Links: Shimmer #17 / Shimmer Subscriptions / Pub Info / Table of Contents /

Shimmer, Number 17 is here and with stories by Katherine Sparrow, A.C. Wise, Sarah Brooks, Helena Bell, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Sunny Moraine, Lavie Tidhar, Robert N. Lee, Jordan Taylor, Yarrow Paisley, Alex Wilson, Kristi DeMeester, Damien Angelica Walters, Silvia Moreno Garcia, Kim Neville, Carmen Maria Machado, and Ada Hoffman.

The fiction begins with "The Mostly True Adventures of Assman & Foxy" by Katherine Sparrow. -+- Our titular characters are two women who have bought a short-bus and are driving around the country, searching for the circus. They have some minor adventures along the way even though sometimes we're not sure what is happening to whom. They do eventually find the circus, but I'll stop there. A good beginning for this issue.

"How Bunny Came to Be" by A.C. Wise -+- Phillip Howard Craft is a big, muscular lifeguard at Sun Haven Beach Resort. He is dissatisfied with his life and, then, he is ashamed of it. He fails to save a man and his dog when a giant tentacle comes out of the ocean, killing them. Through a process not actually explained, he becomes comes Bunny a statuesque woman who is spectacularly dressed and beautiful in her war paint/makeup. She becomes a hero and starts a trend in a wonderful tale.

"The Moon Bears" by Sarah Brooks -+- A strange little story about moon bears who appear in a small Yorkshire town and how our narrator, a woman named Carrie, deals with them. Nice piece and quietly unsettling in its own way.

"Sincerely, Your Psychic" by Helena Bell -+- A series of notes start impersonally and get more personal. They seem to converge on a girl named Annabelle whose teenage parents put her up for adoption. Not much more to say but pretty good.

"Out They Come" by Alex Dally MacFarlane -+- A wonderfully bizarre story about a young woman named Stey who keeps coughing up foxes and the reaction of other people too this.

"Love in the Time of Vivisection" by Sunny Moraine -+- The title describes what this story is about. Love and vivisection. Very chilling!

"Fishing" by Lavie Tidhar -+- Can't really tell you much about this one as it is three short pieces about a man's life. Tidhar is the kind of writer who can make that work.

"98 Ianthe" by Robert N. Lee -+- A story about a band named after the war named after the massacre and all named after an asteroid. Interesting comment about how fleeting fame is.

"The Desire of All Things" by Jordan Taylor -+- Our unnamed narrator is a teenage girl who has become very good at stealing. She steals mostly for herself but sometimes for her sister. When her sister's boyfriend is stolen by the fairies, she agrees to steal him back. She challenges the fairies to three contests. Won't say more but this was a delightful story.

"The Metaphor of the Lakes" by Yarrow Paisley -+- This is the diary of a girl who appears to be a ghost, she inhabits a house with her brother, who seems to be a cat, and two men, Mr. Scatt and Mr. Menders. We eventually find out her name is Gracie and her brother's name is Bob. What makes this work is the look into Gracie's thoughts and desires, beautifully rendered.

"Romeo and Meatbox" by Alex Wilson -+- If Shakespeare wrote zombies. Hilarious!

"Like Feather, Like Bone" by Kristi DeMeester -+- A woman comes to terms with the death of her son in a distinctly odd way.

"Girl, With Coin" by Damien Angelica Walters -+- Olivia was born with a medical condition. She cannot feel pain. This caused especial difficulties growing up. Her mother did not know how to love her. One night she saw her flip a coin and when Olivia woke up the next morning, she was gone. Now, she makes a living at performance art, cutting herself for the titillation of a crowd. Her mother has written her letters wanting to see her again. What will she do? Very nicely unsettling little story with the perfect last line.

"River, Dreaming" by Silvia Moreno Garcia -+- Our narrator misses a lost love and goes out at night to look for a body in the river. Sad and melancholy but well-written.

"The Fairy Godmother" by Kim Neville -+- This is short excerpts of the life of a Fairy Godmother. It starts when she is a little girl and continues through being a teenager, the death of her parents, actually being someone's Fairy Godmother, the birth of her daughter who is like her, and a lot of flying. Beautiful, magical writing!

"We Were Never Alone in Space" by Carmen Maria Machado -+- This one is a series of sketches of the life of a woman named Adelaide. It starts at her death and in a series of "before that" entries, we go back to her birth. Interesting take on life.

The issue concludes with "The Herdsman of the Dead" by Ada Hoffman. -+- A woman's husband is ill in the soul and she does not know what to do. So asks advice of and acolyte of the Keeper of the Deepest Dream. She is given a potion that will allow her husband to walk in the realm of the Dead for a while. There he encounters the Herdsman of the Dead. This was an imaginative look at a mythology of the Dead. Very good.

There is no magazine like Shimmer. Subscribe!