The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2021

An average issue with some interesting stories by Stephanie Kraner, Rich Larson, Corey Flintoff, James Enge and Robert Grossbach.

• "A Father's Hand" by Stephanie Kraner: an emotional story about a boy who forms an emotional relationship with a robot who guides him through life in a world where a war between human and robots has apparently occurred. But when the robot 'father' starts to break down, it is the boy who must now lead and find a way to fix his father or come to terms with him no longer being around.

• "Dontay's Bones" by Danian Darrell Jerry: a story about life in Memphis that depends on too much knowledge about American culture of the place for me to get into the story

• "Goodwill Objects" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: a man gets a gift from him former girlfriend, which strangely comes to life, and grants the ability to make wishes, and somehow beings them back together

• "The World, A Carcass" by Rich Larson: the daughter of a dead king is forced out of ruling by her uncle, who plans to marry her off. But she has other plans to regain the throne, with help from her bodyguard, who disobeyed her father's orders.

• "Severed Fruit" by Pan Morigan: an elderly person soon to die is called back to deal with apparitions that may have come from her past.

• "Molly Whuppy" by Corey Flintoff: a retelling of an English/Scottish fairy tale of a resourceful young girl with extraordinary hair who, with the help of a magpie, defeats a giant, marries off her two elder sisters, and gains a throne.

• "Babylon System" by Maurice Broaddus: a prisoner in a system run by automations and strict rules, strives to free and make the other prisoners free.

• "Drunkard's Walk" by James Enge: a man enters a village only to discover there is no way out. It would require the use of advanced multidimensional mathematics, and the help of an observant boy, to figure out what and put it to and end.

• "The Plus One" by James Enge: an officer on Mars handles the case of a dead body. While the cause is death is straightforward, the events leading up to it are not, causing the officer to question how much life on Mars is worth when everything vital, like air, water and living space, comes at a price.

• "Refugees" by Robert Grossbach: a courtroom drama around the defendant who allows his alien friend and his rather large group to become refugees from their own planet in his backyard (they are rather small aliens). But it all goes wrong when one aspect of their biology is not revealed to the defendant at the time, leading to the court case.

• "When the Water Stops" by Eugen Bacon: a short short about people struggling to survive when the world is short of water.