Pat Cadigan. Report Concerning the Presence of Seahorses on Mars. (Reach for Infinity)
Inventive setting and nice narrative from Cadigan, as a young woman narrates a visit to their Martian colony by a representative from Earth.
Reviewing short SF since 2000
Inventive setting and nice narrative from Cadigan, as a young woman narrates a visit to their Martian colony by a representative from Earth.
Cadigan gets the solar system-constrained themed collection off to a fine start, with a narrator a calamarically long way from home…
As we begin to realise what is about to happen/has happened, the tension mounts to give a very focussed human perspective on a global event
Sort of cyberpunk as it might happen now, as opposed to the cyberpunk as we imagined it in the 80s.
A young woman living on the streets is struggling with an sensory overload – is it synesthesia, or a sixth sense?
Nicely complements the Strahan/Dozois New Space Opera anthology series, starting with several stories of the contemporary, speculative type.
Suffers a tiny bit through being the third story in a row that opens the volume with a relatively contemporary setting and light touch in terms of the SF/F elements, leaving this reader still waiting to properly take off.
Paul McAuley. The Assassination of Faustino Malartre. I’ve only just read ‘Making History’, published two
As with #1, another handsome collection of short SF from some of the biggest names in SF. Praise especially for making room for the lengthy Rosenbaum/Doctorow story.
Ian Whates latest collection under the NewCon imprint comes in a variety of flavours : paperback, hardback, and special (extra stories!) limited-edition, signed hardback. It is the latter of these reviewed here. And Whates has provided another strong collection, bigger than previous volumes, and worth looking out for. The standard of writing, and the invention in the stories, is almost uniformly excellent, and is strongly recommended
A very strong volume, IMHO, with only the Palwick story being the one to which I would object to (although with the proviso that the Sterling and Cadigan stories were for my more towards the fantasy end of the spectrum than the SF, especially for an editor who does have a complementary fantasy collection).
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 : Allen M. Steele, Brian Stableford, Dan Simmons, David Marusek, Geoff Ryman, Greg Egan, Ian R. Macleod, James Patrick Kelly, Joe Haldeman, John Kessel, Mary Rosenblum, Maureen F. McHugh, Michael F. Flynn, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Pat Cadigan, Paul J. McAuley, Poul Anderson, Robert Reed, Terry Bisson, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Sanders.
Stories by : Brian Stableford, Eliot Fintushel., Geoff Ryman, George Turner, Greg Egan, Howard Waldrop, Joe Haldeman, Katherine Kerr, Lisa Goldstein, Mary Rosenblum, Maureen F. McHugh, Michael Bishop, Michael F. Flynn, Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Pat Cadigan, Robert Reed, Stephen Baxter, Terry Bisson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Walter Jon Williams, William Sanders
Stories by : Brian W. Aldiss, Bruce Sterling, Charles Sheffield, Connie Willis, Dan Simmons, Don Webb, G. David Nordley, Greg Egan, Ian R. Macleod, Jack Cady, Joe Haldeman, Jr, Mark Rich, Maureen F. McHugh and David B. Kisor, Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Neal Barrett, Pat Cadigan, Rebecca Ore, Robert Reed, Stephen Baxter, Steven Utley, Walter Jon Williams, William Browning Spencer
Stories by : Arthur C. Clarke, Bradley Denton, Connie Willis, Frederik Pohl, Greg Egan, Ian McDonald, Ian R. Macleod, Ian Watson, Joe Haldeman, Jonathon Lethem, Kate Wilhelm, Kathe Koja, L. Sprague de Camp, Lukas Jaeger, Maureen F. McHugh, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Neal Barrett Jr, Pat Cadigan, Robert Reed, Robert Silverberg, Steven Utley, Terry Bisson, Tom Maddox.
Stories by : Alexander Jablokov, Brian W. Aldiss, Chris Beckett, Connie Willis, Geoffrey A. Landis, Greg Egan, Gregory Benford, Ian McDonald, Ian R. Macleod, Jack Dann, James Patrick Kelly, Karen Joy Fowler, Kathe Koja, Kim Newman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lois Tilton, Mark L, Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Pat Cadigan, Paul J. McAuley, Rick Shelley, Robert Reed, Robert Silverberg, Walter Jon Williams, William Gibson
Stories by : Brian Stableford, Bruce McAllister, Bruce Sterling, Connie Willis, D. Alexander Smith, Eileen Gunn, George Alec Effinger, Harry Turtledove, Howard Waldrop, James Lawson, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Judith Moffett, Kathe Koja, Kim Newman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lewis Shiner, Lucius Shepard, Michael Swanwick, Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Pat Cadigan, Robert Silverberg, Steven Gould, Steven Kraus, Walter Jon Williams.
Stories by : Alexander Jablokov, Bruce McAllister, Bruce Sterling, Dean Whitlock, Gene Wolfe., Howard Waldrop, Ian Watson, James Patrick Kelly, Joseph Manzione, Karen Joy Fowler, Kate Wilhelm, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lucius Shepard, Michael Bishop, Michael Flynn, Michael McDowell, Neal Barrett Jr, Octavia E. Butler, Orson Scott Card, Pat Cadigan, Pat Murphy, Paul J. McAuley, R. Garcia y Robertson, Robert Silverberg, Susan Palwick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Walter Jon Williams.
Stories by : Bruce Sterling, Connie Willis, Damon Knight, Greg Bear, Harry Turtledove, Howard Waldrop, Jack Dann, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Judith Moffett, Karen Joy Fowler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lewis Shiner, Lucius Shepard, Michael Swanwick, Neal Barrett Jr, Orson Scott Card, Pat Cadigan, Richard Keans, Robert Silverberg, Scott Baker, Somtow Sucharitkul, Tanith Lee, Tim Powers, Tom Maddox, Walter Jon Williams, William Gibson.
Stories by : Avram Davidson, Bruce Sterling, Frederik Pohl, George R. R. Martin, Howard Waldrop, James Patrick Kelly, James Tiptree Jr, Joe Haldeman, John Crowley, Karen Joy Fowler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lewis Shiner, Lucius Shepard, Michael Swanwick and William Gibson, Nancy Kress, Orson Scott Card, Pat Cadigan, R.A. Lafferty, Robert Silverberg, S.C. Sykes, Walter Jon Williams
Bruce Sterling, Connie Willis, Elizabeth A. Lynn, Frederik Pohl, Gene Wolfe., Jack Dann, Jack McDevitt, James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel, John Varley, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lewis Shiner, Lucius Shepard, Michael Swanwick, Molly Gloss, Nancy Kress, Octavia E. Butler, Pat Cadigan, R.A. Lafferty, Rena Yount, Richard Cowper, Robert Silverberg, Tanith Lee, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson
A strong selection of stories. Stories by : Bruce Sterling, Connie Willis, Gregory Benford, James Morrow, John Kessel, Kate Wilhelm, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lucius Shepard, Pat Cadigan, Pat Murphy, Walter Jon Williams
A cracking little paperback, which every self-respecting SF reader should have at home. The pbk version I have also features a neat reflective pair of shades (which my scanner totally fails to scan!).
But, all in all, a bit of a curate’s egg. The early stories, and the final story, don’t quite fit IMHO. And with the lack of a ‘real’ introduction, and story intros, the extra size that this volume offers over ‘Mirrorshades’ hasn’t really be used to the full. A missed opportunity.
I am holding off on reading this volume, which I managed to get a copy of in 2002 on eBay. For the moment, here are the contents, and some story summaries for those stories read in other volumes.