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…
Reviewing short SF since 2000
A dark, disturbing story and I hope that Lanagan feels better for getting it out of her system…
An AI embedded in a domestic ‘bot yearns for the stars, and finds a talent…
A journey to a valley that has no right to be where it is….
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.
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.
Military SF although with a more human bent.
Another take on the best SF of the year.
A story from an author new to me, which bodes well for the future.
Sweet little story from Carroll, that could be straight from the 1950s, except for the closing references to dementia, the singularity and AIs.
An excellent story with some lovely touches.
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.
An intriguing vignette, feeling like a fantasy story to start, until the sfnal elements come in.
Another year, another instalment in Dozois’ take on the best SF of the year.
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.
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.