A great story from Das that does what I like an SF story to do – look at the future of humanity, explore the alien, and learn something about humans on a micro level or humanity on a macro level.
Das does this in spades, uses his background in Kalkota, India, to good effect, starting his story from a non-Western worldview, which is in itself a treat. He starts his story with the ‘birth’ of a very alien alien (no other than green skin/fur otherwise human-norm aliens) on a very alien landscape. The creature is named Shuyedan by two humans who witness it’s creation, an indigenous life form of which little is known. And the creature witnesses them in the act of love-making, and this ends up reflected in it’s own presentation.
The couple are both women, and the same-sex relationship gives another different element, and the relationship between the two is not a straightforward one. So there’s a lot in the story to like, and I’m putting it onto the short list for The Best SF Short Story Award 2015.
More from this issue here.
