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ISSUE 15: CONTRIBUTORS
Rimi B. Chatterjee, Nicole Tanquary, Soham Guha, David Heckman, Neelu Singh, Carlos Norcia, Michael Janairo, Sonya Taaffe, Holly Lyn Walrath, Marco Raimondo, Sandi Leibowitz, David Memmott, Anne Carly Abad, Prashanth Gopalan, Sami Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad & Ishita Singh
Cover: Original sculpture “Othello” by Cathleen Klibanoff. Background: Bailey’s Beach, Newport, R.I. by Childe Hassam, 1901.
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Pilot Narratives
For me, the grim realities of flight did not negate The Little Prince— / instead, I became more certain / that everything Saint-Exupéry said was true: / that same sincere voice, that never-lost child’s wonder / at being alive.
Soul Lanterns
Our loft starship, tear-shaped pod of night, / Glows inward with familial joy, / A hearth of laughter, warm, bright— / Hearts leap across deep space…
How to Question Asteroid 16 Psyche
Do not ask who did this to her, / who shattered her to her core. // Do not ask what she remembers / of the larger self she’s lost.
Patroclus
Forget he held me in his arms / before our burnt bones shared an urn. // Forget the past and let us rest. / Step up. Bow. Take your own turn.
Afterwards
Life / goes on. // The cats still demand their food, / the garbage trucks still rumble by, / your throat still craves cold liquids.
Rose Glasses over Mercury Mirrors
Who needs a mirror with eyes / like that—eyes that make you trust / your own bones, that know your form / is beautiful because it can dance.
Science Fiction Writings in Punjabi: The Contemporary Scenario
Science fiction writing in Punjabi is in its infancy and has a great potential for writers to make their contributions.
A World Without Hospitals
In an ideal world, everybody will be healthy. There will be no need for a doctor in a future world where bodies can be replaced, limbs and organs regenerated. Where every home, every transport vessel is equipped with AI medical bots and sickbays, there is no requirement for a hospital—every home, every vehicle can serve as hospitals in case of emergencies. While the Star Trek future is still far, we are on the verge of a medical, biotechnological revolution right now.
From scientific haikus to epic poems, Mary Soon Lee effortlessly navigates between genres, fiction and poetry
I kept returning to The Sign of the Dragon because I got completely caught up in Xau’s story. It was almost an obsession. I thought about it when I was vacuuming, or brushing my teeth, or grocery shopping.
Discover the secret origins of Tarun K. Saint’s Avatar and The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction
The stories in Avatar focuses on SF’s transformative role in negotiating changes ushered in by digital world and social media, as well as the advances in biotech and surveillance mechanisms augmented by technology, besides the perils of climate change.
A Literary “Sci-Fi” Conversation Between Two Indian Science Fiction Writers: Rajat Chaudhuri and Jvalant Nalin Sampat
Rajat Chaudhuri and Jvalant Sampat discuss science fiction (“sci-fi”), cli-fi (climate fiction), solarpunk, classic sci-fi films, and their respective books:The Butterfly Effect and The Chronicler.
Odysseus Grins at Fate and the Gods
For all my guile, there have been times when my own wit / has thrown me into far worse danger. / Polyphemus laughs, despite his blindness, / to think what ill I wrought upon myself.
Strange Recollections of Brook Farm
The looking glass now contained a love letter to a boy in Waltham, a maudlin faun pining while he held his pipes, and a thousand other faces and images. Whatever had infected her and Cora had spread and crept over Brook Farm like vines on an old stone.
Sparrow
The boss has with his back to you. He grips a machine shaped like a hexagonal ship’s wheel. You saw an image of it recently in a trade magazine in his office: a newly-invented window cleaning drone. Unlike he said days ago, he isn’t firing you because he found cheaper labor, but because he has decided that a robot is better than you.
The Breaking
I’d been dreaming of something red that morning. Fire. Explosions, plumes of thick smoke. And for a moment, I saw again a line of trees catching light, blazing up into torches. A wall of roaring flame along the highway. I was in the car with my family; we were trying to escape, Dad driving as fast as the traffic allowed; and I whimpered and squeezed my eyes shut but even so I could feel the Angels watching through the flame.