Interzone #241, Jul-Aug 2012.
Stories this month from Sean McMullen, Aliette de Bodard, Gareth L. Powell, David Ira Cleary, and C.J. Paget, and each one hits the spot nicely.
C.J. Paget. Invocation of the Lurker. (Interzone #241, Jul-Aug 2012)
Winner of the James White Award 2011 for unpublished authors, and it’s a story that sits foursquare with the other stories in the issue.
Michael Swanwick. The Dala Horse. (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Six)
Deceptively clever little story from Swanwick, suggestive of traditionally fantasy, but full-on SF.
Nalo Hopkinson. Old Habits. (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 6)
A touch of the Langoliers, in a ghost story with a difference that oozes quality throughout.
John Barnes. Martian Heart. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 29th Annual Collection)
Originally in a YA anthology, an effective story of love and loss on Mars.
David Ira Cleary. 1 Day in Time City. (Interzone #241, July-August 2012)
Another inventive and entertaining story from Cleary, which also features The Bay City Rollers…
Damien Broderick. The Beancounter’s Cat. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 29th Annual Collection)
A story that packs a lot into a few pages.
Josh Roseman. Greener. (Asimovs, April/May 2012)
Roseman’s first story in Asimov’s was an action-packed drama, and he attempts a much more difficult story here.
Adam Roberts. What Did Tessimond Tell You? (Solaris Rising 1.5)
Do physicists use words like ‘geezer’, ‘galoomph’, ‘cahoots’, and ‘bald bonce’ ?
Sean McMullen. Steamgothic. (Interzone #241, Jul-Aug 2012)
An entertaining novelette mashup of steampunk/Goth/Victoriana/aviation, with more than enough detailing to cause a few Gentlemen’s Trouser Moments from afficianados of the genre.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012.
A good spread of fantasy and a touch of the horror, but not a huge amount for those of us primarily looking for SF.
Rachel Pollack. Jack Shade in the Forest of Souls. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
Effective contemporary fantasy/horror which minded me of Stephen King (at least the stories/novels of his I read way back in the day).
Matthew Johnson. The Afflicted. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
A protagonist that is a sort of combo of Ellen Ripley and Florence Nightingale in a story of geriatric zombification…
Ken Liu. Real Faces. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
A rare story from Liu that disappoints.
Carol Emshwiller. Riding Red Ted and Breathing Fire. (Asimovs April/May 2012)
Emshwiller creates a believable, flawed character, a military man taking a mission for money, more concerned about his appearance and worried that he will not be accorded respect due to his status, than matters ethical or moral.
Michaele Jordan. Wizard. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
Contemporary urban fantasy in which a young woman is drawn, irresistbly, to a tall, dark stranger who will take her away from her humdrum existence.
Jeffrey Ford. A Natural History of Autumn. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
Ford looks to the East for inspiration for a story that gradually reveals itself to be a horror story, in which all is not what it seems, and a night of passion in a remote retreat becomes a much darker affair.
Kate Wilhelm. The Fullness of Time. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2012)
A lengthy novella that ultimately disappoints, the ending sweeping the sfnal elements under the carpet, rather than exploring them.