We're Here

August 8, 2022
With this lovely anthology, Lewis and Payseur collect 15 speculative shorts that range widely in tone and genre, but all circle themes of love and identity. C.L. Clark delivers epic fantasy in “The Captain and the Quartermaster,” which sees the bittersweet dissolution of a relationship against a backdrop of war; L.A. Knight offers a unique twist on the portal fantasy in “To Rest and to Create”; and Cheri Kamei retells the story of “The Crane Wife” in the dark and moving fairy tale “Blood in the Thread.” In the wrenching sci-fi story “Mulberry and Owl” by Aliette de Bodard, a woman seeks justice for her dead oath-sister. Two teens bond over a radio show in the hopeful “Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller. The augmented protagonist of Ann LeBlanc’s quirky and delightful “Twenty Thousand Last Meals on an Exploding Station” is trapped in a time loop on a doomed space station and takes the opportunity to write restaurant reviews. Alexandra Seidel’s weird, disquieting “The Art and Mystery of Thea Wells,” is the sole venture into horror, taking the form of an essay describing the eerie works of the eponymous painter. There’s something here for any reader of speculative fiction to admire.