Review of "Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" by A. T. Greenblatt.Pretty good take on "what if superheroes really", but I was disappointed because I thought there would be forensic accounting.

This review is for two stories in this issue: Arkady Martine’s “A Being Together Among Strangers” (4 stars) and A.T. Greenblatt’s “Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super” (3 stars).——————————A Being Together Among Strangers by Arkady Martine:—————Oh, this is good. Short and good and dense with meaning and really just pitch-perfect. “It does take blood, to make a city. That’s part of the problem. We haven’t figured out how not to feed ourselves on ourselves.” Narrated by a 22nd centu...

"Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" is on my list of the Best Short SFF of May 2020: https://1000yearplan.com/2020/06/01/t...

A Being Together Amongst Strangers - Arkady Martine ***A conflict resolution specialist who has their employer's tech embedded in their head to absorb aggression and reflect it back outward remembers a mining accident from the construction of the New York subway, then intervenes in an attack on a refugee while commuting. Some really nice images and phrases and a 22nd century that feels very close, just a little loose. Through The Veil - Jennifer Marie Brissett **A coming-to-awareness story where...

Review of “Burn: or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”. Highly enjoyable; shades of Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Cookie Cutter Superhero universe although maybe slightly darker? Loved Miranda in particular. Feel like I need to seek out other work by Greenblatt.

Review only for two stories in this issue.A Being Together Amongst Strangers by Arkady Martine(science-fiction / read February 26, 2021)That’s a great one.In a 22nd century New York City a woman is on her commute. While she’s on the subway she thinks about the miners that lost their lives in the 1903 Fort George Subway Tunnel Disaster. How they had been sacrificed for the city. Taken by the city. Already it was the city, and already it was a breathing creature, even if its bloodstream was stil...

Girl, you best stop setting yourself on fire,you may be the phoenix,but these bones aren’t kindlingto keep others warm—Started with Ali Trotta's 'Athena Holds Up a Mirror to Strength'. Sooo good; here. Looking forward to the rest.My name is too hardfor you to pronounceso I changed it.My hair is too wild so Itamed it.Valerie Valdes's 'Assimilation' was fantastic. Read it here.

This is, just like it says on the tin, an episodic account of the life of a new Super, Sam Wells. His superpower is pretty marginal. He can create fire, and while it burns his hair, and his clothes, it doesn't burn his flesh. He's perfectly safe from fire.But it's not a superpower that has a lot of practical use, in the superhero sense.We follow Sam through getting accepted into the Super club, learning that since is superpower isn't one that especially useful on Main Team, the ones that go out

Fiction A Being Together Amongst Strangers by Arkady Martine: 4/5Through the Veil by Jennifer Marie Brissett: 2/5High in the Clean Blue Air by Emma Törzs: 4/5Burn, or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A. T. Greenblatt: 4.5/5Dresses Like White Elephants by Meg Elison: 4/5We Chased the Sirens by Suzanne Walker: 3/5Where the Sky Is Silver and the Earth Is Brass by Sonya Taaffe: 3/5 Non-fiction It Is Not That The Spoon Must Bend or: Cypher's Steak and Our Online Lives by Fran Wilde:

Rating for two stories:Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by AT GreenblattDelightful little story. Might be my fave from all Hugo nominated shorts this year. High in the Clean Blue Air by Emma Törzs.A wonderful addition to the adult female friendship stories in SFF. It took a while for me to finish it maybe because I'd like to savor it. If there's a longer work, gimme now please.

Read for the 2021 HugosStory "Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" - 4 stars - This story didn't feel to me like it had a lot of official elements. (view spoiler)[You have the guy with a "minor" superpower who wants to save the world. You have the superhero group that he isn't good enough to get into. He decides to give up being a superhero, and then changes his mind. (hide spoiler)] All pretty standard stuff. Somehow though, this story still manages to be interesting, compelling,...

This review is for Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A.T. Greenblatt.Every year I read all the finalists of the most prestigious science fiction awards (at least in the English speaking world): the Hugo awards. This story is a finalist in the Novelette category. I have not read any work by this author before, and I was eager to discover a new author.This is the story of Sam, an accountant that has discovered a super ability: he can set himself on fire. This happened by accide...

Sonya Taaffe's "Where the Sky is Silver" is a story for the last night of Hanukkah. 4.5 starsPreviously published in Machinations and Mesmerism: Tales Inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmannhttps://uncannymagazine.com/article/w..."I lived where I was born, like all of us, between your dreams and your nightmares, in the land where the sky is silver and the earth is brass and all windows are mirrors, all mirrors are doors. It turned to broken glass, like yours did."

The review is for Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super only.This is a gritty and unidealistic take on a typical superhero story. What would be everyday people's realistic reaction to the world in which completely random people started displaying superpowers? How would the society change? How would the individuals thrown into having a power they never wanted deal with the new normal?I enjoyed the structure of the novelette - a series of vignettes that show struggles, emotional turmoi...

As always, a bit of an uneven collection. I enjoyed Ada Palmer's essay, and the short stories by Sonya Taafe, Suzanne Walker, Arkady Martine and Emma Törzs, but felt the other short stories were quite weak. Roshani Chokshi's poem was also excellent. I wish there was a way to give a rating to each individual story rather than having to log the issue as a whole.

Spring 2021 (April); - Specifically “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”Another twist on a superhero story, I found this one charming. I'm always down for newer and different takes on superheroes and superhero stories, and Sam Wells, with the power to catch himself regularly on fire, is very much that. I love that this story is all about finding what you're good at and sticking to it. I love that he realizes being on the big, big "main team" isn't all its cracked up to be. That h...

Esta reseña es exclusiva para el relato "Dresses Like White Elephants" que es el nominado a mejor relato por los premios Locus 2021. ¿POR QUÉ NADIE ME DIJO QUE EXISTIA LA FANTASIA DRAGQUEEN?Solo por lo novedoso y lindo que me resultó, se merece sus 3 estrellas.

rating for Arkady Martine's "A Being Together Amongst Strangers."

"Burn, or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" by A. T. Greenblatt (approx. 39 pages)2021 Hugo Award Finalist - Best NoveletteThis could, with minor modifications, have been an entry in George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series. A man discovers he has a superpower and tries out to join a superhero team. What he finds is the mundaneness of being a low-level hero, with his aptitude as an accountant more valuable than his ability to set himself on fire. The story pointedly shows how most people'...

I really liked:A Being Together Amongst Strangers by Arkady MartineHigh in the Clean Blue Air by Emma TörzsDresses Like White Elephants by Meg ElisonBurn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A.T. Greenblatt