I was struck by the way this swan song issue moved from the fantastic to the science fictional as it reached its closing pages. The worldbuilding that allows this future to come into being is only lightly sketched in, but Cora’s journey is rightly front and center, and memorably intense. We learn about her origins as the product of a scientific experiment, and how she’s forged a life for herself since escaping – and what she finds when she’s drawn back. From there the story travels back and forth between Cora’s past, present, and future (which is also her past). We first meet Cora in Portland in 2057 at a roller derby. Another story making good use of the time travel trope is “ Tyrannacora Regina” by Leonie Skye. It’s a very moving portrait of the man and the challenges he navigates between his different worlds, as well as what he and his wife mean to each other. He’s confronted by his father’s excessively toxic masculinity, making his relationship with his wife even more fraught. Wise takes things in a different direction in “ The Time Traveler’s Husband“, using the classic SF trope to gender-flip a romance trope, with the husband staying home, never knowing when his wife will arrive, what state she’ll be in, or when she’ll disappear. The story unfolds steadily, flirting with horror and culminating with a very moving twist for Jasper when the moment his parents have been dreading finally arrives.Ī.C. Skinny, gay, introverted Jasper, our narrator, starts to piece things together as he’s out on one last adventure with his popular, straight brother Jesse. The fae are never far as “ Antumbra” by Cory Skerry tells the story of teen twins, getting ready to move once again as their parents are obviously running from something. This is a story that imbues suburban ruins with as much Weirdness as fairy tale forests.

Told in list style, its character is clearly the titular strip mall, developed through notes about its history and the denizens that run the costume shop, the candy shop, the ex-mattress store, closed payday lender, etc. “ 40 Facts About the Strip Mall at the Corner of Never and Was” by Alex Acks couldn’t be more different. I appreciated the continuation of the fairy tale, the deep sense of feeling between the woman and wolf, and the badger references. As the wolf communicates with her indirectly via stories, she starts to arrange her affairs. She returns to her home when a wolf comes to her door, but they’ve obviously known each other for years. An older woman is bereft when her grown son is mauled to death by a supernatural bear, leaving behind a wife and child. It starts strongly with “ Rotkäppchen” by Emily McCosh, and you don’t need to be too familiar with German before its source material becomes clear. After 13 years of publication they go out in style with a 12-story triple issue that showcases the wide range of genre fiction that found a home between their covers over the years. As we say goodbye to 2018 we also bid a fond farewell to Shimmer, as their 46th issue is their last.

Lightspeed university strips