Jaws by Peter Benchley

This being the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie, I have been hearing a lot of coverage about its making. This led me to want to read the book to see what all the fuss was about in the first place.

The plot of the novel is fairly similar to that of the movie. There are naturally other plot lines in the book that didn’t make it to the movie. These include the mayor of the town getting into trouble with local organized crime and the sheriff’s wife having an affair. The ending it also a bit different.

While I enjoyed this novel, I don’t really see what all the fuss was about. Perhaps it was one of those books that was a product of its time. It still holds up as a good novel, but I don’t think it would be the hit it was then if it was released today. This is the rare case where the movie was better than the book.

My rating: 3/5

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

My book club reads classics in September. We unanimously selected this one this year. One of our members had already read it and really enjoyed. It was just okay for me.

Rebecca is the dead wife of Maxim DeWinter. The narrator meets him in Monte Carlo and they are soon married. They return to Max’s home in England. This home is almost a character in the house. The home revolved around the previous Mrs. DeWinter and her presence is still felt. The narrator feels smothered by her until a revelation halfway through the book changes the entire perspective of the novel.

There is a really creepy, closed in feeling in this book. It almost feels like a haunted house book but it isn’t. The writing is excellent but I quickly found the narrator naive and irritating. Still, the story is unique and well-told.

My rating: 3/5

Beginning Before and After the End by Jake Stein

Once again, here a piece that isn’t exactly a story but is very effective for that very reason. It is a story that is being told by a narrator directly to you, consciously so. And the narrator has a very specific goal they are trying to achieve, something they are trying to get you to do. I won’t spoil it for you. It is quite short so I encourage you to go read it.

The writing here is clever in an effective way that draws the reader in. I’d love to talk about what it is saying, but, once again, that would spoil your experience.

Length: 759 words (< 5 minutes)

My rating: 4/5

City of One by Stephen S. Power

The author has used a number of unique tools in this excellent story. First, the story is in the second person, so it is speaking directly to the reader. I often find this distracting, but here it is used to devastating effect in drawing the reader in and immersing them in the narrative. Second, this isn’t really a story. It is more of a description of a video game told using a narrative style. Again, seems like it wouldn’t work very well, but it does. Without giving away too much, it describes a kind of hind and seek game that seems impossible to win and has existential consequences. And the second half describes a sequel that flips the script.

This one is dark and hits close to home. It shows the extremes of our internet, mobile phone culture and how unavoidable and futile it can feel. Read it.

Length: 885 words (< 5 minutes)

My rating: 4/5

The Girlfriend Experience by C.Z. Tacks

In a bleak, near future dystopia devastated by climate change, a sex worker is forced by her economic circumstances to entertain a client whose proclivity involves choking her. It’s okay, though. She has a “closet” she can use. This is a technology that allows for a sort of full body mask that subsumes her consciousness during the experience. But the technology seems to be on the fritz and something unexpected happens.

The world building here is detailed and deeply immersive without being expository, flowing organically as part of the storytelling. The best part of the story is exploring the idea I cannot reveal without spoiling the story. This is another piece of short fiction exploring ideas through story. Well done!

Length: 5,017 words (about 20 minutes)

My rating: 5/5

The Place I Came To by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko

This is a short, simple story of how the narrator moved to a new city that he at first didn’t really like but eventually came to appreciate and love. Despite its brevity, it does evoke a feeling for what it is like to move from feeling estranged in a new place to loving it despite, or even because of, all its apparent shortcomings.

Length: 982 words (about 5 minutes)

My rating: 3/5

Last Meal Aboard the Awassa by Kel Coleman

Many science fiction adventure stories involve alien encounters, learning from them or fighting against them. Most of these involve some sort of “happy” ending where humans are triumphant in some way. This story is instead much more bleak. The crew of the Awassa are all doomed to die, consumed by a giant space creature that was thought to be a planet. Probing it has awoken it and made it angry. It expands, engulfing everything in its path. It is moving too fast to avoid. The crew is in its path. We follow the crew as they prepare for their inevitable end.

Despite the grim and predetermined outcome of this story, it does have some bright spots. It shows the community that exists on board, highlighting how each member turns to care when they realize their end is near. The crew also appear to be non-human with a variety of body forms and types. All in, this is an uplifting story of community, care, and strength in the midst of bleakness. A rather helpful message in our moment.

Length: 1,792 words (about 10 minutes)

My rating: 3/5

A World of Their Own by Robert Falco

The Earth is devoid of humans who have all left the world they destroyed to find a new place to live. Left behind are two unique forms life—sentient drones and biomechanical animals. This story (whose world reminded me a bit of the 2008 movie WALL·E) centers on one of the drones who is doing a routine inspection of the launch complex nearby. An acid rain storm approaches and the plot involves her encounter with the “animals” in her attempt to avoid the killing rain.

I found this story a fascinating exploration of what life might be left and evolve after humans have left behind a ruined world. The drones are still guided by their programming and the biomechanical animals are intriguing. The author leaves out exactly how they came about. I wish there had been more of that. I was left wanting to experience and learn more about the world built here.

Length: 2,610 words (about 15 minutes)

My rating: 4/5

Five Impossible Things by Koji A. Dae

Alice lies dying in a hospice bed while her mind attempts to gain citizenship in Vtora Sviat, a virtual reality realm designed as an alternative to dying. The challenge is that the mind must accept the VR as reality. But Alice struggles to do this each time she visits by noticing the impossible things in the virtual world. With time running out, she must overcome this mental obstacle or face imminent death.

The call backs to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are obvious in this penultimate story of the September issue of Clarkesworld. The storytelling is superb—touching, poignant, and heartfelt. Alice struggles with leaving her family behind, exploring the difficulty of relationships in a hospice situation. At the same time it tackles the experience of discovering new things about yourself. Another fantastic story that I highly recommend.

Length: 4,110 words (about 20 minutes)

My rating: 5/5

The Fury of the Glowmen by David McGillveray

This story opens in Malaysia as the current prime minister is urgently shutting down an artificial intelligence that has become sentient. It then alternates location between Malaysia and London where mystererious “glowmen” start to show up, terrorizing the public. As the story unfolds, one starts to wonder if the AI is really shut down.

This is an engaging, easy read. It is a short story thriller that starts with a questionable ethical decision, exploring the dilemma that sentient AI might present. I enjoyed this story and expect we will start to see more and more like it.

Length: 5,290 words (about 25 minutes)

My rating: 4/5