Asimovs.com - Books and Short Stories - Locus recommanded reading list for 2008 - Messages

Message from Sam Wilson

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:17:40 GMT

Byron, the dictionary lists one of the definitions of "poverty" as living below the prevailing standards of living for the community. So the solution is obvious.

Move to India or the Sudan or Liberia or any country where you would not bring down the average of the community's income. By definition, you would not then be in "poverty" relative to that community.

No charge for this advice (which in your case is probably lucky).

Not really making fun of you---I'm pore too.

Message from Byron Bailey

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:35:17 GMT

I can't help but notice that I am not on the list. Locus should be roundly condemned for this grievious omission and subjected to the fires of global warming, hell, and supernova. If I would have actually written and published something in the last year, they would be even more deserving of the wrath of cosmic justice. In fact, if I would have actually written a story only to have it ignored by Locus, the supervolcano at Yellowstone would have undoubtedly spewed out its wrath, damning civilization and humanity itself, for this most grievious oversight. Fortunately, with my soul a boundless ocean of humility topped by foam-capped waves of mercy, I shall eschew writing this year so that Locus shall not have the opportunity to ignore my work, thereby denying them the chance to destroy the world.

Still, without writing, I face a life of abject poverty. For my sacrifice, I think it only fair that I obtain at least a typical third world salary. $3000 a year will keep me in ramen and rice nicely. Anyone? How about $2000? $1000? $500? $250? Okay, $2.50 is my final price. I'm not willing to go lower than what I'm likely to make writing for the year. It's steep, but is it too steep to ensure at least another year of humanity? Is the world worth $2.50? It's a tough question to answer, but I hope that someone in the 6.75 billion of us thinks the world is worth it. Anyone?

I'm warning you. I may just write.
edited by Byron Bailey on 2/2/2009

Message from EThomas

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:24:44 GMT

Since I just stacked up magazines this year, I haven't really read any 2008 fiction to speak of and cannot comment on the list at this moment.

Message from Dave_Truesdale

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:08:21 GMT

Hmm. My copy of Eclipse Two is a trade paperback.

Message from gdozois

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:29:19 GMT

I think that Jonathan could well win the Hugo this year. He probably deserves it. The fact that the two excellent anthologies he had out this year, ECLIPSE TWO and THE STARRY RIFT, were both hardcovers may work against him, though, since fewer people may have seen them.

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:06:01 GMT

Looks like Jonathan Strahan could win the Hugo this year.

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:04:34 GMT

Annie wrote:

Technically Postscripts is a magazine - at least it still was one for the whole of 2008

Yes, but the summer issue was a special SF anthology, and besides, there are no stories from the other Postscripts issues in the list.

And sorry for the "recommanded" in the title. I wrote it like in french.

Message from Rich Horton

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:48:19 GMT

Speaking for myself, not for anyone else involved in creating the Recommended Reading list, I didn't think "Tracking" was good enough.

Message from Annie

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:33:10 GMT

Technically Postscripts is a magazine - at least it still was one for the whole of 2008

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:19:41 GMT

And the winners are:

F&SF: 19 stories
Asimov's 18 stories
Eclipse Two: 8 stories
The Starry rift: 7 stories
The Del Rey Book of SF: 5 stories
Fast Forward 2: 5 stories
Postscripts summer 2008 (anthology): 4 stories
Solaris 2: 4 stories
Interzone: 3 stories
Tor.com: 3 stories
Extraordinary engines: 3 stories
__
edited by Fabrice Doublet on 2/2/2009

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:57:12 GMT

Can't find "Tracking" among the novels. A shame!

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:55:26 GMT

Short Stories

"Don’t Go Fishing on Witches Day", Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden)
"Goblin Music", Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden)
"The Occultation", Laird Barron (Clockwork Phoenix)
"King Pelles the Sure", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
"Boojum", Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
"Private Eye", Terry Bisson (F&SF 10-11/08)
"Offworld Friends Are Best", Neal Blaikie (Greatest Uncommon Denominator Spring ’08)
"The Man Who Built Heaven", Keith Brooke (Postscripts Summer ’08)
"Balancing Accounts", James L. Cambias (F&SF 2/08)
"Exhalation", Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
"The Fooly", Terry Dowling (Dreaming Again)
"Truth Window: A Tale of the Bedlam Rose", Terry Dowling (Eclipse Two)
"Awskonomuk", Gregory Feeley (Otherworldly Maine)
"Daltharee", Jeffrey Ford (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
"The Dismantled Invention of Fate", Jeffrey Ford (The Starry Rift)
"The Dream of Reason", Jeffrey Ford (Extraordinary Engines)
"The Seventh Expression of the Robot General", Jeffrey Ford (Eclipse Two)
"Reader’s Guide", Lisa Goldstein (F&SF 7/08)
“Glass”, Daryl Gregory (Technology Review 11-12/08)
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 7/08)
"The Voyage Out", Gwyneth Jones (Periphery)
"Evil Robot Monkey", Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
"The Kindness of Strangers", Nancy Kress (Fast Forward 2)
"The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue into the Black", Jay Lake (Clarkesworld 3/08)
"The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross", Margo Lanagan (Dreaming Again)
"The Goosle", Margo Lanagan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
"The Thought War", Paul McAuley (Postscripts Summer ’08)
"[a ghost samba]", Ian McDonald (Postscripts Summer ’08)
"Midnight Blue", Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 9/08)
"Fallen Angel", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 12/08)
"Mars: A Traveler’s Guide", Ruth Nestvold (F&SF 1/08)
"The Blood of Peter Francisco", Paul Park (Sideways in Crime)
"The Small Door", Holly Phillips (Fantasy 5/08)
"His Master’s Voice", Hannu Rajaniemi (Interzone 10/08)
"The House Left Empty", Robert Reed (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
"Fifty Dinosaurs", Robert Reed (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
"Traitor", M. Rickert (F&SF 5/08)
"Snatch Me Another", Mercurio D. Rivera (Abyss & Apex 1Q/08)
"The Film-makers of Mars", Geoff Ryman (Tor.com 12/08)
"Talk is Cheap", Geoff Ryman (Interzone 6/08)
"After the Coup", John Scalzi (Tor.com 7/08)
"Invisible Empire of Ascending Light", Ken Scholes (Eclipse Two)
"Ardent Clouds", Lucy Sussex (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
"From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled", Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s 2/08)
"The Scarecrow’s Boy", Michael Swanwick (F&SF 10-11/08)
"Marrying the Sun", Rachel Swirsky (Fantasy 6/08)
"A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)
"Fixing Hanover", Jeff VanderMeer (Extraordinary Engines)
"The Eyes of God", Peter Watts (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
"Ass-Hat Magic Spider", Scott Westerfeld (The Starry Rift)

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:54:58 GMT

Novelettes

"The Gambler", Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
"Pump Six", Paolo Bacigalupi (Pump Six and Other Stories)
"Tangible Light", J. Timothy Bagwell (Analog 1-2/08)
"Radio Station St. Jack", Neal Barrett, Jr. (Asimov’s 8/08)
"The Ice War", Stephen Baxter (Asimov’s 9/08)
"Turing’s Apples", Stephen Baxter (Eclipse Two)
"The Rabbi’s Hobby", Peter S. Beagle (Eclipse Two)
"The Tale of Junko and Sayuri", Peter Beagle (InterGalactic Medicine Show 7/08)
"Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
"Shoggoths in Bloom", Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s 3/08)
"The Golden Octopus", Beth Bernobich (Postscripts Summer ’08)
"If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
"From the Clay of His Heart", John Brown (InterGalactic Medicine Show 4/08)
"Jimmy", Pat Cadigan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
"Catherine Drewe", Paul Cornell (Fast Forward 2)
Conversation Hearts, John Crowley (Subterranean Press)
"The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away", Cory Doctorow (Tor.com 8/08)
"Crystal Nights", Greg Egan (Interzone 4/08)
"Lost Continent", Greg Egan (The Starry Rift)
"The Ray-Gun: A Love Story", James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s 2/08)
"Memory Dog", Kathleen Ann Goonan (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
"Shining Armor", Dominic Green (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
"The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm", Daryl Gregory (Eclipse Two)
"Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
"The Art of Alchemy", Ted Kosmatka (F&SF 6/08)
"Divining Light", Ted Kosmatka (Asimov’s 8/08)
"Childrun", Marc Laidlaw (F&SF 8/08)
"Machine Maid", Margo Lanagan (Extraordinary Engines)
"The Woman", Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix)
"The Magician’s House", Meghan McCarron (Strange Horizons 7/08)
"An Eligible Boy", Ian McDonald (Fast Forward 2)
"The Dust Assassin", Ian McDonald (The Starry Rift)
"Special Economics", Maureen F. McHugh (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
"Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe", Garth Nix (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
"Infestation", Garth Nix (The Starry Rift)
"Immortal Snake", Rachel Pollack (F&SF 5/08)
"The Hour of Babel", Tim Powers (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
"Five Thrillers", Robert Reed (F&SF 4/08)
"Fury", Alastair Reynolds (Eclipse Two)
"The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice", Alastair Reynolds (The Starry Rift)
"The Egg Man", Mary Rosenblum (Asimov’s 2/08)
"Sacrifice", Mary Rosenblum (Sideways in Crime)
"Days of Wonder", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/08)
"Lester Young and the Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues", Gord Sellar (Asimov’s 7/08)
"Gift from a Spring", Delia Sherman (Realms of Fantasy 4/08)
"An Alien Heresy", S.P. Somtow (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
"Following the Pharmers", Brian Stableford (Asimov’s 3/08)
"The First Editions", James Stoddard (F&SF 4/08)

Message from Fabrice D.

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:54:28 GMT

SF novels

Matter, Iain M. Banks (Orbit UK)
Flood, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz, Roc '09)
Weaver, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz, Ace)
City at the End of Time, Greg Bear (Gollancz, Del Rey)
Incandescence, Greg Egan (Gollancz, Night Shade)
January Dancer, Michael Flynn (Tor)
Marsbound, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
Spirit, Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz)
Escapement, Jay Lake (Tor)
Song of Time, Ian R. MacLeod (PS Publishing)
The Night Sessions, Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (Gollancz)
The Company,K. J. Parker (Orbit)
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, Ace '09)
Pirate Sun, Karl Schroeder (Tor)
Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic UK, Morrow)
Saturn's Children, Charles Stross (Orbit, Ace)
Rolling Thunder, John Varley (Ace)
Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor)
Implied Spaces, Walter Jon Williams (Night Shade Books)

Novellas

Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press)
"The Overseer", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten, Thomas M. Disch (Tachyon Publications)
“The Political Prisoner", Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF 8/08)
"Arkfall", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 9/08)
The Luminous Depths, David Herter (PS Publishing)
"Mystery Hill", Alex Irvine (F&SF 1/08)
"The Erdmann Nexus", Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 10-11/08)
"Pretty Monsters", Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters)
"The Surfer", Kelly Link (The Starry Rift)
"The Hob Carpet", Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov’s 6/08)
"The Tear", Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
"Tenbrook of Mars", Dean McLaughlin (Analog 7-8/08)
Once Upon a Time in the North, Philip Pullman (Knopf)
"The Man with the Golden Balloon", Robert Reed (Galactic Empires)
"Truth", Robert Reed (Asimov’s 10-11/08)
"True Names", Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow (Fast Forward 2)
"Wonjjang and the Madman of Pyongyang", Gord Sellar (Tesseracts Twelve)
"The Philosopher’s Stone", Brian Stableford (Asimov’s 7/08)