Sarah K. Castle's "Kukulkan" (which seems to be the author's first published story—if so it's an auspicious start) is a tale about tradition. It begins as a character study of Pascual Teotalco, an astronomer of Mayan descent who struggles to hold onto his ancestral culture in a near-future that makes little room for indigenous religion. When aliens land in Guatemala, it is both a challenge to and an affirmation of his beliefs: the alien Cheorka look exactly like the Mayan god Kukulkan, better know as Quetzalcoatl. The story's main focus is on Teotalco's racial identity, but the religious aspects of that identity are certainly an important part of the story, which is well worth reading.

Castle’s descriptions of her aliens reminded me greatly of the middle section of Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, their customs and behaviors foreign, their appeal fascinating. Everything is influenced by the Mayan deity, especially in how the aliens look, and the writing is authentic. The story is structured so it flips back and forth between Pascual and the Cheorka envoy sent to chat with the Earthlings. Of these two, the alien sections are much more interesting. “Kukulkan” takes some time to get started, but once first contact is made and people start running for their lives, I found it hard to stop reading.