A lovely quick read that establishes convincing characters and world in record time. Definitely want to read more by Leckie now. ( )

I read the original Chinese version. It is very imaginative. ( )

The Nalendar by Ann Leckie. A short Fantasy story (free online at uncannymagazine.com) about a girl, Umri, who seeks to escape the advances of a certain slave broker called Rilhat Imk. Rilhat has a crush on Umri, wants to make her his princess. But it's also a story in which gods have decisive roles to play.

Umri encounters a skink - it later turns out he's a god himself, though one who has lost much of his power -, who convinces her to take him with her to the north. However, he doesn't tell the whole story. It's only after a bit of talking while on the boat Reasonable Expectations (which, when you think about it, says something about the characters and their experiences) that Umri decides to follow the skink to wherever he wants to go.

There she unexpectedly encounters Rilhat again, who apparently is after a treasure, which involves an agreement with a certain god, Sursurra, and the lad's former, royal ancestors. Or, Rilhat wants to claim the throne of that area. But the skink, who is Sursurra, wants Umri to stop Rilhat from acquiring the treasure. All this doesn't occur without incidents or the god(s) themselves intervening: the river Nalendar hides a goddess, is a goddess. She appears in the form of a big, dangerous fish. But as you can imagine, all's well that ends well.

All in all, a very entertaining read with good world-building (for a short story) and an interesting plot. It was almost like a mythological tale, but then set in India or similar, for example. Recommended! ( )

This was really nice.
I'm a sucker for anything El-Mohtar writes though so don't trust my word on it, check it out for yourself here: http://uncannymagazine.com/article/pockets/
Go on, it'll only take you ten minutes. ( )

I liked this issue more than the last one. My favourite stories were:
Pockets - I loved the idea and the message it carried! A girl finds things in her pockets
The Nalendar - A girl and a small god travel together - I liked how the story unfolded and the fairy-taley feel
Folding Beijing - Beijing is divided into 3 districts that don't interact with each other.
& Love Letters to Things Lost and Gained - I love all things connected to biology but I also enjoyed character's journey.
in that order I know it's 4 out of 6 shhh...

I didn't really feel the poems *shrug* I'm not really a big poetry reader so I'll just skip that

I loved all the essays. In short, their subjects were: all fiction is political; discrimination in nerd/geek culture; geek rock; women and cosplay.

The interviews were with people whose stories I've enjoyed so of course I liked more info on the subject and wanted to get to know the authors better. ( )