Reviewing short SF since 2000
A gentle story in which a tornado causes havoc to a remote farmhouse, but with the real focus the relationship between a schoolgirl, all hi-tech and social media connected, and the older woman who she is helping out, two equally strong and lovingly drawn people.
A teenage boy struggles to complete a school essay on metaphor following his father’s psychiatric admission after his response to seeing Zeus in a pop-up breakfast toastie.
Stories by Elizabeth Bourne, Lavie Tidhar, Vylar Kaftan, Ray Cluley and Tracie Welser. Tidhar and Kaftan the pick for me, creating strong characters in realistic settings, the other three not achieving that.
Multi-perspective story, two human, two indigenous race. There are differences, linguistic and cultural (as is ever the case in such stories), but there are some deeper, common instincts and emotions lying below the xeno-cultural subtleties.
A visitor to The Fountain public house relates just how he has had an impact on the world around us.
A clever idea, handled well, as we follow a relationship to see what might be/which has happened plays out…
Joint Winner of the Nebula Award, Best Short Story. Originally published on Tor.com and still
A Young Adult story, and I’m not particularly fond of YA fiction, but the story is better than that in Prometheus. Mind you, that’s not saying something.
A look at the problems of growing in to adulthood in the future.
A story about a son’s relationship with his father, seen through the lens of baseball – but with a difference.
A first-professional sale for Stewart, and an assured start to what could be a good career based on this story.
Disturbingly macabre horror set in a village in the mountains, in a society where a tithe is paid in blood to the Bloodcloth
Nicely written contemporary story, with a well-drawn protagonist. It’s subtle and understated, not too heavy on the genre elements, with some neat touches, but missing that extra something.
Deftly handled amusing conceit in which a member of a gentleman’s club is found to be a rotten cove indeed.
We’ll crafted story from Tidhar, giving a real sense of time and place, of emotions, actions and consequences.
A re-telling of a classic fairytale, but it’s a story that has been retold for 250 years now, and this retelling doesn’t really bring anything new .
An inventive take on wormholes and blackholes, and the relationship between the two
Ghost story in which young Willy Pfeiffer inherits enough money to dedicate himself to ghost-hunting.
Set in Patagonia, via Skagen in Denmark, the story imparts a palpable sent of location to both, especially the former, where the crux of the story revolves.
Fast-paced adventure. Golva is a feline-type creature, one of two intelligenct races, on whose planet a party of humans has arrived.