“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer in Asimov’s, September/October 2024) by Naomi Kritzer Format: ebook
Source: supplied by publisher via Hugo Packet
Formats available: magazine
Genres: fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism, short stories
Series: Asimov's Science Fiction September/October 2024
Pages: 23
Published by Asimov's Science Fiction on September 1, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon
Goodreads
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September-October 2024. Cover story: "Bachelorettes on the Devil’s Dance Floor" by Stephanie Feldman. Other stories in this issue:
“Heartshock” by Nick Wolven
"The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer
"In the Dark” by James Patrick Kelly
"And to Their Shining Palaces Go” by Betsy Aoki
"All the Homes of Terror” by Robert Reed
"Art Deco Farmhouse, Original Hardwood Floors, Slightly Haunted “ by Alice Towey
"An Unplanned Hold” by Zohar Jacobs
"Bitter Chai, Sweet Chai” by Anita Vijayakumar
"Lost Recall” by Robert R. Chase
"Eternity Is Moments” by R. P. Sand
"Project Fafnir” by Susan Shwartz
"A Gray Magic" by Ray Nayler
plus poetry by Mary Soon Lee, Jane Yolen and othersFeatures Editorial: Magnifique! by Sheila Williams; Reflections: The Man Who Saw the Future by Robert Silverberg; On the Net: The Music of the Future by James Patrick Kelly; Thought Experiment: Nuclear War, Satire, and the Grotesque in Dr. Strangelove by Kelly Lagor; On Books by Norman Spinrad
My Review:
Once upon a time, there were two Ph.D students who fell in love and got married. Then reality set in, a particular academic reality known as the ‘two-body problem’. They are two bodies, both in need of those oh-so-rare tenure track positions, but for both of them to advance in their careers they need to find a place that has jobs for both of them at the same time.
That her subject is marine and estuarine ecology, concentrated on seals (not sea lions, but seals) limits her further to coastal areas and the universities and research labs nearby. He studies watersheds and wetlands, he can probably work anywhere except the desert southwest – and maybe even there.
When we meet Morgan and Stuart fifteen years later, the situation has worked out JUST FINE for Stuart. He’s got a tenured position at the University of Minnesota – in the Twin Cities which is INLAND. He’s currently working at Harvard during his sabbatical, while living two hours away in coastal Finstowe, because that’s what his stipend could afford. But of course he’s pissed at Morgan because everything wrong in their personal lives is all her fault. No matter how much he has to twist the situation around to make it so. After all, it’s her job to keep his path smooth so he can be successful. Because she has no one to blame except herself that she’s not. Or does she?
His success has been earned by her labor. As both their careers were just starting out, her laptop and all of her meticulous research were both destroyed. Her backups were mysteriously lost in a move. The university’s backups coincidentally never happened. She got pregnant in spite of their precautions – or because of being an emotional wreck after the catastrophe.
Now she’s the unpaid, unsung, co-author of ALL the published work that has granted his tenure. She also does all of the physical and emotional labor of raising their daughter, maintaining their household and budget, and generally keeping his ship sailing unencumbered.
And she’s tired of every single bit of the scorn, spite, gaslighting and emotional abuse he heaps upon her at every single turn. Because she was ‘careless’ with her research.
Except that she wasn’t. While, as she finally discovers, he wasn’t nearly careful enough.
Escape Rating A: This was one of the Hugo Nominated Novelettes (say that three times really fast!) that I was most looking forward to this year. Because I adored “The Year Without Sunshine” out of last year’s nominees so very much. (Also, it WON and I was even more thrilled.)
So I expected great things from this year’s story, and I certainly got them. What I also got in this story – and did not expect at all, was that it would be a beautiful version of a recent book, The Sirens.
Not merely beautiful, but honestly BETTER. So much better. Instead of something bloated and meandering and filled with infinite rehashings of the same scene, this story is crisp and clear, tells just enough of the same sort of history to make it properly poignant AND delivers some much deserved comeuppance to all the right parties.
And it tells a glorious story of found sisterhood with just the right number of secrets held just the right length of time and over the right space of story, with the right kind of evil getting its just desserts without muddying the waters of who is who and what is what and when is when.
I did figure out the big secret in the story because that part, the part of the story entirely too grounded in real life, has been told before. Howsomever the comeuppance was so righteously delivered in this one that I loved every single minute of it. But I don’t wish there were more because this story was exactly the right length and only the deserving lived happily ever after.
Yes, I’m squeeing, and I’m squeeing a LOT. I think my only complaint about this story is that there’s no podcast – or at least there isn’t one yet. Uncanny Magazine and Clarkesworld seem to podcast ALL their stories, it looks like Lightspeed podcasts about half, but Asimov’s is more selective about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this story doesn’t get added to Asimov’s archive of podcasts BECAUSE of the Hugo nomination, but it isn’t there now, I couldn’t wait, and I’m glad I didn’t.
Although I loved this one so much that if Asimov’s does produce a podcast I’d be happy to experience it all over again.
