LRSF = Locus Recommended Short Fiction, which I'll be using going forward in the post titles.
Opening: Krina nudged her clock, and it crept up her long neck, closer to her ear, tiny claws tickling. "Left. Left again," it whispered. "Forward." Read more...
Capsule: This story provides a highly entertaining and thought-provoking musing on one of my favorite sf themes, time, and the nature of its subjectivity/objectivity. Stylish writing. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions and metaphors of non-technological elements, which lent a mythological feel to the story's universe: water, light, shadows, etc. There was some beautiful continuity in a metaphor to do with light. I think the strengths of this story are the central conceit, the attention to detail and the elegance in the plot-driven, psychologically rich telling. The characters come alive and their motivations are clear. Only potential deduction: We do get told why what's going to happen is a bad thing several times, in different ways--this could be seen as heightening the dramatic tension through repetition, but might instead come across as diminishing dramatic suspense through overstatement.
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