fiction – Page 9

Eleven

by Patricia Highsmith

Beacons of unpleasantness

“The Snail-Watcher” ★★½
“The Birds Poised to Fly” ★★½
“The Terrapin” DNF
“When the Fleet was in at Mobile” ★★½
“The Quest for ‘Blank Claveringi'” ★★½
“The Cries of Love” ★★
“Mrs. Afton, Among Thy Green Braes” ★★
“The Heroine” ★★
“Another Bridge to Cross”

Miss Buncle Married

(Barbara Buncle #2)

by D.E. Stevenson

A pleasant read jarred by appalling asides

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories: A Collection of Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation from a Visionary Team of Female and Nonbinary Creators

by Yu Chen, Regina Kanyu Wang (Editors)

“The Stars We Raised” by Xiu Xinyu ★★★
“What Does the Fox Say?” by Xia Jia ★★★
“Blackbird” by Shen Dacheng ★½
“The Name of the Dragon” by Ling Chen ★★½
“New Year Painting, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, Zhaoqiao Village” by Chen

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 3

Marie Hodgkinson (Editor)

“New Zealand Gothic” by Jack Remiel Cottrell ★★★
“Synaesthete” by Melanie Harding-Shaw ★★★
“Death confetti” by Zoë Meager ★★★
“How To Get A Girlfriend (When You’re A Terrifying Monster)” by Marie Cardno ★★★
“Salt White, Rose Red” by Emily Brill-Holland ★★★
“You Can’t Beat Wellington on a Good

Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 1

Marie Hodgkinson (Editor)

“Trees” by Toni Wi ★★★
“The Garden” by Isabelle McNeur ★★★½
“Logistics” by A.J. Fitzwater ★★★★
“The Billows of Sarto” by Sean Monaghan ★★★
“A Most Elegant Solution” by M. Darusha Wehm ★★★★★
“A Brighter Future” by Grant Stone ★★★½
“The Glassblower’s Peace” by James Rowland ★★★½
“Mirror

The Best of World SF: Volume 2

by Lavie Tidhar (Editor)

“The Bahrain Underground Bazaar” by Nadia Afifi ★★★★★
“The Ten-Percent Thief” by Lavanya Lakshminarayan ★★★
“At Desk 9501” by Frances Ogamba ★★★
“Bring Your Own Spoon” (reread) by Saad Z. Hossain ★★★★★
“Blue Grey Blue” by Yukimi Ogawa ★★★½
“Your Multicolored Life” by Xing He ★★
“The

★★★¼ Liu was able to hold back on overt sexist commentary until the last story. Detailed dives into narrow points of imagination. He can’t conceive of worlds where leaders aren’t men, where justice and art thrive together, where god-like entities have more emotional intelligence than insecure, petulant babies.… Read more