Alastair Reynolds' "Scales" (short story, war, free): On mindlessness of war

Actually, it's mostly quite readable nonsense, provided you're comfortable with phrases like "N-dimensional tangle of interconnected wormhole pathways", "an artificial construct actually embedded in the tangle, floating on a semi-stable node like a dark thrombosis", "reality stack", ...

See also.

1. Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War": Conceptually the same idea - futility of war, since after a while, no one remembers what the war was about. But Haldeman's is a far more interesting story.

Fact sheet.

First published: guardian.co.uk, July 2009, as a podcast.
Download full text from Lightspeed. [via Best Science Fiction Stories]
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Alastair Reynolds.

Kevin Hosey's "IT!" (flash fiction, first contact, free)

A humorous variation of one of the stories from A E van Vogt's Ezwal series: a human spaceship "had recently passed through a dense cloud of meteorite fragments", & seems to have somehow picked up a massive alien monster who's now terrorizing the crew. Only it's not really terrorizing, as the captain will discover to his amusement...

Fact sheet.

First published: 365tomorrows, 3 December 2009.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Peter Watts' "The Island" (novelette, space opera, free): Life cannot be peaceful

I liked the punchline - about the motives of the alien. But most of it is a dark, though readable, cocktail of familiar tropes.

Caution:  Most Watts' fiction, including this story, liberally use swear words.

Story summary.

Life of an alien, in the shape of an enormous thin membrane fully enclosing its star, is threatened because a human ship going to lay a wormhole close to it. It will persuade the humans to lay it a little away, at safe coordinates it specifies, instead. Humans will learn its motives too late...

Much of the conflict in the story is, however, between the unnamed woman narrator aboard the ship, & the AI running the ship. AI has become mad, somewhat in the sense of HAL, from Arthur Clarke's "2001 A Space Odyssey".

Collected in.

1. Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection" (2010, anthology).
2. David G Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer (Eds)' "Year's Best SF 15" (2010, anthology).
3. Rich Horton (ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2010 Edition" (anthology).
4. Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year", Volume 4 (2010, anthology).

Fact sheet.

First published: Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan (eds)' "The New Space Opera 2" (2009).
Download full text from author's site.
Read online at publisher's site.
Listen to audio as par of a longer podcast at StarShipSofa.
Rating: B.
Winner of Hugo award 2010 in novelette category.
Related: Stories of Peter Watts.

Hugo awards 2010: winners announced

Nothing yet on official page, but here is the twitter stream.

Links on category go to all category nominees. Links on author or publisher find matching stories.

1. [ss] Will McIntosh's "Bridesicle" (B); download text/audio; Asimov's, January 2009.
2. [novelette] Peter Watts' "The Island"; download; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "The New Space Opera 2".
3. [novella] Charles Stross' "Palimpsest" (B); download (available for the duration of Hugo voting in 2010); Wireless (collection?).
4. [novel] Tie between Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" (download) & China Miéville's "The City & The City".

Related: Past Hugo winners & nominees.

Bruce W Ferguson's "Goliath" (flash fiction, humor, free)

Don't expect humanity to unite, even when faced with an extinction threat...

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, #460 (9 July 2009).
Download full text from The Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation. [link via SF Signal]
Rating: A.

Paul on Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Ghosts"

At Marooned.

A story written apparently long ago as part of "The Martian Chronicles", but published for the first time only last year.

Related: Stories of Ray Bradbury.

Ray Bradbury's "The Disease"

Marooned has a post on this flash fiction piece, written long back as part of "The Martian Chronicles", but published for the first time only in 2009.

It's the story of characters that first appear in "Ylla" (download as part of a larger package).

Related: Stories of Ray Bradbury.

Locus Awards 2010: Winners announced

Announcement at Locus site.

For fiction originally published (in US? not sure) during 2009.

Note there was a major scandal couple of years back of this award's organizers manipulating votes to favor favorites.

Related.

1. My "best of 2009" list (includes others' at bottom).
2. Fiction originally published during 2009.
3. "best of" lists.

Million Writers Award 2010: Winners

Link.

For online short fiction first published during 2009.

Related: "best of" lists; my "best of 2009" list.

(Canadian) Prix/Aurora Awards 2010: Winners announced

Nothing yet on official site, but SF Scope has the list. For works originally published during 2009.

"Short-Form Work in English" winner: Eileen Bell's "Pawns Dreaming of Roses". All nominees.

Related: "best of" lists; my "best of 2009" list.

Nebula Awards 2009: Winners announced

Official announcement & complete list.

1. [novel] Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl"; download.
2. [novella] Kage Baker's "The Women of Nell Gwynne’s"; all nominees.
3. [novelette] Eugie Foster's "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast"; download text/audio; all nominees.
4. [ss] Kij Johnson's "Spar"; download text/audio; all nominees.

Asimov's & Analog Readers' Poll winners for fiction originally published during 2009

SF Signal has the list, plus links to older winners at Locus: Asimov's, Analog.

Related: Fiction from Asimov's, Analog/Astounding, 2009, my "best of 2009" list.

"Million Writers Award top ten stories of 2009"

Link.

Related: "best of" lists; fiction first published in 2009; my "best of 2009" list (includes others' lists at bottom).

Mark Bould, Andrew M Butler, Adam Roberts, & Sherryl Vint (eds)' "The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction" (2009): Reading lists

This is not a review post. My interest in this book has been primarily for its apparently excellent reading lists. This post will act as anchor for those lists.

While the book does not have any explicit recommended reading lists, each chapter references a lot of stories in its text; just putting them together in a list seems to yield very interesting reading lists of relevant subjects.

Links on chapter titles below lead to reading list compiled from specific chapter (including fiction download links where appropriate). I've already posted 3 lists, & have notes from some other chapters; will have a few more lists coming in days ahead.

The book is divided into 4 parts:

1. "History" (ch 1 - 18).
2. "Theory" (ch 19 -32).
3. "Issues & Challenges" (ch 33-44).
4. "Subgenres" (ch 45-56).

ToC below lists just chapter names, along with its author (but without reference to part). If there is a link on chapter, it goes to reading list seeded from its text. Links on author yield more works of author.

Refences in the book contain all kinds of stuff - written fiction, movies, ... My lists generally strip everything but written fiction.

Lists are heavy on novels, though there are occasional short fiction entries. This is because of book's bias.

Table of contents.

1. Adam Roberts' "The Copernican Revolution".
2. Arthur B Evans' "Ninteenth-Century SF".
3. John Rieder's "Fiction, 1895-1926".
4. Brooks Landon's "SF Tourism".
5. J P Telotte's "Film, 1895-1950".
6. Farah Mendlesohn's "Fiction, 1926-1949".
7. Marek Wasielewski's "Golden Age Comics".
8. Mark Jancovich & Derek Johnston's "Film & Television, The 1950s".
9. Rob Latham's "Fiction, 1950-1963".
10. Peter Wright's "Film & Television, 1960-1980".
11. Helen Merrick's "Fiction, 1964-1979".
12. Sharalyn Orbaugh's "Manga & Anime".
13. Jim Casey's "Silver Age Comics".
14. Sean Redmond's "Film Since 1980".
15. Lincoln Geraghty's "Television Since 1980".
16. Michael Levy's "Fiction, 1980-1992".
17. Abraham Kawa's "Comics Since the Silver Age".
18. Paul Kincaid's "Fiction Since 1992".
19. Isiah Lavender III's "Critical Race Theory".
20. Lisa Yaszek's "Cultural History".
21. Robin Anne Reid's "Fan Studies".
22. Jane Donawerth's "Feminisms".
23. Mark Bould's "Language & Linguistics".
24. William J Burling's "Marxism".
25. Paul Williams' "Nuclear Criticism".
26. Michelle Reid's "Postcolonialism".
27. Veronica Hollinger's "Posthumanism & Cyborg Theory".
28. Darren Jorgensen's "Postmodernism".
29. Andrew M Butler's "Psychoanalysis "
30. Wendy Gay Pearson's "Queer Theory".
31. Alcena Madeline Davis Rogan's "Utopean Studies".
32. Thomas Foster's "Virtuality".
33. Joan Gordon's "Animal Studies".
34. Piers D Britton's "Design for Screen SF".
35. Tanya Krzywinska & Esther MacCallum-Stewart's "Digital Games".
36. Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr's "Empire".
37. Patrick D Murphy's "Environmentalism".
38. Neil Easterbrook's "Ethics & Alterity".
39. Ken MacLeod's "Music".
40. Roger Luckhurst's "Pseudoscience".
41. Sherryl Vint's "Science Studies".
42. James Kneale's "Space".
43. Matt Hills' "Time, Possible Worlds, & Counterfactuals".
44. Joe Sutliff Sanders' "Young Adult SF".
45. Karen Hellekson's "Alternate History".
46. Aris Mousoutzanis' "Apocalyptic SF".
47. Stacey Abbott's "Arthouse SF Film".
48. Stacey Abbott's "Blockbuster SF Film".
49. Graham J Murphy's "Dystopia".
50. Graham J Murphy's "Eutopia".
51. Gwyneth Jones' "Feminist SF".
52. Andy Sawyer's "Future History".
53. David N Samuelson's "Hard SF".
54. Victoria De Zwaan's "Slipstream".
55. Andy Sawyer's "Space Opera".
56. China Mieville's "Weird Fiction".

Related: "best of" lists.

Hugo Awards 2010 - novellas: Nominees & my rankings

Official announcement at AussieCon4. Covers fiction originally published anywhere in English during 2009.

I've read only one story so far - a very ordinary one.

Nominees (6 stories, best first, unread last)

If I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating is in brackets. Links on author, editor, or publisher fetch more fiction from source. Download links are included where I'm aware of an online copy.

1. Charles Stross' "Palimpsest" (B); download (available for the duration of Hugo voting in 2010); Wireless (collection?): There are "ideas" here for at least 2 dozen stories, & I don't mean that as compliment. I found it a confused jumble of ideas rather than a coherent story; finished it only because I was determined to finish at least one story from this list. Also, there are things here designed to shock the reader - for the sake of shocking rather than to further any goal of the story.
   
   There is some sort of society of time travelers that keeps reengineering things to the end of the universe - prolonging life of sun, making solar system go traveling through intergalactic void, reintroducing humans on earth every time they keep getting extinct (which they're very good at doing). Sometimes restarting life on earth at microbe level & let it evolve; I could not figure out how it always evolved to humans as smart species! Plus conflict within this society of time travelers - incumbents vs rebels, with a small thread on how organizations tend to become an end in themselves & lose sight of what they were created for.
2. Nancy Kress' "Act One"; download; Asimov's, March 2009: Not read.
3. John Scalzi's "The God Engines"; as an independent book by Subterranean: Not read.
4. James Morrow's "Shambling Towards Hiroshima; as an independent book by Tachyon: Not read.
5. Ian McDonald's "Vishnu at the Cat Circus"; Cyberabad Days (coll): Not read.
6. Kage Baker's "The Women of Nell Gwynne's"; as an independent book by Subterranean: Not read.

Related.

1. Other fiction categories in this year's Hugo awards: short stories, novelettes, novels.
2. Last year's Hugo awards: short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels.
   
3. Competing awards that recognize "best" fiction originally published in 2009: Nebula (US) - short stories, novelettes, novellas; Aurialis (Australian authors); BSFA (fiction published in UK); Prix/Aurora (Canada); Million Writers (global, online short fiction).
   
   Note the scope of Nebulas is 1.5 years - later half of 2008 & all of 2009. All other awards only care about 2009.
4. Anthologies that collect "best fiction originally published during 2009": Dozois', Hartwell/Cramer's, Horton's, Strahan's.
5. My "best fiction originally published during 2009, 2010" lists (also link others' best of relevant year lists at bottom).
6. "Best of" lists.
7. Fiction originally published in 2009, during 2000-2009.
   

Note: I normally update list posts like this when I read a story, find new links, etc. This post was last updated 1 May 2010.

Hugo Awards 2010 - novelettes: Nominees & my rankings

Official announcement at AussieCon4. Covers fiction originally published anywhere in English during 2009.

I haven't read Watts' story because of inconvenient online format. Among the rest, nothing truly outstanding, but only one dud in my book; first four are generally readable stories.

I'll put Griffith's & Stross' stories at par, arbitrarily ordered below. But see caveats with the former below.

Nominees (6 stories, best first, unread last)

If I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating is in brackets. Links on author, editor, or publisher fetch more fiction from source. Download links are included where I'm aware of an online copy.

1. Paul Cornell's "One of Our Bastards is Missing" (B); download; George Mann (ed)'s "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three": Prussians don't want British princess to marry Swedish prince.
2. Rachel Swirsky's "Eros, Philia, Agape" (B); download; tor.com, March 2009: This android must find its own identity...
3. Nicola Griffith's "It Takes Two" (B); download; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse Three": Use of mind control drugs to make two woman, complete strangers, fall immediately in mad lesbian love.
   
   Caution: About a third of the story is probably best classified as soft porn.
   
   Caution: Downloaded PDF doesn't allow text copy for reformatting in a more convenient form.
4. Charles Stross' "Overtime" (B); download; tor.com, 23 December 2009; satire: Life in a British givernment office.
5. Eugie Foster's "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" (C); download text/audio; Interzone, #220 (February 2009): I once tried reading it - gave up part way through. Beginning looked like something inspired by Jack Vance's funny "The Moon Moth" - a society where it's impolite to meet someone without wearing a mask. But it's nothing like Vance's classic, & I got quickly bored.
6. Peter Watts' "The Island"; read online (no download); Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "The New Space Opera 2": Not read.

Related.

1. Other fiction categories in this year's Hugo awards: short stories, [novellas], novels.
2. Last year's Hugo awards: short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels.
   
3. Competing awards that recognize "best" fiction originally published in 2009: Nebula (US) - short stories, novelettes, novellas; Aurialis (Australian authors); BSFA (fiction published in UK); Prix/Aurora (Canada); Million Writers (global, online short fiction).
   
   Note the scope of Nebulas is 1.5 years - later half of 2008 & all of 2009. All other awards only care about 2009.
4. Anthologies that collect "best fiction originally published during 2009": Dozois', Hartwell/Cramer's, Horton's, Strahan's.
5. My "best fiction originally published during 2009, 2010" lists (also link others' best of relevant year lists at bottom).
6. "Best of" lists.
7. Fiction originally published in 2009, during 2000-2009.
   

Note: I normally update list posts like this when I read a story, find new links, etc. This post was last updated 25 April 2010.

Hugo Awards 2010 - short stories: Nominees & my rankings

Official announcement at AussieCon4. Covers fiction originally published anywhere in English during 2009.

Nothing particularly noteworthy in this list, though first 3 are ok reads. I don't really have a preference between Resnick's & McIntosh's - first rewrites a classic, later is original.

Schoen's story defies logic. There is no reason I should have liked it - it's utter nonsense. And yet, somehow, very readable!

Nominees (5 stories, best first)

If I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating is in brackets. Links on author, editor, or publisher fetch more fiction from source. Download links are included where I'm aware of an online copy.

1. Mike Resnick's "The Bride of Frankenstein" (B); download; Asimov's, December 2009; fanfic: A funny & more-positive-than-original retelling of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".
2. Will McIntosh's "Bridesicle" (B); download text/audio; Asimov's, January 2009; zombie: A woman is given a choice - die, or entice a rich man enough to make him agree to marry you! How do you expect her to behave?
3. Lawrence M Schoen's "The Moment" (B); download; Jay Lake & Eric T Reynolds (eds)' "Footprints" (anthology?), Hadley Rille Books: Very readable nonsense!
   
   Over eons, long after humanity is gone, all sorts of alien beings have been paying homage to a location on moon that has a human footprint on the surface. Each is trying to discover the significance of the place or imprint! Until we're eventually enlightened by "the tutor" of "proto-godlings": "When one takes a step, it is possible to step back. In fact, it is a common occurrence. That's not what happened here." "This is where they jumped off."
4. N K Jemisin's "Non-Zero Probabilities" (C); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, September 2009; non-genre: A girl in New York city is worried over improbable accidents that happen in the city with regularity, like a train coach derailing or she being hit by debris accidentally sent flying in a park, ...
5. Kij Johnson's "Spar" (C); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, October 2009: A woman is stuck with an alien aboard an alien lifeboat - after their ships collided head on, an event that killed her male partner! Now she's constantly having sex with the alien, & nightmares.

Related.

1. Other fiction categories in this year's Hugo awards: [novelettes], [novellas], novels.
2. Last year's Hugo awards: short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels.
   
3. Competing awards that recognize "best" fiction originally published in 2009: Nebula (US) - short stories, novelettes, novellas; Aurialis (Australian authors); BSFA (fiction published in UK); Prix/Aurora (Canada); Million Writers (global, online short fiction).
   
   Note the scope of Nebulas is 1.5 years - later half of 2008 & all of 2009. All other awards only care about 2009.
4. Anthologies that collect "best fiction originally published during 2009": Dozois', Hartwell/Cramer's, Horton's, Strahan's.
5. My "best fiction originally published during 2009, 2010" lists (also link others' best of relevant year lists at bottom).
6. "Best of" lists.
7. Fiction originally published in 2009, during 2000-2009.
   

Note: I normally update list posts like this when I read a story, find new links, etc. This post was last updated 24 April 2010.

Locus Awards 2010: nominees

Official announcement at Locus site. [via Ellen Datlow]

I personally have a bias against this award, ever since they rigged the ballots a couple of years ago to favor official favorites. But it does receive some coverage in genre media.

Awards are in multiple categories, presumably for works originally published during [2009].

Related.

1. My "best of 2009" list (includes others' lists too at bottom).
2. "best of" lists.

Paul Cornell's "One of our Bastards is Missing" (novelette, detective, free): Prussians don't want British princess to marry Swedish prince

Fast paced action story, but with magic - space-time "folds" used as caves & nooks. While the magic doesn't really come in the way of the story, it made me feel the mechanics of mystery was gamed.

Story summary.

A wedding in London - British princess marrying Swede prince. Amid all the merriment, there is a curious incident: a man vanishes into thin air in front of the whole crowd!

Major Hamilton will unravel the mystery, & major international intrigue...

Collected in.

1. Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection" (2010).
2. David G Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer (Eds)' "Year's Best SF 15" (2010).
   

Fact sheet.

First published: George Mann's "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 3" (2009).
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Hugo Award 2010 in novelette category.

Rachel Swirsky's "Eros, Philia, Agape" (novelette, love story, free): This android must find its own identity

Good enough read, but it has been done before. Probably the closest read I can off-hand recollect is the third (I think) story in Adam Link series of Eando Binder: girl falls in love with robot, but robot must break her heart & go out to be alone to figure out his own identity & how he can fit in among the humans.

Background & environment of the story will likely resonate better in some cultures than with others. This is not a story for global audiences.

Story summary.

Adriana is a lonely woman. To fight loneliness, she's purchased a custom-made android, Lucian, as companion. They fall in love. She helps him gain human (& property?) rights.

He figures his true status is that of a slave. Since he's free, he exercises his right to go away to meditate & discover his own identity - with no assurance that he will ever return.

So we have Adriana lonely again, & with a broken heart. Their adopted 4 year old daughter, Rose, & a pet bird provide additional opportunity for sentimental scenes.

Notes.

1. Torque Control has a very long discussion of this story.
2. I'm not clear what the title means.
   
   "Eros" probably has something to do with love.
   
   "Philia" with sex? But there is no overt sex here.
   
   "Agape" - wonderment? Again I don't see how it relates to the story.
   
   Update 18 April 2010: Micah clarifies the title in comments below. Thanks Micah.
   

Collected in.

1. Rich Horton (ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2010 Edition".
2. Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 4" (2010).
   

Fact sheet.

First published: tor.com, 3 March 2009.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Hugo Award 2010 in novelette category.
Related: Stories of Rachel Swirsky.