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1/9/2010 8:18:59 AM
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bluetyson
Posts 1074
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2010 Best New Stories
Free SF Reader
4.5 out of 5
The Things - Peter Watts [Clarkesworld 40]
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Free SF - Not Free SF Megablog | Free SF Reader | Not Free SF Reader | Super Reader - Superhero Prose Fiction | Space Opera Reader
Leigh Brackett (ology) | Laird Barron (ology) | Paolo Bacigalupi (ology) | Greg Egan (ology) | Alastair Reynolds (ology) | Cordwainer Smith (ology) | Charles Stross (ology) | Ted Chiang (ology)
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1/19/2010 8:55:37 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 654
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The January Asimov’s was a very strong issue: "A Letter from the Emperor" (Steve Rasnic Tem) was my favourite, with "Unconditional Love" (Felicity Shoulders) not far behind: both strong contenders for inclusion in the various "Bests of 2010" when they come out. The setting for "A Letter ..." was fascinating - I'd enjoy reading more stories based on it. Also good were "The Jekyll Island Horror" (Allen M. Steele); "The Good Hand" (Robert Reed) and "Marya and the Pirate" (Geoffrey A. Landis).
The February Asimov’s opens with "Stone Wall Truth," by Caroline M. Yoachim, which is built around an impressive, horrific concept; but for me the plot doesn’t really make proper use of the image (the main character could just as easily been a mundane torturer). My favourite story in the issue is "The Bold Explorer in the Place Beyond" by David Erik Nelson: which for some reason has offended the Tangent reviewer, but I’d like to read more of that bold explorer. I also enjoyed "The Ice Line," by Stephen Baxter – though it reads a bit like a part one: I suspect the travellers to Mars may in fact have survived and we’ll read more of their adventures (if not, with the main event happening off stage, then the ending is a little anti-climatic!).
The January Clarkesworld features a good story by that terror of USA border guards, Peter Watts: it’s called “The Things”, a re-writing of ‘The Thing’ from The Thing’s perspective.
The January Apex Magazine has a couple of ‘survivors after the dreadful event’ stories: particularly good is Genevieve Valentine’s “Wondrous Days”, which, like the Watts tale is not from the usual perspective. James F Reilly’s “White Christmas” is fairly good too, though more in the horror than the SF mould.
The Winter 2010 Subterranean Online has a good alternate history take on the story of Jesus by Ian R MacLeod, “The Second Journey of the Magus”.
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1/20/2010 9:20:05 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 654
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Forget to mention the Jan/Feb issue of Interzone. It has two good stories: “In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty” by Mercurio D. Rivera and “Again & Again & Again” by Rachel Swirsky. The former is set in the same universe as Rivera’s impressive “Longing for Langalana” where the Langalanans’ are an alien species infatuated with the human race – which forms the backdrop to the story of the main character’s pursuit of his wife who – through chemical means - is infatuated with his ex-business partner. The latter story is a short, amusing piece about each generation trying to outdo the previous one. I also enjoyed “Hibakusha” by Tyler Keevil and “Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas” by Jason Sanford; though the latter suffers from a moment where the story loses the argument to suspend the reader’s disbelief – when we are told the sea has left daguerreotypes on one characters bed! Fair enough in a surrealist tale, but this was fairly mainstream fantasy, so it jarred and came across as a bit silly (pleased to have daguerreotypes in a story of course).
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4/18/2010 7:49:38 AM
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bluetyson
Posts 1074
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2010 Best New Stories
Free SF Reader
4.5 out of 5
The Things - Peter Watts [Clarkesworld 40]
Dying With Her Cheer Pants On - Seanan McGuire [Apex Magazine 18]
4 out of 5
Dali's Clocks - Dave Hutchinson [Daybreak]
City of the Dog - John Langan [FSF 687]
Sarah Palin: Vampire Hunter in Twinkle - Dan McGirt [Smashwords]
Not Free SF Reader
4.5 out of 5
Jackie's Boy - Steven Popkes [Asimov's 411]
4 out of 5
When We Were Fab - Jerry Oltion [Analog 498]
In The Harsh Glow Of Its Incandescent Beauty - Mercurio D. Rivera [Interzone 226]
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Free SF - Not Free SF Megablog | Free SF Reader | Not Free SF Reader | Super Reader - Superhero Prose Fiction | Space Opera Reader
Leigh Brackett (ology) | Laird Barron (ology) | Paolo Bacigalupi (ology) | Greg Egan (ology) | Alastair Reynolds (ology) | Cordwainer Smith (ology) | Charles Stross (ology) | Ted Chiang (ology)
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4/19/2010 6:57:37 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 654
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Recent favourite SF online has been three stories at Tor.Com: “The Next Invasion” by Robert Reed; “The Final Now” by Gregory Benford and “Vilcabamba” by Harry Turtledove. Turtledove wrote a quartet of novels about earth overcoming an alien invasion - his short story is a corrective to that sequence, pointing out that any warlike aliens technologically capable of getting to earth are pretty much going to have it their own way when they arrive (the title reflects comparisons made in the story to the Spanish conquest of Peru). Futurismic has a nice tale of crime and cloning from Eric Del Carlo, called “Out Walking The Streets” [just read Del Carlo's "Immediate Family at 'Fifth Di...' - its good too]
Though Blue Tyson rates (4.5 out of 5) “Dying With Her Cheer Pants On” by Seanan McGuire a little higher than I would, it’s still a good story. It’s part of a set of tales at Apex magazine based on the scary stories people tell around the campfire, but given a SF twist; the other two (“Seafoam” by Mark Henry and “Snipe Hunting” by Jennifer Brozek) aren’t bad either.
On the fantasy side, I enjoyed the surreal “January” by Becca De La Rosa (Clarkesworld); Richard Park’s “Sanji’s Demon” (Beneath Ceaseless Skies), which is a new Yamada no Goji tale, set in a China that never was (see Ernest Bramah and Barry Hugart – though Park doesn’t attempt the same prose style); There’s a good story of urban magic and romance in “In the Emperor’s Garden” by Jay Lake and Shannon Page at Fantasy Magazine (KJ Bishop’s “Saving the Gleeful Horse”, also there, isn’t bad either, though the ending didn’t work for me)
edited by StevenLP on 4/20/2010
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5/25/2010 12:40:46 PM
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StevenLP
Posts 654
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Of the recent short SF I’ve read, I’d recommend Plague Birds by Jason Sanford and Over Water by Jon Ingold from the May/June Interzone.
The May/June F&SF had good stories by Fred Chappell “Thief of Shadows”; Aaron Schutz “Dr. Death vs. The Vampire” and John Sladek “The Real Martian Chronicles” (the latter probably giving a more accurate account of the British on Mars than Kage Baker’s otherwise enjoyable “Empress of Mars” stories!). However the standout was Steven Popkes’ “The Crocodiles”, which will mean there’s a chance some of the Best of 2010 anthologies may end up having two stories about Nazi's (what with Barry Longyears’s recent Asimov’s tale)!
The Years Best’s may also have the very good Robert Reed novella in the July Asimov’s “A History Of Terraforming”, I also particularly enjoyed “Eddie’s Ants” by D.T. Mitenko.
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5/25/2010 12:54:19 PM
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gdozois
Posts 4260
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Of those, I was the most impressed by "The Crocodiles" and "A History of Terraforming." (Haven't read that INTERZONE yet.)
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5/28/2010 11:45:36 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 654
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Gardner: Interestingly both the Reed and Popkes have lead characters who lack something in their make up: in the case of Popkes, monstrously so, but - obviously to a much smaller degree - in the Reed too. Come to think of it, Aaron Schutz's protagonist in “Dr. Death vs. The Vampire” is also pretty damaged!
Online, the best stories I've read recently are The Naturalist by Maureen McHugh (Subterranean Online) - another damaged lead character! The Last Stand of the Ant Maker by Paul Jessup (Apex Magazine) - and another! ... Fortunately the lead in A Jar of Goodwill by Tobias S. Buckell (Clarkesworld) is a reasonably sympathetic individual.
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5/28/2010 11:54:35 AM
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gdozois
Posts 4260
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"The Naturalist"--ANOTHER zombie story that I actually liked! The Millennium is at hand! (Wait, it's already PAST, isn't it?)
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5/28/2010 12:36:15 PM
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bluetyson
Posts 1074
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Steven, still waiting for the Nazi Zombie Ninja Pirate tale, with monkeys.
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Free SF - Not Free SF Megablog | Free SF Reader | Not Free SF Reader | Super Reader - Superhero Prose Fiction | Space Opera Reader
Leigh Brackett (ology) | Laird Barron (ology) | Paolo Bacigalupi (ology) | Greg Egan (ology) | Alastair Reynolds (ology) | Cordwainer Smith (ology) | Charles Stross (ology) | Ted Chiang (ology)
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5/28/2010 3:47:30 PM
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dolphintornsea
Posts 499
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How long can it be before he starts liking vampire stories? Grumble .... (slinks off to sulk in a corner).
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5/28/2010 4:23:49 PM
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gdozois
Posts 4260
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I actually have liked several vampire stories. I even wrote one myself once. Of course, this was before the floodgates opened for vampire stories.
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5/28/2010 11:24:46 PM
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Rich Horton
Posts 343
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I have to say, when I realized "The Naturalist" was a zombie story, I just sighed and said, "Oh, Lord, now MAUREEN MC HUGH is writing zombie stories? All hope is lost!". But, yes, it is an unusually good zombie story. But ... it's still a zombie story.
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5/29/2010 3:22:34 AM
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dolphintornsea
Posts 499
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I rather enjoyed M. J. Engh's "Talking About Fangs", which is in the latest Nebula book (though not a recent story), in which the narrator sarcastically discusses the vampire fiction fad - but there's a twist, of course. But yeah, I guess that's a vampire story I liked. 
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5/29/2010 11:52:45 AM
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gdozois
Posts 4260
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Statistically, I suppose that if hundreds of zombie stories are written, one or two of them are bound to be good. (A statistical fluke that two good ones came out practically back to back, the Popkes and the McHugh.)
Nor are they the only good zombie stories that have ever been written. Just off the top of my head, there's Michael Swanwick's "The Dead" and Theodore Sturgeon's "It," and Peter M. Ball's "The Last Great House of Isla Tortuga" from a couple of years back. People like Rich and me get grumpy about them (and the vampire stories) because we have to slog through them in their marching undead legions. That grumpiness means that for a zombie story to impress us as good, it has to be REALLY good.
M.J. Engh wrote one great (or at least very good) SF novel, and one great novella, "The Oracle."
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6/10/2010 9:42:56 PM
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jason
Posts 123
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I've posted an early list of what I consider the best short stories of 2010 at on my blog. They are:
* "A History of Terraforming" by Robert Reed, Asimov's July 2010.
* "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline Yoachim, Asimov's Feb. 2010.
* "In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty" by Mercurio D. Rivera, Interzone 226.
* "A Passion For Art" by David D. Levine, Interzone 228.
* "The Crocodiles" by Steven Popkes, F&SF May/June 2010.
* Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. (While this is a young adult novel, I figure what the hell, I'd include it in the list since I enjoyed it so much.)
BTW, I haven't read many of the stories mentioned in this thread, but plan to do so in the coming months. I also agree with the comments about vampire and zombie stories--unless they bring something new, I avoid reading them. But that something new is exactly why I highly recommend Popkes' "The Crocodiles, which is as repulsive and disturbing a story as I've read all year, but also impossible to put down.
edited by jason on 6/10/2010
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6/10/2010 10:56:29 PM
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gdozois
Posts 4260
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Don't miss the Spring Subterranean, guest-edited by Jonathan Strahan, which has some of the best stories I've read so far this year, by Hannu Rajaniumi, Damien Broderick, Gord Seller, Daryl Gregory, and Peter S. Beagle, as well as the previously mentioned Maureen McHugh.
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6/11/2010 6:15:10 AM
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StevenLP
Posts 654
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Just finished “Is Anybody Out There?”, an anthology edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern., published by DAW. It’s a strong collection, with the standout stories being Yves Meynard’s “Good News from Antares”; Jay Lake’s “Permanent Fatal Errors”; Paul Di Filippo’s “Galaxy of Mirrors”; Ray Vukcevich’s “One Big Monkey”; Ian Watson’s “Waterfall of Lights” and James Morrow’s “The Vampires of Paradox”. There are also good stories by Alex Irvine, David Langford, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Pat Cadigan, Matt Hughes and Felicity Shoulders/Leslie What. There’s only one story I felt was poor – by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn, which has the old ‘alien monitoring the human race misinterprets their behaviour with hilarious and satirical results’ plot: unfortunately the humour is bland and satire is pretty mild.
The Meynard was intriguing: part of me wished he’d written a longer story, on the other hand the suspension of belief required for the conceit behind the story probably wouldn’t survive for a longer work (I’m trying to avoid spoilers).
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6/11/2010 9:36:36 AM
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galaxie500
Posts 215
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I am glad that Is Anybody Out there is that good. It's next on my reading list, after rereading Ballard's The Crystal World.
By the way, are there any other good original SF anthologies forthcoming this year (I know there is one by Anders due in July)?
edited by galaxie500 on 6/11/2010
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6/11/2010 10:05:32 AM
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gdozois
Posts 4260
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I'm looking forward to Strahan's ECLIPSE FOUR and ENGINEERING INFINITY. His GODLIKE MACHINES, if it really comes out this time, is very good. If you like Sword & Sorcery, his SWORDS AND DARK MAGIC is well worth reading.
There's another anthology by our own Dario coming up. Lou Anders's MASKED is July.
My own anthology with George Martin, WARRIORS, is out, and getting good reviews, although not all of the stories are SF or fantasy.
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