Asimovs December 2015
A strong issue with good stories from vets like Greg Egan and Robert Reed, as well as the newer writers.
Reviewing short SF since 2000
A strong issue with good stories from vets like Greg Egan and Robert Reed, as well as the newer writers.
Strong stories by Small, McDonald and Wilber..
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.
A strong issue with lots of stories to like.
Several good stories, with Derek Kunsken the pick of the ish for me.
Wexler, Naylor and Das the pick of the issue for me.
There’s a lot in this double issue, although the more substantial stories don’t quite do it for me.
Suzanne Palmer starts the issue off with a strong story (overcoming the handicap of not having the first page of the story printed!)
Stories by Nick Wolven, Eneasz Brodski, and Derek Kunsken the pick for me.
The opening story from Rowe ends just when it’s getting going, and apart from that, only O’Connell provides anything that rises above the distinctly average.
Robert Reed and Tim Sullivan bookend the issue with some strong SF.
Not the strongest Asimovs double-issue – Sellar, Bailey, DuBois tickling this reader’s fancy more than the bigger names (Kelly, Rusch, Steele).
Onyebuchi and Palwick the pick of the issue for me.
Pinsker and O’Connell leave the best of the issue to last.
Stories by Reed, Jablokov and McDonald the pick of the bunch for me.
Book-ended by stories at the beginning and end of the volume which I enjoyed, but with the rest of the issue not doing as much for me.
Double issue with names Big and Little, and William Preston, Michael Swanwick and Joe M. McDermott the pick of the issue.
Not a particularly strong issue, with only the Cat Rambo likely to stick in the mind.
A strong issue with Maurice Broaddus, Maggie Shen King, and Sarah Pinsker my picks.
Stories this month from : de Bodard, Collins, Kress, McHugh, Jablonksy, Tem, with Collins and Jablonsky the pick of the bunch.
After a couple of weak opening stories, the issue gathers momentum to become an excellent final issue for 2013. Shame about the cover.
A bumper double-issue offering ‘a mix of terrifying chills and SF thrills’ : exactly what you want on a muggy mid-August evening. Gregory Frost and Igor Teper the pick of an otherwise average bunch for me..
Drop-dead gorgeous cover by Kinuko Craft, and the pick of the stories from Ian R. MacLeod and Benjamin Crowell.
Stories by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Gwendolyn Clare, Jack Skillingstead, Gregory Norman Bossert, Leah Thomas, all good ones.
Vaughn, Rucker and Di Filippo, Schwartz, and Rick Wilber the pick of the issue.
Stories by Robert Reed, G. David Nordley, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Eric Del Carlo, Megan Arkenberg. A fairly weak issue, truth be told, with Reed taking up a lot of space, but to slightly less than usual effect.
A bit of a curate’s egg of an issue – good in parts, less so in others – stories by Neal Asher, Joel Richards, Colin P. Davies, Alan Wall, Tom Purdon, Linda Nagata, Karl Bunker, Naomi Kritzer, Leah Cypess, Ken Liu.
Stories by William Preston, Dale Bailey, Robert Reed, Chris Willrich, Matthew Johnson, Suzanne Palmer.
Wowza – a double issue that’s an issue and a half – enough excellent SF to keep everyone happy.
Stories by Indrapramit Das, Jason Sanford, Theodora Goss, Ian Creasey, Ted Reynolds, Aliette de Bodard, Bruce McAllister, Gord Sellar. Some strong, some good, some weak. Read the review to find out which is which!
Stories by Neal Asher, Joel Richards, Colin P. Davis, Alan Wall, Tom Purdom, Linda Nagata, Karl Bunker, Naomi Krtizer, Leah Cypess, Ken Liu.
Stories this month by Alexander Jablokov, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jason Sanford, Garrett Ashely, Lavie Tidhar, Michael Cassutt.
Stories this month by Vylar Kaftan, Matthew Hughes, David Erik Nelson, M. Bennardo, Robert Reed, John Chu.
Stories this month by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Will McIntosh, Kit Reed, Suzanne Palmer, James van Pelt, Nancy Kress.
Stories by Steven Popkes, Ken Liu, Chris Beckett, Mike Resnick, Sandra McDonald, Robert Reed.
A good issue, with Lindholm and Reed the pick for me.
Excellent issue with stories by Mercurio D. Rivera, Will McIntosh, Megan Arkenberg, Jack McDevitt, Alan DeNiro, Kali Wallace, Bruce McAllister, and Bud Sparhawk all good ‘uns.
Strong issue with Carol Emshwiller and David Ira Cleary the pick for me (the latter striking a chord with this old punk).
Stories by Derek Kunsken, Benjamin Crowell, Tom Purdom, Leah Cypress, James Van Pelt, Joel Richards, with Richards and Kunsken the pick of the ish.
A good issue, with Reed the pick of the bunch.
A couple of strong stories, a couple of weaker ones.
Not a classic issue, even Connie Willis failed to tickle my fancy this issue.
An excellent issue, Chapman, Mirabelli and Johnson the pick of a fine crop.
Stories by Allen M. Steele, Erick Melton, Alan Wall, Neal Barrett. Jr, Carol Emshwiller, Ian Creasey, R. Neube, Robert Reed. A bit of a curate’s egg of an issue, with some strong stories, some average, and a couple weaker. Kindle : amazon.com | .co.uk
Stories by Robert Silverberg, Melanie Tem, Lisa Goldstein, Philip Brewer, Michael Swanwick, Will Ludwigsen, Zachary Jernigan, and a good range of stories.
Stories by Chris Beckett, Paul Cornell, Theodora Goss, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Norman Spinrad, Josh Roseman, Leah Cypess, Bruce McAllister. Some good stories in here, but not a standout issue.
Stories by Mary Robinette Kowal, Ian R. MacLeod, Carol Emshwiller, Alan DeNiro, Felicity Shoulders, Colin P. Davies, with MacLeod, Shoulders and DeNiro the pick of the bunch.
Bumper double-issue full of big name SF writers. And Nick Mamatas. A very strong double issue.
Stories by John Kessel, Ian Creasey, Steve Bein, Robert Reed, Neal Barrett Jr., An Owomoyela, Nancy Fulda, Nick Wolven. A strong issue, with a good range of inventive stories.
Stories by Paul McAuley, David Ira Cleary, Sara Genge, Jeff Carlson, Aliette de Bodard, Tim McDaniel, Bill Pronzini & Barry N. Malzberg, and some very good ones amongst them.
A fairly routine issue, with stories by : Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Chris Beckett, Elizabeth Bear, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ian McHugh, Gwendolyn Clare.
Emshwiller and Genge the pick of the bunch, but not a vintage bunch.
A nicely balanced issue.
Stories by Geoffrey A. Landis, Nancy Fulda, Benjamin Crowell, Mary Robinette Kowal, with Mirabelli the pick of a bunch in an issue which doesn’t quite hit the heights.
Not the strongest issue, with Bossert’s story the pick of bunch.
A bit of a curate’s egg of an issue.
A bit of a deja vu feeling with the opening and closing stories, with two experienced writers re-treading footprints into the sfnal regolith, with the other stories being good without being great.
Some very solid SF in here, without it being one of the classic double-issues that Asimovs comes up with every couple of years.
I started this issue expecting Rusch and Jablokov to supply the stronger stories, but in fact it is Zumsteg and Ludwigsten who tickled my fancy the most. Who’da thunk it?
A strong issue, with stories from authors well-established and authors on the way up : Aliette de Bodard, Bruce McAllister, Caroline M. Yoachim, Damien Broderick, David Erik Nelson, Stephen Baxter.
A strong issue, with stories by Landis, Reed, Steele, Shoulders, Tem, Roberson and Emshwiller.
This issue got caught up in the big revamp of Best SF, and wasn’t reviewed
It’s a good issue, without being a classic. Stories by Barzak, Broderick, Lindsey, Malcolm, Creasey, Kress, Garcia y Robertson, Reed, Kosmatka, Poore, Barton
The Goldstein and Rusch stories start and finish the issue strongly, with the other stories being good without being great. Other stories by Crowell, Cooper, Steinmetz, Oltion, Resnick, Robyn, Tem.
An excellent issue. Rusch and Popkes perhaps the slightly weaker of the contributions, Broderick and Reed edging ahead of Blumstein, Zumsteg and Kowal.
Not the strongest of issues, a bit of a surprise considering Reed, Cassutt, Robertson and Baxter being on the front cover.
A strong collection, with the Purdom story somewhat of a struggle.
An excellent issue, as you might expect with authors of the standing of Stableford, Reed, Wilhelm, Swanwick, Kress and Rusch. Those without that standing (yet) similarly provide top quality. Well, you only have a 400th issue once.
Nancy Kress. Act One. More of an Analog story than an Asimovs. Genetic modification is
Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling. Colliding Branes. Gonzo fun, as you might expect from Rucker
Mary Rosenblum. Lion Walk. Science thriller set in an African game reserve where the second
Tim Sullivan. Way Down East. A very well crafted story which used the very alien
Nancy Kress. The Erdman Nexus. Kress on top form with a strong story to start
William Barton. In the Age of the Quiet Sun. Good to see another story from
Matthew Johnson. Lagos. Neatly and wryly brings the bombardment of spam emails into the real
Gord Sellar. Lester Young and the Jupiter’s Moon’s Blues. With this title and an opening
Nancy Kress. Call Back Yesterday. Ahh, a copy of Asimovs which opens with a Nancy
Kathleen Ann Goonan. Memory Dog. The issue opens with a very clever and accomplished story
Brian Stableford. Following the Pharmers. Stableford has published several stories looking at the consequences in
Michael Swanwick. From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled… The opening paragraph is a doozy –