Another Hopeful Fool reviewed Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 234, March 2026 by Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld Magazine, #234)
A feast for xenofiction fans
3.0 stars
Number one, the cover by Pascal Blanché is so so cool, bold, and evocative.
"Bend Like the Palm" by David D. Levine is a great bit of clifi, featuring resiliency graceful degredation, and the interplay of tradition & adaptation.
"First Human Ghost on Mars" by R.L. Meza really reminded me of Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Even though it takes the perspective of a human ghost, it has one chitinous foot in the xenofiction genre imo. Anyway, if you read it you'll know what I mean. Some good headless cosmic horror in there, I loved it.
Really interesting narrative perspective in "Crosstalk, Elysium" by Carolyn Zhao, and one I'll probably have to read more than once to fully grok, but even reading before bed (admittedly when I'm perhaps least capable of cogitating) it was an enjoyable story about stories and a wholly new universe.
The novella "Scion" …
Number one, the cover by Pascal Blanché is so so cool, bold, and evocative.
"Bend Like the Palm" by David D. Levine is a great bit of clifi, featuring resiliency graceful degredation, and the interplay of tradition & adaptation.
"First Human Ghost on Mars" by R.L. Meza really reminded me of Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Even though it takes the perspective of a human ghost, it has one chitinous foot in the xenofiction genre imo. Anyway, if you read it you'll know what I mean. Some good headless cosmic horror in there, I loved it.
Really interesting narrative perspective in "Crosstalk, Elysium" by Carolyn Zhao, and one I'll probably have to read more than once to fully grok, but even reading before bed (admittedly when I'm perhaps least capable of cogitating) it was an enjoyable story about stories and a wholly new universe.
The novella "Scion" (and "Afterword") by Thomas Ha is a great bit of lofi scifi with good characters and a solid central plot that drives everything forward, and leads to some interesting discoveries and conversations. The character of the changing "house" that is peopled by the characters and peoples of the story reminds me of Peake's titular Castle Gormenghast, and the lofi aspects match it. Though Ha goes into much more hard detail as to the mechanics of their world. It was wonderful.
I really loved the voice of "Those Who Left History" by Wanxiang Fengnian, translated by Stella Jiayue Zhu. I can't tell if it's the doing of the translator, the original author, or just a feature of the original language, but it's got a very appealing dorkiness. Like autistic straightforwardness? Anyway, it was cool. I really like scifi out of China because I feel like their stories are doing their own thing, no doubt influenced by other scifis, but somehow the hand of "Western" scifi doesn't seem to weigh as heavily.
Tight, basically perfect bit of xenofiction from "You Are Invited to Our SPRING CELEBRATION" by Thoraiya Dyer. Things I loved about this story: I loved the adorable aliens. I liked how the humans' interiority was left as a mystery, but that you still got the sense that they were individuals. I adored the relationship between the parent and child aliens.
Another bit of peak xenofiction from Marissa Lingen in "Person, Place, Thing" is one for all my plural folxes out there. It's got the kind of endearing autistic stand-in in the form of the aliens trying to learn about humans and struggling to do so, especially with regards to human malice. It's got some definite juice.
I don't usually say much about the fiction or interview sections, though I usually enjoy them. Anyway, "The Hands and the Brain: Complementary Dominance" by Benjamin C. Kinney was a fascinating read with some good observations that you can share if you're ever at a loss for small talk or other pleasant conversation.