The Difference Between Love and Time, by Catherynne M. Valente

Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, edited by Jonathan Strahan, Solaris Books, 2022

Our first person narrator first meets the space-time continuum when she is a little girl playing with her Lego set, and he is presenting as a boy of the same age. He changes her Lego set in to a fancier one, one that possibly Lego does not actually make. It's the start of an off and on relationship, in which sometimes, for her, there may be minutes or years between their meetings. They go to high school together. She goes to college, but because of the weird dimensional effects of college with all those young people in transitional stages, he can't even set foot on campus, and has to meet her elsewhere.

Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness, by S.L. Huang

Clarkesworld, December 2022

Mariah Lee-Cassidy, currently imprisoned for fraud, is the putative creator of a chatbot called Sylvie, who targets nasty characters the law is never going to do anything about. People who, if they are ever caught at all, will get slap-on-the-wrist punishments for mostly technical violations that don't come close to the real damage they've done. The poster boy example is Ron Harrison, CEO of a medical supply company facing the potential recall of a defective pacemaker. He has successfully buried the evidence of the defect, and gradually upgraded the pacemaker to eliminate the defect, without announcing those changes. Some people die, but it's not blamed on his company, and he gets bonuses instead of a prison sentence.

A Dream of Electric Mothers, by Wole Talabi

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Sheree Renèe Thomas (editor), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (editor), Zelda Knight (editor), Tordotcom, ISBN 9781250833006, November 2022

Brigadier-General Dolapo Abimbola Titilope Balogun is the youngest member of the cabinet of what I think is the country of Yoruba, with what is currently Kenya again separated into Yoruba and Dahomey. (I was intent on the story, and I'm not 100% sure I picked up the political detail correctly, except that Dahomey is definitely "the other country." If someone can correct me, please do.) They are facing rising tensions with Dahomey, over a border dispute, and are seeking a solution that neither surrenders the territory in dispute, nor results in war. So far, they're not having success.

If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You, by John Chu

Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2022

Steve is an actor--he sings, he dances, and between gigs he works out regularly at his local gym to stay in shape. He's Chinese-American, and we soon learn, fluent in Mandarin. Lately, gym time has been enlivened by viral videos that might be part of a marketing campaign for a movie. featuring a flying man who is extremely well-built. Steve refers to him as Tom of Finland Guy. He of course wears a costume that emphasizes his really excellent build.

Tom of Finland Guy, who is also Chinese-American, intervenes to stop attacks on other Asian-Americans. He also, when convenient, does casual favors, like moving a piano.

For some reason, the coverage Tom of Finland Guy gets gradually more hostile, as if he's the troublemaker in those assaults on Asian-Americans.

We Built This City, by Marie Vibbert

Clarkesworld, June 2022

Julia is one of the workers who cleans the outside surface of the city, protecting it from deterioration and damage by removing the acids and other atmospheric detritus that can dent, crack, or eat away at it. Her mother, Hortensia, is one of those who helped build the city. She wanted Julia to pursue something more in the way of brain work, something that would get her both more pay and more respect, but Julia chose to work at maintaining the city in the most basic way possible. It's hard, physical labor, but she's proud of it.

It's also more dangerous even than you may be thinking, because this city is floating in the atmosphere of Venus.

But there are budgetary problems, and new cuts are announced. Only four dome cleaners will be retained. Julia and three of her team members are the four--because they really are the four best, and this job really does matter.