Clarkesworld (Issue #211)

I have been subscribed to Clarkesworld for more than two years now—I blame Amin—but it took me this long to finally finish one of their issues. I am just terrible at reading I guess, but since they are a great sci-fi magazine I don’t feel particularly guilty about supporting them even if I am not taking advantage of the benefits I get for it.

In any case, now that this issue—the first one I got after my subscription—is done, I can share my overall thoughts about all the novellas and short stories found here! Hope you enjoy. This magazine is accessible via the Clarkesworld website so, check it out there if you want, or subscribe!

• The Lark Ascending by Eleanna Castroianni is a story takes place in some sort of dystopian future, following the memories of a robot that is left behind after a whole house “clean-up”. There’s also a girl whose memory is tampered with, since her dad was rebelling against the State. This robot/toy/assistant knows what happened, but doesn’t do a lot, simply reflecting on how things turned out. This was a bit of a sad story, with some hope in the end. It was heartfelt and I rather enjoyed it!

• An Intergalactic Smugglers Guide to Homecoming by Tia Tashiro follows a smuggler who receives one last mission before she chooses to retire. Helping a whole bunch of little alien microorganisms (that basically fit in a jar) escape from some war. However, she realizes that the assignment has ulterior motives and rebels against her boss and client. This story featured some interesting family backstory and I was very invested on how things would turn out. It didn’t dissapoint at all, it’s among my favorites!

• The Indomitable Captain Holli by Rich Larson is the longest novella and it’s probably the best in the issue, with some excellent world-building and concepts that are explored through the eyes of a little girl playing an AR game guided by a weird sentient AI. This is some really good stuff that puts humans into a weird societal structure evolving through generations and neat family drama. It’s absolutely chaotic and a joy to read!

• The Arborist by Derrick Boden feels more mature in tone, since we follow a group of humans on a terraforming mission that seems to be going wrong. They are using a giant parasitic tree to exterminate the alien flora and fauna and hopefully repopulate later. This one makes you think a lot about the implications of everything going on, and what humanity is willing to go through for the sake of survival, even at the cost of other species. That said, it was a little confusing to me, it could just be me being distracted while reading it.

• The Rambler by Shen Dacheng, I must admit, this killed my momentum reading through the magazine for months—plus finishing The Expanse. It was an absurd story about a bridge that is suddenly able to move like a living being, and escapes from the city to the wilderness. It’s a bizarre adventure through the eyes of some people who have no idea of what to do to deal with this. I just didn’t quite know what the point of the story was and I guess it is just meant to be a wild ride of things a bridge does or some sort of reflection on our own irrational behavior? Something like that?

• Occurrence at O1339 by Kelly Jennings was a short little story about a mining unit called Ruby that receives a communication signal from some alien life, asking them to prove they are sentient with only eleven queries to do submit the right answer, or face the anihilation of the whole human race, or something. It’s just a pretty entertaining quest trying to see how this random AI unit shoulders the responsibility of it all. I was thoroughly entertained, but it’s no masterpiece.

• The Oldest Fun by Natalia Theodoridou is a bit of a weird fantasy/sci-fi/horror thing? It’s about how kids are trapped in a game and vanish and go through some strange things? I am very sure there was a reference to Pac-Man at some point. It’s like Jumanji but a bit more ethereal and with less animal rampages, I think? Just a weird story to read.

Overall, this was very interesting stuff! If I had to rank them, I would do so like this:

1. The Indomitable Captain Holli
2. An Intergalactic Smugglers Guide to Homecoming
3. The Lark Ascending
4. The Arborist
5. Occurrence at O1339
6. The Oldest Fun
7. The Rambler

Either way, I am glad I read all of them! It’s cool to have been exposed to so many writing styles, genres, and authors like this. I will continue to read more of these magazines on my XTEINK X4, at some point!

This is day 17 of #100DaysToOffload and day 12 of #Blaugust2026