Friday, January 22, 2016

2015 Stories By Magazine and Category

To benefit people who have finished their 2015 reading and are ready to make nominations, we've collected information about all the short fiction in the list of magazines below. Within each magazine, stories are sorted first by category (novella, novelette, or short story) and then by name of story.

The idea is that people who read stories from one or more of these magazines benefit from something to jog their memory about what they actually read. To use these lists, click on the links for magazines you remember reading, then scan down the list. When you see a familiar-looking title, read the spoiler-free blurb. If that's not enough, click the "RSR Mini-review" link and read the spoiler. If that's still not enough, it probably didn't make enough of an impression on you to justify nominating it.


In addition to the six magazines above, we have the same information for nine anthologies.




Analog Science Fiction & Fact


Analog Novellas
Builders Of Leaf Houses by Catherine Wells  Time: 1h:04m (19K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
On Dray's planet, the natives in Motherlove's village meet humans at an inconvenient time, for they are coping with a number of challenges. Marta and Shipner mean well, but they have problems of their own, and communication is difficult.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 KTB
Defender of Worms by Richard A. Lovett  Time: 1h:25m (26K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Brittany, an AI, and her human host, Memphis, flee across the desert from rogue AIs who want to destroy Brittany if she won't join them.
Sleeping Dogs by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 1h:10m (21K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
An old man, long in hiding on a remote, tropical world, struggles to cope with the arrival of a figure from the worst part of his past.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFRevu:5
Zen Angel by Rajnar Vajra  Time: 1h:09m (21K words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
In 2065, the government gives the apparently-immortal Lenny Silver a dangerous mission of great importance to the human race.

Analog Novelettes
A Case Of Identity by Edward M. Lerner  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
A quantum AI playing at detective is recruited by a young woman to investigate the disappearance of her fiance.
Brigas Nunca Mais by Martin L. Shoemaker  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
The surprising tale of how Nick Ames, the famous, no-nonsense captain on the Earth-Mars run, had such a disastrous first wedding that there was no marriage.
Dancing in the Dark by Ramona Louise Wheeler  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
A captain of an "ice ship" finds a really big comet to help with terraforming planet Tarse.
Just Browsing by Stephen Lombard  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
A small-town librarian has to host aliens from Epsilon Cygni who for unknown reasons have asked permission to visit his library.
Karma Among the Cloud Kings by Brian Trent  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Preema is a Jain, sworn to kill no life, working on a gas giant planet extracting hydrogen for starships. The Jains have a menial job, collecting debris, but something about the debris bothers Preema.
Malnutrition by J.T. Sharrah  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Kadija is the first Umabari diplomat to meet with human beings. Umabari have a taboo against eating in public, and there are unexpected translation difficulties.
Racing to Mars by Martin L. Shoemaker  Time: 1h:10m (21K words)  IssueAnalog 09|15
A violent lady doctor, an abusive captain, and the ship's owner's spoiled 20-year-old son on a trip to Mars--what could go wrong?
Season of the Ants in a Timeless Land by Frank Wu  Time: 44m (13K words)  IssueAnalog 11|15
Scientists in Australia investigate a plague of very peculiar ants.
Slider by Bud Sparhawk  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
Around 2050, a failed minor-league baseball star has high hopes for his son, but when the boy gets an unexpected offer from the Orioles, there are strings attached.
Stonebrood by Alec Nevala-Lee  Time: 38m (11K words)  IssueAnalog 10|15
A near-future story about a team in Pennsylvania trying to put out a fifty-year-old underground coal fire using swarms of mosquito-sized drones to try to map the extent of it. But there are worse things down there than toxic gasses, and the most dangerous
Tasha's Fail-Safe by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 37m (11K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Tasha is an interstellar secret agent for the Hom. Sap. Confederacy. Her efforts to identify a mole put her life in danger, and she has to rely on help from a person who hates her.
The Audience by Sean Mcmullen  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
The Javelin reaches a rogue planet 36 light-days from Earth, but the crew finds something terrible there.
The Eighth Iteration by Bond Elam  Time: 48m (15K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
Lucas has taken over the small human colony on a jungle planet, and Jake and Margret try to resist.
The Great Leap of Shin by Henry Lien  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
In this Chinese fantasy, in the style of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," the eunuch Mu Hai-Chen tries to engineer an earthquake, and the boy Ten Li tries to stop him.
The Smell of Blood and Thunder by Liz J. Andersen  Time: 35m (11K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A world where people coexist with intelligent dogs and cats sends for a vet to cope with a problem with intelligent fleas.
The Tarn by Rob Chilson  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
In a far-future Earth, a whole town goes digging for treasure--the Arbiter is sure it's a scam, but who is behind it?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Wormhole War by Richard A. Lovett  Time: 41m (13K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
Earth's attempts to use wormholes to travel to other stars keep getting blocked by something.
Usher by Jay Werkheiser  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Uplifting story in which Dave, a scientist who is losing his sight and hearing to Usher syndrome, attempts to communicate with aliens that neither see nor hear.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4

Analog Short Stories
After by Ron Collins  Time: 01m (500 words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Short-short, in which a mechanical problem traps a crew member outside the spaceship and the rest of the crew try desperately to save him/her.
An Immense Darkness by Eric James Stone  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Antonio's project has developed a way to make virtual copies of living human brains, and now that's all he has left of his fiancee.
Arnheim's World by Therese Arkenberg  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
In the far future, a rich recluse terraforms an entire world just for himself and his few remaining friends.
Ashfall by   Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
Beekeepers threatened by volcanic ash discover new things about their robotic bees.
Baby Steps by Lettie Prell  Time: 08m (2K words)  IssueAnalog 11|15
Something goes wrong when a dying woman is uploaded into virtual reality, and Jayden has to figure it out and fix it.
Blue Ribbon by Marissa Lingen  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Out in the Oort cloud, teen-age Tereza and her sister just won a 4H club competition, but when the kids try to return to the space station, no one answers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
Breakfast in Bed by Ian Watson  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
Max and Sandra explore the nature of the multiverse in bed together.
Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth by Ken Brady  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueAnalog 11|15
A former rock climber makes one last jump, from the top of a kilometer-high tower on a high-gravity world.
Butterflies on Barbed Wire by Marie Vibbert  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 10|15
A young man whose family is in the tattoo business has problems convincing his elders that they should try new things.
Cease and Desist by Jay Werkheiser  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
Lazy, fat guy is sued by his future self for causing his health problems.
Cetacean Dreams by Robert R. Chase  Time: 21m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
Europa station uses trained dolphins to help explore a mystery in that moon's vast world ocean.
Daily Teds by Ron Collins  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
Fun story about Ted, a slacker grad student in physics who discovers that his professor's "gamma gun" has unexpected properties.
Delivery by Bud Sparhawk  Time: 03m (900 words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
What if online shopping software was so good it could ship what you needed before you even ordered it?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Double Exposure by Don Sakers  Time: 03m (900 words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
A government agent asks an intoxicated SF writer for help on a time-travel project. (short-short)
Down Please: The Only Recorded Adventure of Lars Fouton, Captain's Lift Operator on the Starship Magnificent by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
An alien general takes an interest in the unfortunate Lars, who has the dullest job on the starship.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Dreams of Spanish Gold by Bond Elam  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A godlike AI becomes human to learn the meaning of being human.
Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 09|15
An art connoisseur who specializes in dynamic "evolutionary art" gets involved with the finest collection there is.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton
Evangelist by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 18m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 11|15
A man hits bottom and visits a soup kitchen run by aliens pitching their own religion.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Exit Interview by Timons Esaias  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 11|15
A prisoner, confined for life on an inhospitable alien world, gets a sign that something is finally going to change.
Fool's Errand by Judith Tarr  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Marina is an underemployed scientist managing cargo on a starship when a stasis capsule fails and she finds herself trying to deal with a horse. Heartwarming.
Footprints In The Snow by Bud Sparhawk  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
Alberto seems to be a caricature of a bigot. He hates the family of spider-like alien refugees who've moved in next door and won't give them a fair chance. But first impressions can be misleading--this story rewards readers who persist.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:4
Guns Don't Kill People by Jacob A. Boyd  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
On a remote planet, an AI rifle aims to help her owner deal with real threats to his well-being.
In the Mix by Arlan Andrews, Sr.  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A young woman in the late 21st Century makes a living creating a very strange sort of online art.
Live From the Air Chair by Maggie Clark  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueAnalog 09|15
A post-apocalypse DJ in Earth orbit has to help his ex-girlfriend find an important bit of space junk.
Long Way Gone by David L. Clements  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
A man sends a copy of himself to start civilization on a distant planet, but the copy has trouble adjusting.
Marduk's Folly by Sean Vivier  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Marduk's Accord finds a star whose planetary system doesn't match what they expected, but disagreeing with the Accord isn't easy.
My Father's Crab by Bruce Mcallister  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 10|15
A man remembers the good times he had as a boy with his father, a US Naval officer. He remembers a strange crab that bit his father, and how it changed their lives. The boy's love for his dad feels very real.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
No Gain by Aubry Kae Andersen  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
Maggie, a former champion gymnast, coaches a 16-year-old Uzbek, Sabina, who seems inhumanly focused on winning.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Orion, Rising by Arlan Andrews, Sr.  Time: 03m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Short-short. In 2024, a bunch of guys in a bar watch the first moon landing in decades, complaining that it's not different enough from the first landings.
Paris, 1835 by Bill Johnson  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
A lady time-traveler falls into bad company in nineteenth-century Paris.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP
Partible by K. J. Zimring  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
Heartwarming story of a man in near-future Seattle who learns he had a son with a woman he knew nine years ago--except that he never had sex with her.
Phenol-faerie by Jay Werkheiser  Time: 03m (900 words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Short-short about a grad student trying to study faery dust.
Pincushion Pete by Ian Creasey  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A man dedicated to helping people increase their intelligence is threatened by a newspaper expose.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Potential Side Effects May Include by   Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A young woman in a trial of anti-anxiety implants finds they work better than expected.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Robot Boss by Erick Melton  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Don's supervisor is an AI, but what makes it worse is that, much like a human boss, it seems determined to blame him for its own mistakes.
Samsara and Ice by Andy Dudak  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
On a distant planet, every few years, two soldiers awake and try to kill each other. The locals think they're gods, and no one seems to remember what the war was about.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Second Birthday by Elisabeth R. Adams  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Lisa gets invited by her friend Erika to visit her lab for the second birthday of two of her creations.
Sentience Signified by J. L. Forrest  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAnalog 05|15
Bilit is exploring Joon, an earthlike planet 24 light-years from Earth.
Ships in the Night by Jay Werkheiser  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
A starship crewman chats in a bar and tells about a curious incident that happened during a near-light-speed cruise.
Space Bugs by Marianne Dyson  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Short-short. When Congress shuts down NASA, a couple of former astronauts think of a way to get it back.
Strategies for Optimizing Your Mobile Advertising by Brenta Blevins  Time: 03m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
Someone who makes a living wearing shirts that display advertising messages (updated in real time) is in trouble when the shirt goes blank.
The Badges of Her Grief by Andrew Barton  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Eun-jin Park is a reporter on planet Esperanza. She investigates a woman up north who seems to be doing something unusual with the native inhabitants.
The Crashing of the Cloud by Norman Spinrad  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 09|15
A master hacker on the lam from the US government signs up to help Islamic terrorists.
The Daughters of John Demetrius by Joe Pitkin  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 10|15
In a future (~100 years) Mexico, out in the desert, a transhuman young man helps out some normal people, even though he's in peril from other transhumans who are hunting him. There seems to be a well-developed world behind this little story, and it defini
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois RHorton
The Empathy Vaccine by C. C. Finlay  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
A man believes he'd be a better executive if he could turn off his empathy for other people.
The Extraordinary Extraterrestrial Togo Mouse from Ghana by Ryan W. Norris  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Brett, a reporter, investigates Dr. Alex Jordan's claim to have discovered extraterrestrial life in Africa. Creatures so similar to mice that no one noticed how strange they were before.
The Kroc War by   Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
Various people involved with the Kroc war voice their opinions about it.
The Last Days of Dogger City by Mjke Wood  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
Adventure story about a catastrophe on a near-future floating city off the coast of Europe.
The Master's Voice by Brendan DuBois  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
Today is Jake's 7th birthday (13 Earth years), and the celebration formally makes him a man.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
The Museum Of Modern Warfare by Kristine Kathryn Rusch  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
The narrator, now a diplomat, returns to a planet where she and other humans had allied with natives to win a bloody victory. She's there to visit a new war museum and investigate complaints about it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Narrative of More by Tom Greene  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A scientist studies the stone-age human survivors of a long-lost colony, and he finds there's something very disturbing about them.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
The Odds by Ron Collins  Time: 03m (1K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
What are the odds that two species at roughly equal levels of development would meet in space and learn to trust each other?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
The Philistine by Ted White  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 10|15
A failed, middle-aged artist works for the government digitizing paintings and destroying them in the process.
The Story of Daro and the Arbolita by Shane Halbach  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueAnalog 11|15
On planet Tillal, the Arbolita practically worship their margolo trees, and killing one is a crime--even to save a life.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
The Yoni Sutra by Priya Chand  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
In a future India, Shalini juggles the responsibilities of being a new bride and dealing with a new woman at work, one who doesn't have the chip that protects her from men who make advances.
Three Bodies at Mitanni by Seth Dickinson  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
Earth has sent a powerful starship to find the colonies it established 1,000 years ago and to destroy any that pose a threat to humanity.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke
Transfer Point by   Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
Amusing tale of an immigration officer on the moon in 2289 faced with the news that the immigration office will be moving to Mars.
Tumbling Dice by Ron Collins  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
A space gambler meets a girl he's got to have--even though he knows she's on the make.
Ulenge Prime by Chuck Rothman  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Fifty years from now, an African dictator faces revolution owing to the cost of his space program.
Unmother by Lex Wilson  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
A unit of an intelligent alien parasite in a human brain finds evidence that the host's immune system is on to them.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Very Long Conversations by Gwendolyn Clare  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
Becca is part of a team evaluating a new colony planet when she finds evidence there may already be intelligent life there.
Whey Station by Guy Stewart  Time: 01m (500 words)  IssueAnalog 04|15
A short-short, in which a couple renovating an old barn discover mysterious appliances.
Why the Titanic Hit the Iceberg by Jerry Oltion  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
Some decades from now, Tony leaves a dying, overheated Earth to take a job on an enormous rotating space habitat, but he's unhappy that it mainly caters to the wealthy.

Asimov’s Science Fiction


Asimov Novellas
A Thousand Nights Till Morning by Will Mcintosh  Time: 1h:36m (29K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
Aliens conquer the Earth, but a psychiatrist from our Mars colony manages to make things worse.
Inhuman Garbage by Kristine Kathryn Rusch  Time: 1h:24m (25K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
A young woman is murdered in Armstrong City, Luna, and both the police and organized crime want to understand why. Captivating.
On the Night of the Robo-Bulls and Zombie Dancers by Nick Wolven  Time: 1h:10m (21K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
In a nightmarish near-future New York where wake-up pills mean no one ever sleeps, Gabriel investigates strange behavior by his financial trading company's AIs.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:5
Pollen from a Future Harvest by Derek KΓΌnsken  Time: 1h:23m (25K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
In the 24th Century, Major Okonkwo investigates the suspicious death of her husband in the context of research on a secret portal that links 11 years into the past and the future.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Children of Gal by Allen M. Steele  Time: 1h:07m (20K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Sanjay's mother is exiled from the Eos colony for heresy because she claimed she saw "stars" moving in the night skies.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette De Bodard  Time: 1h:48m (32K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
The Empress of the Dai Viet Interstellar Empire assigned a team to track down her rebellious daughter, who disappeared thirty years ago. Now the scientist leading the investigation as also disappeared.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 SFEP GDozois
The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred by Greg Egan  Time: 1h:04m (19K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
The situation on Vesta has reached the point where certain people flee to Ceres in suspended animation. Anna, the new Director of Ceres, tries to understand the refugees better as relations with Vesta continue to deteriorate.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton SFEP
The Long Wait by Allen M. Steele  Time: 1h:06m (20K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
Dhanista's family has dedicated itself to supporting Earth's first starship, Galactique, from their base on Earth. As she grows up, her life is intertwined with events that happen to the starship.
The New Mother by Eugene Fischer  Time: 1h:04m (19K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Tess is writing an article about a new disease that causes women to give birth to clones of themselves.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB

Asimov Novelettes
Acres of Perhaps by Will Ludwigsen  Time: 44m (13K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
In his old age, a TV writer reflects on a show he worked on fifty years ago--the only work he's really proud of--and the almost supernatural way it came to an end.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: RHorton
Begone by Daryl Gregory  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
A man has mysteriously been replaced by a near-duplicate, and he plots how to get his job, home, and family back.
Biology at the End of the World by Brenda Cooper  Time: 38m (11K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
In a future where genetic engineering is strictly forbidden, a young woman new to enforcement helps search space habitats for forbidden biology experiments.
Caisson by Karl Bunker  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
A young man helping build the Brooklyn Bridge in 1871 copes with a friend who's too interested in the fossils they find on the riverbed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
Day Job by Tom Purdom  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Len has empathy problems, so after losing yet another job, his girlfriend gets him to go to a clinic where they can fix things like that--most of the time.
Empty by Robert Reed  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
Lerner Pong is an AI on a mission to the outer solar system following a huge war between machines that has left the inner solar system in ruins.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton NClarke
English Wildlife by Alan Smale  Time: 51m (15K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
A man and his girlfriend visit England, and he worries about her intense interest in old stone carvings of snarling heads called "green men," because of the leaves carved around them.
Ghosts of the Savannah by M. Bennardo  Time: 34m (10K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
In prehistoric Africa, two women defy custom and run with the hunters.
Like Native Things by Mary Robinette Kowal  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
Tilda is a middle-aged German scientist researching technology to link human minds with animals--she's been very successful, but today something goes very wrong.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
Lock Up Your Chickens and Daughters—H'ard and Andy are Come to Town by   Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Andy and H'ard are magical con men who offer to "help" a drought-ridden, depression-era, southwest town.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
No Decent Patrimony by Elizabeth Bear  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
About 150 years from now, a man who made his fortune providing immortality to the wealthy dies in a car explosion, and his son reckons with his legacy.
No Placeholder for You, My Love by Nick Wolven  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
Claire meets a handsome older man at a dinner party held in a virtual reality where something has gone subtly wrong.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 GDozois NClarke
Of Apricots and Dying by Amanda Forrest  Time: 28m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
In a near-future Pakistan, 19-year-old Asma has to choose between a high-tech job in the city or staying home to help her family. A complex story, and there is more to things than meets the eye.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4 SFEP
Our Lady of the Open Road by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 54m (16K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
One of the last live bands struggles to do performances in a mostly-online world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:4 SFEP
Pareidolia by   Time: 36m (11K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
Josephus fixes problems for a 23rd-century company that uses time-travel to extract valuable artifacts from ancient times. Mostly light-hearted and fun.
Rattlesnakes and Men by Michael Bishop  Time: 40m (12K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
Wylene Godfrey, her husband Reed, and daughter Celeste move to Wriggly, Georgia, where everyone owns at least one rattlesnake.
Red Legacy by Eneasz Brodski  Time: 33m (10K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
In an alternate Cold War, Marya works on a secret genetics project for Stalin, but her goals aren't quite what the Russians think they are.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The End of the War by Django Wexler  Time: 41m (13K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
In deep interplanetary space of some other solar system, war is fought between squads of self-replicating robots while their human operators engage in almost-friendly conversation.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFEP
The Great Pan American Airship Mystery, or, Why I Murdered Robert Benchley by David Gerrold  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
In an alternate 1937, Pan Am debuts a fleet of helium-filled luxury airships, and a steward on the maiden flight eavesdrops on the famous passengers.
The Gun Between the Veryush and the Cloud Mothers by Anna Tambour  Time: 54m (16K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Those Above fire the gun that seeds the clouds which drop produce onto those Below, who gather and bring the harvest up--but the gun may be failing.
The Hard Woman by Ian Mcdowell  Time: 51m (16K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
French woman in the 1880s old West can become invulnerable, at some cost, and makes a living as a stage performer--until something goes wrong in Tombstone.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Ladies' Aquatic Gardening Society by Henry Lien  Time: 36m (11K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
Two ladies in late Nineteenth-Century New England fight over their places in society via their gardens.
The Molenstraat Music Festival by Sean Monaghan  Time: 48m (15K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
On an arid planet, an former musician--now a painter in his old age--attempts to help a damaged but extremely talented young musician find the strength to heal herself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:5
Twelve and Tag by Gregory Norman Bossert  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
At the end of the 21st Century, the crew of Tethys initiates a pair of new crew members via a story-telling game. Chilling.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 RHorton
Walking to Boston by Rick Wilber  Time: 44m (13K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
A man takes his Alzheimer's-afflicted wife to Boston to fulfill a promise he made when they were young.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4 SFEP
Watergirl by   Time: 40m (12K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
Del and his friend Zep are near-future surf bums living in Hawaii. Zep finds them work with a wealthy developer using nanotechnology to create programmable waves.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4

Asimov Short Stories
Bidding War by Rich Larson  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
In a fairly near future Canada, Wyatt bids online for a mezo-American flute he thinks would be just the gift to patch things up with his girlfriend. Mildly amusing.
Butterflies by Peter Wood  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
Ruth studies insects in an alternate reality where the giant insects from 50's horror movies are real. But the giant butterfly blocking the driveway is just an annoyance. So far.
Calved by Sam J. Miller  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
A refugee from drowned New York City tries to reconnect with his teenage son during a break from the menial work he does on ice boats.
Candy From Strangers by Jay O'Connell  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
In a near-future Boston, Morgan looks for people about to commit suicide and makes them his "clients." His help is free, but is it worth what it costs?
Come-From-Aways by Julian Mortimer Smith  Time: 08m (2K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
One night in present-day Maine, a teenager with a pregnant girlfriend rows into the fog to think things over. But strange alien equipment often washes up on Bartlett's Beach on foggy nights.
Duller's Peace by Jason Sanford  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
A young girl lives with her grandfather in a near-future totalitarian south-east Asian country whose rulers use an airborne nanotechnology to track everyone's thoughts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:4
Forgiveness by Leah Cypess  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
A high-school girl's abusive boyfriend comes back to school equipped with an anti-violence chip. No one understands how despite everything she still loves him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB
Ghost Colors by Derek KΓΌnsken  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
Brian is haunted by a second-hand ghost who, in life, had been a paleontologist loved Brian's aunt. Brian doesn't mind him, much, but his new girlfriend says the ghost has to go.
Holding the Ghosts by Gwendolyn Clare  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
A body used commercially to host the personalities of dead people starts to get a mind of its own. Satisfying.
Hollywood After 10 by Timons Esaias  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
Time travelers visit a dinner party in McCarthy-era Hollywood where something important almost happened.
How to Walk Through Historic Graveyards in the Post-Digital Age by Fran Wilde  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
After a grave injury reporting on a future US war, Eleanor's eyes were replaced with advanced prosthetics--but now she seems to be seeing ghosts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Last Hunt by Vylar Kaftan  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
A young, pre-European Inuit girl and her cousin witness a falling spaceship, and she insists they investigate, wondering if it is a message from the spirits.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Military Secrets by Kit Reed  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
When the Navy reports Jessie's father is missing-in-action, life at school becomes very strange. Surreal.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Mutability by Ray Nayler  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
In a comfortable future world, a man meets a woman from a past he doesn't remember.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton RHorton
My Time on Earth by Ian Creasey  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
Amy just got back from a trip to Earth with her parents, and she excitedly tells her friends all about the ghost she met in England.
Ninety-Five Percent Safe by Caroline M. Yoachim  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
Crowded into a huge, underground city, survivors of a nuclear war can opt to take a one-way trip through a wormhole and settle on another planet. But 5% of the pods get destroyed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Paul and His Son by Joe M. Mcdermott  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
In a near-future NYC, 14-year-old Paul Jr. keeps running away from home, and Paul Sr. is willing to go to great lengths to stop him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Petroglyph Man by Rudy Rucker  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
Julio, a young man visiting Hawaii with his wife, explores his company's technology that modifies photos based on the user's thoughts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Riding the Waves of Leviathan by Garrett Ashley  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
In the near future, a teen-age boy's world is turned upside down when a giant monster starts hauntings the beaches in his town.
Searching for Commander Parsec by Peter Wood  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
A single mom learns that the 50s-style radio show her lonely young son loves listening to is coming from a radio station that no longer exists.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Songs in the Key of You by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
In the near future, all the cool Highschool kids wear "Kurzwailers" on their wrists, which play music that's customized for them alone. Aisha's family is too poor for her to have one, but she does have a gift for creating music.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Adjunct Professor's Guide to Life After Death by Sandra Mcdonald  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
Ghost of an adjunct professor haunting her department is inundated by victims of a campus shooting.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB
The First Step by Kristine Kathryn Rusch  Time: 11m (4K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
An aging scientist wants to be the first to use the time machine he's invented.
The God Year by Jim Grimsley  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
The people of an ugly fantasy world where the narrator's drunken husband beats and humiliates her and his handicapped child await the coming of a god.
The Marriage of the Sea by Liz Williams  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
A fantasy story in which the narrator is scheduled to become the "Bride of the Sea."
The Muses of Shuyedan-18 by Indrapramit Das  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
Lesbian couple studying the native life on Teysanzi make a real impression on a towering alien.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois
The Sentry by Frank Smith  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Rick has returned to the Titan colony from the Tethys war, but he and his family are having trouble adjusting.
The Unveiling by Christopher Rowe  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
A middle-aged foreman whose crew does menial jobs on planet Castellon finds something unusual during a routine job cleaning statues meant to be unveiled the next day.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
Tuesdays by Suzanne Palmer  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
Customers at a remote, west-Texas, late-night diner report a UFO sighting, and the police come out to investigate. Played for laughs, it's a fun read.
Two-Year Man by Kelly Robson  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
Mikkel isn't very bright, but he cleverly supplements his janitorial job by scavenging useful items his superiors discard and bringing them home to his wife--then one day he brings home a mutant baby.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton NClarke
We Jump Down into the Dark by M. Bennardo  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
Anders joins a mission to try to save two people from a colossal space station before it twists itself apart.
What I Intend by Robert Reed  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
A wealthy investor decides to pour resources into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, with unexpected results.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Wild Honey by Paul Mcauley  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
In post-Collapse America, Mel operates a hive of augmented bees and trading honey and medicines with locals--until a crew of bandits arrives.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP NClarke
Willing Flesh by Jay O'Connell  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
In the near future, a morbidly obese young man is attracted by an ad that offers to help you lose weight by taking control of your body during those boring exercises.
With Folded RAM by Brooks Peck  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
A team infiltrates a space station just as two researchers are about to create the ultimate AI.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB

Clarkesworld


Clarkesworld Novelettes
An Evolutionary Myth by Bo-Young Kim  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 104
What if people's bodies evolved during a single lifespan, changing form according to the actions and the character of each individual?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
And If the Body Were Not the Soul by A. C. Wise  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
Ro can't tolerate touching other human beings, but an accidental contact with an alien changes Ro's world.
Asymptotic by Andy Dudak  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 105
Intergalactic policeman enforces Einstein's speed limit, but suffers the side effects of violating it himself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton
Coming of the Light by Chen Qiufan  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
Zhou is an ad man for a Chinese marketing firm, and he has to find a way to get people to buy a new photo technology that has unusual capabilities.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFRevu:4
Ether by Zhang Ran  Time: 48m (15K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
One dreary day follows another for the underemployed, middle-aged narrator until a mysterious figure in black fleeing the police stops to trace a figure in the palm of his hand.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
Morrigan in Shadow by Seth Dickinson  Time: 48m (14K words)  IssueClarkesworld 111
(Military SF) This tells of how Noemi Laporte got involved with NAGARI, her relationship with Lorna Simms, and the black hole that ate 100,000,000 people.
So Much Cooking by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 110
During a flu epidemic, the narrator uses her cooking blog to tell the world about how she and her family make do on short rations.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 NClarke
The Hunger Tower by Pan Haitian  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
An aircraft crashes in the desert on an unpopulated planet, and the passengers struggle to survive.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Servant by Emily Devenport  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
A servant girl on a generation ship plots to overthrow the evil and corrupt rulers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: KTB
Surreal tale about the loves and losses of Violet Wild, a girl from the purple country, who crosses the spectrum accompanied by a unicorn, a sorrow, and a herd of time squirrels.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 RHorton

Clarkesworld Short Stories
A Universal Elegy by Tang Fei  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
Irina leaves the solar system to be with Hull, a "man" he's known just two weeks, who won't treat him like a mentally-ill person.
All Original Brightness by Mike Buckley  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
Two disabled veterans of a near-future war meet in a virtual-reality world.
An Exile of the Heart by Jay Lake  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
Teenage Trieste is the heir-apparent to the Earth-Luna station at the L1 point, but she falls afoul of her step-father and get exiled.
Android Whores Can't Cry by Natalia Theodoridou  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
A woman reporter in a dictatorship investigates an old third-world massacre with help from a female android designed for other purposes.
Cassandra by Ken Liu  Time: 18m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
Nameless lady villain explains how misguided Superman is for trying to stop her.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB
Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
Entertaining tale of a modern search engine that achieves real artificial intelligence by accident and decides it wants to be helpful to people.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 RHorton NClarke
Cremulator by Robert Reed  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueClarkesworld 108
Mysterious blue flashes followed by falling grit signal that something very strange is happening.
Egg Island by Karen Heuler  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
In a fairly near future, Audra visits the mid Pacific to watch how the ecosystem is evolving to incorporate plastics.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: KTB
For the Love of Sylvia City by Andrea M. Pawley  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 104
The 19-year-old heroine, who maintains the cable that links her peaceful underwater city with the war-torn mainland, finds something troubling during a routine repair.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Forestspirit, Forestspirit by Bogi TakΓ‘cs  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 105
In the far future, a military system left-over from a war hides in a forest until a boy asks it for help.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Further North by Kay Chronister  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
Two Turkish sisters struggle to survive in an Alaska ravaged by giant mutant worms.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Ice by Rich Larson  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
At 16, freshly moved to an alien planet, Sedgewick plans to meet some local boys for a midnight challenge/initiation, but his 14-year-old brother tags along.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Xia Jia  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 110
The narrator is a librarian who acquires a mysterious book of poems and becomes obsessed with finding information about the author.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: KTB
In 2139 Beiruit, Suraya sends a sequence of e-mails that summarize her team's progress saving as many people in Lebanon as possible from a coming global catastrophe.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Indelible by Gwendolyn Clare  Time: 08m (2K words)  IssueClarkesworld 101
A man searches an alien concentration camp for relatives of his step-sister, who was an alien too.
It Was Educational by J. B. Park  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
A game tester in a future China evaulates an extremely realistic, totally immersive video game. Bloody as it is, the fact that it's based on historical events means it's marketed as "educational.
Let Baser Things Devise by Berrien C. Henderson  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 103
In alternate-history America, an uplifted chimp gets certified as a person and goes to the moon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Loving Grace by Erica L. Satifka  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 108
In a near future where all work is automated, a man's wife is drafted to be "employed" by the system, and he struggles to find meaning in life without her.
Meshed by Rich Larson  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 101
In near-future Seattle, a basketball scout finds an unusually talented high school senior, but there's one catch. This story is uplifting and painful all at once.
In 2335, a lonely old woman tries to get her robot to help her commit suicide.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Ossuary by Ian Muneshwar  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 104
An AI in charge of an interstellar junk yard dreams of better things.
Postcards From Monster Island by Emily Devenport  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 103
Giant monsters invade a US city, but a group of eccentric neighbors stick around anyway.
Preserve Her Memory by Bao Shu  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 108
A famous actress in a future megalopolis appears to commit suicide, and the police investigate, looking for clues in the memories of her last few dozen seconds.
Security Check by Han Song  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
A man in a future, security obsessed America longs for freedom, but lacks the courage to defy the security guards at the subway entrance.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Slowly Builds An Empire by Naim Kabir  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
In a future Tokyo, Shinsuke Takinami is an outcast because he can't use the augments that normal people use to communicate with each other--he has to talk.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: KTB
Snakes by Yoon Ha Lee  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
A soldier-made-warship carries her sister-soldier's corpse seeking a way to revive her.
Technician at a Jovian helium-mining station has recurring dreams that something on the planet is calling to her.
Summer at Grandma's House by Hao Jingfang  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
In China, a failing student decides to spend the summer with his grandmother, an eccentric scientist.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Algebra of Events by Elizabeth Bourne  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueClarkesworld 108
A ship of very alien aliens crash lands on Earth and has difficulty with the natives.
The Apartment Dweller's Bestiary by Kij Johnson  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
All the imaginary creatures a young person could want to make apartment life more pleasant.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Empress in Her Glory by Robert Reed  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 103
Aliens decide to rule the Earth indirectly, picking a middle-aged woman from an insurance company to be their intermediary.
The Father by Kola Heyward-Rotimi  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
The church of the Goddess plans to sacrifice the engineers who recreated the "seeds of the goddess" for them, but Madhav plans to escape.
Aya is a farmer who grows realms of galaxies, skilled in finding and pruning the sick and malignant.
In a post-apocalypse Earth, Gabhan and his little boy Ciro compete with Mishka for a contract to pollinate trees.
In an alternate history ~1880s steampunk+magic Chicago, a woman detective for the Pinkerton's investigates someone who might have been involved in a terrorist attack on Chicago.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Occidental Bride by Benjanun Sriduangkaew  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 108
A women in a future Hong Kong that has survived some sort of global disaster is forced to take one of the architects of the catastrophe as her bride--for the purpose of catching others who were involved.
The Petals Abide by Benjanun Sriduangkaew  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueClarkesworld 103
In a strange, distant future, someone resurrects an assassin and they have a relationship.
In 2001, just before the attacks, a girl out West has a very close encounter with space aliens.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
A war reporter investigates a possible alien landing in Hungary although her previous reporting has made her a lot of enemies there.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
A key scientist in the Dai Viet interstellar empire has died, and three people who were close to her mourn her passing in different ways.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 GDozois
Today I Am Paul by Martin L. Shoemaker  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
Alzheimer's patient's family can't visit her very often, so they buy a robot to fool her into thinking they're visiting her. The robot tells the story.
Union by Tamsyn Muir  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueClarkesworld 111
(Horror) Frankton, NZ gets a shipment of twenty "lichen splice" wives--free, courtesy of the government. But these aren't like the last batch of wives.
When We Die on Mars by Cassandra Khaw  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 111
(Hard SF) A team of astronauts trains for a one-way mission to set up a Mars colony.
When Your Child Strays From God by Sam J. Miller  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
Fundamentalist mom takes networking drug so she can track down her missing teenage boy.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Your Right Arm by Nin Harris  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 110
On a spaceship in the far future, Rasakhi tells the story of how the last human died.
Yuanyuan’s Bubbles by Liu Cixin  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 111
(Hard SF) Yuanyuan has been fascinated with bubbles ever since she was a baby, but her hometown is dying from drought and needs water, not bubbles.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:5

Fantasy & Science Fiction


F&SF Novellas
Entrepreneurs by Robert Grossbach  Time: 1h:12m (22K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
An engineer on Earth in the 1980s attempts a business deal with rather tiny space aliens.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Gypsy by Carter Scholz  Time: 1h:18m (24K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
With Earth falling apart, a secret group launches a mission to Alpha Centauri in 2041. Launching is only half the problem; getting there is the real challenge.
Johnny Rev by Rachel Pollack  Time: 1h:20m (24K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Jack Shade, a supernatural investigator in New York City, is stalked by his own duplicate.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
The Lord of RagnarΓΆk by Albert E. Cowdrey  Time: 56m (17K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
A middle-aged knight in early 13th-Century France bringing his squire (and future master) to meet "The Master of the Tides," reflects on the things he's done, variously brave, cowardly, kind, and horrible, and those he's seen--including the terrifying sup
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
What Has Passed Shall In Kinder Light Appear by Bao Shu  Time: 1h:20m (24K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
A Chinese man recounts his life, in which the events of history as we know them appear to be coming in reverse.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4

F&SF Novelettes
A Residence for Friendless Ladies by Alice Sola Kim  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
A physically female high-schooler wants to transition to a man, but her grandmother sends her to a place that tries to make women into ladies.
Entanglements by David Gerrold  Time: 39m (12K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
A writer gets a device that lets him examine alternate universes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:5 SFEP
Farewell Blues by Bud Webster  Time: 45m (14K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
In 1937, Juney Walker was a young man playing the blues with a band in the Louisiana bayou. He played with a man named Jake Fell, who could play to raise the dead--and one time did. A very moving story.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Hob's Choice by Tim Sullivan  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
Hob Dancer has come from Earth to Cet Four because his great-great-grandmother wants him to learn about the natives, who are struggling to survive human colonization.
Jubilee: A Seastead Story by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Beck is a teen-age girl who lives on Seastead, a collection of offshore platforms claiming independence from the US. Their organization has collapsed, and do-gooders from the mainland are trying to help deal with a couple of epidemics.
Lightning Jack's Last Ride by Dale Bailey  Time: 31m (10K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
In the near future, during the second US Civil War, the narrator and his friends drive armored race cars to steal gasoline from the Federal government.
Monsieur by David Gerrold  Time: 46m (14K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
The narrator wants to write vampire stories. He meets someone who can tell him all about them, and he writes down his story, starting in 1870s Seattle.
Portrait of a Witch by Albert E. Cowdrey  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
The FBI forces crooked accountant Alfred to take a job with Lord Pye on a Caribbean tax haven to try to prove Lady Pye is a serial killer.
Prisoner of Pandarius by Matthew Hughes  Time: 35m (11K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
In this amusing tale, Raffalon the Thief accepts a job from Cascor, a minor magician who wants him to steal an unknown object from Cascor's former employer.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Rascal Saturday by Richard Bowes  Time: 32m (10K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
A late-21st-Century young woman lives in a New York that's dying from climate change, and she wants to escape to a lightly-populated alternate reality that her family can access--but she's not on good terms with her family.
Teardrop by Lisa Mason  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
On a very alien world, the human executive director of the "Cultivation" project has gone native, and he resists the people sent to arrest him .
The Adventure of the Clockwork Men by Ron Goulart  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
In a humorous 1903 steampunk London, a detective who specializes in the supernatural hunts a criminal mastermind who has kidnapped his girl.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Body Pirate by Van Aaron Hughes  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Symbiotic intelligences combining a bird-like entity with a humanoid one suffer problems when progress allows each bird to control multiple humanoids.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton
The Curse of the Myrmelon by Matthew Hughes  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
A fantasy-world shipping clerk thinks discrepancies in his accounts are the result of a curse, so he hires Cascor, a sort of magic-using private detective.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Deepwater Bride by Tamsyn Muir  Time: 28m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Things from the deep ocean invade a small American town, and a 16-year-old girl who can glimpse the future seeks the cause of it all.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP RHorton JStrahan
The Mantis Tattoo by Paul M. Berger  Time: 28m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
In this clever historical fantasy, set in the Pleistocene, young Nudur gets called to serve Mantis, and Mantis sets him a difficult task to prove himself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFRevu:4
Tomorrow is a Lovely Day by Lisa Mason  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
Tomorrow, Benjamin graduates school and can start a new life as a teacher, but he has to finish one last day at a job he really hates.
Trapping the Pleistocene by James Sarafin  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
Fur trapper from ~22nd-Century Ohio goes back in time to try to catch a giant beaver.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 GDozois
We're So Very Sorry for Your Recent Tragic Loss by Nick Wolven  Time: 32m (10K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
In a world where everything is connected, a bug causes the system to think that thirty-five-year-old Meg has suffered a death in the family, and everything in her daily life, from her pillow to the ads on the sidewalk, starts commiserating with her.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4

F&SF Short Stories
A Hot Day's Night by Paolo Bacigalupi  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
Journalist covering the slow death from lack of water of a near-future Phoenix joins a scavenger for a night to get a story with a new angle.
A House of Her Own by Bo Balder  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
Young girls on a lost planet where people have developed a symbiotic relationship with the planet's native life forms see their world disrupted when it is rediscovered by human beings.
A Small Diversion On the Road to Hell by Jonathan L. Howard  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Humorous story about a bartender on another planet having a slow day until a time traveler turns up.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
A Turkey with Egg on His Face by Rob Chilson  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
Modest, young Missouri man has "friends" who bully him, a "girlfriend" who doesn't know he likes her, and a time machine.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:5
A User's Guide to Increments of Time by Kat Howard  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Siobhan and Finn are chronomancers, who can manipulate the passage of time. Former lovers, they hate each other now, and use their magic against each other.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Bilingual by Henry Lien  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Akari Yamaguchi is a 16-year-old girl in present-day California whose very creative plan to save the dolphins causes some chaos.
Cleanout by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
The narrator and her two sisters have come to clean out their comatose mother's house and select items they might want to remember her by.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Dixon's Road by Richard Chwedyk  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
A stranger from the spaceport visits the house of a famous poet, preserved from the original terraforming of the planet.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Don't Move by Dennis Etchison  Time: 11m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
Surreal tale of a young man who gets off a bus in the middle of nowhere and the mysterious girl who follows him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
DreamPet by Bruce Mcallister  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
The narrator is senior VP for design at a company that makes genetically-modified pets, and he likes to give them as gifts to family members.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Four Seasons in the Forest of Your Mind by Caroline M. Yoachim  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
A very alien sort of aliens have a very different sort of first contact with humanity.
Her Echo by Kj Kabza  Time: 02m (615 words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
In the style of an old legend, this story tells about what happened to Old Wise Woman's reflection, shadow, and echo after she died.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
History's Best Places to Kiss by Nik Houser  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Amusing time-travel story in which a couple decide that disrupting their own wedding would be cheaper than getting a divorce.
How to Masquerade as a Human Before the Invasion by Jenn Reese  Time: 02m (685 words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Instructions to sleeper agents from other planets on how to blend in while waiting for the invasion.
In the Time of Love by Amy Sterling Casil  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
A man wants to build a device to stop time--in a sense.
Into the Fiery Planet by Gregor Hartmann  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Young man helping terraform a volcanic planet gets a chance to show he can do more than grunt work.
It's All Relative at the Space-Time CafΓ© by Norman Birnbach  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
Bohr meets his ex, Jenny, at the cafΓ©, where they reminisce about love and science in terms of puns.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
La HΓ©ron by Charlotte Ashley  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
In France in 1699, a magical fighter comes to Caen to duel with creatures from faery.
Last Transaction by Nik Constantine  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
On colony 13, citizen 79867 is about to have a very bad day, owning to an unauthorized transaction.
Little Girls in Bone Museums by Sadie Bruce  Time: 11m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Deeply disturbing story about Piedra, a young woman whose body has been twisted into a work of art called a "bone knot."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
Oneness: A Triptych by James Patrick Kelly  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Three tales of seduction: one SF, one horror, one both.
Out of the Jar by Eric Schwitzgebel  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Amusing story about a philosophy teacher who gets in touch with God and discovers he's a teenager running an illegal simulation program.
Paradise and Trout by Betsy James  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
The ghost of a ten-year-old boy tries to find his way to paradise.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
Telling Stories to the Sky by Eleanor Arnason  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Heartwarming tale of a beggar girl in a long-forgotten city who tells stories to the wind.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Ten Stamps Viewed Under Water by Marissa Lingen  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
Two young sisters in a fantasy world wait out a plague at home. One of them collects stamps to pass the time, but what she really wants is to find a way to help find a magical solution.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Bone War by Elizabeth Bear  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
Bijou the artificer makes animated skeletons, but she's never been asked to apply her magic to a dinosaur skeleton before.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Chart of the Vagrant Mariner by Alan Baxter  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Daniel is a cabin boy on a pirate ship whose captain obsesses over a madman's map that supposedly leads to untold treasure.
The City of Your Soul by Robert Reed  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
You take a plane flight to Seattle, but disturbing news from Brazil bothers everyone on the flight. And beyond.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
The Fabulous Follicle by Harvey Jacobs  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
Cute slipstream story about Morris the barber, who takes on some rather non-traditional clients in order to raise money to open his own shop.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Gazelle Who Begged for Her Life by Francis Marion Soty  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Sobering tale of Kafar Al-Din, who meets a Jinni in the woods outside Aleppo and tells the tale of how he comes to be leading a gazelle that seems to be begging for its life.
The Laminated Man by Albert E. Cowdrey  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
Cairns retired from the FBI at 60 to pursue one, last, mysterious case--off the books.
The Man from X by Gregor Hartmann  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Franden wants to be a writer, but he's hoping to immigrate to a less populous, less competitive world. If he can just fool immigration into believing he's really an artist.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
The Silicon Curtain: A Seastead Story by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Teen-age girl on libertarian-inspired floating city tries to help a boy before her mother takes her to California.
The Thirteen Mercies by Maria Dahvana Headley  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
In a modern-day world that uses magic, a group of soldiers sentenced for war crimes struggle to make sense of their punishment.
The Winter Wraith by Jeffrey Ford  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
All alone at home during bad winter weather, Henry wants to get rid of the dead Christmas tree in the living-room. It drops needles and ornaments and there just seems to be something wrong with it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB LTilton JStrahan
Things Worth Knowing by Jay O'Connell  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
In the near future, Stanley supervises school kids grades 1-12 while they use an automated system to learn, but one boy seems to be learning abnormally quickly.
This Is the Way the Universe Ends: with a Bang by Brian Dolton  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
In the far future, near the end of the Universe, Titus and the 92 remaining intelligences cope with the discovery of something new.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
This Quintessence of Dust by Oliver Buckram  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Having lost her human partner, a robot investigates some deaths.
Today's Smarthouse in Love by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
A house AI falls in love with the house next door.

Lightspeed


Lightspeed Novellas
On the Dying Winds of the Old Year and the Birthing Winds of the New by Kate Elliott  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueLightspeed 59
In this fantasy, Mai lives in exile in the independent town of Salya, but the theft of a courier bag means that King Anjihosh doesn't intend to leave her or the town in peace.

Lightspeed Novelettes
Rhye a bitter ex-supersoldier, fights to rescue Rack, her hacker partner in crime, after the criminals they're working for kill Rack's body while his mind is in cyberspace.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB RHorton
Hot Rods by Cat Sparks  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueLightspeed 58
Near future Australia is dying from drought, and Harper's boyfriend has taken a job at a local mysterious American military base.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
Saltwater Railroad by Andrea Hairston  Time: 52m (16K words)  IssueLightspeed 62
In 1835, a mysterious young woman washes ashore on an island off the Georgia/Florida coast where a group of runaway slaves have built a community.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 KTB
A group of Englishmen sharing an evening in a pub near a canal on "Old Mars" meet a stranger who knows their secret and makes them an offer.
The Ministry of the Eye by Dale Bailey  Time: 42m (13K words)  IssueLightspeed 59
Bureaucrat in an ugly dystopia starts seeing signs of forbidden beauty in the debris on the filthy streets.
Violation of the TrueNet Security Act by Taiyo Fujii  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueLightspeed 62
A washed-up programmer in near-future Japan explores old code that she wrote back before the Internet was replaced by TrueNet.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke

Lightspeed Short Stories
A Brief History of Whaling with Remarks Upon Ancient Practices by Gabby Reed  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Learn all about whales in space.
All in a Hot and Copper Sky by Megan Arkenberg  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
Thirty years after a catastrophe in a Mars mission simulation, a woman writes letters to her dead lover--the one they call the Angel of death.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
In the modern world, a water spirit mourns the loss of her mortal lover.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
And We Were Left Darkling by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 63
A childless woman is consumed by dreams that she has a baby.
Beneath the Silent Stars by Aidan Doyle  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 67
(Soft SF) Jean-Paul has to find out why the Mariposa X destroyed the hyperspace gate that linked humanity with galactic civilization.
Maddie's list of things to do before the end of the world tells a sad, sweet story.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:4
Children of Dagon by Adrian Tchaikovsky  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 65
As London falls to the waves, a tribe of modified human beings takes over the waterlogged areas, fighting with the human refugees.
Crazy Rhythm by Carrie Vaughn  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 62
In 1925, a young woman assistant works on the set of a silent movie about World War I.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Deep/Dark Space by Gabrielle Friesen  Time: 00m (260 words)  IssueLightspeed 61
In space, no one should hear a dog barking--especially not outside your spaceship.
Die, Sophie, Die by Susan Jane Bigelow  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
People keep harassing Sophie online over an article she wrote, but one of the harassers is very different from the others.
Documentary by Vajra Chandrasekera  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 58
Somebody is making a documentary about Kamaria, who is a were-helicopter.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Emergency Repair by Kate M. Galey  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Narrator desperately takes one of her androids apart in a race with time to save her lover's life.
Ex Libris Noctis by Jay Lake  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 67
(Urban Fantasy) Beatrice is dying, her brass heart failing, her captor leering at her. To survive and escape, she needs to remember how she got here.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
Ghosts of Home by Sam J. Miller  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 63
A young woman with a bank job appeasing spirits who haunt foreclosed homes meets an attractive young male spirit who causes her to question the rules.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP JStrahan
Repeated runs of a simulation in which women from fairy tales fight to the death with knives.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
God Mode by Daniel H. Wilson  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
A young man studying to be a video-game designer falls in love with a classmate after she falls and hits her head--the same day all the stars went out.
Teenage Ben doesn't understand why he's attracted to Mikey. He never like guys before, and there's something really odd about Mikey.
Headwater LLC by Sequoia Nagamatsu  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 56
Headwater Bottled Refreshments sells bottled water with literally magical properties. Yoko works in the home office and knows that the mythical, aquatic, Kappa on the logo isn't so mythical.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Helping Hand by Claudine Griggs  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
When Alexandria's propulsion unit fails on a solo space mission, she knows she's going to die if she can't think of something--it's just a matter of time.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
An intelligent spaceship from the center of the Earth reflects on the meaning of life.
How to Remember to Forget to Remember the Old War by Rose Lemberg  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Veteran living in a future San Francisco suffers from PTSD despite the memory-wipe treatment given by the military.
In the Dawns Between Hours by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 03m (980 words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Tess decides 1943 is no place for a gay woman, so she builds a time machine. Now she just has to decide when to use it.
Increasing Police Visibility by Bogi TakΓ‘cs  Time: 03m (960 words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Extraterrestrials are illegal in Hungary, but the ET detectors have some problems.
Influence Isolated, Make Peace by John Chu  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Cyborg struggles to prove he can fit into society now that the war is over.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Letter From an Artist to a Thousand Future Versions of Her Wife by J. Y. Yang  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
A woman's message to her wife chases her spaceship at the speed of light.
Madeleine by Amal El-Mohtar  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Madeline is having an adverse reaction to an experimental drug--she revisits episodes in her past.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB SFEP
Mama by Eliza Gauger  Time: 01m (330 words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Mama is vast, belt-born, seven feet long, and she's a legend from Luna Park to Styx Landing.
Melioration by E. Saxey  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Narrator has a wicked friend with a device that makes people forget how to say specific words.
Men of Unborrowed Vision by Jeremiah Tolbert  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 56
Mara is a college student who flies drones to monitor police brutality at protests, but she knows something is wrong when no one at all shows up for a protest.
Mouth by Helena Bell  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 60
Ann discovers she can remove parts of people's bodies without hurting them--much.
Nothing Goes to Waste by Shannon Peavey  Time: 03m (1K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
A woman thinks she's being abducted by aliens--one piece at a time.
Nothing is Pixels Here by K. M. Szpara  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Ash enjoys his life in virtual reality, but lately he's got a strong desire to return to the real world--even though he barely remembers it.
Plant Children by Jessica Yang  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Qiyan harmonizes her botany thesis with her desire for children--sort of.
Quiet Town by Jason Gurley  Time: 08m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 59
Bev and her son Benj are among the last people left in town when bad news arrives.
Red Planet by Caroline M. Yoachim  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 57
Tara's lover is leaving for Mars. Tara cannot follow because of her blindness, but then she gets an option to try a new treatment.
SF story in present-day Seattle. Nicole and Andrew are star-crossed lovers, who meet in a bus accident. They marry, they divorce, and then things start to get strange.
Rubbing is Racing by Charles Payseur  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
An illegal, near-planetary drag race for rather unexpected stakes.
Young scientist trying to develop time travel encounters an alien intelligence that lives outside of time.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: NClarke
Solder and Seam by Maria Dahvana Headley  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 65
On a future Earth, after most people have left, a failed revolutionary decides to build a life-size wooden whale.
Surfacing by Marissa Lingen  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 58
Mishy returns from an underwater city where she hid from the war for 20 years--but the war isn't over.
Tea Time by Rachel Swirsky  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 67
(Fantasy) The Mad Hatter and the March Hare continue their tea party where time has stopped. But does even timelessness have an end?
The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club by Nike Sulway  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 65
What if rhinoceroses behaved like human beings and talked about their upcoming extinction during book club meetings?
The Lamb Chops by Stephen Cox  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Harry and Aiden have more problems than most couples, and it has nothing to do with them being gay.
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 66
The narrator is a soldier in a far-future army that transports soldiers by turning them into beams of light. But he has funny visions when he's a light beam, and he's starting to question the whole war.
The Myth of Rain by Seanan Mcguire  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 60
In the near-future Pacific Northwest, environmentalists race to save key species from a forest that's slated to be destroyed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Ninth Seduction by Sean Mcmullen  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
A goblin craftsman who makes things of beauty for his cruel elvish mistress learns to make her weapons from the mundane world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Plausibility of Dragons by Kenneth Schneyer  Time: 21m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 66
In which Malik, a Moor from Cordoba, and Fara, a lady knight, unite to hunt a powerful and uniquely deceitful dragon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
The Smog Society by Chen Qiufan  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 63
A lonely old Chinese man gets involved in the fight against smog--without government approval.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton NClarke
The Tip of the Tongue by Felicia Davin  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
The government has taken away everyone's ability to read, but Alice misses her books and wants to do something about it.
The Universe, Sung in Stars by Kat Howard  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 59
Orrey maker decides to try working with real stars and galaxies.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:4
Things You Can Buy for a Penny by Will Kaufman  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 57
If you are desperate, visit the burned-out cottage by moonlight, find the forbidden well where the wet gentleman lurks. If you give him a penny, he might grant your wish.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 KTB LTilton SFRevu:4
Time Bomb Time by C. C. Finlay  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 60
Hannah's boyfriend wants to test his time experiment in Hannah's room.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: RHorton
Tomorrow When We See the Sun by A. Merc Rustad  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 67
(Space opera) Mere, an executioner android of the Principality, becomes curious about its barely-remembered past, putting itself in danger.
Tragic Business by Emil Ostrovski  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 65
An often-reincarnated soul wants a fair chance at love, but something keeps going wrong.
Trickier With Each Translation by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
A woman is trapped in a time loop by a jealous super hero, and her own super power doesn't help her.
Two By Two by Tim Susman  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
The blight destroyed almost all plant life, and Daniel and Vijay are seeking shelter with Daniel's family in Texas who may have a way out.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
We'll Be Together Forever by Joseph Allen Hill  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 59
A dysfunctional couple decides to make a love potion to prevent themselves from breaking up.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4
Werewolf Loves Mermaid by Heather Lindsley  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
Humorous slipstream tale about a romance between a werewolf and a mermaid in the real world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
When We Were Giants by Helena Bell  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 66
The narrator attends a Catholic girl's school. During recess, the girls play in an enchanted forest that transforms them into something else.

Tor.com


Tor.com Novellas
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman Malik  Time: 1h:14m (22K words)  IssueTor.com 04/22/15
Salman pursues the truth behind stories his grandfather told him about an impoverished princess he used to know back in Pakistan and the Jinn that protected her.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton JStrahan
Waters of Versailles by Kelly Robson  Time: 1h:02m (19K words)  IssueTor.com 06/10/15
Sylvain de Guilherand secretly uses a captive water spirit to provide indoor plumbing to Louis XV's Versailles, but the spirit is childish, playful, and getting bored.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 JStrahan

Tor.com Novelettes
A Beautiful Accident by Peter Orullian  Time: 36m (11K words)  IssueTor.com 01/07/15
In this gruesome fantasy, Vendanj submits to months of cruel torture in order to gain entry to the Mal society to try to avoid a war with his own.
Adult Children of Alien Beings by Dennis Danvers  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueTor.com 08/19/15
An old man suspects his parents were space aliens, and he embarks on a quest to learn the truth.
Three different accounts of (modern day) human encounters with "ambiguity machines" are presented, each one a story in itself.
At the End of Babel by Michael Livingston  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueTor.com 07/01/15
In a future authoritarian America that doesn't tolerate cultural or linguistic diversity, Tabitha Hoarse Raven returns to the pueblo of Acona to finish the sacred dance her father died trying to complete.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Ballroom Blitz by Veronica Schanoes  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueTor.com 04/01/15
Jake and his brothers are doomed to dance forever unless he can find women willing to help break the curse.
Fabulous Beasts by Priya Sharma  Time: 31m (9K words)  IssueTor.com 07/27/15
Lola (aka Eliza) has had problems dealing with people ever since she was a child, but she's always been good with snakes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP
Ginga by Daniel JosΓ© Older  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueTor.com 05/20/15
In modern New York City, Carlos hunts the evil undead--even though he's half-dead himself.
You are a lonely ten-year-old boy living in an old house with your mom when a man claiming to be your uncle arrives and strange things start to happen.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton
The Deepest Rift by Ruthanna Emrys  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueTor.com 06/24/15
On planet Duranga, a novice research team struggles to prove that the communication system of the "mantas" they study amounts to an actual language.
The Freedom of Navid Leahy by Jenna Helland  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueTor.com 11/11/15
Eleven-year-old David's family are cottagers resisting oppression by the Zunft, but today he has to fight with a former friend.
The Hell of It by Peter Orullian  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueTor.com 02/25/15
In a fantasy port town, Malen loses his job and struggles to find a way to earn some money to support himself and his child.
The Thyme Fiend by Jeffrey Ford  Time: 46m (14K words)  IssueTor.com 03/11/15
In 1915 Ohio, 14-year-old Emmett's night terrors get worse after he finds a dead body in an abandoned well.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
In retirement, a super hero reflects on the events immediately after the "hero bomb" gave him super powers.
Trigger by Courtney Alameda  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueTor.com 06/03/15
Micheline, a 15-year-old monster-fighter, wants to prove herself by taking down a scissorclaw that has already killed more senior fighters.
Zapped by Sherwood Smith  Time: 46m (14K words)  IssueTor.com 05/27/15
Laurel is starting highschool in a new town, and although she's smart enough not to talk about her telekinetic ability, she can't resist using it sometimes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB

Tor.com Short Stories
Acrobatic Duality by Tamara Vardomskaya  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 02/11/15
Kim and Alana are two bodies sharing a single mind, which makes them world-class gymnasts--as long as they keep it a secret.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Jingfei fights copies of herself for eternity--while other copies watch--but she does get the occasionally interruption.
Damage by David D. Levine  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 01/21/15
An intelligent, patchwork fighter ship struggles to help the last of the Free Belt fight off the Earth Force.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke
Dog by Bruce Mcallister  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 03/25/15
In the 1980s, when a young American couple goes to Mexico to study Spanish, a Mexican-American friend warns them to pay attention to the dogs.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4
Elephants and Corpses by Kameron Hurley  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 05/13/15
Nev can jump to bodies of the freshly dead, or to bodies he keeps on ice, but his latest acquisition causes no end of trouble.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Hold-Time Violations by John Chu  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 10/07/15
Ellie is trying to catch a train from Boston to DC so she can visit her ailing mother when her sister calls to tell her she needs to "go to the skunkworks and repair the physics of this universe."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke
In the Cave of the Delicate Singers by Lucy Taylor  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueTor.com 07/15/15
Stories say that deep in the the Brotterling caves something sings a song that drives people insane, but four cavers are trapped in there, and Karyn intends to find th
Kia and Gio by Daniel JosΓ© Older  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 01/06/15
In present-day New York, Kia is a 17-year-old black girl still haunted by the disappearance of her cousin Giovanni seven years ago.
Kingmaker by Lindsay Smith  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 09/23/15
In a fantasy empire, Vera tries to bring down the criminal underworld in the capital.
Milagroso by Isabel Yap  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 08/12/15
In a near-future Philippines, Marty takes his family to his hometown to see a miracle that transforms artificial food into real food.
Oral Argument by Kim Stanley Robinson  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueTor.com 12/07/15
(SF) A transcript of testimony before the U.S. Supreme Court gradually reveals what really happened with a human photosynthesis technology.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: JStrahan
Please Undo This Hurt by Seth Dickinson  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 09/16/15
A woman paramedic and her best friend fear that despite their best efforts, they end up causing more pain than they relieve.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: KTB RHorton
Points of Origin by Marissa Lingen  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueTor.com 11/04/15
Heartwarming story of how Torulf and Judith, an elderly couple on Mars, unexpectedly find themselves given custody of three preteen grandchildren they didn't know they had.
SchrΓΆdinger's Gun by Ray Wood  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 02/18/15
A "heisen implant" allows Detective O'Harren to explore alternate universes to help solve crimes in 1930s Chicago.
Some Gods of El Paso by Maria Dahvana Headley  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 10/28/15
In a magical, 2020s Texas, Lorna and Vix sell sex, but they mostly trade emotions; they'll take what you don't want, and sell the kind you do. As long as the law doesn't catch them.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Tear Tracks by Malka Older  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 10/21/15
(SF) Flur leads humanity's first mission to an alien race, the Cyclopes, with both scientific and diplomatic objectives.
Camellia is a non-magical teenager stuck looking after primary-school-aged witch kids.
The Dogs of Athens by Kendare Blake  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 09/09/15
The goddess Artemis and her hounds make trouble in modern Athens.
The Human Engineer by Jessica Brody  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 02/03/15
Dr. Hallix has been in a funk ever since the commercial success of his artificial womb. He needs something new to distract him from mourning his dead wife.
The Language of Knives by Haralambi Markov  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueTor.com 02/04/15
A man butchers the corpse of his husband to cook a meal for the gods, as required by his culture's funeral rites.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP
The Log Goblin by Brian Staveley  Time: 04m (1K words)  IssueTor.com 12/09/15
(Urban Fantasy) A moving story about a man who lives alone in the woods discovers a goblin has been stealing his firewood. But why?
The Museum and the Music Box by   Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 03/18/15
The last curator of a decrepit museum mourns his lost love and obsesses over the music box that might bring them back together.
The Night of the Salamander by Michael Swanwick  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 08/05/15
In an alternate, 19th-century Europe, aide de camp Ritter investigates a magical murder. This is #5 in the Mongolian Wizard Stories.
The Phantom in the Maze by Michael Swanwick  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueTor.com 12/02/15
(Fantasy) Murder mystery involving a team of precognitives critical to the war effort. Entertaining.
The Pyramid of Krakow by Michael Swanwick  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 09/30/15
Part six of the Mongolian Wizard, in which Ritter goes to Krakow in disguise to find evidence of atrocities so grave that London cannot believe them.
The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri  Time: 21m (6K words)  IssueTor.com 03/04/15
The narrator's uses the family time machine to try to reach some closure with mother who abandoned him in 1963.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
The Sound of Useless Wings by Cecil Castellucci  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueTor.com 01/28/15
Heckleck is a Hort on planet Patra. Due to overpopulation, a lot of Hort will have to leave for another planet. Heckleck is eager to go.
The Two Weddings of Bronwyn Hyatt by Alex Bledsoe  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 05/06/15
Bronwyn is a Tufa, the Appalachian equivalent of the "fair folk" She's marrying a country preacher, and for some reason the local equivalent of the "little folk" are interested in it.
The Ways of Walls and Words by Sabrina Vourvoulias  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 04/15/15
In Mexico in 1562, Bienvenida meets an imprisoned Spanish girl her own age, befriends her, and looks for the magic to set her free.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Variations on an Apple by Yoon Ha Lee  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 10/14/15
Surreal science fantasy, in which three goddesses come to Paris, prince of a mathematical Troy, and ask him to decide to whom to award an apple.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB LTilton


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