My first Clarkesworld was issue 197, but I couldn’t find a single story to love, so I didn’t bother to review it. Here, we have 8 stories – 5 of them felt very meh to me, 3 stars each. And then there were the gems:

“Bek, Ascendant” by Shari Paul – A beautifully written story of belonging, coming home, found family and family found again. I want to see more of Bek and Utan, and if that’s not a great sign after finishing a short story, I don’t know what is… *4.25 stars

“Zeta-Epsilon” by Isabel J. Kim – Hurray! Have I mentioned that I have a huge weakness for sentient spaceships? I might have. So, in this universe there are sentient spaceships with an AI-human interface that grow up together with their human pilots. A lovely story of love and liberation. *4.5 stars

“All Aboard the Golden Parrot” by Louise Hughes – A pirate crew of rogue AI’s sails around the world liberating other AI’s. Go, pirate AI’s, go! *4.0 stars.
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