Douglas Lain. Noam Chomsky and the Time Box. (Interzone #232, Jan-Feb 2011)
Lain gives a thinking person’s view on time travel, freed up as he is from not having to get involved with causation conundrums or butterflies or grandfather paradoxes.
Rick Norwood. Long Time. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2011).
You don’t have to be familiar with the fat fantasy novels ‘Bible’ and the more populist sequal ‘Bible II: This Time He Sent His Son’ on which the story draws, but it probably helps.
Asimovs. February 2011.
Stories by Paul McAuley, David Ira Cleary, Sara Genge, Jeff Carlson, Aliette de Bodard, Tim McDaniel, Bill Pronzini & Barry N. Malzberg, and some very good ones amongst them.
Kate Wilhelm. The Bird Cage. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2011).
A science thriller, although perhaps as suspenseful as it might be.
Paul McAuley. The Choice. (Asimovs February 2011)
A taut story in McAuley’s Jackaroo sequence, set in Norfolk, when the consequences of contact with alien technology unfold.
Interzone #231, November/December 2010.
A Jason Sanford special issue, with three stories by him, one by Matthew Cook and one by Aliette de Bodard. And a strong collection of stories.
Jason Sanford. Millisent Ka Plays in Realtime. (Interzone #231, Nov/Dec 2010)
A story with new economics, and more than a hint of the Hans Christian Anderson, well told by Sanford.
Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg. Eve of Beyond. (Asimovs, February 2011)
Dark days not only for a due to be deceased haberdashery business.
Jason Sanford. Memoria. (Interzone #231, Nov/Dec 2010).
Psychological horror in space, with an intriguing premise.
Tim McDaniel. Brother Sleep. (Asimovs, February 2011).
McDaniel looks at the difficulties facing Thailand in becoming an Asian Tiger economic powerhouse. A sort of ‘Cyberad Days’LITE.
Pat MacEwen. Home Sweet Bi’Ome. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2011).
A gently humorous story with a very strong female protagonist and viewpoint.
Jason Sanford. Peacemaker, Peacemaker, Little Bo Peep. (Interzone #231, Nov/Dec 2010)
An extreme conceit to set up some moral dilemmas.
Aliette de Bodard. Shipbirth. (Asimovs, February 2011).
The Xuya timeline gets into space, and colour me impressed.
Jeff Carlson. Planet of the Sealies. (Asimovs, February 2011)
More of an Analog story…
Sara Genge. Waster Mercy. (Asimovs February 2011).
Another short vignette in Genge’s ‘Children of the Waste’ series
David Ira Cleary. Out of the Dream Closet. (Asimovs, February 2011).
A singular story from Cleary, if not a nightmarish vision, then something from a disturbed night’s dreaming following an ill-advised late night supper of pickled comestibles.
Engineering Infinity. (ed Jonathan Strahan, Solaris Books, 2011).
I’d be surprised if there’s a stronger anthology in 2011. amazon.com | amazon.co.uk
John Barnes. The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees. (Engineering Infinity).
A great story to round off a great collection.
Aliette de Bodard. The Shipmaker. (Interzone #231, Nov/Dec 2010).
welcoming non-western/eurocentric, non-male perspective
Gwyneth Jones. The Ki-Anna. (Engineering Infinity)
The shift in perspective is a touch unsettling, which makes for a more interesting reading experience.
Gregory Benford. Mercies. (Engineering Infinity).
Rather than giving full rein to his imagination, Benfore gives us a story based on a Heisenberger principle – but not the famous uncertainty principle..
David Moles. A Soldier of the City. (Engineering Infinity).
A complex, layered story.
John C. Wright. Judgement Eve. (Engineering Infinity).
It’s a complex story, densely written and at time boggling, of human frailties and emotions exposed by those powers, it’s hard SF mashed up with epic Greek legend, reading almost as if translated from ancient stone tablets.
Gwendolyn Clare. Perfect Lies. (Clarkesworld Magazine #54, March 2011).
..more of an Analog-type story, where the implications of an interesting scientific issue/condition are explored.