The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2020

An interesting collection with good stories from Nadia Afifi, Nick Dichario, Lyndsie Manusos and an interesting take on the zombie invasion story by Sarina Dorie, trying it with school safety protocols that may or may not work.

• "The Bahrain Underground Bazaar" by Nadia Afifi: an interesting story of an old woman waiting to die from cancer. To pass the time, she visits the Underground Bazaar, to be immersed in the memories of people who have died. But one memory she experiences haunts her, and she must find out more about the person involved. The journey of discovery would change her attitude towards her coming death and her relationship towards her son and daughter-in-law.

• "La Regina Ratto" by Nick Dichario: a man finds himself sharing a flat with talking rats. At first, all is well, and they get along. But then the man gets a new boss at work, who turns out to be a giant Queen rat who begins to dominate his life. In the end, one of his rat friends tells him of a way to get rid of the Queen, but even then, he would never be free of the rats.

• "How to Burn Down the Hinterlands" by Lyndsie Manusos: a woman who is a blacksmith has reason to hate her country: her blacksmith mother was taken away and killed when she created a magical sword that could destroy anything. So when the country's king sends a group to persuade her to make another powerful magical sword, she agrees while planning her revenge. But her plans change when she learns more about the group and finds herself sympathizing with them.

• "The Glooms" by Matthew Hughes: another tale about the henchman of a (now former) wizard, now retired to a village. But he gets word that two other wizards with whom he crossed paths with in a former story are looking for him, for they believe he holds information on some magical weapons owned by his former master. His journey to escape them would involve running into an unfindable region ruled by a goddess, a journey through a gloomy path, and his elderly neighbour.

• "The Homestake Project" by Cylin Busby: a researcher goes deep down into a mine in search of organisms that survive in the depths. Little does she know an accidental injury there would lead to a life-changing view of the world.

• "On Vapor, Which the Night Condenses" by Gregor Hartmann: another detective story set on Zephyr, this one has the detective and her partner solve the mystery of a murder and another possible murder attempt at an artist who can produce irresistible scents that make people recall entire environments. Deduction would help her solve the case.

• "The Silent Partner" by Theodore McCombs: an antique dealer goes to a house to look at a piece of furniture kept there when its original owner was held in a Japanese-American interment camp during World War Two. But owning the furniture would come with other unusual responsibilities.

• "A Tale of Two Witches" by Albert E. Cowdrey: a missing child leads a woman who can treat with spirits to investigate a house formerly occupied by a family with abusive parents, and their strange house guest who may have a hand in previous missing child cases.

• "A Civilized and Orderly Zombie Apocalypse per School Regulations" by Sarina Dorie: a standard zombie invasion story that takes place in a school, it involves a teacher who follows regulations to keep her charges from the zombies. But as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that it would have an inevitable, horrible, ending.

• "Skipping Stones in the Dark" by Amman Sabet: on a colony ship heading for a distant world, the entity controlling it prizes conformity over individualism. So when people start to exhibit their individual selves, the ship takes what seems like drastic action to isolate them and hope that they return to become members of the ship.