10 stories, one non-fiction piece (written by Ted Chiang) and a few poems... I usually like most of the stories in the magazine and in most cases I just love at least one of them. This issue is not an exception.

Now on the stories one by one:

'The LoveSling' by Nick Wolven - a couple is bored from their sexual life and buy something for making it more interesting. But while they start trying to find out how to use it, it turns to be quite different from what they expect... and the story starts 'rolling'. The story is separated into 3 parts and I really enjoyed the first two. The last one was a let down. The story could have gone anywhere but ended up strangely -- I am not sure if the author tried to write the story for the first parts or just to write the last few lines. Ignoring them, it's a decent enough story.

'The Emily(s) Debate the Impact of Reclusive on Life, Art, Family, Community and Pets' by Kat Meads - This was fascinating. Welcome to the debate of the two most famous Emilys in the literature - Bronte and Dickinson. The story does not add anything in their images but it builds them in a way you could have imagined. I would have loved if this story was a bit longer because such a premise can lead to a very nice story but even as short as it is now, it was a nice read. Showing that no matter how advanced we will become, some things will always be left hidden under the veil of history.

'The Chance' by Susan Wardle - Two kids had been orphaned by a war and an old childless woman takes care of them. Except that she turns out not be childless and her son returns and starts to help the kids to achieve their dream. Or so it seams. At the end it all ends up with one of the questions that anyone can identify themselves with - what determines someone as your kid and what would a mother do to save the dreams of her children. It was a nice flowing story and using the small differences between the nowadays and the time/place in the story was helping on making it sound realistic - alien and familiar at the same time. If something in this issue could be determined as Science Fiction-al, it would be this story.

'In the Name of the Mother' by Jodi Lynn Villers - a mother's quest to go back to her daughter. Short and kinda strange - I would not even classify it as speculative fiction. The mother's character was totally unlikeable and unbelievable. The only reason for this story not to be really bad is its length - it was short enough so that it somehow worked.

'Holden Caulfield Doesn’t Love Me' by Daniel Lanza - Imagine that you can will anyone from any book to come to you... and they can do the same in turn. The premise was nice enough and the start was promising -- but then the things got way too general. I almost did not see anything from the characters' personalities and I although I did recognize most of the names, they could have been named in any way... Written as a series of journal entries, the voice was almost believable but I hoped to see more from the characters and less from the narrator internal struggles... Wasted opportunity although I guess I was just expecting another type of story after Eliza Bennet and Holden got in the same place at the same time.

'A Wizard of MapQuest' by Alex Wilson - Short and heart-touching. A wizard's child decide to get out of his father's house and the father gives him a normal MapQuest instructions on how to get out of the place he had known for his whole life... except that at every turn, together with how long he should drive to the next turn, he also adds some memories and advices... and a fatherly reminder that he can always return.

'Marie and Roland' by Kirstin Allio - something like a love story I guess. I just did not get it...

'Ana’s Tag' by William Alexander - Two kids, gangs and some magical beings and contracts. A somewhat strange story which was interesting nevertheless. The fantastic parts were way too weird and I almost expected someone to wake up at the end but it never happened. It was one of the longest stories and I am not sure if it could have been stronger if part of it have been skipped (or it had been told as two separate stories...).

'The Leap' by Mark Rich - a wife that leaves her husband, a deer that magically kills a man and how these events connect. At the end of the story, I was not even sure what had happened and what the deer was there for...except for killing people and showing things to people. On the surface it is a a mystery story but the explanations are deep in the fantastic. On the other hand, it left enough space for the imagination so everyone can build their own theory for what had really happened.

'The Girl With No Hands' by Angela Slatter - my favorite story this issue. The Devil wants a bride, she does not agree. Now remember all the fairy tales -- the devil cannot get a clean and innocent girl or one which sacrifices herself to save someone... add to this the old tales with the changed notes between the king and someone in his palace who needs to take care of his wife (except that there is no step-mother here). A truly gruesome story in some parts but it was a beautiful one.

The non-fiction piece was well done except that I had read it way too often - from different authors but still - this is the one of the most popular problems when you are interested in algorithms.

Overall a good issue. If you expect SF or clean Fantasy, you need another magazine. But in the border genres, LCRW is still staying strong. ( )