Margo Lanagan. The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross. (Lightspeed #79 December 2016)
A dark, disturbing story and I hope that Lanagan feels better for getting it out of her system…
Wang Yuan. Painter of Stars. (Clarkesworld Magazine #123, December 2016)
An AI embedded in a domestic ‘bot yearns for the stars, and finds a talent…
Gardner Dozois. The Place of Bones. (Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2016)
A journey to a valley that has no right to be where it is….
Albert E. Cowdrey. The Farmboy. (Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2016)
A rare thing from Cowdrey – an SF story, albeit it’s a story that could have been set in any time period, anywhere on Earth.
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2016
Stories from Esther M. Friesner, Albert E. Cowdrey, Lilliam Rivera, Matthew Hughes, Gardner Dozois, Minsoo Kang, Kurt Fawver, Charlotte Ashley, Robert Reed, James Beamon, Sandra McDonald.
Rich Larson. The Cyborg, the Tinman, the Merchant of Death. (Lightspeed Magazine #79 December 2016)
Military SF although with a more human bent.
The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 1. (ed Neil Clarke, Nightshade Books 2016 )
Another take on the best SF of the year.
Ryan Row. Reclamation. (Clarkesworld Magazine #119 August 2016)
A story from an author new to me, which bodes well for the future.
Jonathan Carroll. The Loud Table. (Tor.com November 2016)
Sweet little story from Carroll, that could be straight from the 1950s, except for the closing references to dementia, the singularity and AIs.
Desirina Boskovich. The Voice in the Cornfield, the Word Made Flesh. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2016)
An excellent story with some lovely touches.
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2016
Special David Gerrold issue, with a couple of stories from him, and stories from others including Sarah Pinsker, Peter S. Beagle, Leah Cypess, Ian Creasey, Geoff Ryman.
Ted Kosmatka. The One Who Isn’t. (Lightspeed Magazine #74, July 2016)
An intriguing vignette, feeling like a fantasy story to start, until the sfnal elements come in.
The Year’s Best Science Fiction. 33rd Annual Collection. (ed Gardner Dozois, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2016).
Another year, another instalment in Dozois’ take on the best SF of the year.
Maggie Clarke. A Tower for the Coming World. (Clarkesworld Magazine #123, December 2016)
Set in Eastern Europe, with a son breaking the soil with his bare fingers to bury his recently departed father, and Clarke very much keeps a similar grip throughout the story.
Alastair Reynolds. Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee. (Bridging Infinity 2016)
A clever use of a doctoral thesis defence enables the reader to find out more about the anomaly to which the putative Dr Chatterjee has given her name.