Shortish…

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 174, March 2021

SUBMERGENCE by ARULA RATNAKAR, 20800 WORDS, 2022 FINALIST: UTOPIA AWARD FOR BEST UTOPIAN NOVELLA
“As the people began to die, desperation drove us to the depths of the sea for cures. We mined mineral-rich vents until the tube worms went extinct, stripped polymetallic nodule fields bare, squeezed sludge out of sea sponges to treat the new diseases, these monstrous incurable plagues, born from our new climate, that spread through our air. But the people still died. So we dug even deeper…“
Sounded like a mesmerizing tale of exploitation and facing the consequences. However, there was also a narrative with uploaded memories and how they impact the life of the person reliving them. I loved the parts with the (almost) sentient sponges, the other part of the story made the narrative uneven. The pace was too slow for my taste as well. And parts were too scientific. Interesting idea, but the telling of it was a little meh. 🧽🧽🧽 

55 PLAQUE by ISABEL LEE, 7670 words, novelette
“There are only nine plaques that have arrived on Earth so far; 55 comes from the number of years between the ninth plaque and this coming tenth one, a number that follows a very special pattern called the Fibonacci sequence.“
Loved it! Great story well told. Loved the characters, felt with them. I was engaged. ☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️ 

I skimmed the last two short stories. They were pretty unusual and I wasn’t in the mood for weirdness.

Full magazine and links to the stories are here.