[3/3] AntipodeanSF magazine, #117 (February/March 2008): Annotated table of contents & review

This post is not new content, but part of an earlier post. Original post is split because of Blogger constraints on label length. Begin at part 1 of this post for whole article on AntiSF #117.

Story list (best first).

I was forced to split this post into 3 parts due to Blogger label length constraints. This is part 3 (stories #14 to #20, all C-rated); go to part 1 (stories ranked #1 to #8, all A-rated) or part 2 (stories #9 to #13, all B-rated).

1. Paul Ryan's "Bad News" (C); download; self-ref; non-genre: Cannot quite figure this one out. Either set in a post-scarcity society where doing any work is a shame, or in a society where working for government is considered low status. In the story, someone has got a government job, & he wants to get out of it, but doesn't seem to have an option.
2. Ashley Callender's "Wildlife" (C); download; self-ref; science fiction: Life on a hostile icy world with local life, described by one of the human adventurers. I found parts incomprehensible.
3. David Siegel Bernstein's "Apostle Promotion" (C); download; self-ref; fantasy: Some commercial deal a god's agent is offering a man - to publicize the god's word!
4. Peter M Ball's "Avenue D Prayer" (C); download; self-ref; science fiction: Description of a world where temples are places with machines to artificially simulate your mind. You are expected to pay a fee per session, some of these places are cheaper than others, ... I had a feeling the idea is inspired by prayer machines in similar automated temples in Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light".
   
5. Paul Minty's "Do People Dream of Rescuing Ships" (C); download; self-ref; science fiction: An android allowed loss of property that a human would not have. But I really missed how! Just didn't comprehend the point.
6. Natalie JE Potts' "The Bracelet" (C); download; self-ref; fantasy: I didn't really get the point of this story. A man is wearing a bracelet he got from somewhere to a cause he does not understand. Now the bracelet has amputated his hand!
   
7. Stuart Gibbon's "Star Light, Star Bright" (C); download; self-ref; fantasy: Cannot really make sense of it. A little boy thinks up of teasing his older sister while she's asleep. Then some magic happens - funny things happening with time & stars, ...!!! Appears to be a take on Alfred Bester's story of the same title where a young boy's innocent wishes to be left alone come true in ways adults would find horrible.