Three stories from Interzone’s free-to-read sister website.

Three stories this month, starting with ‘Lanterns’ by Manu Zolezzi. A bizarre account of Winnett, her dead husband, and how she comes to be rid of his spirit as well as his body. It keeps you guessing until the end and has a straightforward style that matches the nature of the story. A characterful, slightly creepy yet fresh-feeling piece which I found easy to read, and enjoyable. Jonathan reviewed ‘Lanterns’ here.

Something quite different is Angela Liu’s ‘You Will Be You Again,’ the intimate account of Zhang, a neurological patient with failing memory, and how he interacts with his daughter, Grace, whilst being treated with a new drug.

This is a gentle and rather wonderful story which questions the nature of being itself, and also the unreliableness of identity. The beauty of it is in the authentic-feeling relationship between the two main characters, shown through both flashbacks and meetings between Zhang and Grace during his treatment.

The darkness of the story lies almost unspoken – this neurological condition makes people forget their loved ones – Grace and her father lost their mother to it years earlier – she literally became another person, abandoning her life and family, and it seems Zhang will ultimately forget her too. Then as it concludes, it becomes darker still – he still remembers her, thinks about her, but is unable to recognise her. The climax is ambivalent and if I had a quibble it would be that I’d like a touch more certainty here to work out the ramifications of what is described.

Finally this month we have ‘Sleeping Arrangement’ by R.T. Ester. This is the pick of the bunch, giving us a rich and substantial tale about preparations for leaving Earth to escape catastrophe on a 500,000 year journey in cryosleep, to a new world; but who will be chosen to fill the final seat, and will they even want to go? On the one hand we have a corrupt priest, guaranteed a place if he wants it. On the other we have a teenage firebrand, demanding a place for the grandmother that raised her. The worldbuilding is excellent and the characters seem to inhabit a fully-realised universe, with scientific and spiritual matters blended to produce some rather surprising decisions and motivations. The moral dilemmas feel real, and the motivations of each character feel natural, unforced. If the ending is bleak, well it’s worth it. You won’t want to miss this one.

(Header image by Dante Luiz for ‘You Will Be You Again’)