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     0. Editor’s Note

  1. The Great Stratagem of Lady Ikedanbu — Judith Huang

  2. I can’t love artificially I’m too busy falling for my electric kettle
    — Cai Png

  3. Cactus Girl, Lobster Boy 
    — Alastair Wee

  4. The Girlfriend  
    — Andrew Cheah

  5. Keep Nothing on Your Person
    — Levin     Tan

  6. Singapore goes cyborg but what 
    does this mean for families?
    — Darcel Al Anthony

  7. Science City #26 
    — Joseph Tan

  8. Tensile Strength
    — S.L. Johnson

  9. The Winter of Our Science-Fiction Discontent, Part 1
    — Vivekanandan Sharan

  10. Cutting the Sapphire: An Interview with Joan Hon, Singapore’s First Sci-Fi Novelist
    — Ng Yi-Sheng

  11. A Review: Club Contango by Elaine Boey (Dark Matter INK)
    — Wayne Low

         

Tensile Strength



S.L. Johnson


S. L. Johnson is a writer and poet who grew up in Ohio, USA and now lives in Sydney, Australia. Her work has appeared in The Colored Lens, In Another Time, and a number of literary journals. Her poem “News Flash” was included in the British Council’s online teaching curriculum in 2022. She is a graduate of the Wayward Wormhole writer’s workshop. You can find her on Bluesky at @sljohnson.bsky.social and her poetry and collage is on Instagram at @stephaniejohnsonpoetry 

The intricate design can easily unravel and disintegrate
With needle and thread in hand I pause to view
My effort to save this Earth-made piece of lace
Priceless in our alien milieu 
With needle and thread in hand I pause to view
Out the porthole of my cabin, glittering death
Priceless in our alien milieu 
Each human casualty's last breath
Out the porthole of my cabin, glittering death
The intricate design can easily unravel and disintegrate
Each human casualty’s last breath
My effort to save this Earth-made piece of lace