Story summaries written between 1995-1999.
Lucius Shepard. Salvador.
A Nicaraguan vietnam-type scenario, with hallucinogenic drugs not helping the matter. Jack McDevitt. Promises to Keep.
A mission on Callisto goes badly wrong, and a heroic gesture by a heroine saves the rest of the crew. Octavia E. Butler. Bloodchild.
A disturbing human-alien symbiotic relationship. Connie Willis. Blued Moon.
An off-beat look at the laws of probability. Richard Cowper. A message to the King of Brobdingnag.
Experiments go terribly wrong, unleashing an unstoppable multiplying algae on the world. Robert Silverberg. The Affair.
Telekinetic love story. John Varley. Press Enter []. Victor Apfel is a fucked-up Vietnam veteran, leading a quiet life. All that changes when his next door neighbour, Kluge, is found dead, slumped at his computer terminal. It initially looks like suicide, but Kluge is somewhat out of the ordinary. Lisa Foo is brought in to sort out the hacking activities which Kluge was involved in. Like Apfel, she too has old, deep scars. Kluge, is transpires, had gone beyond normal hacking, to getting into some very deep waters, and those waters threaten to suck in Apfel and Foo. William Gibson. New Rose Hotel.
Cyberpunk with an oriental spice. Gene Wolfe. The Map.
Fantasy - mysterious stranger with a map seeks a ship to take him along the river. Molly Gloss. Interlocking Pieces.
A senior politician receives a transplant from a patient in less favoured circumstances. Michael Swanwick. Trojan Horse.
Human-computer interfacing leading to god-like powers. Jack Dann. Bad Medicine.
In an attempt to get rid of internal demons, old native American Indian medicine/magic is invoked. Elizabeth A. Lynn. At the Embassy Club.
Love story set against a background of alien civilization and politics. Rena Yount. Pursuit of Excellence.
The genetically enhanced are leaving the 'norms' behind. What price would a mother pay to ensure her in utero daughter has the best chance in life? Frederik Pohl. The Kindly Isle.
Hotelier tampers with the local seafood. Pat Cadigan. Rock On.
Ageing rock star feeds VR. Bruce Sterling. Sunken Garden
Terraforming as a sport. Nancy Kress. Trinity.
Twins are used in an attempt to achieve a trance-like state necessary to summon God. Ursula K. Le Guin. The Trouble with the Cotton People.
A tale about trade. Lewis Shiner. Twilight Time.
Travels back in time to the 50s and meets the threat of BEMs. Lucius Shepard. Black Coral. Caribbean alcoholic. James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. Friend.
The difficulties of being a Friend - an Entertainment Officer-cum-Counsellor-cum-Mr-Fix-It. Tanith Lee. Foreign Skins.
Colonial India, and a British wife succumbs to the Indian gods. R.A. Lafferty. Company in the Wings.
- Gene Wolfe. A Cabin on the Coast.
A young man makes a deal with the little folk to rescue his otherwise drown-dead love. But such deals are of course fraught with dangers. Kim Stanley Robinson The Lucky Strike.
An alternate history in which the pilot of the Enola Gay is unable to go through with his mission.
|
short story summaries provided, mostly written pre-2000 : click yellow arrows to jump to specific stories, else scroll down for reviews.