Matthew Cook. The Shoe Factory. (Interzone #231, Nov/Dec 2010).
A strong story to open the issue.
Asimovs. January 2011.
A fairly routine issue, with stories by : Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Chris Beckett, Elizabeth Bear, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ian McHugh, Gwendolyn Clare.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Killer Advice. (Asimovs, January 2011).
Murder mystery set in space.
Gwendolyn Clare. Ashes on the Water. (Asimovs, January 2011).
It’s not SF by any means, and doesn’t really convince in its setting, with little colour or texture to make the reader feel that the story is set in India
Ian McHugh. Interloper. (Asimovs, January 2011)
It’s a short story, with a bit of a Mad Max vibe about it, the tone not entirely succesful.
The Year’s Best Science Fiction. 27th Annual Collection. (ed Gardner Dozois, St. Martin’s Press, 2010).
Phew! Finished off the stories in Dozois’ take on the best of 2009, just in time to address the soon to be published year’s bests for 2010.
Ian McDonald. Vishnu at the Cat Circus. (Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual Collection)
An original story from the ‘Cyberad Days’ collection which neatly puts a seal on this story sequence, whilst potentially opening up a whole new ball game.
Adam Roberts. Hair. (Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual Collection).
An intriguing story, one that you read and want to think about, and then re-read.
Robert Reed. Mantis. (Engineering Infinity)
Clever story which looks at whether you can trust the world that is shown through the lens of a screen, and whether you are simply a character on someone else’s screen.
John C. Wright. Twilight of the Gods. (Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual Collection)
An excellent story in it’s own right, and intriguing in the light of the few other stories by Wright that I’ve reviewed.
Damien Broderick and Barbara Lamar. Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone. (Engineering Infinity).
A shoo-in for a Year’s Best collection next year. I’d tip Dozois and Strahan himself to include this one in their respective volumes.
Steve Rasnic Tem. Visitors. (Asimovs, January 2011).
An elderly couple are on a trip they make every five years – to Phoenix Sanctuary, where people (and pets) are kept ‘suspended’ whilst cures for their ailments are found.
Ken Scholes. Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair. (Tor.com)
An entertaining short about a very strange couple – an underweight ex-clown who has hit the bottle, and a monkey who isn’t really a monkey.
Jo Walton. Escape to Other World with Science Fiction. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual Collection.)
Take 10 or 15 minutes out of your life to read the story (unless you’re feeling in a pretty low mood and don’t want to be taken down further!).
Lavie Tidhar. The Integrity of the Chain. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual Collection).
A neat little story, giving Tidhar’s usual non-westerncentric angle on sf.
John Barnes. Things Undone. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction 27th Annual Collection)
One of the rare stories that I finish feeling emotionally and intellectually enervated, and know that I will read again, and am just simply pleased to have read it.
Alexander Irvine. Seventh Fall. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 27th Annual Collection)
I do like a good post-apocalyptic story, and this is a good post-apocalyptic story.
Karl Bunker. Under the Shouting Sky. (The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 27th Annual Collection.)
A short but effective piece set on the Saturnian moon of Enceladus
Kathleen Ann Goonan. Creatures with Wings. (Engineering Infinity).
More spirituality in this story than you tend to get in a whole volume of a Year’s Best anthology.
Elizabeth Bear. Dolly. (Asimovs, January 2011).
A beautiful robot, but one with no sense of self, and consequently closer to a sex toy, is found over the body of her owner.
Chris Beckett. Two Thieves. (Asimovs, January 2011).
Interesting story from Beckett. Interesting in the sense of deciding to read it twice as I was left with a sense of having missed something important in the story.
Tobias S. Buckell. The Executioness. (Subterranean Press, 2011).
Good to see a middle-aged woman in a lead role, and an army put together of similar women, although slightly jarring to have the cover and interior illustrations of an altogether younger and foxier woman!