Lavie Tidhar. Whaliens. (Analog April 2014)
A clever piece of meta-fiction by Tidhar, poking fun at the SF writing community, and there are references to several SF books that are quite delicious.
M.K. Hobson. Baba Makosh. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2013)
A rich and rewarding read, with Hobson (M.K. to his friends?) putting effort into creating a setting, and a palpable sense of place, and people, and history, and background, rather than a cod medieval fantasy setting.
James Patrick Kelly. Sing, Pilgrim! (Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov/Dec 2013)
‘Every age gets the chair that it deserves’ is the key sentence to the story, I reckon. Although working out where the key goes is another matter.
Brendan DuBois. Hard Stars. (Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov/Dec 2013)
A taut, dark thriller which sees the USA reaping what it has sown, as drones with high-level AI ruthlessly seek out their targets over North America.
Nancy Kress. Pathways. (Twelve Tomorrows)
Kress does what she does best – creating some believable, flawed characters, and puts them in a believable, flawed setting.
Jason Sanford. Paprika. (Interzone #249 Nov-Dec 2013)
An elegant story by Sanford, inspired, it says by one Satoshi Kon, noted Japanese anime animator.
Maurice Broaddus. Steppin’ Razor. (Asimovs February 2014)
Steampunk, and in a colonial setting, but from a Jamaican perspective. Dreadpunk. An’ ting.
Marissa Lingen. Ask Citizen Etiquette. (Asimovs February 2014)
A short (two page) take on what an agony aunt column might address in terms of human foibles and robots, chromosomal choices for babies, telecomms and uploading.
Paul McAuley. Transitional Forms. (Twelve Tomorrows).
A shortish extrapolation of biotech – some technical issues once a-life starts to mutate, and what opportunities might arise.
Asimovs. February 2014.
A strong issue with Maurice Broaddus, Maggie Shen King, and Sarah Pinsker my picks.
Sarah Pinsker. The Trans-Dimensional Horsemaster Rabbis of Mpumalanga Province. (Asimovs February 2014)
A good story from an author new to me, but I’d have recommended a different title – for a couple of reasons!
M. Bennardo. Last Day at the Ice Man Cafe. (Asimovs February 2014)
A nice story about people and love, sitting a little uncomfortably on a frozen foundation.
Jason K. Chapman. The Long Happy Death of Oxford Brown. (Asimovs February 2014)
A story that has a retro feel to in a variety of ways, not always good.
Maggie Shen King. Ball and Chain. (Asimovs February 2014)
Looks at the impact of the Chinese one-child policy and the consequences of men outnumbering women in a well-handled story with believable characters.
Cheryl Rydbom. In Sight. (Twelve Tomorrows)
A very hi-tech heist. The heist and indeed the story itself is over very quickly!
Matthew Hughes. Stones and Glass. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2013)
Further adventures of the wizard Raffalon.
K.J. Kabza. The Soul in the Bell Jar. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2013)
Dark, rotting, and remote – the old building and the old uncle with whom young Lindholme is sent to stay.
Tim Lees. Unknown Cities of America. (Interzone #249, Nov-Dec 2013)
Set against the America of motorways, motels, anonymous small towns, and that stuff that you catch out of the corner of your eye but it’s not there when you turn around
Derek Kunsken. Schools of Clay. (Asimovs February 2014)
Set in the same/similar world to his ‘The Way of The Needle’ from Asimovs March 2012 – metal/mechanical crablike race of creatures, harvesting minerals and other materials from the planet’s surface.
Asimovs. January 2014.
Stories this month from : de Bodard, Collins, Kress, McHugh, Jablonksy, Tem, with Collins and Jablonsky the pick of the bunch.
Michael Blumlein. Success. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2013)
Altogether a subtle, rounded and substantial piece of writing involving scientists and science, but much more than scientist fiction.
Ron Collins. Primes. (Asimovs January 2014)
A story equally at home in a crime or horror mag, but a neat combo of Coen Brothers and the Matrix.
Nancy Kress. The Common Good. (Asimovs January 2014)
A YA story with a teenage protagonist, and it fairly breezes through in traditional YA style.
Steve Rasnic Tem. The Carl Paradox. (Asimovs January 2014)
A lightweight course to cleanse the palate during a multi-course repaste.
Jeremiah Tolbert. In the Dying Light, We Saw a Shape. (Lightspeed Magazine #44)
A classy story from Tolbert, that has a lot in it to like.
Tim Sullivan. Through Mud One Picks a Way. (Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov/Dec 2013)
Lacking a bit of subtlety and texture – more like an Analog than an F&SF story, more Aerosmith than Patti Smith.
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Sept/Oct 2013
Not an issue with a standout story for this reader, but entertaining enough.
Rob Chilson. Half as Old as Time. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2013)
An ancient with a palpable sense of ennui, awaiting a noseless assailant, provides justice for and sentence on a man long-travelled in search of that justice.
William Jablonsky. Static. (Asimovs January 2014)
A great story from an author new to me – not a new idea, but a well-handled take on alternative futures/pasts.
Ian McHugh. Extracted Journal Notes for an Ethnography of Bnebene Nomad Culture. (Asimovs January 2014)
Xeno-ethnography and xeno-linguistic that has this reader shouting “Hree! Hree!”
Marc Laidlaw. Bemused. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2013)
Further adventures of the gargoyle Spar and the bard Gorlen. As I have a physician-certified allergy to fantasy stories featuring bards, it’s with a hey nonny-nonny that I make my way-o to the next story in the issue-o.
Geoff Ryman. Rosary and Goldenstar. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2013)
Ryman relates a meeting between Elizabethan amateur astrologist Thomas Digges, friends of astronomy Tycho Brahe, including Messrs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and one young playwright William Shakespeare,..
Brian W. Aldiss. The Mighty Mi Tok of Beijing. (Twelve Tomorrows)
Grandmaster Aldiss gives an elegant oriental take (albeit a very rude one!) of the inspiration behind a biological tweak – a seafood-induced inspiration.
K.J. Kabza. The Game Room. (Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept/Oct 2013)
A parable on having to leave the past behind, as a house AI begins to overstep its domestic duties.
Daniel Marcus. After the Funeral. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2013)
Will a recently widowed academic wife go to the dogs?
Aliette de Bodard. Memorials. (Asimovs January 2014)
Part of de Bodard’s ‘Xuya’ series of stories and nice to have a story with purely female characters, thus avoiding any need to have plot driven by hairy-arsed testosterone!
James Morrow. Affirmative Auction. (Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept/Oct 2013)
A story in somewhat dubious taste that relies too much on the simple premise taken from the pun in the title.
Eugene Mirabelli. The Shore at the Edge of the World. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2013)
A god makes a return to a small fishing village, in search of that one thing which even the immortal gods cannot have.
Albert E. Cowdrey. The Collectors (Fantasy & Science Fiction Sept/Oct 2013)
A monstrance of monstrous provenance proves too hot to handle for a southern neo-Nazi, who gets more than his fingers burned.
Ken Liu. The Clockwork Soldier. (Clarkesworld Magazine #88 January 2014)
Another clever story from Liu, well read by Kate Baker, who I haven’t had the pleasure of having in my ears for some time.