Kathleen Bartholomew and Kage Baker. Pareidolia. (Asimovs March 2015)
As with many series, the law of diminishing returns meant that I stopped reading The Company stories some time ago.
Reviewing short SF since 2000
As with many series, the law of diminishing returns meant that I stopped reading The Company stories some time ago.
Evidently Baker’s last completed story before she died last year, and a fitting story to go out on.
Ian McDonald. Little Goddess. The (PDF) issue gets off to a strong start with the
John Grimsley. The 120 Hours of Sodom. A very strong story from Grimsley, one in
Charles Stross. Survivor. The penultimate Accelerando series, in which Manfred Mancx finally makes a corporeal
A hefty double-issue with pretty much something to please everyone.
Walter Jon Williams. The Green Leopard Plague. A very skilfully crafted short story. Set in
John Kessel. Under the Lunchbox Tree. The third story in the Lunar Society of Cousins
Asimov’s ‘Special Holiday Issue’ – presumably referring to Thankgsiving, on the basis of the dates
Pressure of work has been keeping away from my SF bookshop haunts of late and
Richard Wadholm. At the Money. I was looking forward to this hugely. A ‘companion piece’
A slightly flat issue for me – maybe it should be read in the last week of December in an armchair by a blazing log fire, with a glass of port in one hand.
Robert Charles Wilson being the pick of the bunch for me.
Has there been a better issue of Asimovs in recent years?
Reflections. Robert Silverberg. Robert Silverberg’s ‘Reflections’ looks back, with rose-tinted spectacles (of a metaphorical nature)
Robert Silverberg’s editorial ‘Reflections: The Evaporation of Reputations’ ponders the nature of fame and reputation,
Interstitial. Paul J. McAuley. The Great Winter has forced humanity from then now-frozen Earth. The
Millennium Babies. Kristine Kathryn Rusch On top form, Rusch describes painfully one of the adults
An excellent collection, with only a couple of weaker contributions. A couple are more fantasy than steampunk, but there is high quality writing throughout and a couple of stories that linger (Youmans, Lanagan and Lake) for some time.
An excellent collection of short SF. Several made it to the various Year’s Best collections, and a couple of others which were not selected would not have looked out of place. The volume starts well, is strong in the middle, and ramps up to a strong finish.
This has quite simply got to be the strongest original collection in SF in recent years. If you are a regular visitor to Best SF and tend to concur with what I see as being the best in short SF, then this volume is a must have.
Stories by : Bruce Sterling, Gene Wolfe., Greg Egan, Gregory Benford, Gwyneth Jones, Ian McDonald, James Van Pelt, Johanna Sinisalo, John Hemry, John Kessel, Kage Baker, Karen Joy Fowler, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Ken MacLeod, Marc Laidlaw, Nancy Kress, Palle Juul Holm, Peter Watts, Robin Hitchock, Stephen Baxter, Terry Bisson, Tim Pratt, Tony Ballantyne, William Shunn.
Stories by : Allen M. Steele, Angelica Gorodischer, Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow, Gene Wolfe., Geoff Ryman, Gregory Benford, Joe Haldeman, Kage Baker, M Rickert, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Nigel Brown, Octavia E. Butler, Richard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero, Rick Moody, Robert Reed, Stephen Baxter, Tony Ballantyne.
As ever, chock full of high quality SF, with the annual summation providing SF with an ongoing reference and reading tome which we should not take for granted. Here’s to the next 25 years! Stories by : Alastair Reynolds, Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert, Brian Stableford, Bruce Sterling, Chris Roberson, David Moles, Elizabeth Bear, Greg Egan, Gregory Benford, Gwyneth Jones, Ian McDonald, James Van Pelt, John Barnes, Justin Stanchfield, Kage Baker, Keith Brooke, Ken MacLeod, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Neal Asher, Pat Cadigan, Robert Reed, Robert Silverberg, Stephen Baxter, Ted Chiang, Ted Kosmatka, Tom Purdom, Una McCormack, Vandana Singh
Stories by : A.M. Dellamonica, Alastair Reynolds, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Bruce McAllister, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Cory Doctorow, Daryl Gregory, David D. Levine, Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, Greg Egan, Greg van Eekhout, Gregory Benford, Ian McDonald, Jack Skillingstead, Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold, John Barnes, Justin Stanchfield, Kage Baker, Ken MacLeod, Mary Rosenblum, Michael Swanwick, Paolo Bacigalupi, Paul J. McAuley, Robert Charles Wilson, Robert Reed, Stephen Baxter, Walter Jon Williams
Stories by : Albert E Cowdrey, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Brendan Dubois, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Christopher Rowe, Colin P. Davies, Daniel Abraham, David Moles, Eleanor Arnason, James Patrick Kelly, James. L. Cambias, Kage Baker, M. John Harrison, Mary Rosenblum, Michael F. Flynn, Nancy Kress, Paolo Bacigalupi, Pat Murphy, Paul Di Filippo, Paul Melko, Peter F. Hamilton, Robert Reed, Stephen Baxter, Terry Bisson, Vandana Singh, Vernor Vinge, Walter Jon Williams, William Sanders.
Stories by : Charles Stross, Dominic Green, Geoff Ryman, Geoffrey A. Landis, Harry Turtledove, Howard Waldrop, Jack Skillingstead, James Van Pelt, John C. Wright, John Kessel, John Varley, Judith Moffett, Kage Baker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, M. Shayne Bell, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Nick DiChario, Paolo Bacigalupi, Paul Di Filippo, Paul Melko, Robert Reed, Steven Popkes, Terry Bisson, Terry Dowling, Vernor Vinge, Walter Jon Williams, William Barton, William Shunn.
Stories by : Alastair Reynolds, Alex Irvine, Bruce Sterling, Charles Coleman Finlay, Charles Stross, Chris Beckett, Eleanor Arnason, Geoff Ryman, Greg Egan, Gregory Benford, Ian McDonald, Ian R. Macleod, James Van Pelt, John Kessel, John Meaney, Kage Baker, Maureen F. McHugh, Michael Swanwick, Molly Gloss, Nancy Kress, Paul McAuley, Richard Wadholm, Robert Reed, Steven Popkes, Walter Jon Williams
Stories by : Alastair Reynolds, Ben Bova, Charles Sheffield, Chris Lawson, David Marusek, Eleanor Arnason, Frederik Pohl, Geoff Ryman, Greg Egan, Hal Clement, James Patrick Kelly, Kage Baker, Karl Schroder, Kim Stanley Robinson, M. John Harrison, Michael Swanwick, Mike Resnick, Paul J. McAuley, Richard Wadholm, Robert Grossbach, Robert Reed, Robert Silverberg, Sage Walker, Sean Williams, Stephen Baxter, Tanith Lee, Walter Jon Williams.