Colors of the Immortal Palette, by Caroline Yoachim

Colors of the Immortal Palette is a story that you can tell was written by a veteran writer.  As literature it's excellent, and pretty fine as a story as well.  The protagonist is a model for famous painters, but she'd like to break into painting and be taken seriously as an artist.  The story indicates that a lot of models would like that.  But the art world does not take women seriously, even less so models who pose nude.  An extra dollop of intersectional prejudice is layered on as our protagonist has Japanese ancestry and is named Mariko.  Exotic but not serious, in Paris or Chicago.

The speculative element here is a "vampire" story.  Here vampires don't want to be called vampires, and they do not bite or drink blood--they take a slice of life from their victims/proteges by more direct and spiritual means.  This world is interesting in that immortals are "out"--they do not hide their nature, and at least from the perspective of the story it isn't disruptive.  Mariko asks her immortal painter to "turn" her, which he does, giving her time to perfect her art but also to weary of life as he has.  Very beautiful.

Shadow Prisons, by Caroline M. Yoachim

Shadow Prisons feels very far-out speculatively, but I don't think it is such a stretch to go from the Metaverse to allowing our entire reality to be mediated virtually, especially if it becomes really inconvenient to live any other way as she speculates. But it may be a little on-point, and it has a happy ending, which given where this starts I just don't see happening. Very much a tale of our times.

My Goodreads Review

The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim

"This is a love story, the last in a series of moments when we meet"...a great opening and closing line for The Archronology of Love.  And it's a somewhat classic love story in that it is cis-gendered straight and romantic.  The speculative driver in the story is the Chronology, a creation of some sort that records and freezes each segment of time, and can be visited from the future but is destroyed to some extent in the process.  The metaphor to archaeology is thoroughly drawn--layers of earth are our version of the Chronology, and archaeologists destroy them in order to study and understand them, knowing that future archaeologists will rue their work. 

So it's a nice story, but the ending feels old fashioned (I won't give it away).  The overall effect is that it could have been written 40 years ago.  A good nominee for the Nebula but probably not a winner.

Carnival Nine, by Caroline Yoachim

Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Clockwork universes are a great plot device, as they simplify the workings of that universe so that they can be exposed. Yoachim's clockwork dolls have a very simple economy based around carnivals that proceed along the tracks. They have no doubt who their Maker is, as that Maker winds their mainsprings every day. Otherwise, it's a story of our lives, translated into this clockwork universe. So it's 100% predictable, but suspense is not the point. We get a new perspective on what it means to care.

Thing is, it's a nice story and well written, but for me not super engaging. I do think it has a decent shot at an award.



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Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0, by Caroline M. Yoachim

Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station is what short fiction can do pretty well--humor.  You don't want a joke to take forever.  There is no hope for actual help, but the path to non-help is pretty funny.  It's written like a choose-your-own-adventure book, but not really.  Which was fun, because I used to like to try to read those things straight through and try to keep the plots straight.  A good 3 stars.

This one was indeed a contender, but my favorite for the Nebula is Seasons of Glass and Iron, by Amal El-Mohtar.  Go check that one out.

Stone Wall Truth, by Caroline Yoachim

There's a genre of stories out there that are mostly about the author working through some gruesome nightmare and what it would mean if it were true.  Some authors make a living on it.  Stone Wall Truth is one of those stories.  What would it mean if the shadows in our hearts were real ones, and could be seen if only we were opened up properly?  This story does it literally, told from the point of view of a surgeon that does it.  The Crystal Wall that such an "opened" person is hung on is some remnant of a more advanced technology.  Advanced at what, one wonders.  But it's told well, so worthwhile to read and ponder.  3 stars