Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 226, July 2025

by Neil Clarke (Editor), Tia Tashiro (Contributor), Fiona Moore (Contributor)

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our July 2025 issue (#226) contains:

Fiction
* "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro
* "The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore
* "Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster
* "Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman
* "Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo
* "A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh
* "Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin

Non-Fiction
* "Wilderness Resurrection and Compromise" by Priya Sridhar
* "Who Owns A An Interview with Allison King" by Arley Sorg
* "Diverse A Conversation with Annalee Newitz" by Arley Sorg
* "Editor''s Taking a Moment to Smell the Roses" by Neil Clarke

Cover Art
"Alone" by Matt Dixon

Genres: Science Fiction

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2025

About the author

Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

Additionally, Neil edits  Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us,  The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro - (4*) One of those calm, sedate, reflective stories that mirror an encounter with a clone with the very real acceptance of who you are with yourself. I found it quite pleasant. The lack of drama was quite nice.

"The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore - (3*) This is something like the third or fourth thing I've read by the author and so far, they're all carrying on the same story, in general, in a post-apoc world all about survival when hardly anything can be passed on--despite a robot. Honestly? I just think it's okay.

"Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster - (5*) This one hit the spot, even if it mainly slid into my crabby introvert heart. Avoiding others, fixing things, living one's life is not the same thing as addressing the core loneliness. Alas. So yeah, great story.

"Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman - (5*) A gorgeous story, an insidiocontagious story. Indeed, I got lost in the words, or indeed the Words, and imagined I was reading a BIG piece by Vandermeer or Valente. Could be named "How to get lost--and unlost in Story." So far, my favorite this month.

"Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo - (4*) A short, sharp knock of a stolid life brought into relief by his father and half-siblings as he does his job. I particularly liked the deep rationalization and the psychology, even if it is all left up to us to interpret it. Classic.

"A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh - (4*) This is more of a coming of age story with just a hint of a SFnal setting, but still a decent story about what home is, or isn't, to a grown-ass man who still considers himself a boy.


"Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin - (5*) I love a good SFnal scientific mystery on an alien world. :)


Out of the whole bunch, I loved "Serpent Carriers" the most, with "Hunter Harvester" being a sweet, uncomplicated SF.


Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews is be interested in reading my SF (Very hard SF, mind you), I'm open to requests.

Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.

Arctunn.com

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

* "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro
5830 words, ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“When Mark told you he was marrying your clone, you said “congratulations” on autopilot, because that’s what you say when your friend tells you they’re getting married, and you had promised to stay friendly after the divorce.“
This one is not going where you think it would.

* "The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore
6530 words, 🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖
“Not long after the local billionaire was shot by his own robots in the Georgian manor house he’d refitted as his survival bunker, Morag packed up her rucksack, left her parents’ farm, and went out into the mountains to live as a nomad.“
I‘ve met Morag twice before in other Clarkesworld editons. I like her. I recommend reading the stories in publication order. This one here is with a dual timeline.
Looking forward to the next story! I really want to find out what „art“ Seamus the robot is creating! Surely there has to be a purpose behind it that Morag hasn’t figured out yet.

Morag‘s other stories:
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 217, October 2024
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 221, February 2025

* "Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster
9110 words, novelette, 🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖
“Ms. Otter came to Kearney when the day was dying, and her shadow ran down the broken road ahead of her like a line of bad luck.“
Jeremiah saves a droid. Earth ravaged by climate change. Society has changed or maybe broken down. Near future? Some people still seem to be rich and well-off, but others are roamers looking for scraps. There are scavenger droids hunting other droids that have run off. Ms. Otter has awoken, is on the run and at risk. She is also pondering humanity. And Jeremiah. Good story.

* "Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna, translated from Russian by Alex Shvartsman,
14.500 words, novelette, 💣
“Old people are of little use, but on occasion, they know stories and are skilled at telling them.“
I bounced off this one, it was not for me.

* "Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo,
4050 words, 🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠
“Terraforming colossi—the sort our corp manufactured, at any rate—were made to seem permanent, reassuringly stolid, as if monuments. This promoted confidence in the seeder population, who needed, above all else, to believe in the planet to which they had come.“
I like terraforming stories. The „seeder population“ has to leave after 1 and a half generations, because they have mined everything they wanted. Terraforming is expensive, so the corporation has stopped operations and the planet will die. But not everybody wants to leave… Surprising ending with unexpected subplot. Well done.

* "A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh, India,
3660 words, 💣
“You call them Saur-Antriksham in the old tongue, Gevesham in the new. You remember all the times the cold metal fell away from your feet as your body felt light, gravity rejecting you, then embracing you, slowly, once again.“
Space travel, copies of copies, a boy becoming a man, perception. Didn‘t like the style.

* "Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin,
3670 words, 🥬🥬🥬🥬
“Bunch, you’ll be able to find most of this in the official reports. Considering what we learned that day, there will be plenty of them. But let me tell you what happened, how it was for me. You, of all people, should want to hear it.“
A colony on an exoplanet, harvesting food. Not everything is as it seems to be. Entertaining.

Non-Fiction
* "Wilderness Resurrection and Compromise" by Priya Sridhar,
🐺🐅🦖🦤
“Humans have a gift for wiping out predatory species. Fear and misunderstanding sometimes motivate these decisions, and by the time we realize our mistake, it’s often too late.“
Well-written non-fiction article on bringing back extinct species.

The full July issue can be found here.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

read "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro.

"This story isn’t about Mark. It never was." hell yeah. this was great-- opens with "When Mark told you he was marrying your clone..." but then goes places i wasn't expecting. the dude ends up an afterthought, which is great bc he sucks, lol. both helen and elaine are real fleshed out people, and the story is about them revealing that fullness of being to each other. really lovely.

read it for free here: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/tash...

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published at myreadinglife.com.

Clarkesworld is my favorite short fiction magazine. Here are my mini review from the July issue.

"Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro (5,830 words | 24 minutes) — A woman learns that her ex-husband is engaged to her clone. A fantastic use of point of view as a reveal. Explores complications in relationships. (My rating: 5/5)

"The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore (6,530 words | 26 minutes) — After the last of a tool breaks that was used for gardening, Morag struggles to figure out how to grow food. A continuation of the story of Morag started in "The Spoil Heap" and continued it "King of the Castle". This story alternates passages in the present with those of her past after leaving her village. (My rating: 4/5)

"Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster (9,110 words | 37 minutes) — A newly sentient android shows up at a historic town/museum where the caretaker human fixes it. Explores the complexity of human relationships and our desire to fix things and people. Wonderful! (My rating: 5/5)

"Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna (14,500 words | 58 minutes) — Three stories told by an old man around a fire. This story is nearly unintelligible. But I feel like there is something there that I just missed. Not for me. (My rating:2/5)

"Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo (4,050 words | 16 minutes) — An officer of the Galactic Collective supervises the clearing of a mining planet that is being abandoned. Great story development, with little pieces revealing more little by little. (My rating: 4/5)

"A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh (3,660 words | 15 minutes) — A young man estranged from his space faring family returns home to his dying grandfather. A bit confusing. (My rating: 3/5)

"Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin (3,670 words | 15 minutes) — Women on a colonized planet who are harvesting native cabbages find out a bit more about what they are eating. All the colonizers are women. A fascinating look at reproduction and colonization. (My rating: 4/5)

Average rating per story: 3.86/5

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average issue with some interesting stories by Tia Tashiro, Fiona Moore, Gary Kloster and Bam Bruin

- "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro: an interesting story about a man who divorces his wife and then decides to marry her younger clone. The rest of the story tells the story of why the woman allowed a clone of herself to be made and what happens when she decides to meet her clone and the effects it has on them and the man.

- "The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore: after the collapse of civilisation, a community find that they are running out of plastic sheets used to keep their gardens warm. One person comes up with an idea on how to grow food despite the colder conditions, but it would need her former security robot, now turned helper, to show her an extra step that would help with the gardening.

- "Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster: an artificial being in the form of an otter appears at a reservation that preserves the past. The solitary keeper of the reservation repairs it, and learns it considers itself sentient. While trying to learn more about its past, he finds it avoiding him, but it is only when a scavenging robot tries to reclaim it does he learn why the sentient being ran away, and why it can't stay with him.

- "Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman: starting off as tales told around a campfire, the stories would turn out to involve one person at the fire, who left a fungal farm where she was a captive, only now possibly made a captive of another form of farm involving Words that may be woven into DNA.

- "Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo: on a world about to be abandoned, one person goes in search of a related person, to discover that one skill had been passed on by their relative.

- "A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh: a boy journeys to other worlds that involves teleportation that the boy feels turns you into a different person. But when the time comes for him to return home, he learns that teleportation might not change the person.

- "Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin: on an alien world, some colonist harvest alien 'lettuce' for nourishment. The lettuce fields are occasionally protected by aliens. But it is only when they retrieve the latest harvest, which includes an especially large lettuce, do they realise what they are harvesting.

[Huginn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro. You are my Helen of Troy, a desired and magical person who lives in my imagination. Cloned, similar in genetics, yet different in experience.

It is another intriguing read, one that requires revisiting to capture the storyline. The donor, dubbed Helen, is referred to as “You”. The starting that is presented as an imagination by Elaine, the clone, is referred to as “I”. The unconventional writing creates initial confusion amongst the readers, making it hard to differentiate between the two. This parallels Elaine and Helen’s experience, with faces and genetics that mirrored one another, they were perceived as similar. Yet, just like the story, it is clear that their lives led different trajectories, with their life experiences resulting in differences in personality and preferences.

The presence of Helen, missing yet present, makes her an enigma in Elaine’s mind. The actual meeting dispelled this attraction, bringing Elaine back down to her actual world. Helen wasn’t a mirror of Elaine, she was a different person herself.

All in all, a very interesting take on cloning.

[thefourthvine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro and it was great. Love it when the dude is simply the plot device that allows the real story to happen. I also love when an author says, "Hell yeah, I will choose every difficult option, give me that God Mode challenge" and wins, and that's what Tashiro does here. This story is in second person and Tashiro makes it work AND there's a good reason for it. This is a divorce story where I, at least, didn't hate anyone. And it's a clones story where the clones are distinct, real characters, but they are also as similar as you'd expect them to be.

And because I only read this because emily provided a link to it, here's where you can read the story for free.

[Vincenzo Fiorentino · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro (4.5*)

"The Walled Garden" by Fiona Moore (3*)

"Welcome to Kearney" by Gary Kloster (3*)

"Serpent Carriers" by K.A. Teryna (2*)

"Bits and Pieces on This Floor" by Eric Del Carlo (4*)

"A Land Called Folly" by Amal Singh (2.5*)

"Hunter Harvester" by Bam Bruin (3.5*)

[Shannon Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a reason Clarksworld and the stories they publish are nominated for and win so many awards and this issue is no exception with thought provoking well written stories and interesting on-fiction articles. It is what you want from a print magazine. I picked up this physical copy at WorldCon from the freebies tables and am very glad that I did.

[Gladimore]

Read "Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro ***

[Matthew WK]

Tia Tisharo 3.5
Fiona Moore 4
Eric Del Carlo 4