First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and most recently included in the Lavie Tidhar-edited anthology The Best of World SF Volume 2, Nadia Afifi’s fascinating short story The Bahrain Underground Bazaar is a powerful tale of an elderly woman coming to terms with a terminal illness in the modern, digital world. Understandably scared, and worried about being a burden on her family, Zahra visits the ‘virtual immersion chambers’ of the Underground Bazaar where she practices for her own passing by virtually experiencing the deaths of others. When one particular visit raises more questions than it answers, Zahra finds herself compelled to try and understand the life of the woman whose end she experienced, hoping to find some clarity in what remains of her own life.
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