Tag archives: science fiction

Jumpnauts

by Hao Jingfang

He repeatedly disrespects boundaries—but she’s intrigued. He also happens to be an astronomer-hacker who is tall, handsome, wealthy, and an expert martial artist. The first 60% doesn’t stretch beyond that level of groundwork. Once they meet extraterrestrials, the interactions still ring petulant. Also I thought Ken Liu was … Read more

Multiverses: An Anthology of Alternate Realities

by Preston Grassmann (Editor)
  • “Banish” Alastair Reynolds DNF
  • “Cracks” Chana Porter ★★★★
  • “A Threshold Hypothesis” Jayaprakash Satyamurthy DNF
  • “Crunchables” Ian Mcdonald ★★★½
  • “Quorum’s Eye” Alvaro Zinos-Amaro ★★★¼
  • “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” Paul Di Filippo ★★★
  • “Days of Magic, Nights of War” Clive Barker ★★
  • “A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel” Ken
… Read more

Lost Places

by Sarah Pinsker
  • “Two Truths and a Lie” ★★★
  • “That Our Flag Was Still There” ★★★
  • “I Frequently Hear Music in the Very Heart of Noise” DNF
  • “The Court Magician” ★★★
  • “Everything Is Closed Today” ★★★
  • “Left the Century to Sit Unmoved” ★★★
  • “Escape from Caring Seasons” ★★★¼
  • “A Better Way
… Read more

New Suns 2 : Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color

by Nisi Shawl (Editor)
  • “Ocasta” by Daniel H. Wilson ★★★★
  • “The Farmer’s Wife and the Faerie Queen” by K. Tempest Bradford ★★★★
  • “Juan” by Darcie Little Badger ★★★★★
  • “Silk and Cotton and Linen and Blood” by Nghi Vo ★★★★
  • “Chosen” by Saad Hossain ★★★★½
  • “Home Is Where the Heart Is” by
… Read more

The Future Is Female! Vol. 2: The 1970s: More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women

by Lisa Yaszek (Editor)
  • “Frog Pond” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro ★★★★
  • “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ ★★★
  • “If Ever I Should Leave You” by Pamela Sargent ★★★½
  • “Pale Hands” by Doris Piserchia ★★½
  • “A Scarab in the City of Time” by Marta Randall ★★★½
  • “The Anthropologist” by Kathleen M. Sidney
… Read more

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction

by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Zelda Knight (Editors)
  • “Simbi” by Sandra Jackson-Opoku ★★½
  • “Housewarming for a Lion Goddess” by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga ★★★
  • “A Knight in Tunisia” by Alex Jennings ★★★
  • “The Devil Is Us” by Mirette Bahgat ★★½
  • “The Lady of the Yellow-painted Library” by Tobi Ogundiran ★★½
  • “The
… Read more

The Wishing Pool and Other Stories

by Tananarive Due
  • “The Wishing Pool” ★★★
  • “Haint in the Window” ★★★
  • “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge” ★★★
  • “Thursday Night Shift” ★★★★
  • “Last Stop on Route 9” ★★
  • “Suppertime” ★★★
  • “Rumpus Room” ★★★
  • “Migration” ★½
  • “Caretaker” ★★
  • “One Day Only” ★★★½
  • “Attachment Disorder” ★★★
  • “Ghost Ship” ★★★½
  • “Shopping Day” ★★★
  • “The
… Read more

Infinités

by Vandana Singh
  • “Faim” ★★★
  • “Delhi” ★★★★
  • “La femme qui se croyait planète” ★★★½
  • “Infinités” ★★★½
  • “Soif” ★★★
  • “Les lois de la conservation” ★★★
  • “Trois contes de la rivière du ciel” ★★★
  • “Le tétraèdre” ★★★½
  • “L’épouse” ★★★
  • “La chambre sur le toit” ★★★½
  • “Un manifeste spéculatif” ★★★½

Real Sugar is Hard to Find

by Sim Kern

Especially in the first half the writing is not a pleasure to read, but I appreciated the imagination.

  • “Real Sugar is Hard to Find” ★★★
  • “The Listener” ★★★½
  • “The Propagator” ★★★★
  • “The New Nomad” ★★★
  • “The Night Heron” ★★★
  • “Tadpoles” ★★
  • “Unwhole” ★★★★
  • “What Can’t Be Undone” ★★★★
… Read more

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
… Read more

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
… Read more

The Best of World SF: Volume 1

by Lavie Tidhar (Editor)
  • “What the Dead Man Said” by Chinelo Onwualu ★★★
  • “Delhi” by Vandana Singh ★★★★
  • “The Wheel of Samsara” by Han Song ★★
  • “Xingzhou” by Ng Yi-Sheng ★★★
  • “Prayer” by Taiyo Fujii ★★
  • “The Green Ship” by Francesco Verso ★★½
  • “Eyes of the Crocodile” by Malena Salazar Maciá
… Read more

This All Come Back Now

by Mykaela Saunders (Editor)
  • “Myth This!” by Lisa Fuller ★★★★
  • “Jacaranda Street” by Jasmin McGaughey ★★★
  • “When From” by Merryana Salem ★★★½
  • “An Invitation” by Timmah Ball ★★★★
  • “Water” by Ellen van Neerven ★★★
  • “Terranora” by Mykaela Saunders ★★★
  • “After the End of Their World” by Hannah Donnelly ★★
  • “Protocols of
… Read more