Alastair Reynolds. Zima Blue.

Not the Widescreen Space Opera of Reynold's novels, but a more thoughtful piece which reminded me somewhat of J.G. Ballard's 'Vermillion Sands' stories. However, the Ballard thing may just have to sprung to mind on account of it featuring a swimming pool (albeit a full one)! An artist who has been modifying his body towards cyborgisation, whilst working on increasing large canvases/installations, has decided to come full circle. A journalist interviews him, as he tells his story from his early days as an automated robot who cleaned a swimming pool and who had a small element of autonomous AI. Successive upgrades over hundreds of years have led him to the point where he simply wants to regress and to return to the womb/pool to live out his days.

A change of pace for Reynolds, and successfully so.

Eric Brown. Life Beyond.

An 'affectionate homage' to Clifford D Simak we are told. Ed, an elderly man, is fighting social services to continue to look after his granddaughter, whom the authorities want to be adopted. We anticipate siding with him, but a visit from an alien who is on a book-collecting tour, and whom Ed furnishes with three volumes including some heartfelt writing from his granddaughter, enables the reader and Ed to realise that her best interests are best served in finding a home with others.

A gentle, tender story.

Lawrence Person. Master Lao and the Flying Horror.

The author introduces the story by stating that '..any lover of speculative fiction should be familiar with Barry Hughart's Master Li and Number Ten Ox novels and Ernest Bramah's Kai Lung stories'. Well, not only am I not familiar with the stories, I can't say that I have ever heard of those authors. But bear in mind that the SF in BestSF does stand for Science Fiction and not Speculative Fiction. So for those of you familiar with the aforementioned stories, or enjoy their fiction with an historical oriental bent, then this tale is for you. I tried a few pages, and whilst it came across as a reasonably entertaining example of a story of that ilk, it didn't grab me enough to carry on for the full 23 pages.

Barry Malzberg and Paul Di Filippo. Beyond Mao.

Malzberg's 'Beyond Apollo' (link) was published in 1972 and was the first winner of the John W. Campbell Award.

This collaboration is a re-tread, within an oriental frame (following straight on from another oriental story probably not the best editorial decision) in that the protagonist is He Keung, one of three taikonauts on a Shenzou-11 module 'Radiant Crane'. As in the original novel, the protagonist is an unreliable narrator, and as the ghost of a long-dead Chinese astronaut calls on him to despatch his two companions, the better to help her challenge forces which threaten humanity. The reader has to choose whether the narrator is sane or insane, as he finds himself on the surface of one of Mars' moons, to be welcomed by strange forces.

Adam Roberts. And Future King.

A shorter piece, told entertainingly through a media-friendly series of interview snippets and the like, in which cyborg Replicant Public Servants carry out a lot of government functions in the UK. When Herr-Doktor Professor Sir Allen Fergus uploads one with a simulation of King Arthur, the one and future King shows some very old-fashioned techniques and principles to recapture his power.

Jack Dann. Dharma Bums.

Dann's Alternate History predicated on James Dean surviving his fatal car-crash is getting plenty of exposure in Postscripts, and here we see Dean and Jack Kerouac share a mattress (ahem) on a tramp-steamer to warmer climes. Jack Dann being 15 years older than me can doubtless 'hear all the characters whispering insistently in my ears', but for me they are just whispered echoes from a distant black and white past.

Zoran Zivkovic. The Cell.

The editor is thrilled to be able to bring readers the four novellas of Zivkovic's 'Four Stories Till the End', so if you are a fan of ZZ you'll doubtless be cheering. I'll be zz-ing, and his stories don't do much for me. Here a condemnded man is visited firstly by the counsel for his defences, then the prosecution, then the judge, then the gaoler, all who have an 'edifying and entertaining' story to tell. For me this story was neither. Others doubtless differ.

Conclusion

What with Reynolds, Brown, Di Filippo, Roberts and Zivkovic, the issue had a definite Pringle-era Interzone feel about it. Enought SF in there to keep me happy, and doubtless enough to please those whose interests are of a more broader church.