Harare Review of Books

423 pages. Published Sept. 24 by Caezik SF & Fantasy. SF.

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Randomly stumbled across this, and I’m so glad I did! Some of my favourite authors are in it… Because this is a bit of a retrospective from Galaxy’s Edge magazine, from 2020 to 2023. So, Marina J. Lostetter is in it, with the truly eerie and also soulful Things That Shouldn’t Exist, dealing with impending death in a beautifully imaginative way. Also, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s O2 Arena, where the very air the characters breathe is for sale. And Mike Resnick with the moving Barnaby in Exile, which reminded me in some ways of Flowers for Algernon.

You’ll also find in this stories like the rather mournful The Measure of a Mother’s Love by Z.T. Bright, about the mother of two very different sons—one human, the other alien. Alex Shvarstman’s Choice of the Conquered has that cool dystopian game show-type setting that’s popular in SF, and feels like it would make a really cool novel (or TV show). Katharine Kerr’s The Right Reward really made me smile, and you’ll find it heartwarming too: a gran connecting with her grandchild (and aliens!) through an extraterrestrial artefact. The Bone Kite by Errick A. Nunnally is about a nightmare come true (think spooky Candyland). I loved Duty and the Beast by David Gerrold, where I only vaguely understood what was going on, but the world-building that happened in just those few pages was tremendous! Barb Galler-Smith’s Night Folk is about what maybe happens to other-than-humans when they retire, and manages to be funny. Substitutions by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a gut punch: what if humans could be Death’s deputies, and what if they had to deal with serial killers? Lucas Carroll-Garrett’s Hive at the Dead Star is really cool about a hive (of entities, no humans!) dealing with one rebel. With Our Songs of Scars and Starlight by J.R. Troughton is a thrillng story about a woman and her two daughters, all of whom can control the weather; it left me wanting so much more. The precious Grave 657 by Mica Scotti Kole was short and perfect on grief and mourning a child in a possible future.

So many excellent stories. So many themes, both fun and also serious and important, like death and illness, ageing, difference, revenge, families, clones, euthanasia, endless wars, grief, rejection, colonialism gone wrong, and mental health. So many different treatments of these, using clones, black holes, time travel, organic ships, Seraphs (winged, human-like magical creatures), anxiety as a loudmouthed little cloud that’s always beside you, humans failing to communicate with alien, planetary intelligences, and so much more. This is a truly brilliant collection. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Caezik SF and Edelweiss for early access.

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