The Court Magician by Sarah Pinsker - A Short Story Review

One can make a case that Fantasy is just the opposite side of the coin where Science Fiction resides.  Technology can be substituted by magic, starships by dragons.

I prefer to imagine my world forward because I am curious.  I want to know what is around the next bend.  When you look far enough back, history becomes legend.  Somehow I don’t find that as satisfying.

This is a fantasy story.  

A young boy is noticed then groomed to become the next court magician.  He is overseen by - a ghost - I guess, but certainly his predecessor.

The child learns everything he is taught and is disappointed that most of the magic he has seen can be explained as slight of hand.  The more he learns the closer he gets to real magic.  Real magic exists but at a cost to the magician.

How much of that cost can the young man bear?

It was a well written story and a good one to boot.  It’s just not the kind of story I am drawn to.

I just wish the Hugos would split the Fantasy from the Science Fiction.  This is something Lightspeed Magazine identifies and I appreciate it very much.

Sarah Pinsker’s website - http://sarahpinsker.com/

Lightspeed Magazine - https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/

Sarah Pinsker

The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat by Brooke Bolander - A Short Story Review

Uncanny Magazine July/August 2018

It’s been a while since I’ve ready some short stories and I wanted some kind of direction.  I turned to the Hugo Awards for that.  I decided the 2019 short list would make for an excellent anthology of sorts.

I started from the bottom of the short story list and I plan to work my way up to the winner.

The story was funny, menacing and a perfect twist on the damsel in distress trope.  The Princess Bride came to my mind, but with dinosaurs and that worked very well for me.

One day the Prince from a nearby kingdom wanders by and is nearly eaten.  Through strange circumstances he manages to bring one of the raptor sisters into his realm and tries to make her the Royal Mount to replace the horse he rode in on.

But the Raptor Sisters and the Princess have other ideas.

It is no wonder this story was short-listed; it was fresh, original and had a rollicking good time flipping genres on their sides.

Brooke Bolander’s website - http://brookebolander.com/

Uncanny Magazine - https://uncannymagazine.com/

Brooke Bolander