyn Ives Gilman

by Mayookh Barua

Writers decant ourselves into books. They are our immortality, our legacy. We hope they will outlast us and spin a connection to people we will never know, as books have connected us to people of the past. Nowadays, we are pretty accustomed to the idea of all the people perishing. But what if all the books went, too?

Fantasy

Some to Cradle, Some to Eat

by Eugenia Triantafyllou

Author spotlight

There once was a man and his wife who had seven children, all boys. They were all very human and very poor. The youngest boy was so tiny and malnourished that they called him Little Thumb; but though small, he was very clever. Then there came a very bad year, and the famine was so great that these poor people decided to abandon their children in the woods. But that’s not how your story starts. Your story starts with the monster.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Eugenia Triantafyllou

by Phoebe Barton

What is also true is that people who carry trauma themselves and haven’t addressed it might inadvertently pass it on to their children. I have personal experience with how trauma can shape a parent-child relationship and how it can propagate. I feel that intergenerational trauma is the ogre in real life. It consumes children and when they grow up it consumes their children as well.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue 5, Olivia Kidula & Somto Ihezue, eds.

by Arley Sorg

Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue 5 might have slipped under your radar—reviewer Arley Sorg says you should check it out!

Fantasy

My Girlfriend Is a Nebula

by David DeGraff

I learned from Bernadette that there are two ways a star can go supernova. The first is in a double star where one partner dies first, turning into a white dwarf, and the surviving partner swells in grief and dumps mass onto the compact star. But the atoms of compact stars can only hold up to a certain limit. The resulting explosion destroys both stars and nothing is left except a thin nebula, returning the atoms to space.

Fantasy

What We Don’t Know About Angels

by Kristina Ten

Author spotlight

When Clem first realizes she’s a monster, she’s in the gender-neutral bathroom on the fourth floor of the Seattle Convention Center, trying to convince the touchless faucet she exists. She waves her hands under the gleaming tap, then, remembering something Sabrina told her about sensors, spirit-fingers her way down to the base. Tries a little to the left of that, too. A little to the right. Still—and now she’s for sure late—nothing.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Kristina Ten

by Mayookh Barua

These days, I’m drawn to creating new mythologies, like some of what’s in this story. We want to feel we’re part of something bigger than ourselves, that our experiences are shared and repeating across time and plane. But the gods and stories of the organized religions I’ve been exposed to haven’t resonated much, so this is my version of that meaning-making.

Nonfiction

Book Review: Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf by C.L. Clark

by Chris Kluwe

You don’t need to know anything about League of Legends or Arcane in order to enjoy Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf by C.L. Clark—so find out why reviewer Chris Kluwe thinks you’ll really like this novel set in the same world!