Archive for February, 2010
Robert Reed. The Good Hand. (Asimovs, January 2010)
Clever reflection on the current issues with the Iranian nuclear bomb-building programme. Reed postulates a world in which the USA keeps a very firm stranglehold on its nuclear bomb technology..
Chris Roberson. Wonder House. (Asimovs, Jan 2010)
The story introduction refers to an inspiration for this story being ‘Men of Tomorrow’, a non-fiction book by Gerard Jones which looked at how Eastern European Jewish immigrants were responsible for the birth of American comic books. SF Site’s review of that book [here], refers to the inspirate that Jones must have drawn from Michael [...]
Steve Rasnic Tem. A Letter from the Emperor. (Asimovs Jan 2010)
A deceptively affecting short story from Tem.
Asimovs. December 2009.
This issue got caught up in the big revamp of Best SF, and wasn’t reviewed close to the reading of the stories. Time being short, I had planned to give a quick recap on the stories a couple of months later – which would be one way of identifying which stories had more impact at [...]
Starting to review stories
[February 17th 2010] Starting to review stories individually as per The Big Plan. A huge chunk of archive material now online and being tweaked.
Felicity Shoulders. Conditional Love. (Asimovs January 2010).
For a new writer, it’s a well-handled story. The main characters are portrayed well, and perhaps only a slight issue with the dramatic resolution – although in the limited space, perhaps little option for the author. I’ll look forward to more stories from Shoulders.
Geoffrey A. Landis. Marya and the Pirate. (Asimovs Jan 2010)
Landis gets the signal honour of being the first story to be reviewed on the new-improved Best SF. Who needs a Hugo or Nebula when you’ve got an honour like this!
Interzone #224 Sept/Oct 2009
Jason Sanford. Sublimation Angels. A lengthy novella from Sanford which had the slight misfortune to be read immediately after a string of stories from Dozois’ latest Years’ Best, and not quite living up to that very high standard. The story reads more like a Young Adult story, as it whips through a story with a [...]
Interzone #223 July-Aug 2009
None of the multiple Dominic Green stories did much for me, with the other stories simply ok.
Interzone #222 June 2009
Kim Lakin-Smith. Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married. Steam-driven 1950s Rebel Without a Cause type-punks. After cyberpunk, and steampunk, presumably punkpunk. With a Romeo and Juliet cross-gang love affair, the titular couple are in a race to get to the church in time – before they get wasted by her ex. Short and entertaining while it [...]
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