Carrie Vaughn. Harry and Marlowe and the Talisman of the Cult of Egil. (Lightspeed Magazine, February 2012)
Pulp alternate history steampunk, in a Victorian world that has been influenced by previous alien visitation.
Ted Kosmatka. The Color Least Used by Nature. (Fantasy & Science Fiction Jan/Feb 2012)
A solid piece of world-building and characterisation, albeit with a minimal fantasy element.
Albert E. Cowdrey. Mindbender. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
A darkly humourous espionage thriller, with an FBI agent helping a mind-reading Russian to hide from forces who wish him dead.
Lewis Shiner. Canto MCML. (Fantasy & Science Fiction Jan/Feb 2012)
No answers in the story, so on the basis that a canto is part of a longer piece, roll on Canto MCMLI.
Mari Ness. And the Hollow Space Inside. (Clarkesworld Magazine #65, February 2012)
An affecting inversion of a well established sfnal trope
K.D. Wentworth. An Alien Land. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
A frustrated, isolated suburban housewife is initially horrified when the house over the road, a bank foreclosure, sees some aliens move in.
Michael Alexander. In the Trenches. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
The trenches of the First World War are made an even more horrific place to live, when man is put against man.
John G. McDaid. Umbrella Men. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
Effective piece which looks at three generations of an American family who have an unusual role to play in keeping a balance in world affairs.
David J. Schwartz. Bear in a Contradicting Landscape. (Apex Magazine #33 February 2012)
An unsettling piece of meta-fiction, sort of in the David Lynch mould.
Naomi Kritzer. Scrap Dragon. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012).
Charming piece of fantasy meta-fiction as a mother tells (or tries to tell) her daughter the story of a dragon and a young girl, the details changes following comment by the daughter.
Ken Liu. Maxwell’s Demon. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
Liu provides another dark story set during the Second World War in the Pacific theatre of combat
Ron Goulart. The Secret of the City of Gold. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
More tongue-in-cheek investigative adventures of Harry Challenge, returning to the pages of F&SF after some years absence, finding himself in Kensington at the start of the 20th century.
Panverse Three. (ed Dario Ciriello, Panverse Publishing 2011).
Five original novellas, from Don D’Ammassa, Ken Liu, Tochi Onyebuchi, Gavin Stoddard, and Jason Stoddard, with Liu the standout.
Interzone #238 Jan-Feb 2012
A nicely balanced issue, with four authors new to me making the most of the space afforded to them.
Cat Rambo. So Glad We Had This Time Together. (Apex Magazine #32 January 2012)
Neat blend of the current obsession with reality TV and with werewolves, vampires, zombies and things that go bump in the night.
Apex Magazine #32 January 2012
New fiction from Cat Rambo, Sarah Dalton, and a classic reprint from Gregory Frost.
Felicity Shoulders. Small Towns. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
Just after the end of the Great War, two lives come together.
Tochi Onyebuchi. Dust to Dust. (Panverse Three)
A story with a climactic ill behooving.
E.J. Swift. The Complex. (Interzone #238, Jan/Feb 2012)
A first-published story by Swift, and it’s a good one, showing more assurance that you often get.