Alan took a gander at the latest edition of Parsec. Parsec is edited by veteran author, editor and publisher Ian Whates and it won the British Fantasy Award for best periodical in 2025. All of which is to say, if you’re not subscribing, why not? Tell them Supernova sent you!
Breach / Lavie Tidhar
The nondescript, quietly humming liminal space of a night-time server room is the backdrop to this surreal ghost-in-the-machine thriller by World and British Fantasy Award winner Tidhar. He creates a great atmosphere and bounces his characters off each other in such an engaging way, but then shifts the pace and feel of the story with a literary time change that feels like a ‘breach’ of confidence in what the reader is led to expect. The story has an easy confidence which is a joy to experience.
Night Like the Devil’s Wing / Gary Gibson
Not Bonnie and Clyde, but Marcy and Jimmy, on the run after double crossing Nick the Greek, a powerful criminal. Off the beaten track they decide to lie low in a large, dilapidated house, but get more than they bargained for when things take a truly bizarrre turn inside. The sense of claustrophobia is really well done. Gary Gibson doesn’t really get talked about that much nowadays, but he always produces quality spec fic and deserves his time in the limelight.
Love Story in Dy- 161 / RB Kelly
Vox, a technician out in deep space monitoring the planet Cat’s Eye, discovers they are not alone, and another being is living in a similar orbiting ‘pod.’ They expected years of solitude, but now have an unexpected friend to chat to over the comm. Their relationship is the subject of this story, and as it develops it becomes increasingly absorbing, as does the strong atmosphere of deep space loneliness. The suspense and tension really drives the story along, and Kelly manages to convey strong emotion with just a few well-chosen worlds. The harsh, deep space backdrop makes this even greater. Contrasted with this is the playful—gentle— interactions between the two protagonists, who prove that even the most die-hard loners can find love. My favourite in this issue.
Murmur and Vine / Liz Williams
A quaintly old-fashioned story about a magician who gets in trouble after summoning a demon. Only this demon, although powerful, is quite charming and reasonable. That said, recompense for causing them inconvenience is not to be avoided. How our hero gets himself out of this mess is all revealed in the reading. This is the inimitable Liz Williams having fun, and entertaining us greatly along the way.
Dislocations / Donna Scott
How much can a location, a certain spot on the Earth, a house, influence the behaviour of those who dwell there? What ghostly layers of past actions must be lived with, and overcome in order to prevent the same mistakes being made generation after generation? Or maybe they are too powerful to be resisted. When a couple move into their new home, the histories they uncover in the fabric of the building are beyond anything they could have imagined, and quite deadly.
The Meat and the Metal / David Gullen
A visceral and possibly triggering (be warned) account of a man tortured by a state-sanctioned official, and the equally state-sanctioned robots that get ‘involved.’ It’s a difficult read but is so visceral that it will leave you somewhat reeling. The psychological aspects are brilliantly done, the characters quickly brought into sharp focus, and the suspense unbearable. One I won’t forget for a long while.
Lemuralia / Priya Sharma
From tiny acorns do mighty oaks grow. A tale of 1st century Britain under Roman rule, where myths, magic and ghostly ancestors all play their part in the evolution of a tumultuous nation. But exorcising evil spirits is not so easy when General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus’s twisted bloodline comes into play. Immersive and intriguing,
The Wood of Secret Riches / Lisa Fransson
Cautionary folk tale about the dangers of lustful possession. The siren-like woman of the woods is warned against, but an aging man believes his friends and family do not understand, and she is there just for him, waiting. Delusional, he goes in search, like all the others before him. Will he fulfill his all-consuming dream… or something else?
The Last Anthropologist / D.A. Xiaolin Spires
May is an anthropologist, a preserver of artefacts and human nature; but authenticating humanity itself is becoming harder as people are increasingly ‘reprocessed,’ and the all-powerful Beaurocrats prefer their lesser comrades to be ‘remade.’ Can May can keep the vestiges of human life from being altogether subsumed? Or is it too late? A subtle tale of insidious AI.
Dark Slide / Stark Holborn
Stark Holborn is always a joy to read. This is an extremely well told tale of spooky happenings on Bodmin Moor in Victorian England, and the efforts photographer Eugenia Starr takes to capture the ghostly presences on daguerrotype. It has a dark jauntiness, and characters as clear as a snapshot, even though the story its old through a jumbled set of journal entries. A fresh and enjoyable closer to this issue from a writer at the height of her powers.
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