mataglap -- an Indonesian word meaning "dark eye" or, probably, "dilated eye." It is an indication that someone is about to go berserk and start killing people at random. Used in Walter Jon Williams' novel Aristoi as the name of a berserk form of nanotechnology that devoured the planet.

You can e-mail Mataglap SF at mataglap@yahoo.com

 
 "Bespoke", by Genevieve Valentine (Strange Horizons, 7/27/2009)

 This is a nice little vignette from an author I haven't heard of before, telling the story of Petra, who works in a clothing shop for people who need period attire for their trips back in time.  While there seem to be rules around time travel, they aren't always followed, and occasionally the present gets altered as a result.  Suddenly one day there are no mice, and another time the planet is overrun with butterflies.  Valentine uses the image of stepping through a layer of dead butterflies in the story, as it follows Petra and her boss Simone, who try to help these so-called Vagabond travelers.  The pair take pride in their work and workmanship, but can't quite see what all the fuss is about, the notion of traveling into the past they claim has no appeal to them personally (plus it's very expensive).  Valentine does a nice job of presenting the premise through a tangential point of view, rather than diving into the Vagabond story directly, and playing around with the changing the past in interesting ways that aren't quite as dramatic as "A Sound of Thunder".  An original take on a familiar trope, definitely worth checking out.


"Erosion", by Ian Creasey (Asimov's, October/November 2009)

This is sort of an odd story but certainly original, concerning a man named Winston who has recently undergone genetic modification to make him suitable for space travel and colonizing a distant planet.  On his last days before he leaves Earth he takes a walk along the beach and has a conversation with a sort of hologram named Katriona, who seems to have Tourette Syndrome for some reason.  Later on during a storm his foot becomes trapped under a rock and in Aron Ralston style he has to go to extremes to free himself.  The nature of his new "exo-skin" and other modifications means this isn't quite as drastic as it would be for a normal person, but there's some parallels to be made there about how he is gradually shedding his humanity in favor of technology (there's that singularity again) and the erosion of the coastline where he grew up and now spends his final hours before heading to the stars.  Winston ponders the question of whether in both cases this is a good thing or a bad thing.  Creasey does a nice job with putting all this together and gives a well-defined sense of place also, I'd be interested in reading more of his work.


"As Women Fight", by Sara Genge (Asimov's, December 2009)



Here's something right out of Le Guin, a society where married couples can switch sexes.  The children sound more like hermaphrodites, but in the adults it seems to involve actually taking over each other's bodies, which can only be done after some sort of ritualized contest.  But where Le Guin would typically use this as a backdrop to a long pointless story that had little to do with the societal conceit presented, Genge is much more interested in how this plays out in people's lives, doing so by following Merthe, a man who has recently swapped with his wife Ita and his having trouble adjusting to the traditional male responsibilities, plus less tangible things like the children are now less naturally drawn to him.  There's marital troubles with one of his friends, and Merthe tries to help but Ita is very suspicious of his motivations.  For most of the story he is convinced he'd rather go back to being a woman, but when given the opportunity at the end he finds it's not that obvious of a choice.  The author chooses this one particular storyline but there would seem to be more to investigate and explore in this society and how their behaviors inform our own. In the end, Genge convinces the reader that this is a world worth writing about.
posted by Mark at 10:27 AM