Kit Reed. Monkey Do. (Asimovs June 2010)
A struggling author finds his muse, after a fashion. The last sentence elevates the story to a higher level.
Jacques Barcia. The Greenman Watches the Black Bar Go Up, Up, Up. (Shine)
Set in Brazil in a world in which carbon emissions are the currency.
Benjamin Crowell. Petopia. (Asimovs June 2010).
A cuddly toy with an AI chip finds itself a long way from home.
Eric Gregory. The Earth of Yunhe. (Shine).
How can the old ways be stopped from being a barrier to the opportunities the new ways offer?
Allen M. Steele. The Emperor of Mars. (Asimovs June 2010).
Steele revisits a theme from a previous story of his, although with an sfnal rather than a fantasy element.
home page rejig
[May 29th 2010] Couple of new areas on the home page, the better to present
The New Space Opera 2. (ed Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, Eos 2009).
A big book, with a huge amount of top quality SF.
John C. Wright. The Far End of History. (New Space Opera 2).
To be read slowly, and savoured.
Mike Resnick. Catastrophe Baker and A Canticle for Leibowitz. (The New Space Opera 2).
Catastrophe Baker meets his match with Voluptia von Climax, in a tongue in cheek homage to bygone space opera.
Asimovs. April/May 2010.
Some very solid SF in here, without it being one of the classic double-issues that Asimovs comes up with every couple of years.
Steven Popkes. Jackie’s-Boy. (Asimovs April/May 2010)
Strong imagery around humanity’s concrete and metal structures falling to the power of earthquake, flood and vegetation, and with the flora and fauna taking over, with the future for humanity looking bleak.
John Scalzi. The Tale of The Wicked. (New Space Opera 2).
Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics get a dusting off deep in space.
Spar. Kij Johnson. (Clarkesworld 37, October 2009).
Nebula Award Winner 2010 for Best Short Story. If you ain’t read it online yet, or listened to it, you’re missing out.
Robert Reed. Pretty To Think So. (Asimovs April/May 2010)
Looks at a globally catastrophic event through its impact on a family.
Barry B. Longyear. Alten Kameraden. (Asimovs April/May 2010).
Not really alternate history, certainly not science fiction, and with ein passing nod to genre fiction.
Sara Genge. Malick Pan. (Asimovs April/May 2010).
Genge returns to the setting of her previous story ‘Shoes to Run’ from Asimovs last year – a near-future post-something domed-Paris – and I’ll be looking out for future stories.
Daniel Abraham. The Pretenders’ Tourney. (Eclipse 3)
A claimant to the throne has no belief in God. But what if God has belief in him?
Justina Robson. Cracklegrackle. (New Space Opera 2)
Excellent exploration of confusion, alienation, and spiralling downwards into mental distress.
Eugene Fischer. Adrift. (Asimovs Apr/May 2010)
A hi-tech cargo transport system is the sfnal element of this so-so story.
Molly Gloss. Unforeseen. (Asimovs April/May 2010)
Insurance claims, and human motivations and emotions are effectively and affectingly addressed.
Tad Williams. The Tenth Muse. (The New Space Opera 2).
A genetically-modified prepubescent 40-year old cabin boy on the Starskhp Lakshmi is an unwitting key to resolving a very alien threat.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The Possession of Paavo Deshin. (Analog Jan/Feb 2010)
A Retrieval Artist story.
Peter S. Beagle. Sleight of Hand. (Eclipse 3).
Heart-rending and believable.
Peter S. Beagle. King Pelles the Sure. (Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009)
S’okay, but little beyond the ‘be careful what you wish for’ trope.
Elizabeth Moon. Chameleons. (New Space Opera 2).
A thriller set on board a spaceport – one of the weaker stories in the volume. Fruit cobbler anyone?
Gregory Norman Bossert. The Union of Soil and Sky. (Asimovs Apr/May 2010)
A little by-the-numbers with Avataresque good scientist/bad industrialist roles, but the ending gives a flash of something a bit different.
Nicola Griffith. It Takes Two. (Eclipse 3).
Lust, love and lapdancing.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2010.
Something for everyone … pervs included. Duncan, Reaves and Bowes my favourites, giving the first half of the chunky, value for money, volume more grist to my reviewing mill.
Rand B. Lee. Class Trip. (F&SF Mar/Apr 2010).
Gordon van Gelder : ‘some of the most daring linguistic gymnastics ever attempted’ in the pages of F&SF. Best SF : ‘Yarblockos’
Bruce McAllister. Blue Fire. (F&SF Mar/Apr 2010).
Quite categorically, the best short story about a vampiric attack on the Holy City that I have ever read.
Dennis Danvers. The Fairy Princess. (F&SF Mar/Apr 2010).
A very modern Christmas Carol, in which a somewhat cynical divorcee finds a sort of Christmas yet to come.
John Meaney. From the Heart. (New Space Opera 2).
Taut, far-future thriller which works well.
Tobias S. Buckell. A Jar of Goodwill. (Clarkesworld Magazine May 2010).
Buckell explores issues that are the top of the list for me with regard to SF – what sacrifices will we have to make as individuals, and as a species, to make it out beyond our solar system? How will we maintain our essential humanity?
Jonathan Strahan. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year. Volume 3.
A collection of excellent stories.
Kelly Link. Pretty Monsters. (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 3).
A classy story, handling two intertwined narratives beautifully as hidden secrets gradually become lycanthropically clear.