Philip Palmer. The Legend of Sharrock. (Further Conflicts)
In which Sharrock relates the events that led to his legendary status – ranging from star-spanning conflict, to hand-to-hand patricidal combat
Cat Sparks. All the Love in the World. (Years Best SF 16)
A post-apocalyptic Australia, with a community hunkering down to resist the potential threat from outside.
Vandana Singh. Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra. (Year’s Best SF 16)
A very clever story, blending the future with historical and non-Western sensibilities, and story within a story, or rather, a meta-story. And it’s online, so why not read it?
James Patrick Kelly’s Strangeways Magazine, #3 September 2011
Some ramblings and reminiscences on 45rpm, punk, e-publishing, time slippage, and a couple of good SF stories.
Liz Coleman. Join. (Lightspeed Magazine #16).
A human/alien symbiotic relationship focusses on what is being left behind, but also what is being taken on, and it’s a good example of this kind of story.
Vernor Vinge. A Preliminary Assessment of the Drake Equation.. (Year’s Best SF 16)
Vinge posits a potential future for humanity that doesn’t involve the singularity, neither a huge galactic community of intelligent species
Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Futures in the Memories Market. (Year’s Best SF 16)
A nice little story that looks at the cost of giving up one’s memories, and the commercial exploitation thereof.
Robert Reed. The Ants of Flanders. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jul/Aug 2011)
Reed on top form, and a shoo-in for a couple of next year’s Year’s Bests.
Rob Chilson. Less Stately Mansions. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jul/Aug 2011)
Technological and farming developments that are a nice backdrop to the human dilemma of thes tory.
Peter S. Beagle. The Way It Works Out and All. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jul/Aug 2011)
Nice homage to Avram Davidson, SF writer and editor of F&SF back in the early 1960s
Peter David. Bronsky’s Dates with Death. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jul/Aug 2011).
David evidently has a humongous number of novels to his name, including a lot of movie and TV novels, and his storycraft shows in the ease with which this story sucks you in.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2011. (ed Kevin J. Anderson, Tor, 2011).
A great book – full of the fiction which the SFWA honoured
Asimovs. September 2011.
Stories by Allen M. Steele, Erick Melton, Alan Wall, Neal Barrett. Jr, Carol Emshwiller, Ian Creasey, R. Neube, Robert Reed. A bit of a curate’s egg of an issue, with some strong stories, some average, and a couple weaker. Kindle : amazon.com | .co.uk
Alan Wall. Burning Bibles. (Asimovs, September 2011).
An SF mystery, the mystery being why the story isn’t in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
Robert Reed. Stalker. (Asimovs, September 2011).
A tight, unsettling thriller
Joe Haldeman. Sleeping Dogs. (Year’s Best SF 16).
Haldeman’s ‘Forever War’ was a classic series of stories brought together for a novel, and here he looks at some of the (sadly all too familiar) ethics behind conflict.
R.Neube. Grandma Said. (Asimovs, September 2011).
A dryly black look at a community living with (or, indeed, dying of) a particularly vicious plague.
Ian Creasey. The Odor of Sanctity. (Asimovs, September 2011).
On a backward planet, primitive superstition holds that when a religious leader destined for sainthood dies, there is a wondrous odor at their passing.
Erick Melton. Shadow Angel. (Asimovs, September 2011).
A complex story from Melton, in which you need to be strapped in as tight as pilot Emil.
Carol Emshwiller. Danilo. (Asimovs, September 2011).
There’s somewhat of a dream-like quality to the story.
Andy Remick. Yakker Snak. (Further Conflicts).
If you’re looking for a story of subtlety, nuance and emotion, multi-layered and complex, then look further.
Harry Turtledove. Lee at the Alamo. (Tor.com, September 2011)
Online Alternate History (link only).
Robert Reed. Pack. (Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue #60, September 2011)
Another clever, throught-provoking story from Reed in Clarkesworld, following last year’s ‘Cull’.
Steve Longworth. Extraordinary Rendition. (Further Conflicts).
A political prisoner is rendered extraordinarily unto a secret base on the moon.
Neal Barrett, Jr. D.O.C.S. (Asimovs, September 2011)
A brief look at one possible future for the US healthcare system – and it’s scary enough as it is.
Allen M. Steele. The Observation Post. (Asimovs, September 2011).
A nicely paced story set in the Cuban Missile Crisis that doesn’t try too hard.
Lisa Goldstein. Paradise is a Walled Garden. (Asimovs, August 2011)
Alternate history in Elizabethan England, with steam-driven automatons, Arab scholars, and a young girl masquerading as a boy working in a factory.
Asimovs. August 2011.
Stories by Robert Silverberg, Melanie Tem, Lisa Goldstein, Philip Brewer, Michael Swanwick, Will Ludwigsen, Zachary Jernigan, and a good range of stories.