Best SF | Individual Stories

Individual Stories

The Individual Stories category has two types of content : 1 – the stories I read in magazines and anthologies and review straight away, rather than waiting to complete the magazine or anthology and reviewing it all in one go. I started doing this in 2010; 2 – stories published as standalone ‘chapbooks’, or published online, or otherwise as a singleton. There are a couple of dozen stories of this nature, reviewing during the 2000s, which are available here.

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Cat Rambo. So Glad We Had This Time Together. (Apex Magazine #32 January 2012)

By Mark Watson ⋅ February 4, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Neat blend of the current obsession with reality TV and with werewolves, vampires, zombies and things that go bump in the night.

Felicity Shoulders. Small Towns. (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)

By Mark Watson ⋅ February 3, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Just after the end of the Great War, two lives come together.

Tochi Onyebuchi. Dust to Dust. (Panverse Three)

By Mark Watson ⋅ February 2, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

A story with a climactic ill behooving.

E.J. Swift. The Complex. (Interzone #238, Jan/Feb 2012)

By Mark Watson ⋅ February 2, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

A first-published story by Swift, and it’s a good one, showing more assurance that you often get.

Eric Del Carlo. Friendlessness. (Asimovs January 2012)

By Mark Watson ⋅ January 29, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Social ineptitude covered in a story which zips through quite quickly and fairly obviously.

Carol Johnstone. God of the Gaps. (Interzone #238, Jan-Feb 2010).

By Mark Watson ⋅ January 29, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

A story that starts with xeno-monsters leaping out of every corridor, but having survived that theme park activity, things take a turn for the worse.

Tyler Keevil. Fearful Symmetry. (Interzone #238, Jan-Feb 2012)

By Mark Watson ⋅ January 29, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

A taut finish in a science thriller that delivers what it sets out to.

Jack McDevitt. Maiden Voyage. (Asimovs January 2012)

By Mark Watson ⋅ January 23, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment

Readers familiar with McDevitt’s ‘Academy’ novels will doubtless be particularly pleased to read a story featuring the early days of Priscilla Hutchins, who is evidently a central figure in the six novels.