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.
Jason Sanford. Mirrorblink. (Interzone #243)
A singular setting from Sanford, an Earth post-something, with humanity in small enclaves under a sun that burns.
Paul McAuley. Macy Minnot’s last Christmas on Dione, Ring Racing, Fiddler’s Green, The Potter’s Garden. (Edge of Infinity).
A gentler story than you might expect, set post-Quiet War.
John Barnes. Swift as a Dream and Fleeting as a Sigh. (Edge of Infinity).
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.
Asimovs. July 2012.
A good issue, with Lindholm and Reed the pick for me.
Michael Blumlein. Bird Walks in New England. (Asimovs July 2012)
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.
Lavie Tidhar. The Memcordist. (Eclipse Online).
An early Xmas present from the inestimable Mr. Strahan.
Sandra McDonald and Stephen D. Covey. The Road to NPS. (Engineering Infinity)
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.
Christopher Barzak. Invisible Men. (Eclipse Online).
New on Eclipse Online in December 2012.
The Year’s Best Science Fiction. 29th Annual Collection. (ed Gardner Dozois, St. Martin’s Press, 2012).
A few stories that don’t quite do it for me, but otherwise a great read.
Ken MacLeod. The Vorkuta Event. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 29th Annual Collection)
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.
Peter M. Ball. Dying Young. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 29th Annual Collection)
A sorta spaghetti Western cum Yul Brynner Westworld yarn, but with dragons. What’s not to like!
Alec Nevala-Lee. The Boneless One. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 29th Annual Collection)
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.
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2012. (ed. Rich Horton, Prime Books 2012)
Wow, I’ve read all of Horton’s 2012 volume in 2012, a big improvement over previous years.
Rachel Swirsky. Fields of Gold. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2012)
A beautiful story from Swirsky, a classy storyteller.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2012.
A mighty fine issue, and, as usual, excellent value for money.
Gwyneth Jones. The Vicar of Mars. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 29th Annual Collection)
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.
James S.A. Corey. Drive. (Edge of Infinity)
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.
K.J. Kabza. Heaventide. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2012)
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,
Elizabeth Bear. The Deeps of the Sky. (Edge of Infinity)
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.
Allen M. Steele. Alive and Well, A Long Way from Anywhere. (Asimovs July 2012)
All in all, a story I’d expect to see in Analog, but way below the standard I’d expect to see in Asimovs.
Pat Cadigan. The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi. (Edge of Infinity).
Cadigan gets the solar system-constrained themed collection off to a fine start, with a narrator a calamarically long way from home…
Catherynne M. Valente. Silently and Very Fast. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 29th Annual Collection).
Brilliant! A shoo-in for a Decade’s Best SF Collection, and a story that beautifully takes the genre another step forward.
Benjamin Crowell. Kill Switch. (Asimovs, July 2012)
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….)
Marissa Lingen. Some of Them Closer. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2012)
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.
C.S.E. Cooney. The Last Sophia. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2012)
An unsettling fantasy told through the disoriented perspective of a young woman who has given birth to several changelings, fathered by the strange incomers.
Priya Sharma. Lady Dragon and the Netsuke Carver. (Interzone #243, Nov-Dec 2012)
A deftly-handled story of a powerful young woman who has enemies, and has to spot the assassin in her midst.
Ron Goulart. The Problem of the Elusive Cracksman. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2012)
Further adventures of Harry Challenge in a misty London night in 1901.
Chris Willrich. Waiting for a Me Like You. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2012)
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.