Thursday, January 25, 2018

2016 Best SF/F Short Stories

Score: 16 → 8-9 Recommendations

Things With Beards by Sam J. Miller  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 117
(Horror) Following a disaster in Antarctica, MacReady spends summer 1983 in New York and starts to wonder what he might have brought back with him.

Score: 15


Score: 14 → 7-8 Recommendations

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueStarlit Wood 2016
(Fairy Tale) Tabitha has been walking a long time, trying to wear out seven pairs of iron shoes; Amira has been sitting alone on a glass hill that suitors try to climb.

Score: 13


Score: 12 → 6-7 Recommendations


Score: 11


Score: 10 → 5-6 Recommendations

That Game We Played During the War by Carrie Vaughn  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 03/16/16
(SF) Despite not being a telepath, Calla worked out a way to play chess with her captor, Major Larn, during the recent war. Now they're going to finish their game.
The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 09/28/16
(Modern Fantasy) A young hustler discovers that he's supposed to play a big role in transforming New York from a city to a City. If he can survive it.

Score: 9

(Magical Realism) Hannah watched her sister Melanie die, incinerated with her own magic. Hannah can't accept that and sets out to use her own magic to put things right.
Terminal by Lavie Tidhar  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 04/13/16
(Planetary SF) A vast fleet of "jalopies" carry individuals on a one-way trip from Earth to Mars. People do it for different reasons, some of which we learn about in this story.

Score: 8 → 4-5 Recommendations

Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies by Brooke Bolander  Time: 03m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 13
(Horror) The girl he killed was much more than merely human, and there will be consequences.
(SF Humor) A choose-your-own-adventure story in which you navigate the clinic on a space station full of aliens.

Score: 7

The Story of Kao Yu by Peter S. Beagle  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 12/07/16
(Chinese Fantasy) Sometimes a  unicorn assisted Judge Kao Yu, and because he was so just and honest, he never feared its judgment. Until now.
You Make Pattaya by Rich Larson  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 267
(SF Thriller) The narrator is a con man in near-future Thailand, and he has a scheme that might net him enough to retire.

Score: 6 → 3-4 Recommendations

A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 195
(Space Opera; Xuya) Thuy seeks her daughter's remains in the twisted parts of unreal space where salvagers pick over the remains of wrecked starships.
(SF) Dr. Kostia spent thirty years interpreting broadcasts from the Coronals for other people on Earth. The last broadcasts have caused a lot of disruption, even in her own family.
Innumerable Glimmering Lights by Rich Larson  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueClockwork Phoenix 5
(Hard SF) Four Warm Currents leads a project to drill through the ice at the Roof of the World to finally discover what’s on the other side, but the closer he gets, the more opposition there is.
(Portal Fantasy) Rabbit holes open at random, summoning people to fairy-tale universes where they are the heroes. Louisa keeps waiting for one to open for her.
Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Far Future SF) Mia marks her birthdays as powers of 7, which gives her lots of time to work out her issues with her mother.

Score: 5

Afrofuturist 419 by Nnedi Okorafor  Time: 05m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 122
(SF Humor) Nigerian astronaut Abacha Tunde has been abandoned in space since 1990 and he would appreciate some help getting home.
Dispatches From The Cradle: The Hermit -- Forty-Eight Hours In The Sea Of Massachusetts by Ken Liu  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueDrowned Worlds 2016
(Post Apocalypse) Around 2650 AD, the narrator interviews a wealthy recluse who lives above the sunken ruins of Boston.

Score: 4 → 2-3 Recommendations

(SF) When "mediaterrorists" attack, the disrupt Caspar's comfortable life in a near-future where everyone is connected.
Das SteingeschΓΆpf by G.V. Anderson1  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 12/12/16
(Historical Fantasy) On the eve of the Nazi takeover, a young German man's first assignment fixing a living statue becomes more complicated than he expected.
Elves Of Antarctica by Paul McAuley  Time: 23m (ShortStory)  IssueDrowned Worlds 2016
(Near-Future SF) A refugee from a drowned island nation works on the Antarctic peninsula, where he studies mysterious stones with elven runes in his spare time.
Everything that Isn't Winter by Margaret Killjoy  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 10/19/16
(Post Apocalypse) Just as things are looking up, survivors in a Northwest community face a threat from the east.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2 CPayseur+2
I've Come to Marry the Princess by Helena Bell  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 78
(Slipstream) Jack has been stranded at summer camp for seven years, since his parents keep forgetting to pick him up. On the bright side, his dragon egg is about to hatch.
Laws Of Night And Silk by Seth Dickinson  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 200
(High Fantasy) To defeat the armies of the Efficate, the Cteri train some of their children to be weapons of mass destruction.
Mika Model by Paolo Bacigalupi  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueSlate.com 04/26/16
(SF) A police detective tries to cope with an attractive female robot who confesses to murder.
My Generations Shall Praise by Samantha Henderson  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 267
(SF) A woman on death row is offered a fortune for her children if she'll let another woman take over her body.
Openness by Alexander Weinstein  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueBeloit Fiction Journal 29
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: RHorton+2 BASFF+2
Parables of Infinity by Robert Reed  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Far-Future SF; Great Ship) An ancient robot tells a human how it helped build a planet-sized ship and what the consequences were.
Red Dirt Witch by N.K. Jemisin  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueFantasy 60
(Black Historical Fantasy) In the closing years of segregation, Emmaline uses her magic to help neighbors and protect her children, for trouble is coming.
Red in Tooth and Cog by Cat Rambo  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 03.04|16
(SF) When a feral robot steals her phone, Renee acquires a keen interest in the little robotic ecosystem that flourishes in the park.
RedKing by Craig DeLancey  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 70
(Hard SF) In an near future when everyone has brain implants, a computer virus can be a health issue. Especially when it turns users into killers.
Secondhand Bodies by JY Yang  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 68
(SF) Agatha wants a svelte replacement for her plump body, but since she can't get one grown in a reasonable time, she looks into an illegal swap.
Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee by Alastair Reynolds  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Far-Future SF) Kamala discovered an alien artifact inside the sun, and she spent her life finding a way to reach it.
Successor, Usurper, Replacement by Alice Sola Kim  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueBuzzfeed 10/25/16
(Horror) Four friends meet for a writer’s critique group, on a stormy night when a dangerous beast is on the loose outside.
The Cedar Grid by Sara Saab  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 115
(SF) After an alien terrorist kills Majd's little brother back on Earth, he struggles to accept it, and starts making changes to his own life.
The Gentleman Of Chaos by A. Merc Rustad  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 87
(High Fantasy) An immortal assassin threatens the new king, so he has his sister trained as the ultimate bodyguard.
The Green-Eyed Boy by Peter S. Beagle  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(High Fantasy) The old magician rarely takes students, but young Schmendrick has so much potential--if he could just make his spells come out right.
The Jeweled Nawab Jungle Retreat by Priya Sridhar  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 214
(Indian Steampunk) Mr. and Mrs. Coates came to India to hunt the most difficult prey, and no one can convince them that hunting the Great Worm is suicide.
The One Who Isn't by Ted Kosmatka  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 74
(SF) A woman appears to be helping a child recover from some form of brain damage. His perceptions and memory are off, but something is off about her too.
The Savannah Liars Tour by Will McIntosh  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 68
(Modern Fantasy) In the near future, Ben uses cryosleep for a side-effect: while he's under, he can meet his dead wife. Trouble is, he has a new wife.
The Sweetest Skill by Tony Pi  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 197
(Chinese Fantasy; Candyman Ao) New to Chengdu, young Ao doesn't expect the fearsome tiger spirit to ask him for a favor--to rescue the Guardian of Chengdu. Ao has some magic, but cleverness may be more important.
The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight by E. Lily Yu  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 12
(Fairy Tale) A young, newly minted witch meets an equally green knight, and they go off together in search of dragons.
This is Not a Wardrobe Door by A. Merc Rustad  Time: 05m (ShortStory)  IssueFireside 29
(Portal Fantasy) Ellie used to travel freely to the other world, but lately her door doesn’t work. In fact, all the portals are broken for some reason.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: Nebula+2 BASFF+2
Three Points Masculine by An Owomoyela  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 72
(Military SF) On top of fighting against an anarchist revolution, a soldier copes with what he's sure is a man pretending to be a woman in the Women's Volunteer Corps.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2 CPayseur+2
Two's Company by Joe Abercrombie  Time: 23m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 01/12/16
(High Fantasy Humor) A warrior woman and a thief fleeing from the south meet a male warrior fleeing from the north in the middle of a bridge. Then it gets complicated.
Unreeled by Mercurio D. Rivera  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 06|16
(SF Horror) EncelaCorp "streams" the consciousness of explorers to distant parts of the galaxy. Jonathan worries that the experience may have changed his wife somehow.

Score: 3

A Good Home by Karin Lowachee  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 73
(SF) A disabled human veteran takes in a disabled AI veteran. The AI doesn't talk anymore due to trauma, but Tawn tries to get through to it, even though his mother thinks it's dangerous.
All That Robot... by Rich Larson  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 09|16
(Post Apocalypse AI) Carver Seven spends a lot of time talking to the Human Being and helps him make spears and things. They each want something from the other, if they can manage to express it.
Conscience by Robert R. Chase  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 01|16
(Military SF) Constanza flies a stealthed warplane for the US in a near-future war, and she's picked for a series of special missions carrying a single, silent, soldier up to the front and back.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2 SFRevu+1
Dress Rehearsal by Adrian Tchaikovsky  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueNow We Are Ten 2016
(Fantasy) Dr. Kampfe's group of travelling players visits Sevengraves, a place so poor that every performance feels like charity.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 RHorton+2
I Was a Teenage Werewolf by Dale Bailey  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueNightmare  51
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: SFRevu+1 BASFF+2
Last Gods by Sam J. Miller  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueDrowned Worlds 2016
(Climate Change) On the edge of the ruined land, village people worship Orcas as gods. Unbeliever Kelb is up to something, and Adze tries to help him because she loves him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 NClarke+2
(Modern Fantasy) Sergio is called to remove an offensive mural, but when he touches it, it makes him "remember" things from other people's lives.
Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart by Samantha Murray  Time: 08m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 122
(SF Android) You adopt an android baby. You name him Ben. He grows amazingly fast.
Rock, Paper, Incisors by David Cleden  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 267
(Fantasy Horror) The narrator resents being transformed into a monster to fight for her tribe, not least because she thinks they're screwing it up.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2 SFRevu+1
Sabbath Wine by Barbara Krasnoff  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueClockwork Phoenix 5
(Modern Fantasy) Malka is a little Jewish girl living in Brooklyn in 1920. She likes her new friend, David, even though he’s older than her, black, Christian, and claims to be dead.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 Nebula+2
(Hard SF; Jackaroo) On the planet First Foot, the small town of Joe's Corner faces conflict over building a radio telescope close to local alien artifacts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 RHorton+2
Sparks Fly by Rich Larson  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 70
(Slipstream) Electricity does strange things around Arthur, especially when he gets excited. He's excited about Christina, so their first date is going to be a real adventure.
The Baby Eaters by Ian McHugh  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 01|16
(SF) The narrator visits an alien world to negotiate a trade deal with a race of alien predators who have a bad reputation.
(SF Adventure) Everyone calls Tomika "Space Cadet," but she really feels she doesn't belong in this world.
The Fixer by Paul McAuley  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 113
(SF) An AI trying to establish a human colony discovers there's an individual it cannot account for.
The Grocer's Wife: Enhanced Transcription by Michael Libling  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 02|16
(SF) Thomas is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, and his wife, Lynn, is trying to support him. Andy is spying on him, and wondering why the government is interested in a retired grocer.
The Old Man and the Phoenix by Alexandria Baisden1  Time: 04m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 88
(Slipstream) An old man lies dying, his faithful companion at his side.
The Things My Mother Left Me by P. DjΓ¨lΓ­ Clark  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueFantasy 60
(African Fantasy) After her father's death, Tausi needs someone to take her from Epoulu before her aunts marry her off.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2 BASFF+1
Water Scorpions by Rich Larson  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|16
(SF) Noel's mom is trying to raise an alien child. Noel, age 10, hates this alien "brother" but can't seem to get that across to him.

Score: 2 → 1-2 Recommendations

1957 by Stephen Cox2  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 84
(SF Horror) Daniel is 17, attends a British boys school, and is very happy except in those moments when he remembers a very different life.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
A Fine Balance by Charlotte Ashley2  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 11.12|16
(High Fantasy) The stakes on Yildirim and Ramadami's duels have risen to where they threaten the economies of Onsen and Dushiq.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
A Future Far Too Bright by Yosef Lindell  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 123
(Near-Future SF) Jesse Is just in the third grade, but his dad sends him letters telling him about the time-machine experiment he's working on.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
(Slipstream) Rather than killing the monsters, Devon would rather negotiate with them and blog about it later.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
A Partial List of Lists I Have Lost Over Time by Sunil Patel2  Time: 02m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 03|16
(SF Short-Short) Entirely via lists, the narrator tells a story about fighting his duplicate from another dimension.
(Magical Allegory) Your lover has sunk to the bottom of the sea. You're a witch with tremendous powers, but can you really save him?
A Tower for the Coming World by Maggie Clark  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 123
(SF) The destruction of the new Space Elevator puts human expansion into space at risk.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
An Ocean The Color Of Bruises by Isabel Yap  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 11
(Horror) Five twenty-something kids from Manila take a beach vacation to reminisce about their college days. It's the off season, but it's odd that no one else is there.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
An Open Letter To The Person Who Took My Smoothie From The Break Room Fridge by Oliver Buckram  Time: 02m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 07.08|16
(Cartoon Humor) Someone in the Alliance of Doom has stolen Dr. Nemesis's smoothie, and he e-mails his fellow super-villains to complain.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
An Unimaginable Light by John C. Wright  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueGod, Robot 2016
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: Hugo+2
(Near-Future SF) An interview with a simulation of the dead artist, Satka, who still has a big online following years after her death.
Because Change Was The Ocean And We Lived By Her Mercy by Charlie Jane Anders  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueDrowned Worlds 2016
(Post-Apocalypse) Pris abandons 22nd-Century Fairbanks and moves to a commune that floats above the ruins of San Francisco.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Between Nine and Eleven by Adam Roberts  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueCrises and Conflicts 2016
(Military SF) The war against the alien Trefoil was going well until they unleashed an unexpected weapon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
Black, Their Regalia by Darcie Little Badger  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueFantasy 60
(Fantasy) Three college kids infected with the plague head off to quarantine, still believing their music can make a difference.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Breathe by Cassandra Khaw  Time: 08m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 116
(Hard SF) Deep under the lightless ocean of an alien planet, you study the only lifeform ever discovered there.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Bringing Them Back by Bruce McAllister  Time: 05m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 02|16
(SF, ~2060) A man reviews drawings and descriptions of animals he knew and loved during his life, updating them to reflect recent changes. Very moving.
Can't Beat 'Em by Nalo Hopkinson  Time: 04m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 13
(Slipstream) Marisella's so obsessed with the hot lady plumber that she almost doesn't hear that her drain is clogged by a baby monster.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Charlotte Incorporated by Rachael K. Jones  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 69
(Science Fantasy) Charlotte is tired of being a disembodied brain; she wants a real body of her own, as soon as she can afford it.
Circa Diem by Carole Johnstone  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 262
(SF Fantasy) When Earth's day changed to 96 hours, some adapted (with drugs) and some did not (with lights). Now they hate/fear each other. But two young people are curious.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
Destroyed By The Waters by Rachel Swirsky  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueDrowned Worlds 2016
(Climate Change) Derek and Zack visit the underwater ruins of New Orleans, where they'd honeymooned fifty years before.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
Do Not Forget Me by Ray Nayler  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 03|16
(Tale) In the style of the Arabian Nights, this story tells the tale Batyr related to his wife after an evening with a great poet.
Dome On The Prairie by Robert Reed  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 09|16
(Alien Invasion) You are building a home on an alien world, despite the objections of the natives and the complaints of your wife and children.
Down and Out by Ken Wharton  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueScience Fiction by Scientists 2016
(Hard SF) Trying to find "outside," Ogby's team digs into the ice at the bottom of the world, but Roov's team has been getting better results blasting rocks at the top.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
Empty Shoes by the Lake by Gay Partington Terry  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 12|16
(Modern Fantasy) Abused by his father, Rafi leaves his small town, but he sends his best friend Becca a gift that will change both their lives.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
Even the Crumbs Were Delicious by Daryl Gregory  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueStarlit Wood 2016
(Drug SF) In the middle of preparations for Tindal’s roommate’s funeral, two teenagers show up and start eating the psychotropic drugs off the wall.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: JStrahan+2
Fable by Charles Yu  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueThe New Yorker 05/30/16
(Slipstream Metafiction) Once upon a time a man’s therapist asked him to write a story about himself, his family, and the strange world he lived in, with its dragons and lawyers, witches and doctors, and the darkness closing in.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: JStrahan+2
Firstborn, Lastborn by Melissa Scott  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueTo Shape the Dark 2016
(Far-Future SF) Irtholin visits her friend Anketil to tell her that a long-lost starship has been found, and to try to interest her in helping salvage it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Four Haunted Houses by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueNightmare 48
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: SFRevu+1 BASFF+1
Her Sacred Spirit Soars by S. Qiouyi Lu1  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 07/18/16
(Alternate History) In 1949, researchers attempt to harness "oriental lovebird energy" to cure human comas.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
How High Your Gods Can Count by Tegan Moore1  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 05/02/16
(Modern Fantasy) A troop of monkeys at a Mayan Pyramid interacts with the tourists and broods on their creation myths.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
In Skander, for a Boy by Chaz Brenchley  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 191
(High Fantasy) Having no heir, King Rulf sends Harlan, his most trusted adviser, to find the son of the king he overthrew 20 years ago
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
KIT: Some Assembly Required by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 08|16
(SF AI) Christopher Marlowe thinks he's been reincarnated as a 21st Century AI.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Last One Out by K.B. Rylander1  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 07.08|16
(Post Apocalypse) Filip is an advanced AI, and his job is taking care of Ella, who may be the last person left on Earth.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
Mars Abides by Stephen Baxter  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueObelisk 2016
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Minor Hockey Gods Of Barstow Station by Beth Cato  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueGalactic Games 2016
(Sports SF) Gloria and her friends play one last game of hockey before they leave the alien space station they've been stuck on ever since their dreams of interstellar competition collapsed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
Morning Cravings by Nin Harris2  Time: 04m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 73
(Magical SF) Derthye is a human who likes eggs. Her husband is a Barlishya, who is forbidden from eating eggs. This presents a problem.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Natural Skin by Alyssa Wong  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 78
(Horror) In near-future Toronto, a young Chinese-Canadian girl sneaks out to seek the services of an illegal underground surgeon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse by Xia Jia  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueInvisible Planets 2016
(Chinese Post-Apocalyptic Slipstream) Long after the fall of humanity, a dragon/horse robot wakes up and explores the ruins of Beijing.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke+2
Nobody Puts Baby in a Chamber by Alexis A. Hunter  Time: 01m (ShortStory)  IssueMothership Zeta 3
(SF Humor) The AI vacuum cleaner didn't mean to suck up the baby, but now what?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition by Michelle Ann King  Time: 08m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 263
(Magical Realism) Just outside Las Vegas, The Fracture is a place where reality itself seems to be broken. Damita manages the visitor center and gift shop.
O What Freedom, This Great Steel Cage by Shane Halbach  Time: 03m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 05|16
(SF) Three different people share a remote robotic body. They have three different reasons and three different experiences.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1 BASFF+1
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+2
One Giant Leap by Jay Werkheiser  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 11/21/16
(Hard SF) A corroded railing gives way, and Kent falls from a Venusian cloud city to near-certain death. But it takes a long time to fall fifty kilometers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 BASFF+1
Origin Story by Carrie Vaughn  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 71
(Superhero) Mary hasn't seen her ex-boyfriend in eight years, but when she witnesses super-villain "Techhunter" robbing a bank, she sees a strong resemblance.
Ozymandias by Karin Lowachee  Time: 23m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(SF) Luis signed up for a six-month solo tour of duty on an almost-complete space station. He should be alone, except for the AI, but he's sure he hears other people.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
Panic City by Madeline Ashby  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueCyber World 2016
(Post Apocalypse) When fan #6 fails, the underground city's AI decides to abandon it, but an overachieving worker is determined to fix it anyway.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke+2
Plea by Mary Anne Mohanraj  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 77
(SF) Baseline humans on Eris are fighting modified ones. The natives will accept some refugees, but Gwen is afraid her family won't pass inspection.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Pompoms And Circumstance by Esther M. Friesner  Time: 23m (ShortStory)  IssueGalactic Games 2016
(Sports SF Humor) KayT means to lead her girls to victory in the cheerleading event at the Galactic games, provided the Snargs don't eat them first.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 RHorton+1
Postcards from Natalie by Carrie Laben  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueThe Dark 14
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Rager in Space by Charlie Jane Anders  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(SF Humor) Sion and her best friend get invited on the first interstellar flight, which is odd, since they're teenagers, and that kind of technology doesn't really exist.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
Razorback by Ursula Vernon  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 80
(Folk Tale) Sal, the country witch, took a razorback hog as her familiar and named him Rawhead. Sal was a good witch, but then Rawhead disappeared. Simple, but effective.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
Rooms Formed of Neurons and Sex by Ferrett Steinmetz  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 12
(Near-Future SF) Lydia's boyfriend, Ross, was just a brain in a jar. So how, exactly, did she injure him during sex?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
Screamers by Tochi Onyebuchi  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueOmenana 8
(Horror) America has imported policemen from Nigeria to patrol black neighborhoods, and they’re struggling to solve cases where people seem to simply explode for no reason.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
(Modern Fantasy) A circus comes to town, but the tickets are for fifty years ago or fifty years from now.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1 BASFF+1
Smear by Brian Evenson  Time: 07m (ShortStory)  IssueConjunctions 67: Other Aliens
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+2
(Military SF) Rinthira retired from the Thai military a while back, but her former commander (and ex-lover) has come to call her back to duty.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Artificial Bees by Simon Guerrier  Time: 04m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 9
(SF) Randall, a robot, investigates an unfamiliar place: a home garden.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Birth Will Take Place on a Mutually Acceptable Research Vessel by Matthew Bailey1  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 71
(SF) You're having a baby. The first Human-Tharkan hybrid. And everyone wants into the act--including both governments.
(Fantasy; Birdverse) Vadrai and Maru begin a professional correspondence as fellow artisans, and over time it becomes more than that.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Drowning Line by Haralambi Markov2  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 10
(Horror) Reinhart wanders in his sleep, drawn by the ghost of a long-dead ancestor determined to drown him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Final Path by Genevieve Cogman  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueNow We Are Ten 2016
(Horror) Ignoring how the adult world is falling apart, teenage Annie tries to lose herself in a new video game.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
The Four Gardens of Fate by Betsy Phillips  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 81
(Paranormal) Fifteen-year-old Kayla can predict the future, but she wants to avoid the bad things that have happened to her other gifted relatives.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Glass Galago by A.M. Dellamonica  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 01/06/16
(High Fantasy; Stormwrack) Captain Gale Feliachild and her handsome first mate, Garland Parrish, must find the inscription for a spell that turns people's skins into glass. Entertaining.
The House That Jessica Built by Nadia Bulkin  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueThe Dark 18
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
(Magical SF) Writing a story on Unicorns in Scotland, Gabby tangles with some poachers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+2
The Mama Mmiri by Walter Dinjos1  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 190
(African Fantasy) The narrator's twin died in a caisson, but he's sure the foreigner supervising the construction sacrificed him to the water spirit.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Marvelous Inventions of Mr. Tock by Daniel Baker  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 213
(Steampunk Horror) Justice Latch investigates the curious case of a girl who exploded.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
(High Fantasy) Hester sells eggs that turn you into a reptile if you eat them. It's the only way out of the city, but they never work on Hester herself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
The Nostalgia Calculator by Rich Larson  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 05.06|16
(SF) Noel works at his uncle's company managing a machine that predicts when old fads will come back into style. He peeks at historical trends and finds something disturbing.
The Rhythm Man by James Beamon  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 11.12|16
(Historical Fantasy) Horace was a celebrated blues player, but he failed to make the move to jazz. Now he's washed up, and desperate enough to sell his soul, if need be.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
The Rock in the Water by Thoraiya Dyer  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueFantasy 60
(Modern Fantasy) A Hatian girl and a Syrian girl flee their countries but with very different results.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
The Sweet Warm Earth by Steven Popkes  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(Historical Fantasy) In 1961, Larry joins the LA mob as an enforcer, keeping the wrong people from fixing the horses. But does that include an old man who only talks to them?
(Meta Fiction) Mahliya will be down in a bit to tell you the story, but we'll begin by telling you a love story.
The Tenth Man by Bryony Pearce  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueNow We Are Ten 2016
(SF Horror) Professor Macguire's work on multiple universes drove him insane, but Dean hopes to learn enough from him to finish his dissertation.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 RHorton+1
The Uncarved Heart by Evan Dicken  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 212
(High Fantasy) Despite the rebellion, the narrator makes friends with a local girl, and she wonders when their bird-like overlords will come to replace her heart.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR+2
The Voice in the Cornfield, the Word Made Flesh by Desirina Boskovich  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(Present-day SF) An alien crash lands in a cornfield. It tries to get help, but no one can see or hear it. Almost no one.
Those Brighter Stars by Mercurio D. Rivera  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 75
(Psionic SF) Ava recounts the visit of the "Needlers" to Earth and her part in the attempts to communicate with the aliens.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Toward the Luminous Towers by Bogi TakΓ‘cs  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 120
(Military Fantasy) On a remote planet, the narrator uses a mix of magic and technology to control the drones that fight his country's enemy.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Tower of the Rosewater Goblet by Nin Harris2  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 01/04/16
(Fantasy) Erheani wanted to be a master storyteller, and the first task her teachers set for her was to update an old classic tale. But there are tales within tales...
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
u wont remember dying by Russell Nichols  Time: 05m (ShortStory)  IssueTerraform 6/23/16
(Near-Future SF) A dying young black man writes notes for his future self.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Vortex by Gregory Benford  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 01.02|16
(Hard SF) The Chinese Mars base asks old First-Expedition crew members Julia and Viktor for help with a problem involving Mars's only large native life form.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Vulcanization by Nisi Shawl  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueNightmare  40
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+2
Webs by Mary Anne Mohanraj  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 07|16
(SF) On Ariel, some people have modified themselves to fly. Other people can't accept that. Anna is going to need to choose sides.
What Pada-Sara Means To The Elephant by Jeremy Sim  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 206
(High Fantasy) A boy and his sister flee their home city during a crackdown on the underclass, but the soldiers chasing them are closing in.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
When Grandfather Returns by S.N. Dyer  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|16
(Navajo Fantasy) An old Navajo myth intersects the modern world unexpectedly.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 SFRevu+1
When They Came to Us by Debbie Urbanski  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueThe Sun 488
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+2
Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) by CaitlΓ­n R. Kiernan  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueSirenia Digest 125
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: JStrahan+2
White Dust by Nathan Hillstrom1  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 01|16
(Hard SF) The transmitter sends copies of people to remote locations, but the copies don't want to do their jobs, and Margery is in trouble if she can't figure out why.
Women's Christmas by Ian McDonald  Time: 07m (ShortStory)  IssueNow We Are Ten 2016
(SF; Luna) Five Irish sisters enjoy a celebration using money their aunt sends them from the moon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+2
Ye Highlands And Ye Lowlands by Seanan McGuire  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 10
(SF) A scientist mourns the failure of scientists to anticipate the consequences of making contact with an alien race.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: CPayseur+2
Your Orisons May Be Recorded by Laurie Penny1  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 03/15/16
(Fantasy Humor) Angels who operate the Celestial Switchboard fielding mortal prayer requests get frustrated and even depressed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 RHorton+1

Score: 1

5×5 by Jilly Dreadful2  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 74
(YA SF) Two kids get together at a summer science camp after one tricks the other into eating her "psychic ice cream" which causes people to read minds.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
A Man Of Modest Means by Robert Reed  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 265
(SF) A woman spends the night with a man who seems like no man she's ever met in this world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
A Melancholy Apparition by Ian Creasey  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(Historical Fantasy) Boswell recounts a story of Dr. Johnson that he never revealed before. Involving a country estate, a scandal, and a ghost.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
A Pest Most Fiendish by Caighlan Smith  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 11/16/16
(Historical Fantasy) Pippa and her automaton attempt to destroy an undead pest infesting the future site of a chalet.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Advantages by Louise Marley  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueGalactic Games 2016
(Sports SF) At the 2144 Olympics, hosted by the thriving space colonies who survived Earth, Zory aims to win despite her lack of augments.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
After We Walked Away by Erica L. Satifka  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 90
(Portal Fantasy) Blank and Cipher walked away from Solution City for moral reasons, but once they see what our world is like, they have regrets.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Against The Stream by A Que  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 118
(Time Travel) An "illness" causes a man to wake each morning in the previous day, and as he lives his life backwards, he sees the mistakes he made.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
All the Colors You Thought Were Kings by Arkady Martine2  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueShimmer 31
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Alts by Harmony Neal1  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 267
(Transhuman SF) StateCorp has made a fortune creating modified humans with animal characteristics. They take care of failures like Cat, but at a price.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition by Ken Liu  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueThe Paper Menagerie and Other Stories 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
And Men Will Mine the Mountain for Our Souls by Seanan McGuire  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueUnfettered II 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Angles Of Incidence by Nancy Fulda  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 10|16
(Hard SF) The human colony on Kokkal IV can't expand without permission from the "Evermother," but the local aliens require they "assimilate the shadows" first.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Anything for You by Lisa Mason  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(Near-Future SF) Willem loves Dr. Isley more than he loves his real life. Even though she's just a character in a soap opera.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
(AI Fantasy) The humans disappeared years ago, but the Factory AI can't accept that they're gone, so he makes a plan to bring them back.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Ash by Susan Palwick  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 05.06|16
(Modern Fantasy) When Penny's house burns, she rebuilds a smaller place on the ashes. She only misses a few of the contents, and really wishes for a way to get them back.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Atheism and Flight by Dominica Phetteplace  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 01|16
(SF) A young man who just lost his arm in an accident struggles to adjust to his loss. And something funny is happening to the stump.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
(Fantasy) Teenage friends Domei and Hano live in a refugee camp for survivors of a war fought with dragons.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Beyond the Heliopause by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 68
(SF) Suzanne's worries about her aging father are interrupted by her ex-husband, who left her two years ago to go explore the frontier of the solar system.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Big Boss Bitch by Adrienne Celt2  Time: 06m (ShortStory)  IssueZyzzyva Fall 2016
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Bones of the World by Jennifer Hykes  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 80
(Dark Fantasy) Maggie's fisherman father died at sea recently, and since then, she seems to have acquired some supernatural powers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Braid of Days and Wake of Nights by E. Lily Yu  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 01.02|16
(Urban Fantasy) Julia hunts for a mysterious white horse in Central Park, certain it must be a unicorn that can heal her friend who is dying of cancer.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Breathe Deep, Breathe Free by Jennifer Marie Brissett  Time: 02m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 73
(SF) Gas leaking from a deep well is slowly asphyxiating everyone in a community, and two boys discuss what they can do about it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Bull Of Heaven by Gabriel Murray  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 07/25/16
(Android) Brother Francis is an android in an orbiting monastery. Their human patron has taken an interest in him, and involves him in studying a mysterious, ancient golden android.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Carnivores by Rich Larson  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueStrangers Among Us 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Castle Coeurlieu by Naomi Novik  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueUnfettered II 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Chasing Ivory by Ted Kosmatka  Time: 08m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 01|16
(Hard SF) Adia pursues a herd of resurrected mammoths in Alaska. She seems to admire them greatly, so why is she bringing a gun?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Clearance by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 06|16
(Slipstream) A mother tries to find something for her teenage daughter at a beach resort where four different worlds seem to intersect.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Click by Brian Evenson  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueA Collapse of Horses 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Clover by Charlie Jane Anders  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 10/25/16
(Modern Fantasy) Anwar and Joe get an unexpected cat and a promise of nine years of good luck. Things are great, until nine years later they get another cat.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Crocodile Tears by Jaymee Goh  Time: 06m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 76
(Fable) A crocodile visits a man whose ambitions have led him far away from home and family.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Crossing the Midday Gate by Aliette de Bodard  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueTo Shape the Dark 2016
(Space Opera; Xuya) Dan Linh returns from twenty-years exile to head up her old lab again. She’s a scientist, not a politician; can she really make it work?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Crowdfinding by Eric James Stone  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 12|16
(SF Mystery) When Maria witnesses a ten-year-old boy being abducted, she chases the van with her delivery drone, and calls for everyone on the net to help.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Cupid's Compass by Leah Cypess  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(Near-Future SF) Julie had reservations about using hardware that can make people fall in love, but at age 35, she let herself get talked into it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Dearly Departed by Kelly Stewart1  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 211
(Horror) Perdita lives in the house on the hill and tends the graveyard. A traveler on a mission disturbs her solitude, and a thing under the graveyard needs to be killed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Deep Waters Call Out To What Is Deeper Still by Sarah Frost  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 09|16
(SF) Pascal uses a mind link to control fish in a public aquarium. Pascal's big success has been a swordfish, but a bigger challenge beckons.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Dragon Brides by Nghi Vo  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 71
(Fantasy) She was 15 when a dragon abducted her. 16 when a prince rescued her and married her. Now she's 55, returning to the cave where she was held.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Dragon-Smoked Barbeque by M.K. Hutchins  Time: 02m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 09/12/16
(Slipstream) Grandpa is gone, but the young narrator is determined to win the Tastiest Ribs competition in his memory, even if he's not quite sure how you're supposed to use the dragon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Early Warning by Martin L. Shoemaker  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 04|16
(Time Travel) Art's twenty-years-future self returns to warn the graduate student that he's about to ruin his life.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Every Day Is the Full Moon by Carlie St. George  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 79
(Slipstream) B's werewolf dad beats her, but what really gets her down is she hasn't become supernatural like her friends have.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Every Instance of You by Cassandra Khaw  Time: 03m (ShortStory)  IssueMothership Zeta 3
(Multiverse) The narrator walks the worlds while waiting for her husband to get home.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Every Winter by E. Catherine Tobler  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 90
(Horror) Halla is an artist, and every winter she rents a villa where she can work with almost no human interaction at all.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Exceptional Forces by Sean McMullen  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 02|16
(Hard SF) A radio astronomer comes to a conference prepared to deliver a shattering paper, but fully expecting to die before he gets the chance.
(SF) Across twenty years, a director made three films about a remarkable discovery on Mars.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: BASFF+1
First Light At Mistaken Point by Kali Wallace  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 119
(Hard SF) Charlie's team has been out of touch with the Mars mission for a month. While she's attending her mother's funeral, a mysterious 47-second-long message arrives.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Folk Hero by Mary Pletsch  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 85
(Military SF) Corporal Beckett wants to avenge his father, who was killed by a legendary sniper. The rebels against Terra sing songs about the sniper, and they may hold the clue to finding him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
For The Sake Of The Game by Gray Rinehart  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueGalactic Games 2016
(Sports SF) Pawl Maricelli, a referee in the athletic contest meant to strengthen the fragile peace between humans and Errellians, is threatened by those who don't want peace.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
(Fantasy) In which we read an exchange of letters between a naturalist who claims to have discovered a cockatrice and a lady who is skeptical.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Geologic by Ian Sales  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 262
(Hard SF) On 61 Virginis b, Keller endures the cold, the two gravities, and the poisonous air at 30-atmospheres to study the only alien artifact ever found by humans.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Golden Gate Blues by James L. Cambias  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 03.04|16
(Alternate History Fantasy) In a modern San Francisco in a world with super heroes and monsters, a retired super villain hires a detective to investigate the death of a giant octopus.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Hold The Moment by Marie Vibbert  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 06|16
(Hard SF) Daisy's efforts to build a stasis machine are failing, and she's failing as a mother too.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
In Our Rags Of Light by Shira Lipkin  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 08/15/16
(Modern Fantasy) Twenty years ago, Jess was a teenage swamp witch in the Everglades. She flirted with the boys and took what she wanted, but Ben saw her for what she really was.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Induction by Thoraiya Dyer  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Near-Future SF) Christian returns to Anguilla to say goodbye before an attempt to raise it covers the island with lava.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Inselberg by Nalo Hopkinson  Time: 08m (ShortStory)  IssueDrowned Worlds 2016
(Climate Change) A tour guide leads tourists through the remains of a flooded country.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Kairos by Sieren Damsgaard Ernst1  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 08|16
(Near-future SF) A gene designer and her husband visit the tomb of Charlemagne and think about how they're about to turn the world upside down.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
La BeautΓ© Sans Vertu by Genevieve Valentine  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 04/27/16
(Fashion SF) Maria is a super model in a future that doesn't hesitate to modify the bodies of the models for maximum impact.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Left Behind by Cat Rambo  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 116
(SF) Shi handles elderly clients who are recruited to help steer starships through space. Her job is winding up, and one of her last clients presents a special challenge.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Loser by Matthew Hughes  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueArchonate 03/08/16
(Near-Future SF) A former critic of the new US president works on a labor camp building a wall. Then the new government gives him a way to earn his freedom.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Lucite by Susan Palwick  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|16
(Christian Fantasy) Andrew obsesses over a used soul he picked up in the gift shop during a tour of Hell.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Masked by Rich Larson  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 07|16
(SF) Teenage Bess and Aline go to comfort their friend Vera after a computer virus disabled her online "Face."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Mice Among Elephants by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Hard SF) Sunseeker decelerates into the Excelsius system to investigate a gravity-wave generator built by potentially hostile aliens.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Montague's Last by Ekari Mbvundula1  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 02/29/16
(Historical Fantasy) In a prison in 18th-century France, Montague struggles to redeem himself by completing one last magical device before he dies.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Monuments by Pamela Sargent  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Climate Change) An AI tries to carry out the last wishes of the last human governors to bring back snow and ice.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
My Body, Herself by Carmen Maria Machado  Time: 06m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 12
(Horror) A dead woman sees her doppelgΓ€nger watching over her remains and wonders what she's up to.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Neural Alchemist by Tedd Roberts  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueScience Fiction by Scientists 2016
(Zombie) Ever since he became a zombie, Professor Wissen has felt unwanted by the university, although some of his students think it's kind of cool.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Not a Miracle But a Marvel by Tim Pratt  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 12
(Modern Fantasy) Two couples come to a cabin by the lake to relax and enjoy four days together. Then one of them disappears.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
On Darwin Tides by Shauna O'Meara  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueEverything Change 2016
(Climate Change) In 2048, things are bad in Malaysia, especially for young refugees with no papers. Maslinia is sure she could be successful, if she could only get a break.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Pagpag by Samuel Marzioli  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 89
(Zombie) Jay helps hunt zombies at night, but he secretly want to find his wife's zombie to say goodbye.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Painter of Stars by Wang Yuan1  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 123
(SF) A robot discovers it has artistic talent and sets out to save the world by tattooing stars on people.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Penny For a Match, Mister? by Garth Nix  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueStarlit Wood 2016
(Historical Fantasy) In the Old West, a murder under a full moon brings a thing across “The Line.” A thing seeking vengeance, and with a broad idea of responsibility.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Pyramid by Nancy Kress  Time: 06m (ShortStory)  IssueNow We Are Ten 2016
(Allegory) Young people enter the pyramid on the first floor, but although the parties are great, they aspire to ascend.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Rabbit Grass by Kelly Stewart1  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 197
(Fantasy) Aril knows not to let rabbits into the garden--no matter how politely they ask. Picket's an awfully nice rabbit, though, and he needs her help.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Rambunctious by Rick Wilber  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 06|16
(SF) Fourth-grade Emma lives in Florida with her grandparents. Emma doesn't fit in at school, and Grandma doesn't help by saying the family is from outer space and aliens are coming for them soon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Rate Me by Rebecca Schiff1  Time: 03m (ShortStory)  IssueThe Bed Moved 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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Rats Dream Of The Future by Paul McAuley  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 06|16
(SF) A science writer describes the events that turned a rat experiment into a space-time disaster in downtown London.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Reclamation by Ryan Row1  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 119
(SF Horror) An asteroid miner is cast adrift by a collision. Her suit can preserve her life indefinitely, but not her sanity.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Reflected by Kat Howard  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueStarlit Wood 2016
(Science Fantasy) As a physics grad student, Sophie researches mirrors as potential gateways to alternate realities. She shares her unexpected results.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review []  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Robot From the Future by Terry Bisson  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 01.02|16
(SF) About 100 years from now, eleven-year-old Theodore meets a robot from "the far future" which demands he find gasoline for it, but Theo isn't even sure what that is.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Salvage Opportunity by Jack Skillingstead  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 114
(SF) Badar has a 4-year contract sits all alone at a salvage site on Kepler-186f.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Sea of Dreams by Alter S. Reiss  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 196
(High Fantasy) Exiled emperor Ierois lives alone on the shore of the Sea of Dreams. Then another exile joins him--a boy who refuses to give up quite so easily.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Serenade by Isabel Yap  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueCyber World 2016
(Cyber SF) Anj and EJ's fledgling hacking business gets a contract to decrypt an old AI-encrypted USB drive.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Seven Cups of Coffee by A.C. Wise  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 114
(Time Travel) Narrator, in 1983, takes a job that involves going back to 1945 to do some dirty work, but she becomes infatuated with her target.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Shadow's Weave by Yoon Ha Lee  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 200
(Fantasy) Tamalat has come to a priest to find out how to restore her friend Brio's shadow, in the hopes it will restore him to what he once was.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Six Degrees of Separation Freedom by Pat Cadigan  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Transhuman) Recruiting people to live in space is harder when they have to accept irreversable body modifications.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
Smooth Stones and Empty Bones by Bennett North1  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 01.02|16
(Horror) Helena's mom's a witch, their small town is blaming them for a missing boy, she and her girlfriend have to stay in the closet, and to top it off, there are chicken skeletons walking around.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Some Pebbles In The Palm by Kenneth Schneyer  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 74
(Essay) How to make an SF protagonist interesting.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Some Things I Probably Should Have Mentioned Earlier by Laura Pearlman  Time: 05m (ShortStory)  IssueMothership Zeta 3
(SF Humor) A man gets a letter from his wife, explaining a few things. She's not exactly human, but that's not the worst part.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Spells Are Easy If You Have The Right Psychic Energy by Dominica Phetteplace  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 07.08|16
(Modern Fantasy) Hruta is a young American-Norwegian witch. She's great with love spells, but struggling to figure out how to undo them.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: BASFF+1
Starpower by Christopher Shultz  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 86
(Horror) The singer in a band copes with the discovery that one of his songs caused people to commit suicide.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Straight Lines by Naru Dames Sundar2  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueMothership Zeta 3
(Hard SF) AIs are too expensive to discard, even after a major disaster, but how do you fix one that seems to have gone crazy?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
Talking to Dead People by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 09.10|16
(Near-Future SF) Gwen and Eliza are college roommates who start a business making miniature houses that can talk about the murders committed there.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Ten Confessions of Blue Mercury Addicts by Anna Spencer by Alexander Marsh Freed  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 263
(Science Fantasy) Anna investigates people addicted to a drug that slows down time so much that they can experience a year in the time it takes to fall from an airplane.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
That Which Grows On Trees by C.S. Lane1  Time: 03m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 06|16
(SF Humor) Around 50 to 100 years from now, a group of scientists resorts to counterfeiting money to shore up their inadequate research grants.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
The Abduction of Europa by E. Catherine Tobler  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 112
(Fantasy Science) Out on Europa, Marius has vanished and Kotto has come to rescue his partner, Bolaji.
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The Age of Discovery by C.W. Johnson  Time: 23m (ShortStory)  IssueTo Shape the Dark 2016
(Hard SF) Edith’s lab wants to improve the Casimir pump enough to use it for space travel, but Edith can’t help running her own experiments even without permission.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
The Assassin's Secret by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 75
(Fantasy Humor) The world's greatest assassin sits in his lair, waiting for people to come to him to beg his assistance.
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The Battle Of Ceres by Karl Bunker  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 07.08|16
(Hard SF) Katrina and Jeff operate an asteroid mining station for the S.P.C. It's not bad work except that the mining companies are at war, using gravel as missiles.
The Bog Girl by Karen Russell  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueThe New Yorker 06/20/16
(Slipstream Horror) Fifteen-year-old Cillian finds the love of his life buried in the peat of an old bog where she died long, long, ago.
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Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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The Cold Side of the Island by Kali Wallace  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 12|16
(Mainstream) Two women mourn the death of a childhood friend and try to make peace with themselves by returning the mysterious skeleton that tore them apart as teenagers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
The Despoilers by Jack Skillingstead  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 120
(Hard SF) Seventeen-year-old Allegra's mad father has trapped them both on 51 PegasiD. They'll both die there unless she can find a way to get help.
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The Finest, Fullest Flowering by Marc Laidlaw  Time: 08m (ShortStory)  IssueNightmare  45
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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(Paranormal) Anita used to study ghosts, but now she is one, and she's finding it frustrating to always seem to be arguing with her husband.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
The Great Ignorant Race by Robert Reed  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueGalactic Games 2016
(Sports SF) The human team awakens naked, with no memories, but speaking a shared language, and ready to compete--at something.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The House of Half Mirrors by Thoraiya Dyer  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 120
(Near Future Fantasy Dystopia) In a 2042 Ireland beset by ecological catastrophe, the narrator meets a fairy at a protest.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Incursus, by Asimov-NN#71 by Gord Sellar  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueBig Echo 1
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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The Key to St. Medusa's by Kat Howard  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 77
(Fantasy Horror) Despite her parents' best efforts, Agatha was born to be a witch, and eventually they turned her over to St. Medusa's school.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Knobby Giraffe by Rudy Rucker  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 71
(Hard SF) Irit wants to do her Ph.D. thesis on quantum physics and the mind. She lost her girlfriend four months ago, but she thinks there may be a way to change reality.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Language of Flowers by Ian Creasey  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 05|16
(SF) In near-future Cornwall, England, Travis and his wife specialize in arrangements of genetically engineered flowers that release pheromones that mimic their traditional virtues.
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The Lives of Riley by Sean Williams  Time: 05m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 76
(SF) Riley hacked his personal teleporter to make illegal copies of himself. The police have found him out, and he's trying to lead all 17 of him to safety.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
The Loud Table by Jonathan Carroll  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueTor.com 11/02/16
(Present-day SF) Four retired men meet every day for conversation. One of them worries he's showing symptoms of Alzheimer's.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Mountains His Crown by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 195
(SF) The narrator's farm is threatened by a sequence of increasingly irrational demands by the distant emperor.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Mutants Men Don't See by James Alan Gardner  Time: 11m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 08|16
(Superhero) A combination of teenage hormones, a rare gene, and the right stressful event turns a few kids into superheroes. Liam wants to be one too.
The Next Scene by Robert Reed  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 121
(SF AI) In a world ruled by AIs, the only work that pays is entertainment.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Nult Factor by J.T. Sharrah  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 06|16
(SF Humor) Quigby's philosophy is to find employment that will let him spend the rest of his days doing nothing as enjoyably as possible. A little philosophy can be a dangerous thing.
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The Opposite and the Adjacent by Liu Yang1  Time: 06m (ShortStory)  IssueClarkesworld 120
(Math SF) Explorers find a wrecked alien spaceship, a dead alien, and a logbook that suggests he came from a world with different laws of physics.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
The Patchwork Procedure by Claude LalumiΓ¨re  Time: 24m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 206
(Steampunk) An agent from the city-state of Montreal lies in prison after unsuccessfully trying to apprehend a man who stole Montreal's secret immortality treatment.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Persistence of Memory by Rachel L. Bowden1  Time: 07m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 01.02|16
(Hard SF) Ten-year-old Lee and his best friend Ben discover a dead animal near their school playground--an animal that shouldn't exist at all. Chilling.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
The Place of Bones by Gardner Dozois  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 11.12|16
(Historical Fantasy) Martin fulfils his dream of entering the dragonlands via a secret mountain pass in France.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
The Red Thread by Sofia Samatar  Time: 10m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 73
(Post Apocalypse) An Arab-American girl and her mother wander the Dakotas while the girl tries to get in touch with a boy she once knew.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: BASFF+1
The Right Place to Start a Family by Caroline M. Yoachim  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueHumanity 2.0 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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The Singularity Is in Your Hair by Matthew Kressel  Time: 09m (ShortStory)  IssueCyber World 2016
(Cyber SF) Stricken with muscular dystrophy, the teenage narrator lives almost entirely in VR, where she hopes a rogue AI can save her.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
The Siren Son by Tristina Wright1  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 75
(Fantasy) Neal and Killian are young lovers. Together they think they can keep the dragons from destroying the world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
The Sound Of Salt And Sea by Kat Howard  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 10
(Fantasy) Every year, Far Island rises from the sea, and the spirits of the dead return to Near Island, until the bone horses usher them back on the third day. The horses need a living rider, and Rowan is sure she can do it and survive.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1 Readers+0
The Treaty Breaker by Brendan DuBois  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueAnalog 05|16
(SF) Janet chairs the governing board for the asteroid 1820 Geographos, so she's on the hook when a mystery vessel shows up, hacks their computers, and docks without permission.
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The Visionaries by Albert E. Cowdrey  Time: 23m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 01.02|16
(Urban Fantasy) Jimmy and Morrie's "Paranormal Services" investigates a haunted forest--tree farm, actually.
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The Warrior Boy Who Would Not Suffer by Abhinav Bhat1  Time: 13m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 88
(Religious Fantasy) An old man quizzes a dying youth in a place between life and death.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
The Water-Walls of Enceladus by Mercurio D. Rivera  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueInterzone 262
(SF) A disfiguring illness drove Lilly to leave Earth and live in a community of aliens who think she's beautiful. Trouble is, they like her too much.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois+1
This Is a Letter to My Son by K.J. Kabza  Time: 16m (ShortStory)  IssueStrange Horizons 04/11/16
(Near Future SF) Kellsey's a transsexual 11-year-old girl. Improved technology makes that easier, but also creates new problems, and she seeks advice from recordings her mother made for her "son" before she died.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Three Paintings by James Van Pelt  Time: 14m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|16
(SF) Vincent is a famous painter, but he fears he's grown stale. He has a wild plan to reinvigorate his painting, which starts with making a backup copy of himself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Touch Me All Over by Betsy James  Time: 17m (ShortStory)  IssueF&SF 01.02|16
(Fantasy) Hilil weaves and ties the best knots in Sulik, but a curse causes made things to fall apart at her touch.
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Travelling into Nothing by An Owomoyela  Time: 21m (ShortStory)  IssueBridging Infinity 2016
(Far-Future SF) Kiu Alee escapes a death sentence by agreeing to pilot a very special vehicle to a very xenophobic arcology in deep space.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Treesong by Sheree Renee Thomas  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueAlphabet of Embers 
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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Turing de Force by Edward M. Lerner  Time: 12m (ShortStory)  IssueScience Fiction by Scientists 2016
(Hard SF) Two extraterrestrial AIs arrive in our solar system and try to decide whether human beings are intelligent.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Uncontainable by Helen Stubbs  Time: 15m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 91
(Horror) A mad little child speaks only to the boarder, and her message is too terrible to believe.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
Under One Roof by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueUncanny 12
(Horror) When newlyweds Courtney and Josh rent an old Victorian in Baltimore, they're told to stay out of the attic. But they hear noises up there at night. Footsteps.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Under She Who Devours Suns by Benjanun Sriduangkaew  Time: 19m (ShortStory)  IssueBCS 204
(High Fantasy) After a long absence, Melishem returns to Talyut to challenge her rival to single combat. But Sikata is already dead.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
(SF) Filo/Gee, an intelligent giant amoeba, isn't the ideal college roommate, particularly since he experiences the world through touching and tasting, which is hard on books, electronics, and relationships.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Wednesday's Story by Wole Talabi1  Time: 22m (ShortStory)  IssueLightspeed 72
(Fairytale Fantasy) A member of a group of powerful beings who make stories real tells us the truth about Solomon Grundy and why he had to die.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton+1
When She Comes by Onu-Okpara Chiamaka1  Time: 00m (ShortStory)  IssueApex 90
(Horror) Death comes for the witch-doctor, but he's not ready to go quite yet.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1
With Fones by Todd McCaffrey  Time: 20m (ShortStory)  IssueGalactic Games 2016
(SF Humor) If Liz can just get a few more species to participate, she can get bowling added as an event in the Intergalactic Games. It's a bad time to have fone problems.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR+1
Woman in the Reeds by Esther M. Friesner  Time: 18m (ShortStory)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|16
(Mythological Fantasy) In biblical Egypt, a Hebrew woman driven mad by the loss of her son finds a baby in the bulrushes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu+1


5 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. I read and reviewed a lot of 2015 and 2017 short fiction at my old website and for Tangent but only read some stuff for Tangent in 2016 and read some of the Year's Bests, so there is a lot of stuff I didn't read but, FWIW, from the list above, I also enjoyed

    Initial Tangent readings:

    6 "Seven Birthdays" by Ken Liu
    1 "Chasing Ivory" by Ted Kosmatka
    1 "Mice Among Elephants" by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford
    1 "The Right Place to Start a Family" by Caroline M. Yoachim

    Later web stuff from the Year's Bests:

    10 "That Game We Played During the War" by Carrie Vaughn
    4 "Mika Model" by Paolo Bacigalupi
    4 "Successor, Usurper, Replacement" by Alice Sola Kim
    4 "The One Who Isn't" by Ted Kosmatka
    2 "Down and Out" by Ken Wharton

    While I liked "That Game" I wouldn't give it a 10 (i.e., I didn't like it as much as everyone else cumulatively did). On the other hand, I'd give "Down and Out," especially, and the 1s much more than they got.

    Another oddity is that "Right Place" came from the anthology, Humanity 2.0, but I also liked "An Endless Series of Doors" by David Walton and "E^H" by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro and appear to be alone there. There were several good stories in an anthology called Conspiracy!, edited by Judith K. Dial and Thomas A. Easton, and stories from FSF, FFO, and Tor that were also like that.

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  2. Treesong by Sheree RenΓ©e Thomas is now online at Lightspeed 99:

    http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/treesong/

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    1. Thanks, updated in the spreadsheet. The current version of the 2016 Best SF/F page doesn't have this story because its score of 1 doesn't make the cutoff (and even so there are 275 stories).

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  3. "The Incursus by Asimov-NN#71" by Gord Sellar reprinted at Lightspeed:

    http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-incursus-by-asimov-nn71/

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  4. "An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book Of Comparative Cognition" by Ken Liu reprinted at Lightspeed:

    http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/an-advanced-readers-picture-book-of-comparative-cognition/

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