For those who aren’t regulars, I supplement my full read of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus each month with smaller spotlights on magazines where I may have found 2-3 stories that draw my attention. If possible, I try to keep those to a single issue, but for weekly or biweekly releases, I’ll sometimes roll a couple months up into a single spotlight. And either by complete happenstance or by some nice work from the publishers, I’ll be looking at the same three magazines for the second month in a row: Asimov’s, Uncanny, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Asimov’s
There were two stories that immediately caught my attention when I started flipping through the July/August 2025 issue of Asimov’s, but they were ultimately eclipsed by a third where I decided to take a flier on a known author instead of hewing strictly to my impressions from brief story samples.
The novelette The Pirates of Highship by Stephen Case takes place in the swirling clouds above a gas giant, where a rich heir braves the storms alone for a passion project with no obvious financial incentive but staggering intellectual value. As the title suggests, he’s taken by pirates seeking to squeeze every cent they can, but it’s his research into nonhuman intelligence that will ultimately determine their fate. An engaging tale that develops a bit beyond the expected directions.
Worm Song by Derek Künsken plays a little bit more to type, but it’s executed well enough to make for a quality read regardless. It also takes place in the atmosphere of a gas giant, one in which humanity seeks to understand the dragonlike creatures who can withstand the heavy pressures in resource-rich depths. Unfortunately, an experiment designed to help humans understand dragon song picks up only the calls of the more fragile worms of the upper atmosphere. Experienced genre readers can probably guess where this is going, but it’s a pleasure getting there.
The Chronolithographer’s Assistant by Suzanne Palmer doesn’t hit the reader hard in the opening paragraphs and honestly doesn’t have much of a plot for a good half the novella. A 19th century teenager from a fishing village is simply learning the ropes as an assistant to the obvious-to-the-reader-but-not-to-him time traveler famed for her art. They’ve both lost loved ones, and a significant chunk of the novella feels like low-stakes slice-of-life as they learn to work together and begin to understand a little of each other’s grief. In the final quarter, it develops more of a plot arc and features at least two life-threatening scenes, but all the same, this feels like one that will appeal to fans of cozy fantasy. I don’t consider myself a major cozy aficionado, but I enjoyed this one immensely.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Issue #433 of the biweekly Beneath Ceaseless Skies delivers two stories with “Last” in the name that both immediately jumped out for their narrative voice. Last Stop: Tomb City by Justin Howe stars a reluctant wayfarer coerced into using his travel abilities in service of a station agent on a mission. The narrative voice here keeps things engaging and perhaps a bit lighter than one would expect for what is ultimately a quest story with plenty of lives hanging in the balance.
Last Train from Deadwall by André Geleynse stars a suicidal ghost whose soul has been bound to a machine so that he can deliver economic value even in the afterlife. His attempts to free himself bring him into the heart of a large-scale conflict alongside other spirits seeking relief from the world of the living. It’s another story that makes some narrative decisions that experienced readers will see coming, but the characterization makes this one well worth the read regardless, generating a whole lot of pathos in just under 10,000 words. Tropes exist for a reason—they can deliver hard-hitting moments when executed skillfully.
Uncanny
Issue 64 of Uncanny also had a pair of stories that immediately caught my eye, both from authors I’d quite enjoyed in the past. Chatbot stories are a dime a dozen these days, but I was familiar enough with Delilah S. Dawson’s work to expect an ominous twist in Hi! I’m Claudia, and it isn’t long before she delivers. There are no sympathetic characters in this one, but I remained on the edge of my seat trying to figure out exactly what would go wrong. And after hinting in a direction that I expected, it pushes in both a darker and more interesting direction.
But the story I was most excited about in this review set indeed proved to be my favorite. Barbershops of the Floating City by Angela Liu is a standalone set in the world of the tremendous Kwong’s Bath, and it absolutely lives up to my high expectations. I have a soft spot for memory magic, and it’s used wonderfully here, not to explore the lead’s history so much as the horrifying details of the extreme societal class divide. At the same time, there’s a heartbreaking interpersonal story that slowly peels back the layers of the lead’s endless toil in care of an addict mother whose faculties have deteriorated precipitously. For all the bleakness of the setting and backstory, there are enough instances of people truly caring for each other to imbue the tale with a flash of hope, with perhaps none more bittersweet than the climactic backstory reveal.
June Favorites
- Hi! I’m Claudia by Delilah S. Dawson (short story, Uncanny)
- Barbershops of the Floating City by Angela Liu (short story, Uncanny)
- The Chronolithographer’s Assistant by Suzanne Palmer (novella, Asimov’s)