Elder Race
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky, the writing machine. And you never know what comes next. This time it‘s a story told from two very different POVs in a sword-and-sorcery-setting, with a touch of SF and creepy (for me) horror elements. Slightly spoilerish review.
The fantasy is a post-colonial society that devolved and lost all technology and the SF part is the view of a technologically advanced observer, who ends up in the position of a sorcerer, because he can‘t stick to that Prime Directive and keeps getting involved..
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke.
Very nicely illustrated in this novella! I really enjoyed the differences in understanding of the opposing characters or rather their misunderstandings.
This entered horror territory about 70% into the story. And nobody tagged it as such, so I was pretty unprepared and it was creepy. Tchaikovsky gave me some very vivid imagery of „wrongness“. Reminds me of a recent horror discussion I had with some reading buddies, about what makes a tale horror for some and not for others. This here reminded me of something, maybe Dreamcatcher?
On top of all that our observer/magician is on a journey of self-discovery, where he ultimately has to decide, where he belongs and in what capacity.
“How much worse to think yourself wise, and still be as ignorant as one who knew themselves a fool?“
From the novella
Cathy's Reading Bonanza 
This sounds intriguing.
I dislike horror, but I sometimes like thinking about the concepts adjacent to it (like necromancy!)
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It‘s mostly fantasy with a touch of SF. The creepiness is towards the end and ok-ish… 😊
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