Nigel Brown. One Way Ticket. (Interzone #239, Mar-Apr 2012)
Short, fairly limited story about a young woman with a terminal illness taking an off-world option to cheat death.
Matthew Cook. Rail Riders. (Interzone #239, Mar-Apr 2012)
A dark, and ultimately depressing tale of hobos in space.
Jay Lake. The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future . (Subterranean Online Spring 2012)
The Before Michaela Cannon returns in another enthralling ‘Sunspin’ installment!
Stephen Baxter. Project Herakles. (Analog Jan/Feb 2012)
A sequel to ‘Project Hades’ in Analog July/August 2010
Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The Voodoo Project. (Asimovs, February 2012)
A member of The Company who uses her special ability to see possible futures, reflects on her past and her possible futures.
Asimovs. February 2012.
A good issue, with Reed the pick of the bunch.
Richard Bowes. The Queen and the Cambion. (Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mar/Apr 2012)
The Queen in question being Queen Victoria, and the cambion (in medieval legend, a cambion is a half-human offspring of a succubus and an incubus, as any fule kno) in question being Merlin the Magician.
Steven Utley. The Tortoise Grows Elate. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2012)
The first in Utley’s ‘Silurian Tales’ sequence for four years, a sequence he has had on the simmer since 1993.
Albert E. Cowdrey. Greed. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2012)
More ne’er-do-wells from the deep south pop out from Cowdrey’s active/fetid imagination, the love of money once more being the root of all evil.
Robert Reed. One Year of Fame. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2012)
The works of an author, long relegated to his past, find a new, robotic audience.
Michael Blumlein. Twenty-Two and You from The Doctor Diaries. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2012)
Issues around genetic profiling/fixing treatments are addressed.
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Six (ed Jonathan Strahan, Nightshade Books, 2012)
First of the Year’s Best volumes to find its way into my clutches in 2012. amazon.com | amazon.co.uk
Suzanne Palmer. Tangerine, Nectarine, Clementine, Apocalypse. (Interzone #239, Mar-Apr 2012)
Excellent story from Palmer – the tension ramps up until the stakes get very high.
Alastair Reynolds. The Water Thief. (Arc 1.1)
Against a background of water shortages and climate change, a single mother has to face a challenge.
Robert Reed. Murder Born. (Asimovs February 2012)
A complex story which doesn’t go for an obvious happy ending, and it’s one of Reed’s best for some time.
Lavie Tidhar. Love is a Parasite Meme. (Apex Magazine #35, April 2012)
Short, introspective and reflective story by Tidhar, the protagonist sharing some of the author’s background.
John Kessel. Iteration. (Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 5)
A good example of pitching a story just right.
Maureen McHugh. The Naturalist. (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 5)
Nicely handled zombie horror from McHugh.
Tom Crosshill. Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes. (Clarkesworld Magazine #67 April 2012)
A sensitive story that starts off with an intriguing line and engages the reader throughout.
Bruce McAllister & Barry Malzberg. Going Home. (Asimovs February 2012)
A gently amusing exchange of letters between an author intent on returning to the Golden Age of Science Fiction, and his publisher.
D. Thomas Minton. Observations on a Clock. (Asimovs February 2012)
First story in Asimovs for Minton, which muses on faith, specifically the maintenance of ultimate faith against the temptations to test that faith.