Ian R. MacLeod. Recrossing the Styx. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2010)
Very dark, top quality macabre humour from MacLeod.
Asimovs. September 2010.
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.
Geoffrey A. Landis. The Sultan of the Clouds. (Asimovs September 2010).
An intriguing political background, and an imaginative setting amongst the clouds of Venus, to which the story doesn’t quite live up.
Interzone #227 Mar-Apr 2010
A strong issue, with stories by Jon Ingold, Mercurio D. Rivera, Jim Hawkins, Nina Allen, Chris Beckett and Steve Rasnic Tem.
Steve Rasnic Tem. The Glare and the Glow. (Interzone #227, March/April 2010)
A clever little story to end the issue.
Chris Beckett. Johnny’s New Job. (Interzone #227, March/April 2010)
A near-future dystopic nightmare of what it is to be a social worker
Mary Robinette Kowal. For Want of a Nail. (Asimovs, September 2010).
Clever playoff between an AI and a crewmember both suffering from memory loss.
Nina Allen. Flying in the Face of God. (Interzone #227, March/April 2010).
A third strong story from Allen to appear in Interzone, and I’d pick it out as a potential for a year’s best inclusion next year.
Benjamin Crowell. Wheat Rust. (Asimovs, September 2010).
An entertaining adventure on a generation starship – the only issue being the way the story is suddenly brought to a conclusion – I was expecting a few more pages and was rather disappointed!
Jim Hawkins. Chimbwi. (Interzone #227, March/April 2010)
Ecological, political and societal upheavel has left Europe and the USA devastated. However, Africa is a continent reborn, cheap energy at their fingertips.
Eugene Mirabelli. The Palace in the Clouds. (Asimovs September 2010).
a story lovingly crafted, with a lot of care clearly taken in writing in, and deserving of care and attention when reading it.
Nancy Fulda. Backlash. (Asimovs September 2010)
A page-turner of a science thriller, admittedly with a few cardboardy characters.
Margo Lanagan. Ferryman. (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Four)
An achingly affecting story..
Lucius Shepard. Sylgarmo’s Proclamation. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2010)
An interesting peek in the world of Vance’s ‘Dying Earth’.
Year’s Best SF 15. (eds Hartwell/Cramer, Eos Books, 2010).
As ever, a strong collection of stories, albeit fairly ‘safe’ in terms of a relatively narrow range of sources.
Chris Roberson. Edison’s Frankenstein. (Year’s Best SF 15)
A frustrating story, but only in the sense that you’re frustrated at wanting more
Genevieve Valentine. Bespoke. (Year’s Best SF 15)
Nicely handled time travel story through the eyes of a coutourier.
Conflicts. (Ian Whates, NewCon Press, 2010.)
The latest in a series of anthologies from British small-press publisher.
Martin Sketchley. Songbirds. (Conflicts).
A story of alien invasion as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl
Jim Mortimore. Last Orders. (Conflicts).
..complete with dialogue from broke-nosed combatants along the lines of “-dod do dat agaib!”
David L. Clements. In the Long Run. (Conflicts)
Evil virtually baddy goes from bwahahaha to noooooooooooooooo as his cunning planning is foiled.
Peter M. Ball. On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk. (Year’s Best SF 15)
in this world of instant communication, and a world wide web of all things being possible, a distance between people, and between people and events is apparent.
Gene Wolfe. Donovan Sent Us. (Year’s Best SF 15)
I had been looking forward to reading a Gene Wolfe story in this volume, but in the end was rather let-down.
Gwyneth Jones. Collision. (Year’s Best SF 15)
..plenty to boggle your mind.
Eric Brown. Dissimulation Procedure. (Conflicts).
The story skips along at a fair pace without really offering any real depth, or colour, or description (save for the opening restaurant centre) beyond the routine
Una McCormack. War Without End. (Conflicts).
The ghosts of battles long past come back to haunt an ex-soldier.
Martin McGrath. Proper Little Soldier. (Conflicts).
Sometimes a story has simply too strong a resonance with another story, or, in this case, a film, to really be comfortable with.
Gareth L. Powell. Fallout. (Conflicts).
An intriguing setting for a short story, and one that you could see being worth the investment of more time from the author.
Jon Ingold. The History of Poly-V. (Interzone #227 Mar-Apr 2010)
An impressive story for a first appearance at this level.
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue #49, October 2010
Stories by Eric Brown and Jacques Barcia