William Preston. Helping Them Take The Old Man Down. (Asimovs March 2010).
A subtle, clever story – does the new world require that even the most heroic of heroes are required to stand up and be counted, even deep into retirement?
Karen Joy Fowler. The Pelican Bar. (Eclipse Three, ed Jonathan Strahan.)
An unsettling story. One to sleep on perhaps. Perchance to dream…
Lavie Tidhar. Funny Pages. (Interzone #225, Nov/Dec 2009).
Tongue-in-cheek superhero fun in Tel Aviv.
Andrew N. Tisbert. Getting Yourself On. (Gud #5, Winter 2009).
A second story in in this issue of greater length than you often get in small press magazine, and also SF rather than contemporary speculative.
Holly Black. Virgin. (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 3).
Short urban fantasy in which a young girl living rough on the streets is enraptured by a young man she meets.
Colin Harvey. The Killing Streets. (Interzone #225, Nov/Dec 2009).
A grim read, with some unsympathetic characters, and a mashup vision of a Broken Britain from right-wing tabloids, and of state-oppression from the libertarians.
Sean Williams. Inevitable. (The New Space Opera 2).
An intriguing setting and setup, from an author I’m not that familiar with.
Garth Nix. Punctuality. (The New Space Opera 2).
Six-pager in which the mystery of the Punctuality Drive is revealed to a potential Empress, who realises that she may however have a more hands-on role to play in the maintenance of the Drive.
Peter S. Beagle. Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel. (Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 3).
A beautifully written story – an angel is sent to take on the role of the artist’s muse.
T.F. Davenport. Nature’s Children. (GUD Issue 5, Winter 2009)
After a fantasy story and some verse, Gud #5 provides some solid SF, in the shape of a story that looks from the perspectives of the indigenous race and the visting humans who are intent on terraforming their world for human settlers already en route.
Neal Asher. Shell Game. (The New Space Opera 2).
Tale of interspecies conflict – the tone of the story doesn’t work for me, and the story as a whole doesn’t convince and doesn’t engage.
Jay Lake. To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Yourselves. (The New Space Opera 2).
Set in the same ‘post-Mistake’ setting of Lake’s ‘Torquing Vacuum’, which appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine a few weeks back, and which impressed me.
Jason Sanford. Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows. (Interzone #225 Nov/Dec 2009).
Another good story from Sandford, to add to his growing IZ ouvre.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Defect. (The New Space Opera 2).
Rus(c)hed through at breakneck speed, with little mystery, as things happen very quickly and progress the story with almost indecent haste.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2010.
Excellent issue, with Paul Park the standout, and others from Robert Reed, Charles Oberndorf, Dean Whitlock, John Langan, Robin Aurelian, Marc Laidlaw, Steven Popkes, Kate Wilhelm.
Kate Wilhelm. The Late Night Train. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
Does the ghostly whistle of a late night train, with no railway nearby, offer an opportunity to escape?
John Langan. City of the Dog. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
A young man, struggling with his girlfriend’s infedility, finds things get much, much worse as the dark, undead canine horrors lurking underneath the streets of Albany close in.
Dean Whitlock. Nanosferatu. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
Short, not very subtle blackly humorous take on nano-meds.
John Barnes. The Lost Princess Man. (The New Space Opera 2).
A clever story with matrioshka-type realities in play.
Cory Doctorow. To Go Boldy. (The New Space Opera 2).
A lighter tone from Doctorow to the opening stories in this volume, in a homage to Star Trek (The Original Series), its tropes and characters..
Steven Popkes. The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010)
Five traditional fairy tales through the wry lens of modern (in)sensibilities, as is F&SF’s regular wont.
Paul Park. Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance (The Parke Family Scrapbook Number IV). (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
A story that requires, and rewards. the reader’s close attention.
Marc Laidlaw. Songwood. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
Further adventures of Gorlen Vizenfirthe, for afficionadoes of fantasy featuring bards.
Charles Oberndorf. Writers of the Future. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
The story reads somewhat like one I’d expect to see from a new writer, produced for a workshop. There are several ideas in there, but it’s never clear what is the author’s focus or intention
Robin Aurelian. Bait. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
Short fantasy in a world where when the hunting season opens, the game that is being chased are goblins, faeries and all manner of fantastical creatures.
John Kessel. Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance. (New Space Opera 2).
Tight drama with an interesting background.
Robert Reed. The Long Retreat. (F&SF Jan/Feb 2010).
L’empereur est mort. Vive L’empereur!
Analog. December 2009.
Five regular contributors (Stephen Baxter, H.G. Stratmann, Jerry Oltion, G. David Nordley, Carl Frederick) to Analog providing fayre consistent with that which they have provided previously. Enow already.
Stephen Baxter. Formidable Caress. (Analog, Dec 2009).
Baxter concludes his XeeLee timeline. What strange forces have been at work so that during a couple of days taken as leave from work, I end up reading Baxter’s ‘Starfall’, which has been sitting on my laptop as a PDF for a year, and this story from Analog, which has been sitting on my ‘to be read’ shelf for about six months, in an afternoon sitting?
Analog. November 2009.
Stories by four Analog stalwarts and a newbie : G. David Nordley, Craig DeLancy, John G. Hemry, Jerry Oltion, Jay Werkheiser.
Stephen Baxter. Starfall. PS Publishing 2009.
Star-spanning combat, part of the XeeLee sequence.
Asimovs. February 2010.
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.
Stephen Baxter. The Ice Line. (Asimovs February 2010).
I have to own up to much preferring Baxter’s SF to his alternate history – oh for the XeeLee days!
Jay Lake. Torquing Vacuum. (Clarkesworld 41, Feb 2010).
The backdrop, hinted at on a galactic level (they’re in a ‘post-Mistake’ universe), with genetic modification, and privilege and status to contend with, is a mature one. The same sex relationship is a refreshing change, and it’s an altogether satisfying read.
Peter Watts. The Things. (Clarkesworld Magazine #40, Jan 2010).
Watts gets into the mind of the creature that was John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ (via Richard Matheson’s original story).
Aliette de Bodard. The Wind-Blown Man. (Asimovs Feb 2010)
Good to see another author being given a chance in Asimovs, and certainly the best of the few of her stories that I’ve read. I look forward to seeing more – hopefully with her moving on to even more alien landscapes,
David Erik Nelson. The Bold Explorer in the Place Beyond. (Asimovs Feb 2010).
An engagingly told story, with an interesting background, partially glimpsed from a vantage point behind the bushes outside the dancehall.