Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep" (short story, Christmas, non-genre)

This is light hearted christmas story of a newspaper editor obsessed with his work & uninterested in fun things like christmas celebrations.

Circumstances put him on a committee that will judge the town's Annual Christmas Outdoor Lighting Contest. So we'll see him turning the job into a news making exercise...

Title comes from a Christmas song in the story (I don't know if the song is real or imaginary):
  For Christ is born of Mary,
  And gathered all above,
  While mortals sleep, the angels keep
  Their watch of wondering love.

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "$10,000 a Year, Easy" (short story): Your mother doesn't always know what's best for you

A great singer died, & his widow keeps seeing his talent in their child. Child grows up thinking he has father's talent too - even if success has so far eluded him.

His music guru will gently & tactfully nudge him towards his true talent - without offending either mother or the pupil...

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "The Humbugs" (short story, humor, non-genre): My husband is better than yours!

Two painters - one old worldly wise, other young & idealistic. Younger one is poor, older one knows how to make money (will make a painting where the color of sunset matches your curtains, e.g.). Each thinks he's crappy & the other one has got all the talent. Each has a wife that adores her husband for his talent & thinks other is a humbug, a fraud.

One day, a wives' altercation results in a wager: each husband will make a painting in the style of the other, & we'll see who's more talented! Curious events follow...

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Money Talks" (short story, love story, non-genre)

A young man's grocery store has gone bust. Creditors take charge tomorrow; he's about the close the store for the last time. That's when a young woman walks in - asking for directions & to buy some stuff.

The woman is the nurse who'd cared for a dying rich man in the town during his last days, & to whom the man left his fortune - $12m. Of course, the town thinks the nurse manipulated the man.

They get talking, & a difficult love story develops - they know they're in love, but is the broke man after the newly rich woman's fortune?

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Mr Z" (short story, love story, non-genre)

A young man from a family of priests is studying criminology in college, among other subjects. As part of a project, he's sent to interview a very bitter but smart female convict in a local jail - convicted because stolen goods were found on her, though her thief & gangster husband is free for lack of evidence.

One thing leads to another & the two will end up in hospital with broken bones: young man beaten by friends of gangster husband, woman by the husband. And a romance begins... in the hospital.

Notes.

Title, "Mr Z", is a joke. During interview, the man is referring to woman's associates as "Mr A", "Mr B", etc - to protect their identity. So she begins referring to him as "Mr Z".

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "The Man Without No Kiddleys": (short story, non-genre): How many kidneys are there among 2 men?

This is a very simple story of chance meeting of two strangers in a park. Both very old. A lonely, very talkative, but simple-minded one who loves to talk of all things that ail him (I thought only India had such people!). Other a more sober one & a stranger to the town.

Talkative one will bug the stranger enough to make him lose his temper. But the kind hearted stranger will regret it & will come back to make amends.

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Bomar" (short story, humor): When a practical joke in office boomeranged

Carmody & Sterling, working in part of the company that does book-keeping for shareholders, have created a myth about a certain Mr Bomar Fessenden III. They picked this name from the shareholders list - because the name looked heavy & interesting! From the name & address they have, they give him an imaginary personality - of a deranged & wealthy playboy friend of one of the duo.

Only their lady office colleague has taken the story seriously. With consequences the duo could not have foreseen...

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Tango" (short story, humor)

This is a funny coming of age story.

An exclusive highbrow town somewhere in the US where everyone behaves exactly as expected - in a gentlemanly or lady-like way. But a teenager has discovered fun dancing the wild "Tango" - an indiscretion that will lead to both hilarity & chaos!

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Out, Brief Candle" (short story, love story, non-genre, free)

A lonely widow finds friendship & tender love in a pen pal, a pen pal who would rather not exchange pictures. When she learns the pal is sick, she'll make a real journey to see him, & we'll learn a little more about the pal than she does...

See also.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "P.S." (download scans as part of a larger package): Another fond pen pal story where at the other end of friendship lies something unimaginably ugly.

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Download full text from Sorin Despot@Facebook or Scribd.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Girl Pool" (short story): Life in a call center of a bygone era

Montezuma Forge & Foundry Company runs a call center for its products. Customers write letters to the company, a customer service center responds. This customer service center comprises of two wings - a men's area that handles the technical & content parts of the response to customers, & a stenographic area that types the men's dictations recorded into cassettes via "dictaphones" & posts the letters. This stenographic area comprises only of women & is called the "Girl Pool".

This is the story of a bored girl in the Girl Pool, one dying to have an adventure...

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "With His Hand on the Throttle" (short story, obsession, non-genre)

A successful businessman has a weekend hobby - playing with model trains in his basement. Only, it's much more than a hobby - it's an obsession that is ruining his married life.

Story is about one of his days in the basement with his mother visiting, with the man constantly ignoring both wife & the mother. Until mother decides to do something about it. And nearly succeeds...

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Guardian of the Person" (short story, non-genre)

I found it a bit lame. Actually, most of it is quite readable, but climax just went over my head. You feel the story is building up to something, & then a dud ending.

I have a feeling it might be a bit more effective for US readers - someone familiar with the cultural nuances in the story involving some family interactions.

Story summary.

A just married young man is driving with his bride to his home town - to take charge of his inheritance & to meet the Uncle who raised him.

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Hundred-Dollar Kisses" (short story, non-genre)

A cop is questioning a man on why he hit his office colleague on the head with a telephone receiver hard enough to send the victim to hospital. Very interesting reason.

It starts out light enough, but it has the authors' usual hard hitting ending.

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "The Epizootic" (short story, life insurance, free)

I wonder if this is a commentary on something observed in depression era US?

Epizootic of title is an epidemic affecting the bright, ambitious married men with more than one child. To ensure comfortable life for their family as their jobs are threatened, far too many men have been committing suicide to claim the life insurance money for their families!

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Download full text & audio from Short Story Radio.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (collection): Annotated table of contents & review

Where I have a post of a story, link on title goes there. My rating appears in brackets. Where I'm aware of an online copy, I include the download link too.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

1. [ss] "Hundred-Dollar Kisses" (A): Some people are so insensitive... 
2. [ss] "Tango" (A): A teenager's coming of age via the wild Tango dance. 
3. [ss] "Bomar" (A): When a practical joke in office boomeranged...
4. [ss] "Girl Pool" (A): Life in a call center of a bygone era...
5. [ss] "Jenny" (A): Sad love story of a romantic...
6. [ss] "The Humbugs" (A); non-genre, humor: My husband is better than yours!
7. [ss] "Out, Brief Candle" (A); download: A lonely widow finds romance in a pen pal.
8. [ss] "The Epizootic" (B); download text & audio: Tragically securing family's future as jobs are threatened... 
9. [ss] "$10,000 a Year, Easy" (B); non-genre: Your mother doesn't always know what's best for you...
10. [ss] "Ruth" (B); non-genre: Two women coping with the loss of a loved one.
11. [ss] "The Man Without No Kiddleys" (B); non-genre: How many kidneys are there among 2 men? 
12. [ss] "Mr Z" (B): When a wannabe priest fell in love with a woman criminal... 
13. [ss] "Money Talks" (B): A broke man's love for a rich girl. Is he after her money?
14. [ss] "With His Hand on the Throttle" (B): A man's obsession with model trains is ruining his family life...
15. [ss] "While Mortals Sleep" (B); christmas; non-genre: A newspaperman is making news out of a chore...
16. [ss] "Guardian of the Person" (B); non-genre: A newly married young man goes to his home town to collect his inheritance & meet an Uncle.

Fact sheet.

First published: 2011.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Ruth" (short story, non-genre): Two women coping with the loss of a loved one

This is perhaps the third non-genre story I've seen of Vonnegut. I wonder if his sf/non-genre output was close to 50/50?

This one begins & proceeds well but leaves the resolution open.

Story summary.

First meeting of a widow (Ruth, of title) with her mother-in-law. Her husband of 5 months recently died in a war, & she's pregnant. Neither of the women had anyone other than the man who's now no more.

The story is about the desperately different outlook of each woman to their common loss.

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Jenny" (short story, robot): Sad love story of a romantic

A brilliant engineer builds "Jenny", a robot refrigerator - a fridge that can walk around, & with a woman's flexible face mask attached to the door with springs. It connects with its "brain", a big computer nearby, via radio; computer also connects to a controller in the form of over-sized shoes with control buttons under toes - an experienced wearer can use them to make Jenny say things & give appropriate expressions.

Then he begins finding his wife "imperfect" in ways Jenny need not be, & a love story with the unreal begins, ultimately leading to a sad ending.

See also.

1. Lester del Rey's "Helen O'Loy": A far more famous story of a human inventor falling in love with his feminine robot creation.

Quotes.

1. "A man who hasn't built up a certain immunity to love through constant exposure to it is in danger of all but killed by love when the first exposure comes."
2. "I wound up loving her as a human being, as a miraculous, one-of-a-kind, moody muddle of faults & virtues--part child, part woman, part goddess, & no more consistent than a putty slide-rule."

Fact sheet.

First published: Kurt Vonnegut's "While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction" (2011).
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Kurt Vonnegut.

Plug: Eric Diehl's novel "Water Harvest"

Author would like to draw our attention to his novel, originally published September 2011 by Double Dragon eBooks. Here is the blurb provided by author:

"The Great Houses of Kast'ar have grown complacent. Technological adaptation bolsters a fragile biosphere, but one quandary remains unattended. Lunar-based harvest vessels orbit continuously, extracting their toll of moisture from the upper atmosphere.

Over time, the planet dries.

Now the Rules are caught unawares when a lunar enclave launches an invasion intended to seize control of the Harvest. House Alar, the greatest of the bloodline Keeps, falls before the predatory warlord. The invader's technology is strong and they are aided by the Guild; wizard-like practitioners whose hallucinogen-induced evocations bend fate to their will.

It falls to Cairn, Legion pilot and displaced heir to Alar, to persuade the House Alliance to intercede. His father and his love Neilai are held hostage, and a battered Cairn is dispatched to carry the vile interloper's edict. With few resources at hand, Cairn and boisterous comrade Dirc Cutter are thrust into a changed world. The Alliance falters and Cairn, son of House Alar, learns how little he knows of his home world."

Hugo awards 2012 - short stories: Nominees & my rankings

Official announcement.

Covers short stories originally published during 2011.

One of the stories is a novel excerpt rather than an independent story. I didn't read it. I was not even aware novel excerpts are eligible.
5 May 2012: OK - I now understand it's mean to an April Fool's joke - the prologue to an imaginary novel series.

Three of the stories were also on Nebula list this year.

List below is in order of my preference - best first, unread last. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on title goes there. All stories are online, & I've included the links. Links on author or publisher fetch more matching fiction.

1. Mike Resnick's "The Homecoming" (B); download; Asimov's, April/May: Son is visiting parents after being away for over a decade, & he's a very changed man. Dad is very angry, mom is now amnesic. How will the reunion go?
   
   Decent read, if you are in the right mood. It's an emotional story.
2. Nancy Fulda's "Movement" (B); download text & audio; Asimov's, March: Life of a girl inflicted with "temporal autism".
   
   Nominated for Nebula award 2011 in short story category.
3. E Lily Yu's "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" (B); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, April: Wasps colonize bees territory. Imaginative but with lousy ending.
   
   Colorful, but I was very disappointed with the ending.
   
   Nominated for Nebula award 2011 in short story category. Collected in Rich Horton (ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012".
4. Ken Liu's "The Paper Menagerie" (B); download; F&SF, March/April: Emotional & sad story of a Chinese peasant girl - losing her parents, being sold as a slave to a Hong Kong household, being sold as a "wife" to an American man, & finally being rejected by her American son who disliked his Chinese origins.
   
   Nominated for Nebula award 2011 in short story category.
5. John Scalzi's "Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue"; download; Tor.com: Not read.

Related.

1. All Hugo award winners & nominees.
2. Other awards for short fiction originally published during 2011: Nebula, BSFA.
3. Fiction originally published during 2011.
4. My "best of 2011".
5. "Best of" lists. 

Brian David Johnson (ed)'s "The Tomorrow Project" (anthology, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Entire anthology is online at Intel. Individual stories - both text & MP3 versions - are also online at Intel.
Caution: Intel page linked has been behaving erratically today; several links returned 404. Links with individual stories below also have been extracted from this page, & at least text links seem to be working at the time of this post. Say your prayers before clicking the links!

Editor is an Intel employee, cover says "Presented by Intel", & editor informs us that "All four stories in this collection are based on technologies Intel is currently developing in our labs." So presumably near future science fiction. All are also ... sort of ... geeky, with emphasis more on technology than plot.

Table of contents.

List below is in order of my preference, best first.

1. [ss] Scarlett Thomas' "The Drop" (B); download text/MP3: Romance in an even more gadgety near future.
2. [ff] Markus Heitz's "The Blink of an Eye" (B); download text/MP3: A description of the ultimate smart house...
3. Ray Hammond's "The Mercy Dash" (B); download text/MP3: Future of wearable, mobile, & car computers. Story is about a couple's need to reach a hospital several hundred kilometers away as quickly as possible in a car.
4. Douglas Rushkoff's "Last Day of Work" (B); download text/MP3: First we reach singularity - machines improve by themselves. Then plenty - machines are still servile. Then nirvana - transformed to some non-material state, with a consciousness blended with rest of mankind.
   
   Full of a lot of modern jargon.

First published: 2011?

Scarlett Thomas' "The Drop" (short story, free): Romance in an even more gadgety near future

While the story itself is not too remarkable (though it's more interesting than others I've seen from Intel so far), what I found interesting was: this is the first story I've seen so far that describes a plausible thought-control interface for gadgets. How to, e.g., send SMS via your wrist watch (assuming you still wear it) - i.e., texting from devices that don't have a keypad.

Fact sheet.

First published: 2011? At Intel website.
Download full text/MP3 from Intel website.
Rating: B.

Hugo awrads 2012: nominees announced

@Chicon 7.

Related: Past nominees & winners.

Nebula Awards 2011 - short stories: Nominees & my rankings

Official announcement.

Seven stories, all first published in the US during 2011. Nothing really outstanding. I found two completely unreadable; rest are at least readable.

All the ones I finished, except Yu's, are in sad mood, about various kinds of tragedies.

Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. My rating appears in brackets. Links on author or publisher yield more matching fiction. All stories are online, & download links are included.

Nominees (7 stories, best first).

1. Nancy Fulda's "Movement" (B); download text & audio; Asimov's, March: Life of a girl inflicted with "temporal autism".
2. David W Goldman's "The Axiom of Choice" (B); download; New Haven Review, Winter: A personal tragedy & a man's pain coping with it. Has unusual FORTRAN-style presentation.
3. E Lily Yu's "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" (B); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, April: Wasps colonize bees territory. Imaginative but with lousy ending.
4. Ken Liu's "The Paper Menagerie" (B); download; F&SF, March/April: Emotional & sad story of a Chinese peasant girl - losing her parents, being sold as a slave to a Hong Kong household, being sold as a "wife" to an American man, & finally being rejected by her American son who disliked his Chinese origins.
5. Tom Crosshill's "Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son" (B); download; Lightspeed, April: A woman has sold her 8 year old son to a scientist for experiments. Scientist who plugs him into a virtual reality environment, only we are not clear if it is virtual reality or alternate realms. Where multiple copies of child's consciousness experience multiple terrors.
6. Adam-Troy Castro's "Her Husband's Hands" (C); download; Lightspeed, October: Left partway through. This is macabre stuff. A soldier lost all of his body except hands, which were reanimated & returned to his wife. How should the wife be interacting with these living disembodied hands?
7. Aliette de Bodard's "Shipbirth" (C); download; Asimov's, February: Left partway through - something incomprehensible & apparently gory about future star-faring humans.

Fact sheet.

1. Other categories in this year's Nebula awards: [novelette], [novella].
2. This year's other awards: BSFA short fiction.
3. Previous Nebula award nominees & winners.
4. My "best of 2011" list.
5. Fiction originally published during 2011.
6. "Best of" lists.

E Lily Yu's "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" (short story, colonization, free): Wasps colonize bees!

Interesting colonization story - wasps are colonists & bees are natives whose territory they're colonizing. But resolution is by invoking deus ex machina, & that spoiled the ending for me: colonists are removed from the scene by a higher power, & rebels are killed by weather!

Fact sheet.

First published: Clarkesworld, April 2011.
Download full text/audio from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Nebula Award 2011 in short story category.

David W Goldman's "The Axiom of Choice" (short story, non-genre, free): Revisiting "goto"!

The most interesting thing about this story is its unusual structure - somewhat in the form of a FORTRAN program.

Story itself is about a personal tragedy, initial inability of the victim to cope, & eventually signs that may be he's beginning to put it behind. This plot usually doesn't work for me - there are just too many stories of the kind. But I wasn't bored.

Fact sheet.

First published: New Haven Review, Winter 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Nebula Award 2011 in short story category.

Ken Liu's "The Paper Menagerie" (short story, fantasy, free)

This may not be a bad read, provided you have a taste for emotional tearjerkers.

It's the sad story of a Chinese peasant girl - losing her parents to lawlessness during Cultural Revolution, being sold as a slave to a Hong Kong household, being sold as a "wife" to an American man, & finally being rejected by her American son who dislikes his Chinese origins.

Fact sheet.

First published: F&SF, March/April 2011.
Download full text from Random House.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Nebula Award 2011 in short story category.
Related: Stories of Ken Liu.

BSFA Awards 2011: Short fiction nominees, winner, & my ranking

Official announcement came out a few days back. Only minor stories this year.

All nominees are online. All originally published in UK during 2011.

List below is in order of my preference - best first, unread last. Links on author or publisher fetch more matching fiction. My rating is in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on title goes there.

1. [novella] Nina Allan's "The Silver Wind" (B); download; Interzone 233: Evil British government has been secretly experimenting with randomly picked citizens without informing them. Experiments that leave the victims grotesquely changed in body, if they survive at all. Experiments with a device that puts the subject in a parallel universe or in a different time.
   
   This is the story of a man who will be thus stranded in a parallel London, never able to return.
   
   British readers might find it more interesting as the story makes several references to what appear to be popular political issues there.
2. [novelette] Al Robertson's "Of Dawn" (C); download; Interzone 235: Left midway through. It wasn't that badly written, but I had read enough of unimportant stories in succession & wanted to move to something interesting.
   
   A woman is mourning the recent death of her soldier brother.
3. [ss] China Mieville's "Covehithe" (C); download; The Guardian, 22 April 2011: If the story has a head or tail, I cannot make it out.
   
   Oil rigs lost in the seas due to disasters are mysteriously coming alive, walking at ocean's surface, sometimes visiting coastal places & doing mindless destruction, laying "eggs" & having baby rigs, ... 
4. Kameron Hurley's "Afterbirth" (C); download; author’s own website: Way too complex to describe story & completely pointless. A world where women are required to have at least some children, though the responsibility for raising them is of the state. A woman is interested in some sort of astronomical artifact.
5. [winner] [novelette] Paul Cornell's "The Copenhagen Interpretation" (C); download; Asimov's, July 2011: In a Europe where diplomatic messages are conveyed via human couriers by burning the message in a courier's head in a language known only to two end parties, & even the courier doesn't know the message. Where walls & doors of rooms are made by bending space itself.
   
   Don't ask me what the story is about, though. It made zero impression & I immediately forgot. Something about a spy getting involved in an intrigue where terrorists have got hold of a courier carrying a valuable message.

[via SF Signal]

Related.

1. Past nominees & winners.
2. My "Best of 2011" list.
3. Fiction originally published during 2011.

Biren Shah's "An Easy Sale" (flash fiction, free)

Actually, I don't know why I liked it - probably because of funny language. Story itself is ... sort of ... routine - interaction of a man & a women, neither truly human. But the language is interesting.

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 27 October 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

3 stories

None top notch. Neither crappy. Average fare.

1. Christopher Anvil's "Leverage" (B); download; Astounding, July 1959: Human pioneers on a new world are harrased by local versions of gnats, crows, & dinosaur birds. Until someone has an idea...
2. Christopher Anvil's "The Sieve" (B); download; Astounding, April 1959: Pioneer (human) agricultural communities on this tough planet need to get rid of the useless & lazy among themselves to survive.
3. [ff] Kathryn Cramer's "You, In Emulation" (B); download; Nature, 20 October 2011: What if you could check out my brain dump from your local library & interact with it during rental period & make friends with it?

Rich Horton (ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012" (anthology)

Horton posted the ToC a couple of days back. 29 short stories picked by the editor from among those first published during 2011. I think it's several months before the book is actually available in a store.

Where I'm aware of online availability of a story, I include the link too. Links on author, publisher, or editor fetches more matching fiction.

Table of contents (29 stories, best first, unread last).

1. [ss] Chris Lawson's "Canterbury Hollow" (B); download; F&SF, Jan/Feb: Love story of a "balloted" couple - in world with too much population & too few resources; so periodically, ballots are drawn to decide who is to be prematurely killed!
2. Nina Allan's "The Silver Wind"; Interzone, March-April: Not read.
3. John Barnes's "Martian Heart"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Life on Mars": Not read.
4. Jonathan Carroll's "East of Furious"; Conjunctions:56, Terra Incognita: The Voyage Issue, Spring 2011: Not read.
5. Suzy McKee Charnas' "Late Bloomer"; Ellen Datlow (ed)'s "Teeth": Not read.
6. C S E Cooney's "The Last Sophia"; download; Strange Horizons, March 7: Not read.
7. Alan DeNiro's "Walking Stick Fires"; Asimov's, June: Not read.
8. Bradley Denton's "The Adakian Eagle"; George R R Martin (ed)'s "Down These Strange Streets": Not read.
9. Alexandra Duncan's "Rampion"; F&SF, May-June: Not read.
10. Neil Gaiman's "'And Weep Like Alexander'"; Ian Whates (ed)'s "Fables from the Fountain": Not read.
11. Theodora Goss' "Pug"; Asimov's, July: Not read.
12. Gavin Grant's "Widows in the World"; download (in two parts); Strange Horizons, February 7 & 14: Not read.
13. Yoon Ha Lee's "Ghostweight"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, January: Not read.
14. Kat Howard's "Choose Your Own Adventure"; download; Fantasy, April: Not read.
15. Karen Joy Fowler's "Younger Women"; download; Subterranean, Summer: Not read.
16. Kij Johnson's "The Man Who Bridged the Mist"; Asimov's, October-November: Not read.
17. Vylar Kaftan's "The Sighted Watchmaker"; download; Lightspeed, December: Not read.
18. Margo Lanagan's "Mulberry Boys"; Ellen Datlow (ed)'s "Blood and Other Cravings": Not read.
19. Marissa Lingen's "Some of Them Closer"; Analog, January: Not read.
20. Kelly Link's "The Summer People"; Kelly Link & Gavin J Grant (eds)' "Steampunk!": Not read.  
21. Paul McAuley's "The Choice"; Asimov's, February: Not read.
22. K J Parker's "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong"; download; Subterranean, Winter: Not read.
23. Robert Reed's "Woman Leaves Room"; download; Lightspeed, March: Not read.
24. George Saunders' "My Chivalric Fiasco"; Harper’s Magazine, September: Not read.
25. Rachel Swirsky's "Fields of Gold"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.
26. Lavie Tidhar's "The Smell of Orange Groves"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, November: Not read.
27. Catherynne M Valente's "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland, for a Little While"; download; Tor.com, July 27: Not read.
28. Genevieve Valentine's "The Sandal-Bride"; download; Fantasy, March: Not read.
29. E Lily Yu's "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, April: Not read.

Related.

1. 2011 edition of this anthology series.
2. Competing "best of 2011" anthologies: Dozois', [Strahan's], [Hartwell/Cramer's].
3. All anthologies (annotated but infrequently updated list of anthologies & collections).
4. My "best of 2011" list. 
5. Fiction originally published during 2011.
6. "Best of" lists.

Thoraiya Dyer's "Complaints Department" (flash fiction, humor, free)

Read the fine print, & still don't buy genetically accelerated seeds or animals...

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 13 October 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Margaret Atwood's "Stone Mattress" (short story, non-genre, free): A woman abused as a teenager gets her revenge

Verna Pritchard, 14 year old, was raped by 2 teenage boys, an event that set the tone for rest of her life. Now, 50+ years later, she has her chance for revenge...

Fact sheet.

First published: The New Yorker, 19 December 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Author's talk with publisher's fiction editor on genesis of this story.
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2011" list.
Related: Stories of Margaret Atwood.

Plug: Fritz Freiheit's "Dispensing Justice" (novel)

Author wants it be known that his "debut novel, Dispensing Justice, has been published and is available as an ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords."

Author's blurb: "In 1947, a near-Earth supernova's wavefront washes the solar system with cosmic radiation.  Thirty seven years later, high school freshman Michael Gurick's father is killed by supervillains.  Michael takes up his father's super-identity to seek justice --- or will it be revenge?"

First published: 2011.

Gardner Dozois (ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection" (2012, anthology)

His original post is supposed to be at Facebook, but I cannot see that; don't have a/c. The ToC below is seeded from SF Signal, then material added by me.

The book collects editor's choice of short stories originally published during 2011. Book itself is will likely be available mid-2012.

I've read all but perhaps a half dozen authors. There are may be 2 or 3 whose occasional stories I've really liked in the past. I'll not approach this anthology with high expectations, though I've read only one story so far.

Of 35 stories, 8 are from 3 original fiction anthologies edited by Jonathan Strahan. Then comes Asimov's - 6 stories, F&SF - 5 stories, Clarkesworld - 4 stories, & Tor.com 3 stories. Interzone, Analog & Subterranean get 1 story each. All other sources, mostly sundry original fiction anthologies, together have 6.

Table of contents (35 stories, best first, unread last).

Links on author, publisher, or editor fetches more matching fiction. For stories I've read, my rating is in brackets. Where I'm aware on an online copy of the story, I include the link too.

1. [ss] Chris Lawson's "Canterbury Hollow" (B); download; F&SF, Jan/Feb 2011: Love story of a "balloted" couple - in world with too much population & too few resources; so periodically, ballots are drawn to decide who is to be prematurely killed!
2. Paul Mcauley's "The Choice"; Asimov's, February 2011: Not read.
3. Catherynne M Valente's "Silently And Very Fast"; download text - part 01, 02, 03; Clarkesworld, October/November/December 2011: Not read.
4. Kij Johnson's "The Man Who Bridged The Mist"; Asimov's, Oct/Nov 2011: Not read.
5. Robert Reed's "The Ants Of Flanders"; F&SF, Jul/Aug 2011: Not read.
6. David Moles' "A Soldier Of The City"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Engineering Infinity": Not read.
7. Stephen Baxter's "The Invasion Of Venus"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Engineering Infinity": Not read.
8. [novelette] Karl Schroeder's "Laika's Ghost"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Engineering Infinity": Not read.
9. Damien Broderick's "The Beancounter's Cat"; download; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.
10. Gwyneth Jones' "The Vicar Of Mars"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.
11. Elizabeth Bear's "Dolly"; download audio; Asimov's, Jan 2011: Not read.
12. John Barnes' "Martian Heart"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Life on Mars": Not read.
13. Alastair Reynolds' "Ascension Day"; Scott Harrison & Lee Harris (eds)' "Voices from the Past": Not read.
14. Lavie Tidhar's "The Smell Of Orange Groves"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, November 2011: Not read.
15. Maureen Mchugh's "After The Apocalypse"; from author's collection with same title: Not read.
16. Jay Lake's "A Long Way Home"; download; Subterranean, Winter 2011: Not read.
17. Geoff Ryman's "What We Found"; F&SF, Sep/Oct 2011: Not read.
18. Dave Hutchinson's "The Incredible Exploding Man"; Ian Whates (ed)'s "Solaris Rising": Not read.
19. Paul Cornell's "The Copenhagen Interpretation"; Asimov's, Jul 2011: Not read.
20. Peter S Beagle's "The Way It Works Out And All"; F&SF, Jul/Aug 2011: Not read.
21. Michael Swanwick's "The Dala Horse"; download; Tor.com, 13 July 2011: Not read.
22. Ken MacLeod's "Earth Hour"; download; Tor.com, 22 June 2011: Not read.
23. Carolyn Ives Gilman's "The Ice Owl"; F&SF, Nov/Dec 2011: Not read.
24. Jim Hawkins' "Digital Rites"; Interzone, #237 (Nov/Dec 2011): Not read.
25. Pat Cadigan's "Cody"; Stephen Cass (ed)'s "TRSF: The Best New Science Fiction", #1 (2011): Not read.
26. Yoon Ha Lee's "Ghostweight"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, January 2011: Not read.
27. Tom Purdom's "A Response From Est17"; Asimov's, Apr/May 2011: Not read.
28. Ian McDonald's "Digging"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Life on Mars": Not read.
29. David Klecha & Tobias S Bucknell's "A Militant Peace"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, Nov 2011: Not read.
30. Michael Swanwick's "For I Have Laid Me Down On The Stone Of Loneliness And I'll Not Be Back Again": Not read.
31. Michael Flynn's "The Iron Shirts"; download; Tor.com, 4 May 2011: Not read.
32. [novelette] Alec Nevala-lee's "The Boneless One"; Analog, Nov 2011: Not read.
33. [novelette] Ian R MacLeod's "The Cold Step Beyond"; Asimov's, Jun 2011: Not read.
34. Ken MacLeod's "The Vorkuta Event"; Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers (eds)' "Postscripts #24/25: The New and Perfect Man": Not read.
35. Peter M Ball's "Dying Young"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.

Related.

1. Entire "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series; works of Gardner Dozois.
2. Competing "best of 2011" anthologies: [Horton's], [Strahan's], [Hartwell/Cramer's].
3. All anthologies (annotated but infrequently updated list of anthologies & collections).
4. My "best of 2011" list.
5. "Best of" lists.

Scott James Smith's "Distant Signals" (flash fiction, first contact, free)

Alien transmissions received a year ago have finally being decoded...

See also.

1. Isaac Asimov's "Youth" (download): similar ending.

Fact sheet.

First published: Antipodean SF, December 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Mary E Pearson's "The Rotten Beast" (short story, cyborg, free)

How much of body renewal, past an accident e.g., by doctors before you start wondering if you are really yourself?

Fact sheet.

First published: Tor.com, 30 November 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Two 2011 novels of Dan'O Brian

When author asked me if I would review one of them, I said can't promise. But I did promise to plug them here, so he sent me the review copies. In case I do read one of them, I will have a separate post.

1. "Cerulean Dreams"; "Science Fiction"; @Amazon Kindle: "Orion, the last city of men. Deep within the desert, a secret lay waiting. Young women found dead in the street. A corporation that controls the sleep of a populace that never sees the light of day. Alexander Marlowe seeks to unravel the mysteries of Orion..."
2. "The Journey"; "Philosophy"; @Amazon Kindle: "Seeking out the meaning of his journey, the Lonely is a being consumed by philosophical inquiry and adventure."

Joses Ho's "Her Name was Jane" (flash fiction, braindump, free)

Beware of boarding a cab - too many of them have random braindump machines embedded in their chassis!

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, #476 (18 August 2011).
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Don Webb's "Big Ripples Without a Splash" (short story, brain dump, free): Yet another way for humanity to go extinct

While the idea of humanity going extinct because everyone is happier in a brain-dumped digital world is not new, for some reason I liked the version presented here. But this is macabre stuff - so beware.

Story summary.

Let's say Mr X wants to commit suicide for whatever reason other than punishing his loved ones. His death will make the loved ones unhappy. And he has a duty towards providing for some.

So Brian Cornford invented a suicide gadget! It's surgically mated with your body. It eats up your brain after downloading its contents. It then simulates the dead person in his old body in ways that make the simulation undetectable by others!

Notes.

1. I didn't quite find convincing the ways the invention leads to most people wanting to commit suicide this way.

Fact sheet.

First published: Flurb, #12 (Fall-Winter 2011).
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: A.

Dominica Phetteplace's "The Cult of Whale Worship" (short story, genetic engg, free): Engineering a bug to help conserves whales

A Japaneses genetics researcher gangs up with two whale conservationists to design a very unusual parasite...

Fact sheet.

First published: Asimov's, October/November 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site. [via SF Signal]
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2011" list.

"Clarkesworld", #60 (September 2011) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Whole issue is online. This post is about fiction in the issue. Two stories, both minor - though Mellor's is at least readable if you have some experience reading science fiction.

Table of contents (only fiction, best first).

1. Greg Mellor's "Signals in the Deep" (B); download: Main thread is about a mother & her teenager son - their estrangement & then coming together. In the background of mysterious alien signal stations in outer Sol & a lot of techno-babble (designer babies, cyborgs, solar sail, ...).
2. Robert Reed's "Pack" (C); download text/audio: Cannot make out the head or tail of it. A pack of dogs seems to conning (hunting?) a man with the help of a woman (witch?).

Related: Fiction from Clarkesworld.

Some short fiction

I haven't been posting often recently because there haven't been too many good stories I've read recently. Here are 3 I read this week:

1. [ss] Mike Resnick's "Treasure Island" (B); download; Subterranean Online, Spring 2011; non-genre, humor: Conman priest, Lucifer Jones, "helps" sea pirates recover treasure hidden on a Pacific island by one of their own.
2. [novelette] Winston K Marks' "Backlash" (B); download; Galaxy, January 1954: A rather contrived alien invasion.
3. [ss] Alan Cogan's "In the Cards" (B); download; Galaxy, June 1956: Future-viewer kill free will.

Hugo Awards 2011: Winners announced

Official announcement.

Short fiction winners:

1. [novella] Ted Chiang's "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" (A); download; Subterranean Press (2010): Training AIs takes a lot of time & commitment.
2. [novelette] Allen M Steel's "The Emperor of Mars"; download; Asimov's, June 2010: A man copes with tragedy by escaping into fantasy.
3. [ss] Mary Robinette Kowal's "For Want of a Nail"; download; Asimov's, September 2010: A retiring computer operator bugs spaceship's AI to save himself from recycling. Everyone "useless" must be recycled (destroyed) to save ship's resources!

Free fiction: Two Robert Reed stories from F&SF, May-June 2011

"Stock Photos" (download) & "The Road Ahead" (download) at Suvudu.

Related: Fiction from F&SF; of Robert Reed.

Peter David's "Bronsky's Dates With Death" (novelette, free): A man's death-wish is fulfilled

Much of it is actually humor - an old man's obsession with his impending death, & the exasperation of his family members with it. But it has a grim & somewhat longish ending.

Fact sheet.

First published: F&SF, July/August 2011.
Download full text from Suvudu. (Note: Recent fiction  from F&SF tends to be online only for a couple of months. Save it locally if you intend to read it later.)
Rating: B.

Jean M Auel's "The Land of Painted Caves" (novel, history): Final (6th) novel in authors' "Earth's Children" series

This is not science fiction. But it's not uncommon to find speculation about stone age society in the genre; so I suppose it's not totally out of place.

It actually came as a sort of disappointment: while every other novel in the series is set in a different locale with different people with just a couple of shared characters, this one is not. This is really "Part 2" of previous volume, "The Shelters of Stone". It's as if author ran out of new material & was contract  bound to write a 6th volume.

While I don't regret having read it, fans who've read "The Shelters of Stone" won't miss anything by skipping it.

Story summary.

It's in 3 parts.

First part is yet another Zelandoni Summer Meeting: preparation, travel, actual meeting, ... - all from the point of view of Ayla & those around her. This is set a year after "The Shelters of Stone" - Jonayla is 1 year old.

Second part is a short journey through somewhat farther lands that still call themselves Zelandoni, though they rarely interact. This journey is "Donier Tour" arranged by First for Ayla as part of her training but lots of people join the traveling party. This is set 3 years after Part 1 - Jonayla is 4 years old.

Third part is yet another Summer Meeting - a year after Part 2 - that's sort of too colorful & out of character with rest of the series. Jondalar having an extra-marital affair, Jondalar/Ayla fight similar to that in "#3 The Mammoth Hunters", Mamutoi Lion Camp folks paying a return visit to Jondalar's folks, Ayla becomes a Zelandoni, ... Jondalar's behaviour early in this part is so out of tune with his character built through rest of the serious that I had difficulty accepting it.

Fact sheet.

First published: 2011.
Rating: B.