Tom Williams' "Three Strikes" (flash fiction, AI, free)

What do you expect when bored AIs piloting military's attack planes go on strike, & their human masters act tough?

Fact sheet.

First published: AntipodeanSF, either April or May 2009 issue.
PS: Why have they stopped documenting publication month & number on issues & stories?
Rating: B.
Download full text from publisher's site.

* Tom Williams' "Florescence" (flash fiction, science fiction)

A man making pass at a woman in her magic garden with active plants receives a quick death at the hands of plants!

Story reminded me of Arthur Clarke's "The Reluctant Orchid", but Clarke's version is infinitely more nuanced & entertaining.

Fact sheet.

First published: AntipodeanSF magazine, #111 (August/September 2007).
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

AntipodeanSF magazine, #111 (August/September 2007): Annotated table of contents & review

10 tiny stories. See opening remarks of #116 for any non-obvious conventions in the listing below. Full issue #111 is available here.

Story list (best first).

1. Karen Maric's "Fighting For Peace" (A); download; science fiction, humor: A meeting of diplomats of a multi-species colony goes the way most meetings go... Colorful characters reminded me of Jack Vance's "Meet Miss Universe".
2. Townsend Walker's "Pretty Lady" (B); download; non-genre: Second of the two parts spoiled it for me. First part is a moving account of the burial of a man, narrated by his little boy who doesn't even know his daddy is dead.
3. Francis Conaty's "The Fatal Adventure" (B); download; science fiction: A gaming company into immersive virtual reality adventures has made the game so thrilling there have been 3 deaths in a year due to extreme fear. Now the company is under cops' scanner, & there is a real chance it will be shut down & operators will end up in jail.
4. Tom Williams' "Florescence" (B); download; science fiction: A man making pass at a woman in her magic garden with active plants receives a quick death at the hands of plants! Story reminded me of Arthur Clarke's "The Reluctant Orchid", but Clarke's version is infinitely more nuanced & entertaining.
5. Frank Roger's "Catch A Last Breath" (B); download; science fiction: An experiment "changing the nature of time. We are speeding up time by chopping off a bit of every minute" is too successful - with disastrous consequences.
6. Tavis Potts' "True Love" (B); download; non-genre: A man poisons his dear girlfriend (or wife) to save her from painful death; she's suffering from some kind of a fatal disease.
7. Craig Miles' "Greenhouse Gases" (B); download; science fiction: A panel of dinosaur scientists debating "the best solution to increasing greenhouse gases, or coping with the impact of rising temperatures". A worthy suggests it's natural due to undersea seismic activity, & heralds the down of a new ice age; he's promptly killed by panel chairman & served as dinner!
8. Liam Brennan's "The Space Between Us" (C); download; science fiction: A spaceman dies somewhere away from earth. We aren't told where but it's in darkness & due to his air running out. Story is of his last thoughts before death, later parents laying flowers at his grave on earth.
9. Shaun A Saunders' "What Else But War" (C); download; non-genre: A man lets a salesman sell him very expensive & unnecessary gadgets, instead of the specific thing he went to buy in the first place.
10. Steve Duffy's "Of Pairs And Straights" (C); download; non-genre: Description of a game of playing cards somewhere. I didn't follow all the nuances of the game, but I don't see what is worth reading here.

Related: All AntiSF stories.