Interzone #243, Nov/Dec 2012.
A good but not great issue, with stories by Jon Wallace, Qhen Qiufan, Priya Sharma, Jason Sanford, and Caroline M. Yoachim.
Reviewing short SF since 2000
A good but not great issue, with stories by Jon Wallace, Qhen Qiufan, Priya Sharma, Jason Sanford, and Caroline M. Yoachim.
A singular setting from Sanford, an Earth post-something, with humanity in small enclaves under a sun that burns.
A gentler story than you might expect, set post-Quiet War.
Another strong story, with the nature of the omniscient narrator not revealed immediately, as humanity’s concerns, and the concerns and loves of individuals are seen through the lens of a creature with a much longer view, and a much bigger picture. Excellent.
A good issue, with Lindholm and Reed the pick for me.
Tender love story across the decades with a strong ornithological bent, a bird with knees bent in the opposite direction, and a minimal sfnal bent.
An early Xmas present from the inestimable Mr. Strahan.
A more traditional SF story than others in the volume so far, but still well told and enough neat touches to make is rise above the norm.
New on Eclipse Online in December 2012.
A few stories that don’t quite do it for me, but otherwise a great read.
Well-written, as you would expect from MacLeod, a post-war/Cold War setting (with an nod to Kim Philby) in which a student has related to him a story of Quatermassian horrors that foretell a far future conflict.
A sorta spaghetti Western cum Yul Brynner Westworld yarn, but with dragons. What’s not to like!
A story from Analog in a Dozois annual collection, a rare event of late. Something more than the usual run of the mill scientist fiction from that magazine it would appear.
Wow, I’ve read all of Horton’s 2012 volume in 2012, a big improvement over previous years.
A beautiful story from Swirsky, a classy storyteller.
A mighty fine issue, and, as usual, excellent value for money.
A neat little Martian horror story, with a pleasantly different protagonist – The Reverend Boaaz Hanaahaahn, High Priest of the Mighty Void, a Shet who finds something getting into the dark recesses of his mind.
A standout story from one James S.A. Corey – an author unknown to me, sitting amidst some very big names in this volume. And pretty much worth buying the anthology for on its own.
A fantasy in which the male-dominated society frowns upon an upstart young woman who has desires unsuited to her gender. It may be a well-worn trope, but Kabza kept me engaged throughout,
Bear’s ‘Boojum’ and ‘Mongoose’, co-authored with Sarah Monette, were notably imaginative stories, but this one by Bear just fails to live up to the standard.
All in all, a story I’d expect to see in Analog, but way below the standard I’d expect to see in Asimovs.
Cadigan gets the solar system-constrained themed collection off to a fine start, with a narrator a calamarically long way from home…
Brilliant! A shoo-in for a Decade’s Best SF Collection, and a story that beautifully takes the genre another step forward.
A future in which genetic engineering in utero is the norm, hence the protagonists musical ability (dear me, if the future if jazz, stop the world this old punk wants to get off….)
A subtle story of the ennui of a returned terraformer – no scientists, no scientific credentials after the author’s name, an altogether non-Analog kind of story.
An unsettling fantasy told through the disoriented perspective of a young woman who has given birth to several changelings, fathered by the strange incomers.
A deftly-handled story of a powerful young woman who has enemies, and has to spot the assassin in her midst.
Further adventures of Harry Challenge in a misty London night in 1901.
Bob(s) comes face to face with his/their alter ego(s), and finds whilst he/they are a pretty mean dude(s), he/they might not be the meanest Bob(s) they they know. Thinks look bleak for Bob.