« Il y a un côté effrayant quand on regarde un ciel totalement dégagé la nuit. Alors que là, l’image qu’on regarde nous ramène vers nous, c’est une image très rassurante, un peu comme si on regardait le ventre de notre mère. En fait, Blueturn, c’est un selfie de la Terre. »
—Jean-Pierre Goux
—Jean-Pierre Goux
![[ Issue 2019.48; Cover art © 2019 Pear Nuallak ]](http://futurefire.net/images/f48cover.jpg "[ Issue 2019.48; Cover art © 2019 Pear Nuallak ]")
Issue 2019.48
Flash fiction - ‘The Carminokite’, Kimberly Kaufman (illustrated by Martin Hanford)
- ‘I Thought of You’, Juliet Kemp (illustrated by Jason Baltazar)
- ‘Silver Wings’, Joyce Chng (illustrated by Rachel Linn)
- ‘The Message’, Vanessa Fogg (illustrated by Pear Nuallak)
- ‘The Boy from the War’, Perrin Lu (illustrated by Cécile Matthey)
- ‘Sunset on Kepler-22b’, Christina Sng (illustrated by Toeken)
- ‘Liquid Water Lake Revealed on Mars’, Paige Elizabeth Smith (illustrated by TFF and NASA)
8 comments:
Gary at The 1000 Year Plan writes of "The Message": Fogg disperses so many thematic and narrative strands and covers so many relevant scientific and sociological issues it is an absolute marvel how she weaves them together into a cohesive whole. Inventive, intricate, incandescent; stories like this are the reason I have a “Must Read” category.
This is such a beautifully curated issue, with stories and poems that resonate in theme. "The Carminokite" is a thoughtful, melancholy little flash on what we're losing here on Earth. It's environmental theme rings nicely with the two poems in this issue. "I Thought of You" is a quietly moving tale of loss, grief, and unexpected understanding. "Silver Wings" was a delightful superhero story that's also a poignant look at a complicated mother-daughter relationship. And "The Boy from the War" was another quiet, lovely tale of identity, change, loss, friendship, and the making of a new home.
And of course, thank you for publishing my own story in this issue, "The Message," which shares environmental themes with several of these pieces, a First Contact theme with "I Thought of You," and the theme of a complicated mother-daughter relationship with "Silver Wings"!
I loved "The Message": a gorgeous story, moving and thoughtful. I loved the way the environmental, first contact, and familial aspects of it wound around one another. The complicated mother/daughter relationship in the superhero story "Silver Wings" was really well told. And "The Boy From The War" was a beautifully-told story of homecoming and change and finding a place again; really satisfying to read.
Thank you for publishing my story too! :)
Maria Haskins also says nice things over at the Barnes and Noble SF&F blog about Vanessa Fogg's The Message, which she calls "luminous and compelling."
And at her own blog, Maria also comments on another story she loved, Perrin Lu's The Boy from the War, and adds that “This whole issue of The Future Fire is a treat.”
Over at Apex Magazine's 'Words for Thought' short reviews column this month, A.C. Wise praises Vanessa Fogg's 'The Message', and writes: "Fogg does a beautiful job of exploring different kinds of connectivity, different meanings of distance, and different forms of communication."
Vanessa includes some lovely words about Joyce Chng's "Silver Wings" in her round-up of February and March reading over on her blog at https://itsajumble.blogspot.com/2019/04/short-fiction-recs-feb-and-march-2019.html
Maria Haskins also includes "The Message" in her Recommended Reading List for 2019, which has lots and lots to look at.
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