The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2020

An average issue that starts with an unusual tour through a library by David Gerrold with other interesting tales by Marc Laidlaw and Angie Peng, a fun piece by Brian Trent featuring some Greek Gods and a dog, and a long fairy-tale like story by Leah Cypess that shows that fairies may not have the best interests of the people at heart when they give blessings.

• "The Shadows of Alexandrium" by David Gerrold: a guide leads a tour group through an ever expanding location that holds a record of realities. But then a new section of the location opens up and, in leading the group into it, discovers it may not be as it seems, and it is now up to him (or her) to lead them back to safety from the shadows of imaginations.

• "Weeper" by Marc Laidlaw: in his continuing tales of a man with the hand of a golem, and a golem with the hand of the man, this tale concentrates more on their fellow companion, a pregnant lady, and their discovery of a visitor from the upper regions forced to land by the actions of poachers. Her kindness to the visitor would be repaid, but in an unexpectedly violent way.

• "Do AIs Dream of Perfect Games?" by Angie Peng: what starts out as an impulsive decision by a fan to ensure her baseball idol would play a perfect game of baseball turns into a question of free will and decision-making when her choice comes to the attention of an 'entity' who have been making decisions affecting the universe based on our actions.

• "Of Them All" by Leah Cypess: a fascinating story about two sisters, both blessed (or cursed) by the fairies that live in their father's kingdom. The Prince of a neighbouring subject land pays them a visit and ends up winning the hand of one of the princesses, setting up a tale of conflict and jealousy between the two sisters that grows more complicated when the Prince's brother gets involved. The tale gets an extra twist when the sisters start to realize that their blessings from the fairies may not be for their benefit, but is part of a conflict between the fairies and other magical creatures that inhabit the neighbouring land. In the end, the sisters want no part of it and just want to live their own lives in their own ways.

• "The Martian Water War: Notes Found in an Airlock" by Peter Gleick: a story consisting of diary excepts, it tells the story of a conflict between the various colonies on Mars over water and its aftermath.

• "Little and Less" by Ashley Blooms: set in an undetermined future where ecological disaster has overtaken the world, it tells the story of a girl who catches and tries to save animals in her vicinity. But when she discovers a woman and her child nearby, she plans a rather gruesome plot to 'catch' and 'save' them for herself.

• "My Name Was Tom" by Tim Powers: set on a strange ship that consists of endless levels of compartments, it tells the story of a person who goes off in search of the legendary control deck of the ship and in the process meets a group of people who rather live on the outside of the ship rather than in its compartments. The destination and purpose of the ship is hinted at, but it's the strange journey of the man which is the centre of the story.

• "The Cry of Evening Birds" by James Sallis: a short short story about a time when changes to a person can be requested. In this case, the changes are to erase a painful memory from a person's life.

• "The Dog and the Ferryman" by Brian Trent: an interesting variation on Greek legends. Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld, discovers that only a dog (no humans) is waiting to be ferried to the Underworld. Figuring out how the dog ended up there, and why humans are no longer appearing in the Underworld after dying, would require Charon to venture into the world of the living and discover what life has to offer.

• "This World Is Made for Monsters" by M. Rickert: a short story about an alien spaceship landing in a farmer's field and the aftermath of the neighbourly encounter.

• "The Fairy Egg" R.S. Benedict: an uncomfortable tale of a couple barely making a living. To earn more money, the woman sells eggs, including unusual ones that she calls fairy eggs. The man, on the other hand, seems to live in a world of conspiracy theories around women and food. When the woman falls ill, it starts a cycle of possession by the man, feeding strange food to her in an attempt to 'cure' and 'detoxify' her. It would all end badly or well, depending on your reading of the story.