Return to 2016 Best SF/F Short Fiction
Best Stories
Novella
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(SF) Khifi makes a good living as a
pilot, but she used to be a homeless kid on the Tanduou docks. So she cares
when she gets hints that something bad is happening--something involving
kids, aliens, and more.
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(Alternate History) In 1950s London
after the Nazi's won WWII, a German man tries to find a girl he used to love
in response to her call for help.
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Novelette
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(SF) Frere-Jones controls the nanobot
"grains" that help protect the ecology in the bit of land she
"anchors." She's come to view the grains as a tyranny, but there
doesn't seem to be much she can do about it.
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(SF) In a future where most of the
galaxy is run by "the Machine" for the benefit of those lucky
enough to own shares, a young shareholder goes to school to learn how he can
make a difference.
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Everyone
from Themis Sends Letters Home by Genevieve Valentine
Time: 30m (Novelette) Issue: Clarkesworld 121
(SF) The crew of the Themis colony
write home about their struggles with a mission and a world that seems to be
more than a little off.
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(SF) The end of the world starts when
an ambitious marketing guy gets a cryptic assignment to create an ad campaign
to "make ugly sexy."
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Gorse
Daughter, Sparrow Son by Alena
Indigo Anne Sullivan1 Time: 25m (Novelette) Issue: Strange Horizons 08/08/16
(Fairy Tale) Jocelyn is a princess a
lot like Sleeping Beauty, but with a much better relationship with the
fairies. Not that that helps her.
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(Near-future SF; Project Empathy)
Teenage Bel worked as a host at a Blue Cup restaurant in Concord, CA before
Blue Cup moved her to San Francisco for special training. Very special.
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Seven Ways of Looking at the Sun-Worshippers of Yul-Katan by Maggie Clark
Time: 43m (Novelette) Issue: Analog 04|16
(SF) The narrator fled her world's
brutal religion for a role with an interstellar science team. But a distress
call puts her back on a collision course with it.
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(Hard SF) After centuries of solitude
at his post on Pluto, Heimdallr has come to fear that humanity is extinct.
Then he receives a summons from the inner solar system.
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(Fantasy) Thirty years ago, Bet beat
the best sorcerer in the world, but at such cost she's been in hiding ever
since. Now the plague hunters need her help again, but something seems very
wrong.
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(Near-Future Hard SF) Lita learned
Rob's obsession with alternate universes in college, but waning interest in
science made it hard for him to explore it.
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Short Story
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(High Fantasy) The stakes on Yildirim
and Ramadami's duels have risen to where they threaten the economies of Onsen
and Dushiq.
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A
Non-Hero's Guide to the Road of Monsters by A.T.
Greenblatt Time: 19m (ShortStory) Issue: Mothership Zeta 3
(Slipstream) Rather than killing the
monsters, Devon would rather negotiate with them and blog about it later.
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(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.
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(Military SF) The war against the
alien Trefoil was going well until they unleashed an unexpected weapon.
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(Fantasy) Dr. Kampfe's group of travelling
players visits Sevengraves, a place so poor that every performance feels like
charity.
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(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
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(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.
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(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.
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(High Fantasy) To defeat the armies of
the Efficate, the Cteri train some of their children to be weapons of mass
destruction.
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Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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(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.
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(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.
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(SF) When a feral robot steals her
phone, Renee acquires a keen interest in the little robotic ecosystem that
flourishes in the park.
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(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.
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Something
Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What It Was by Paul
McAuley Time: 20m (ShortStory) Issue: Tor.com 07/20/16
(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.
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(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.
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The
Magical Properties of Unicorn Ivory by Carlos
Hernandez Time: 15m (ShortStory) Issue: The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria 2016
(Magical SF) Writing a story on
Unicorns in Scotland, Gabby tangles with some poachers.
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(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.
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Best Stories 2
Novella
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(Black Lovecraftian Horror) In 1924
Harlem, 20-year-old Tommy Tester plays bad jazz and runs minor scams. When an
old man offers him $500 to play at his house, he knows there's a catch. It's
just not what he expects.
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(Fantasy) Vellitt Boe teaches math at
a university in the dreamworld. When her star student elopes with a dreamer
from the real world, she goes after them.
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(Military SF) Merlin's starship is one
of the best, but it needs repairs, and a derelict starship may have what he
needs. Or he can try a binary system where an interplanetary war has raged
for centuries.
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Novelette
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(Fantasy Science) Tuela's people fly
among the remains of their shattered world, stealing water from a neighbor
planet. Tuela presents an argument that things should change.
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(High Fantasy) Two teenage girls, Lin,
the last Jewel, and Sima, the last Lapidary, struggle to fight the invaders
who've taken the kingdom by treachery.
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(Historical Fantasy) In Elizabethan
London, an entrepreneur skilled in identifying legitimate antiquities ends up
with a bottle that happens to have a demon in it.
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Short Story
Notable Stories
Novella
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(SF) Charles Mann leads a wild,
exciting life, which he shares with millions who join his
"live-link."
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(SF) Rist descends from the highlands
and is captured by the lowlanders, who've never seen a human being as small
as him. He struggles to learn their language and adapt to their ways
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Penric And The Shaman
by Lois McMaster Bujold Time: 2h:05m (Novella) Issue: Penric And The Shaman 2016
(High Fantasy; Five Gods) Young
Penric, a powerful but fledgling sorcerer, joins the hunt for a fugitive
sorcerer, suspected of killing his own best friend.
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(Horror/Humor) From confinement in an institution
the narrator describes the events that put him there. There's something weird
about the Northwest.
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(High Fantasy) The dead girl
originally fled her homeland over something, and whatever it was, it's making
it hard for Tromvi to return her body.
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(Planetary SF) Mr. Costello's crackpot
moneymaking scheme promises entertainment to the rural community he sets down
in, but the narrator senses a threat.
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(Horror) Middle-aged bachelor, Greg
Kellog, has a secret knack for making small changes to reality by
"lying." To stop a series of deaths, "small changes" may
not be enough.
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(Time Travel) In 979 AD, the city of
Jinyang stands on the brink of destruction, but someone seems to be trying to
help it with technologies from the future.
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Where
There is Nothing, There is God by David
Erik Nelson Time: 1h:14m (Novella) Issue: Asimov's 12|16
(Time Travel) Paul finds a job selling
drugs for the mafia in 1770s America.
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(SF) A violent Martian mining town
reconstructs Wyatt Earp to try to restore order.
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Novelette
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(SF) In a future Australia, Irving
sells his memories for ready cash, hoping to put his life back together. To
the extent he still remembers it.
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(Hard SF) Cynthia had the evidence to
send the crooked Initiative officers to prison, but how to get it from
Jupiter back to Earth?
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(Zombie) In modern India, Krishna
encounters (and ignores) a dead woman's body by the river just before the
dead start to walk. He feels guilty and determines to do something about it.
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(SF AI) Shelby's friend Vivian faces a
long recovery from a head injury, and she can't bear the loss of her company,
so she starts using an AI surrogate.
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(Fantasy Science) About a thousand
years from now, two powerful AIs struggle to prevent the destruction of the
multiverse.
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(Military Fantasy) Baekdo, a fox who
wants to become human, needs one more kill to achieve his goal. A collapsing
city in the middle of a civil war seems like a good place to do it but there
are complications.
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(SF) Disguised in the body of a dead
little boy, Fox needs to escape from the colony before the revolutionary
leaders find him. But the boy's brother may be a problem.
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(Historical Fantasy) Louis fights for
the Republic of Québec against the British but the French Revolution is
causing troubles on both sides of the Atlantic.
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(Magical Realism) Teenage Leep works
making circuit boards somewhere in the third world. He's so awkward and quiet
that people think he's crazy, but he sees a very different world.
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(Generation Ship SF) Garen and his
little brother live in the outer shell of the ship, but they have an
unhealthy curiosity about the people who live inside.
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(Competence SF) In the 2080s, Humanity
is abandoning Mars, and Steuby and his companions think they can make money
by looting the abandoned settlements at the last minute.
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(Mind Uploading) Jix tells how her
twin sister left their planet and their god, starting with how they met a
handsome offworlder.
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Only Ten More Shopping Days Left Till Ragnarök by James Morrow Time: 27m (Novelette) Issue: Drowned Worlds 2016
(Near-Future Fantasy) The narrator and
his wife take a vacation to the North Pole, but after a tragic accident,
they're enlisted in an effort to save the world.
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(Near-Future SF) Lucas does jobs for
backups that their human originals won't agree to. But some backups are more
trouble than others.
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(near-future SF) At 14, Jeff can get
his first "passion" treatment, which artificially makes you
passionate about something or someone.
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(Alternate Reality) Old man Rendezvous
tells outrageous stories about Jack Kennedy, and he's hunting an artifact in
the drowned ruins of Cape Canaveral.
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(Near-Future SF) Benji was an ordinary
terrier until his master decided to have him sentientized.
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(Near-Future SF; Project Empathy)
Angelina struggles with life now that she's lost her chip, and she's not sure
how to get back on track
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(Near-Future SF; Project Empathy)
Akiko wakes up on a ship bound for San Francisco with no memory of who she
is, but with the voice of "God" telling her what to do.
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(Near-future SF; Project Empathy)
Teenage Bel enjoys her prestigious career at Blue Cup, but she's alarmed to
discover her employer has installed an AI in her head to keep tabs on her.
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(Near-future SF; Project Empathy) The
Observator chip helps Angelina navigate her role as "social
curator" (aka hostess) at the Reserve. She doesn't know that the chip
wants to end their partnership.
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(Fairy Tale) Young Miryem supports her
family lending money at interest, but things get difficult when someone from
Faerie makes her an offer she can’t refuse.
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Taste The
Singularity At The Food Truck Circus by Jeremiah Tolbert
Time: 28m (Novelette) Issue: Lightspeed 75
(Near-Future SF) Nico's boring life as
an accountant changes when he meets an old friend who's involved with the
illegal food scene in Kansas City.
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(Time Travel) Dora will do anything to
prove that a woman's 1928 execution for murder was a mistake.
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(SF/Mainstream) The crew of the new
Mars mission are coming to the hotel where Emily works, and her mom is
starting to say strange things about her involvement with the last Mars
mission.
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(Hard SF) Caitlin does data mining for
a presidential campaign, but her analysis is resulting in unusually precise
and downright strange predictions.
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(Portal Fantasy; Dungeonspace) Teenage
Ivan lost his brother in d-Space, but his new friend Domino is eager to
explore a dungeon that's supposed to be safe.
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(SF) In a colony on an almost
uninhabitable planet, the technologically-superior Su share power with the
humans, but some humans want independence.
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(Post Apocalypse) Teenage Tetley lives
in a human settlement (one of the last) built on a miles-wide floating
garbage dump. She explains why everyone hates her now.
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(Steampunk) In 1880s London, Sir
Arthur's "Illogic Engine" has gone missing, so he seeks help from
Mycroft Holmes.
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(Post-Apocalypse) 22-year-old Eris
flies a cab in the City. A stranger pays her to elude a follower, and she
gets caught up in intrigue.
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The
Limitless Perspective Of Master Peek, Or, The Luminescence Of Debauchery
by Catherynne M. Valente
Time: 32m (Novelette) Issue: BCS 200
(Historical Fantasy) Perpetua must
pretend to be a man in order to carry on her father's glass business. She
makes a great success from glass eyes, even before she realizes how special
they are.
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(Greek Mythos) The trees in the grove
used to be women, and the Guardian protects them zealously from the men who
still pursue them.
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(Modern Fantasy) Thea graduated from
witches school six months ago and should be at Harvard now, but the lack of
her shadow, which she lost as a child, is depressing her, and if she can’t
find it soon, she’ll fade away entirely.
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(Mind Uploading) The prospect of
living forever through "iterations" is still new, and not everyone
likes it. Sonata wants to make a statement by declaring she will only upload
twice.
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(SF) In 2040, Colin gets more than he
bargained for when he asks the AIs at tech giant PinPoint to track down
information about a mysterious great aunt who vanished in 1965.
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(SF) The "Heroes" are
gradually destroying Yousra's world, but she finds a way to use a castrated
prisoner to fight back.
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(Post Singularity) James seeks
fulfillment through his sculpture, even though it all seems pointless in a
perfect world run by Ais.
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(Near-Future SF) The secretive
parthenogenetic women of Colinas Bravas usually don't allow outsiders into
their country, but they invite Ms. Vargas to fix a genetic problem with their
children.
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(SF) Months after mysterious aliens
scattered their spacecraft across North America, no one has a clue what they
want. Avery knows what one of them wants, though: it wants a tour.
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(Hacker SF) Fresh out of prison for
hacking, Aedo gets a request to do an even bigger hack. But why does Energy
Davison want to hack its own systems?
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We Will Wake Among the Gods, Among the Stars by Caroline M. Yoachim and Tina
Connolly Time: 43m (Novelette) Issue: Analog 01.02|16
(SF) Nanne accompanies a jungle
expedition that seeks gold, but she secretly looks for a lost city with high
technology.
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Short Story
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(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.
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A Partial List of Lists I Have Lost Over Time by Sunil Patel2
Time: 02m (ShortStory) Issue: Asimov's 03|16
(SF Short-Short) Entirely via lists,
the narrator tells a story about fighting his duplicate from another
dimension.
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(Historical Fantasy) Pippa and her
automaton attempt to destroy an undead pest infesting the future site of a
chalet.
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And Then,
One Day, The Air Was Full Of Voices by Margaret
Ronald Time: 17m (ShortStory) Issue: Clarkesworld 117
(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.
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(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.
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Between
Dragons and Their Wrath by An Owomoyela and Rachel Swirsky Time: 15m (ShortStory) Issue: Clarkesworld 113
(Fantasy) Teenage friends Domei and
Hano live in a refugee camp for survivors of a war fought with dragons.
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(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.
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Caspar D.
Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do? by Nick
Wolven Time: 22m (ShortStory) Issue: F&SF 01.02|16
(SF) When "mediaterrorists"
attack, the disrupt Caspar's comfortable life in a near-future where everyone
is connected.
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(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.
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(Slipstream) A mother tries to find
something for her teenage daughter at a beach resort where four different
worlds seem to intersect.
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(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.
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(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.
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Deep Waters Call Out To What Is Deeper Still by Sarah Frost
Time: 13m (ShortStory) Issue: Analog 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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(Multiverse) The narrator walks the
worlds while waiting for her husband to get home.
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From the
Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review (A Lady Trent Story)
by Marie
Brennan Time: 06m (ShortStory) Issue: Tor.com 04/05/16
(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.
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(Fashion SF) Maria is a super model in
a future that doesn't hesitate to modify the bodies of the models for maximum
impact.
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(SF) A woman on death row is offered a
fortune for her children if she'll let another woman take over her body.
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Not by
Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass by Jeremiah Tolbert
Time: 17m (ShortStory) Issue: Lightspeed 69
(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.
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Not Recommended for Guests of a Philosophically Uncertain Disposition by Michelle Ann King Time: 08m (ShortStory) Issue: Interzone 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.
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(SF Android) You adopt an android
baby. You name him Ben. He grows amazingly fast.
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(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.
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(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.
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(Allegory) Young people enter the
pyramid on the first floor, but although the parties are great, they aspire
to ascend.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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?
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Ten Confessions of Blue Mercury Addicts by Anna Spencer by Alexander Marsh Freed Time: 17m (ShortStory) Issue: Interzone 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.
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(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.
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(SF) The narrator visits an alien
world to negotiate a trade deal with a race of alien predators who have a bad
reputation.
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(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.
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The Birth
Will Take Place on a Mutually Acceptable Research Vessel by Matthew Bailey1 Time: 17m (ShortStory) Issue: Lightspeed 71
(SF) You're having a baby. The first
Human-Tharkan hybrid. And everyone wants into the act--including both
governments.
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The
Continuing Saga of Tom Corbett: Space Cadet by James Van
Pelt Time: 17m (ShortStory) Issue: Analog 12|16
(SF Adventure) Everyone calls Tomika
"Space Cadet," but she really feels she doesn't belong in this
world.
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(SF) An AI trying to establish a human
colony discovers there's an individual it cannot account for.
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(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.
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(Sports SF) The human team awakens
naked, with no memories, but speaking a shared language, and ready to
compete--at something.
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The Grocer's Wife: Enhanced Transcription by Michael Libling
Time: 18m (ShortStory) Issue: Asimov'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.
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(Near Future Fantasy Dystopia) In a
2042 Ireland beset by ecological catastrophe, the narrator meets a fairy at a
protest.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(Present-day SF) Four retired men meet
every day for conversation. One of them worries he's showing symptoms of
Alzheimer's.
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(SF) The narrator's farm is threatened
by a sequence of increasingly irrational demands by the distant emperor.
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(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.
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(SF AI) In a world ruled by AIs, the
only work that pays is entertainment.
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(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.
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(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.
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(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.
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(Historical Fantasy) Martin fulfils
his dream of entering the dragonlands via a secret mountain pass in France.
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(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.
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(Chinese Fantasy) Sometimes a unicorn assisted Judge Kao Yu, and because
he was so just and honest, he never feared its judgment. Until now.
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(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.
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The Tale
of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle by Sofia
Samatar Time: 11m (ShortStory) Issue: Starlit Wood 2016
(Meta Fiction) Mahliya will be down in
a bit to tell you the story, but we'll begin by telling you a love story.
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(SF Horror) Professor Macguire's work
on multiple universes drove him insane, but Dean hopes to learn enough from
him to finish his dissertation.
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(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.
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(High Fantasy) After a long absence,
Melishem returns to Talyut to challenge her rival to single combat. But
Sikata is already dead.
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(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.
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(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.
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Welcome to
the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last
Patient Death: 0 by Caroline M. Yoachim
Time: 07m (ShortStory) Issue: Lightspeed 70
(SF Humor) A choose-your-own-adventure
story in which you navigate the clinic on a space station full of aliens.
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(SF Thriller) The narrator is a con
man in near-future Thailand, and he has a scheme that might net him enough to
retire.
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(Fantasy Humor) Angels who operate the
Celestial Switchboard fielding mortal prayer requests get frustrated and even
depressed.
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