/lit/ - Literature

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January-February 2021 (F&SF, #753)

NOVELLAS
The Dark Ride - John Kessel
A story about Leon Czolgosz with additional material to be appropriate for inclusion.
meh

NOVELETS
Interludes with the Gunwright - Jonathan L. Howard
A story of a soldier and a Gunwright, both women, who just can't quit each other.
Ok

Bible Stories for Adults, No. 51: The Great Fish - James Morrow
A mother and son are swallowed by The Great Fish and inside are biblical prophets and a few others. There's also a demiurge.
Meh

SHORT STORIES
Integral Nothings - Robert Reed
Stories of those living through the "Blessings", which is an external force ostensibly developing Earth into Paradise. This may be message fiction, but I'm not quite sure who the message is for. Somewhat humorous in terms of schadenfreude.
Ok

The Diamond Family Glitters - H. Pueyo
A Portuguese Jewish family living in Brazil have "brilliance", mostly assorted psionic powers, but some are more abstract. They've gathered to observe the passing of a relative, and perhaps their gifts as well.
Meh

A Little Knife Music - Jenn Reese
Moderately similar to Ken Liu's The Hidden Girl. It differs in that the protagonist is a teen assassin who has sex with his male partner and wonders if maybe the Princess would be better.
Ok

N-raptured - Justin C. Key
A hilarious satire about saying the N-word. Woke Aliens, as the text says, carve the numbers of times a white person has said the n-word into their forehead. Seven strikes and that person becomes a rat. Yes, a certain "rat with orange tufts of fur over its eyes" makes an appearance.
Highly Enjoyable.

Hard! - Van Aaron Hughes
A father doesn't want his son to think he's a "weeb", maybe a mistype for dweeb because there's no indication that's what's actually meant, so he takes him to a curling game to meet his son's friends who he only knows from online games. Then it goes silly in a way that I wasn't amused by at all. Not my kind of humor in the least.
Blah

Litter Witch - Susan Palwick
I usually don't like allegories. This wasn't an an exception. An abused teenager runs away into the woods and becomes a witch and recluse, but eventually wonders if there's more to life after a fateful meeting.
Blah

Wild Geese - Lavie Tidhar
In this "post-post-cyberpunk", as its described, two friends and a sentient wise-cracking van go on a wild goose chase in the Gobi desert, but this goose isn't an animal.
Ok

The Piper - Karen Joy Fowler
A charismatic military recruiter, the piper, tricks young men into joining his army of probably Danes to invade probably England. The unnamed male protagonist is expected to marry the prettiest and nicest girl, but he plans to marry the disabled girl because he'd be useful to her. He really wants to marry his friend Henry though, because he has such big thoughts.
Ok

You Make the Best of What's Still Around - Paul di Filippo
A satirical exposé of Best-of-the-Year anthologies.
Enjoyable