Meeting Infinity. (ed Jonathan Strahan, Solaris Books 2015)
A handsome Big volume, the fourth in the series. Big Name Authors. Big font. Reviews to follow.
Reviewing short SF since 2000
A handsome Big volume, the fourth in the series. Big Name Authors. Big font. Reviews to follow.
The issue closes with a light touch, as Hartmann provides an old-school tone for a gently humorous tale of life on an exoplanet, and political machinations needed to ensure the planet remains in the embrace of the powers that be.
Muir, Van Aaron Hughes, and Chwedyk the pick of the ish for me.
Stories from Brenda Cooper, Sean Monaghan, Jim Grimsley, Jason Sanford, Sam J. Miller, Vylar Kaftan, Peter Wood, with Miller and Sanford the pick of the issue for me.
Short fantasy in which a young boy, recently dead, has to heed his father’s advice in walking to where his forebears live.
The issue closes with a story that is has lot of sfnal background to it, but the crux of the story is minimally sfnal.
Because of the good mix of story, idea and innovative narrative approach, I’m popping this story onto the shortlist for the Best SF Short Story Award 2015.
On an icy planet, a nocturnal adventure becomes a game played for high stakes…
Johnny Rev, aka Jack Shade, is a traveller, in a modern urban setting in which magic lives and there is a border, unseen by all but those who have magic, beyond which lies an altogether darker place, and an alter ego who must be kept in his place.
Commander Parsec – cheesy Golden Age of radio drama serial hero. Or…
When a star descends from the night sky, it brings someone/thing, and Little Grandfather must make a decision.
I’ve just come across the short film ‘Ubermensch’ directed by Simon Temple, winner of 2010 Best Film, Irish National Sci Fi Awards, and true to the story by Kim Newman, on which it’s based.
An alien spaceship broadcasts a message to humanity…
A bit of neural tweaking can iron out those awkward behavioural issues in children, just like braces straighten their teeth.
The fourth really strong story from Miller I’ve read in the last 12 months or so.
A strange, symbiotic interchange of emotion, experience and sense of self between an alien and human.
After a gentle story in the issue about love (and loss) taken forward by dialogue, Kelly provides three short vignettes on lust and sex.
A dialogue-driven love (and loss) story that Chwedyk handles admirably
Eldritch portents-aplenty, which suggest to a young teen seer that a dark lord is a-coming for a bride.