2016 Hugo Awards


To make it easier to nominate things other than Best Novel, we have collected key information from all the stories in Analog, Asimov's, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Lightspeed, and Tor.com and from all the stories in nine major anthologies published in 2015. Taken together, this makes it a lot easier to pick things to read and nominate in seven categories.

Help Making Short-Fiction Nominations

If you're still looking for things to read

You can find information on this page for:
Each of these lists is grouped by number of recommendations from nine prolific short-fiction reviewers, and each entry includes links to reviews. We also provide extensive information on how to buy or borrow digital copies of back issues of the print magazines.

There are also the RSR-annotated versions of the 2015 Locus Recommended Reading List and 2015 Nebula Award Nominees and reviews of late recommendation from the Puppies.

If you've already finished your reading

It's easy to remember which novels you read last year, but it's hard to remember all the short fiction. Even a list of titles and authors doesn't always help because that's often not enough to remind you what the story was about--much less whether it was a novella, novelette, or short story.

Our page of Stories by Magazine and Category should have everything you need to make this easy. It includes short descriptions of each story, which make it easier to remember what they were about, and (especially useful for stories from anthologies) we include the word count, which makes it easy to decide what category the stories go into.

If you're trying to find new writers who're eligible for the Campbell Award

The Campbell Award goes to the best new writer based on the last two years of work. The challenge here is knowing who's eligible.  Our  Campbell-Award-Eligible Writers page contains the same information per-story as the list above, but filters out all but the new writers.

Help Making Best-Artist Nominations

Best Professional Artist

To pick candidates for Best Professional Artist, you need to be able to look through a lot of full-sized images quickly, separating out the ones worth more study. Our 2016 Professional Artists page uses a "lightbox" display to let you scroll through the cover art from the major magazines and novels of 2015, and it includes links to the original publications and the artists' online galleries (where possible). With this system, you can riffle through about 200 pieces of cool art in just a few minutes.

Best Fan Artist

Our 2016 Fan Artists page does the same thing for cover art from the major prozines and 50 fanzines (with thanks to Bill Burns from eFanzines who extracted the images and hosts them).

Help Making Best Editor (Short Form) Nominations

Finally, to help people make nominations for the Best Editor (Short Form) category, we collected together all the statistics we could think of on our 2016 Editors (Short Form) page and we offer some suggestions on how to combine them to pick candidates.

Everyone has a handle on Best Novel, but we think this makes nominating for the other categories a whole lot easier, and we hope you will too. (Rocket Stack Rank is a free service and is not monetized in any way, shape, or form.)

Registration

2016 Hugo Awards nominations have already begun and will continue until March 31. To nominate, you must have either been registered for Sasquan in 2015 or been registered for MidAmericon II (or Worldcon 75) before January 31, 2016.

MidAmeriCon II will be held in Kansas City, MO from August 17-21, 2016. Worldcon 75 will be in Helsinki, Finland in 2017.

This set of novellas, novelettes and short stories come from the 2015 Year-To-Date page, grouped by category and score, filtered by score >= 2, where each recommendation is worth 2 points (RSR:5, KTB, LTilton, SFRevu:5, SFEP, GDozois, RHorton, Nclarke, JStrahan) except SFRevu:4 and RSR:4 which are worth 1 point.
Note: Campbell Award-eligible writers are identified with a superscript denoting their year of eligibilty.

Novellas

The most-recommended novellas of 2015 by prolific reviewers who read 500+ stories.
Total Stories: 19;  Estimated Time: 24h:38m (443K words)

Score: 6 -> 3-4 Recommendations

Inhuman Garbage by Kristine Kathryn Rusch  Time: 1h:24m (25K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
A young woman is murdered in Armstrong City, Luna, and both the police and organized crime want to understand why. Captivating.
The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred by Greg Egan  Time: 1h:04m (19K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
The situation on Vesta has reached the point where certain people flee to Ceres in suspended animation. Anna, the new Director of Ceres, tries to understand the refugees better as relations with Vesta continue to deteriorate.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton SFEP

Score: 5

Gypsy by Carter Scholz  Time: 1h:18m (24K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
With Earth falling apart, a secret group launches a mission to Alpha Centauri in 2041. Launching is only half the problem; getting there is the real challenge.
Sleeping Dogs by Adam-Troy Castro  Time: 1h:10m (21K words)  IssueAnalog 07.08|15
An old man, long in hiding on a remote, tropical world, struggles to cope with the arrival of a figure from the worst part of his past.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFRevu:5
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette De Bodard  Time: 1h:48m (32K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
The Empress of the Dai Viet Interstellar Empire assigned a team to track down her rebellious daughter, who disappeared thirty years ago. Now the scientist leading the investigation as also disappeared.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 SFEP GDozois
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman Malik  Time: 1h:14m (22K words)  IssueTor.com 04/22/15
Salman pursues the truth behind stories his grandfather told him about an impoverished princess he used to know back in Pakistan and the Jinn that protected her.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton JStrahan

Score: 4 -> 2-3 Recommendations

Builders Of Leaf Houses by Catherine Wells  Time: 1h:04m (19K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
On Dray's planet, the natives in Motherlove's village meet humans at an inconvenient time, for they are coping with a number of challenges. Marta and Shipner mean well, but they have problems of their own, and communication is difficult.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 KTB
Waters of Versailles by Kelly Robson1  Time: 1h:02m (19K words)  IssueTor.com 06/10/15
Sylvain de Guilherand secretly uses a captive water spirit to provide indoor plumbing to Louis XV's Versailles, but the spirit is childish, playful, and getting bored.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 JStrahan

Score: 3

Johnny Rev by Rachel Pollack  Time: 1h:20m (24K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Jack Shade, a supernatural investigator in New York City, is stalked by his own duplicate.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
In a nightmarish near-future New York where wake-up pills mean no one ever sleeps, Gabriel investigates strange behavior by his financial trading company's AIs.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:5
The Two Paupers by C.S.E. Cooney  Time: 1h:02m (19K words)  IssueThe Two Paupers 
(Fantasy)  Gideon always destroys the statures he carves. Analise (who both loves and hates him) decides to save one, not expecting it to come to life.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 RHorton

Score: 2 -> 1-2 Recommendations

Entrepreneurs by Robert Grossbach  Time: 1h:12m (22K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
An engineer on Earth in the 1980s attempts a business deal with rather tiny space aliens.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Penric's Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold  Time: 2h:04m (37K words)  IssuePenric's Demon 
Penric, age 19, is accidentally possessed by a demon meant for someone else. Demons can be useful, but they are dangerous, and Penric has no idea what to do with one.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Pollen from a Future Harvest by Derek KΓΌnsken  Time: 1h:23m (25K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
In the 24th Century, Major Okonkwo investigates the suspicious death of her husband in the context of research on a secret portal that links 11 years into the past and the future.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFEP
Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds  Time: 2h:19m (42K words)  IssueSlow Bullets 
Scur, a soldier in an interstellar war, wakes up from hibernation on a prison ship. The ship is failing, they don't know where they are, and the prisoners are trying to kill each other.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Children of Gal by Allen M. Steele  Time: 1h:07m (20K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Sanjay's mother is exiled from the Eos colony for heresy because she claimed she saw "stars" moving in the night skies.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
The New Mother by Eugene Fischer  Time: 1h:04m (19K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
Tess is writing an article about a new disease that causes women to give birth to clones of themselves.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
This Evening's Performance by Genevieve Valentine  Time: 55m (17K words)  IssueThe Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk 
(Steampunk) The last three human actors struggle to find roles in a post-WWI world where automata have replaced people on the stage.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton


Novelettes

The most-recommended novelettes of 2015 by prolific reviewers who read 500+ stories.
Total Stories: 57;  Estimated Time: 34h:12m (615K words)

Score: 14 -> 7-8 Recommendations

Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts By Ida Countess Rathangan by Ian McDonald  Time: 44m (13K words)  IssueOld Venus 
Lady Ida's visit to Venus was memorialized by the beautiful floral papercuts she made there, but this sensational story revels the secret of the real purpose of her visit.

Score: 13


Score: 12 -> 6-7 Recommendations


Score: 11


Score: 10 -> 5-6 Recommendations


Score: 9


Score: 8 -> 4-5 Recommendations


Score: 7

Another Word for World by Ann Leckie  Time: 46m (14K words)  IssueFuture Visions 
Ashiban's attempts to negotiate peace with the Sovereign of Gidanta get off to a bad start when someone shoots down their flyer. They try to evade pursuit, having no idea which side staged the attack.
A group of Englishmen sharing an evening in a pub near a canal on "Old Mars" meet a stranger who knows their secret and makes them an offer.
The Deepwater Bride by Tamsyn Muir  Time: 28m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Things from the deep ocean invade a small American town, and a 16-year-old girl who can glimpse the future seeks the cause of it all.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP RHorton JStrahan

Score: 6 -> 3-4 Recommendations

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueThe End Has Come 
(SF) In a post-apocalypse US, Enid investigates a household that is reportedly hosting an unapproved pregnancy. Note: This story stands alone; it is not part 3 of anything.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 GDozois NClarke
Entanglements by David Gerrold  Time: 39m (12K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
A writer gets a device that lets him examine alternate universes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:5 SFEP
Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang  Time: 54m (16K words)  IssueUncanny 2
(Science Fantasy) Lao Dao processes trash in a fantastic future "third-space" Beijing. To get money for his daughter's education, he makes a dangerous trip to first-space--a city that unfolds when his own Beijing sleeps.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton RHorton NClarke
Jamaica Ginger by Nalo Hopkinson and Nisi Shawl  Time: 28m (9K words)  IssueStories for Chip 
In a steampunk New Orleans, Plaquette works for miserly "Msieur" building watches and automata. The "George" she's working on could gain her freedom, if it doesn't ruin her first.
The Audience by Sean Mcmullen  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
The Javelin reaches a rogue planet 36 light-days from Earth, but the crew finds something terrible there.
The Tumbledowns Of Cleopatra Abyss by David Brin  Time: 52m (16K words)  IssueOld Venus 
Jonah is a young man in a matriarchal human society hiding at the bottom of an ocean on a far-future Venus whose terraforming seems to be going wrong after thousands of years.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton NClarke

Score: 5

Black Dog by Neil Gaiman  Time: 45m (14K words)  IssueTrigger Warning 
(Horror) A young American man wanders into a gloomy English village where legend tells of a spectral black dog which is the harbinger of death.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP JStrahan
It Takes More Muscles To Frown by Ned Beauman  Time: 28m (9K words)  IssueTwelve Tomorrows 2016
The narrator, a blond American man, works for a Mexican oil company and leaks information to the cartels. He beats their lie detector tests using special implants in his face.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton GDozois
My Last Bringback by John Barnes  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) Layla, an expert on restoring the memories of people suffering from Alzheimer's, finds herself restoring her own memories--for better or for worse..
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton RHorton
No Placeholder for You, My Love by Nick Wolven  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
Claire meets a handsome older man at a dinner party held in a virtual reality where something has gone subtly wrong.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 GDozois NClarke
Our Lady of the Open Road by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 54m (16K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
One of the last live bands struggles to do performances in a mostly-online world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:4 SFEP
The Machine Starts by Greg Bear  Time: 37m (11K words)  IssueFuture Visions 
Bose is a project manager for the "Magic 8 Ball," the world's first quantum computer. Desperate to get it to work, they're ready to make some unorthodox changes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP JStrahan
Walking to Boston by Rick Wilber  Time: 44m (13K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
A man takes his Alzheimer's-afflicted wife to Boston to fulfill a promise he made when they were young.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4 SFEP

Score: 4 -> 2-3 Recommendations

Rhye a bitter ex-supersoldier, fights to rescue Rack, her hacker partner in crime, after the criminals they're working for kill Rack's body while his mind is in cyberspace.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB RHorton
Coming of the Light by Chen Qiufan  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
Zhou is an ad man for a Chinese marketing firm, and he has to find a way to get people to buy a new photo technology that has unusual capabilities.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFRevu:4
Empty by Robert Reed  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
Lerner Pong is an AI on a mission to the outer solar system following a huge war between machines that has left the inner solar system in ruins.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton NClarke
Fabulous Beasts by Priya Sharma  Time: 31m (9K words)  IssueTor.com 07/27/15
Lola (aka Eliza) has had problems dealing with people ever since she was a child, but she's always been good with snakes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP
Of Apricots and Dying by Amanda Forrest  Time: 28m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 12|15
In a near-future Pakistan, 19-year-old Asma has to choose between a high-tech job in the city or staying home to help her family. A complex story, and there is more to things than meets the eye.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4 SFEP
Planet Of Fear by Paul McAuley  Time: 37m (11K words)  IssueOld Venus 
On an alternate Venus, communist Russians investigate mysterious disappearances and worry that the Americans are behind it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton GDozois
Saltwater Railroad by Andrea Hairston  Time: 52m (16K words)  IssueLightspeed 62
In 1835, a mysterious young woman washes ashore on an island off the Georgia/Florida coast where a group of runaway slaves have built a community.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 KTB
So Much Cooking by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 110
During a flu epidemic, the narrator uses her cooking blog to tell the world about how she and her family make do on short rations.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 NClarke
The Body Pirate by Van Aaron Hughes  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
Symbiotic intelligences combining a bird-like entity with a humanoid one suffer problems when progress allows each bird to control multiple humanoids.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton
The End of the War by Django Wexler  Time: 41m (13K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
In deep interplanetary space of some other solar system, war is fought between squads of self-replicating robots while their human operators engage in almost-friendly conversation.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFEP
The Heart's Filthy Lesson by Elizabeth Bear  Time: 34m (10K words)  IssueOld Venus 
Fun adventure on Old Venus. Dharthi risks her life in an unexplored part of Ishtar Terra looking for evidence of a vanished civilization that would save her career.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton JStrahan
The Mantis Tattoo by Paul M. Berger  Time: 28m (8K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
In this clever historical fantasy, set in the Pleistocene, young Nudur gets called to serve Mantis, and Mantis sets him a difficult task to prove himself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFRevu:4
The Molenstraat Music Festival by Sean Monaghan  Time: 48m (15K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
On an arid planet, an former musician--now a painter in his old age--attempts to help a damaged but extremely talented young musician find the strength to heal herself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:5

Score: 3

Caisson by Karl Bunker  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
A young man helping build the Brooklyn Bridge in 1871 copes with a friend who's too interested in the fossils they find on the riverbed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
Ether by Zhang Ran  Time: 48m (15K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
One dreary day follows another for the underemployed, middle-aged narrator until a mysterious figure in black fleeing the police stops to trace a figure in the palm of his hand.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
Surreal tale about the loves and losses of Violet Wild, a girl from the purple country, who crosses the spectrum accompanied by a unicorn, a sorrow, and a herd of time squirrels.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 RHorton
The Worshipful Company of Milliners by Tendai Huchu  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueInterzone 257
(Urban fantasy) Kitsi is a feline spirit called into existence to create the invisible hats that give writers their inspirations.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Trapping the Pleistocene by James Sarafin  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
Fur trapper from ~22nd-Century Ohio goes back in time to try to catch a giant beaver.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 GDozois
Twelve and Tag by Gregory Norman Bossert  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 03|15
At the end of the 21st Century, the crew of Tethys initiates a pair of new crew members via a story-telling game. Chilling.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 RHorton

Score: 2 -> 1-2 Recommendations

Acres of Perhaps by Will Ludwigsen  Time: 44m (13K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
In his old age, a TV writer reflects on a show he worked on fifty years ago--the only work he's really proud of--and the almost supernatural way it came to an end.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: RHorton
An Evolutionary Myth by Bo-Young Kim  Time: 27m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 104
What if people's bodies evolved during a single lifespan, changing form according to the actions and the character of each individual?
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Asymptotic by Andy Dudak  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueClarkesworld 105
Intergalactic policeman enforces Einstein's speed limit, but suffers the side effects of violating it himself.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton
At the End of Babel by Michael Livingston  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueTor.com 07/01/15
In a future authoritarian America that doesn't tolerate cultural or linguistic diversity, Tabitha Hoarse Raven returns to the pueblo of Acona to finish the sacred dance her father died trying to complete.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Bones Of Air, Bones Of Stone by Stephen Leigh  Time: 38m (12K words)  IssueOld Venus 
Tomio returns to Venus to confront his ex-lover fifteen years after she left him following a diving accident that cost him his legs.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:5
Hot Rods by Cat Sparks  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueLightspeed 58
Near future Australia is dying from drought, and Harper's boyfriend has taken a job at a local mysterious American military base.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
You are a lonely ten-year-old boy living in an old house with your mom when a man claiming to be your uncle arrives and strange things start to happen.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton
Like Native Things by Mary Robinette Kowal  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
Tilda is a middle-aged German scientist researching technology to link human minds with animals--she's been very successful, but today something goes very wrong.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
Andy and H'ard are magical con men who offer to "help" a drought-ridden, depression-era, southwest town.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
Machine Learning by Nancy Kress  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueFuture Visions 
In this very emotional story, to distract himself from the wife and child he lost, Ethan buries himself in his work on a AI system designed to teach children.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
Ruins by Eleanor Arnason  Time: 48m (15K words)  IssueOld Venus 
Ash leads a team from National Geographic to see unusual megafauna in the Russian part of Old Venus.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
Silence Like Diamonds by John Barnes  Time: 33m (10K words)  IssueLightreading.com 
(SF) Yip, a software security consultant, works for her sister, Yazzy. She expects cases to be challenging, but not life-threatening. Until now.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: GDozois
Skin in the Game by Elizabeth Bear  Time: 26m (8K words)  IssueFuture Visions 
Neon White is a popular near-future singer who needs something to keep her act fresh. She already uses a lot of augments, but her publicist presses her to consider "machine empathy," technology that would let her fans experience her emotions directly.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Curse of the Myrmelon by Matthew Hughes  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
A fantasy-world shipping clerk thinks discrepancies in his accounts are the result of a curse, so he hires Cascor, a sort of magic-using private detective.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Deep Of Winter by Chris Butler  Time: 35m (11K words)  IssueInterzone 259
In an alternate world, a group of men go down into the abandoned undercity to search for two people who have disappeared.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Hard Woman by Ian Mcdowell  Time: 51m (16K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
French woman in the 1880s old West can become invulnerable, at some cost, and makes a living as a stage performer--until something goes wrong in Tombstone.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Servant by Emily Devenport  Time: 50m (15K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
A servant girl on a generation ship plots to overthrow the evil and corrupt rulers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: KTB
The Tell by David Brin  Time: 38m (12K words)  IssueFuture Visions 
The narrator is a magician who helps debunk con men, but he gets involved in serious, high-tech efforts to uncover the truth and predict the future.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Thyme Fiend by Jeffrey Ford  Time: 46m (14K words)  IssueTor.com 03/11/15
In 1915 Ohio, 14-year-old Emmett's night terrors get worse after he finds a dead body in an abandoned well.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Violation of the TrueNet Security Act by Taiyo Fujii  Time: 30m (9K words)  IssueLightspeed 62
A washed-up programmer in near-future Japan explores old code that she wrote back before the Internet was replaced by TrueNet.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke
Zapped by Sherwood Smith  Time: 46m (14K words)  IssueTor.com 05/27/15
Laurel is starting highschool in a new town, and although she's smart enough not to talk about her telekinetic ability, she can't resist using it sometimes.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB


Short Stories

The most-recommended short stories of 2015 by prolific reviewers who read 500+ stories.
Total Stories: 115;  Estimated Time: 32h:56m (593K words)

Score: 9

A Murmuration by Alastair Reynolds  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueInterzone 257
(Hard SF) Scientist studying flock behavior of starlings gets astonishing results but struggles to get her paper accepted.

Score: 8 -> 4-5 Recommendations

Calved by Sam J. Miller  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
A refugee from drowned New York City tries to reconnect with his teenage son during a break from the menial work he does on ice boats.
Capitalism In The 22nd Century Or A.I.r. by Geoff Ryman  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueStories for Chip 
Graça and Cristina want to leave Brazil and go settle on another planet, but it's expensive, physically challenging, and illegal.
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong2  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueNightmare 37
(Horror) Meimei dates really bad guys. Who want to use her. Who don't know what they're in for.
Meshed by Rich Larson  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 101
In near-future Seattle, a basketball scout finds an unusually talented high school senior, but there's one catch. This story is uplifting and painful all at once.
Today I Am Paul by Martin L. Shoemaker  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
Alzheimer's patient's family can't visit her very often, so they buy a robot to fool her into thinking they're visiting her. The robot tells the story.

Score: 7

City of Ash by Paolo Bacigalupi  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueMatter 7/27/15
In a near-future, water-starved Phoenix, AZ, Maria hides from the smoke of distant forest fires and thinks about everything that went wrong.
(SF) Anat doesn't remember her parents, but she loves her brother Oscar. They live in a wonderful world full of strange creatures and machines. The more she learns, the stranger things seem.
Things You Can Buy for a Penny by Will Kaufman  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 57
If you are desperate, visit the burned-out cottage by moonlight, find the forbidden well where the wet gentleman lurks. If you give him a penny, he might grant your wish.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 KTB LTilton SFRevu:4

Score: 6 -> 3-4 Recommendations

Consolation by John Kessel  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueTwelve Tomorrows 2016
At the end of the 21st century, when climate change has shattered the US and much of the north has joined Canada, three people are affected by what appears to be a terrorist attack.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFEP GDozois RHorton
Ghosts of Home by Sam J. Miller  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 63
A young woman with a bank job appeasing spirits who haunt foreclosed homes meets an attractive young male spirit who causes her to question the rules.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP JStrahan
Hello, Hello by Seanan Mcguire  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueFuture Visions 
The narrator, a computational linguist, has installed an advanced speech-and-gesture-recognition system to let her deaf sister make video phone calls. But a stranger seems to be using the system too.
The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club by Nike Sulway  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 65
What if rhinoceroses behaved like human beings and talked about their upcoming extinction during book club meetings?
The Winter Wraith by Jeffrey Ford  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
All alone at home during bad winter weather, Henry wants to get rid of the dead Christmas tree in the living-room. It drops needles and ornaments and there just seems to be something wrong with it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB LTilton JStrahan
Two-Year Man by Kelly Robson1  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
Mikkel isn't very bright, but he cleverly supplements his janitorial job by scavenging useful items his superiors discard and bringing them home to his wife--then one day he brings home a mutant baby.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 LTilton NClarke
(Literary) From childhood, Flora, painted disturbing paintings, and her nurse fears the young lady carried this obsession into adulthood.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: LTilton SFEP RHorton

Score: 5

Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 100
Entertaining tale of a modern search engine that achieves real artificial intelligence by accident and decides it wants to be helpful to people.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 RHorton NClarke
It is Healing, It is Never Whole by Sunny Moraine  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueApex 75
When the souls of the suicides tumble out of the low, gray clouds, the narrator is one of the ones who collect them, contain them, and load them onto the train.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton SFEP
Madeleine by Amal El-Mohtar  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Madeline is having an adverse reaction to an experimental drug--she revisits episodes in her past.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB SFEP
The Empress in Her Glory by Robert Reed  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 103
Aliens decide to rule the Earth indirectly, picking a middle-aged woman from an insurance company to be their intermediary.
The Lily and the Horn by Catherynne Valente  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueFantasy 59
(High Fantasy) Laburnum castle hosts key nobles from across the kingdom as well as the king himself for an enormous feast--a feast that's equivalent to a war.

Score: 4 -> 2-3 Recommendations

Drones by Simon Ings  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(Soft SF) A man describes his family problems in a future England where a plague has killed almost all the women.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: RHorton JStrahan
Edited by Rich Larson  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueInterzone 259
Two teenage boys spend a weekend with a friend who's just been "edited." The narrator struggles to accept the changes in his friend and wonders if things can still be the same.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFEP
Emergence by Gwyneth Jones  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) Romanz, a judge in the moons of jupiter, deals with a tough case involving a juvenile delinquent AI.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois JStrahan
In Blue Lily's Wake by Aliette De Bodard  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) Eleven years ago, the Blue-Lily plague devastated the Empire. Now Yen Oanh attends to unfinished business with a dead mind-ship and a living survivor.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 NClarke
(Fantasy) Tonight the hero risks her family to battle the Kaiju Maximus, one of the enormous aliens that drove most of humanity underground.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton JStrahan
Little Sisters by Vonda N. McIntyre  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueLittle Sisters 
(SF) Badly damaged in action, Qad's ship barely makes it to a shipyard. Qad expects a reward for his efforts, but things have changed since his last visit.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton JStrahan
Mutability by Ray Nayler  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
In a comfortable future world, a man meets a woman from a past he doesn't remember.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton RHorton
Paris, 1835 by Bill Johnson  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
A lady time-traveler falls into bad company in nineteenth-century Paris.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP
Please Undo This Hurt by Seth Dickinson  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 09/16/15
A woman paramedic and her best friend fear that despite their best efforts, they end up causing more pain than they relieve.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: KTB RHorton
The Daughters of John Demetrius by Joe Pitkin  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 10|15
In a future (~100 years) Mexico, out in the desert, a transhuman young man helps out some normal people, even though he's in peril from other transhumans who are hunting him. There seems to be a well-developed world behind this little story, and it defini
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois RHorton
The Graphology of Hemorrhage by Yoon Ha Lee  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueOperation Arcana 
(Military Fantasy) As one of the Empire's masters of graphological magic, Kodai has assisted in many victories, but winning today will require she give up her life--and more.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton RHorton
The Language of Knives by Haralambi Markov1  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueTor.com 02/04/15
A man butchers the corpse of his husband to cook a meal for the gods, as required by his culture's funeral rites.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB SFEP
The Smog Society by Chen Qiufan  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 63
A lonely old Chinese man gets involved in the fight against smog--without government approval.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton NClarke
Variations on an Apple by Yoon Ha Lee  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 10/14/15
Surreal science fantasy, in which three goddesses come to Paris, prince of a mathematical Troy, and ask him to decide to whom to award an apple.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB LTilton
Wild Honey by Paul Mcauley  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 08|15
In post-Collapse America, Mel operates a hive of augmented bees and trading honey and medicines with locals--until a crew of bandits arrives.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP NClarke

Score: 3

A User's Guide to Increments of Time by Kat Howard  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Siobhan and Finn are chronomancers, who can manipulate the passage of time. Former lovers, they hate each other now, and use their magic against each other.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Billy Tumult by Nick Harkaway  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueStories for Chip 
Billy Tumult is a psychic surgeon, who operates in virtual reality disguised as a wild-west cowboy.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 GDozois
Maddie's list of things to do before the end of the world tells a sad, sweet story.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:4
Cassandra by Ken Liu  Time: 18m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
Nameless lady villain explains how misguided Superman is for trying to stop her.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB
Don't Move by Dennis Etchison  Time: 11m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 09.10|15
Surreal tale of a young man who gets off a bus in the middle of nowhere and the mysterious girl who follows him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Duller's Peace by Jason Sanford  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 09|15
A young girl lives with her grandfather in a near-future totalitarian south-east Asian country whose rulers use an airborne nanotechnology to track everyone's thoughts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:4
Ex Libris Noctis by Jay Lake  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 67
(Urban Fantasy) Beatrice is dying, her brass heart failing, her captor leering at her. To survive and escape, she needs to remember how she got here.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
Footprints In The Snow by Bud Sparhawk  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
Alberto seems to be a caricature of a bigot. He hates the family of spider-like alien refugees who've moved in next door and won't give them a fair chance. But first impressions can be misleading--this story rewards readers who persist.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:4
Forgiveness by Leah Cypess  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueAsimov's 02|15
A high-school girl's abusive boyfriend comes back to school equipped with an anti-violence chip. No one understands how despite everything she still loves him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB
In 2139 Beiruit, Suraya sends a sequence of e-mails that summarize her team's progress saving as many people in Lebanon as possible from a coming global catastrophe.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Let Baser Things Devise by Berrien C. Henderson  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 103
In alternate-history America, an uplifted chimp gets certified as a person and goes to the moon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
Midnight Funk Association by Mack Leonard1  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueInterzone 259
Bunchess Taylor, a black musician in Detroit, learns that someone or something is poisoning Detroit's music when his assistant, "the white boy," buys an extra-sensitive piece of equipment.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
Outsider by An Owomoyela  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) when an Earth ship arrives at Se after centuries with no contact, the locals struggle to understand their strange, technophobic visitor.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 NClarke
Paradise and Trout by Betsy James  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueF&SF 07.08|15
The ghost of a ten-year-old boy tries to find his way to paradise.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 LTilton
The Adjunct Professor's Guide to Life After Death by Sandra Mcdonald  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
Ghost of an adjunct professor haunting her department is inundated by victims of a campus shooting.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 KTB
The City of Your Soul by Robert Reed  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueF&SF 11.12|15
You take a plane flight to Seattle, but disturbing news from Brazil bothers everyone on the flight. And beyond.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton SFRevu:4
The Universe, Sung in Stars by Kat Howard  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 59
Orrey maker decides to try working with real stars and galaxies.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB SFRevu:4
The Unveiling by Christopher Rowe  Time: 15m (5K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
A middle-aged foreman whose crew does menial jobs on planet Castellon finds something unusual during a routine job cleaning statues meant to be unveiled the next day.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
This Is the Way the Universe Ends: with a Bang by Brian Dolton  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
In the far future, near the end of the Universe, Titus and the 92 remaining intelligences cope with the discovery of something new.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFEP
A key scientist in the Dai Viet interstellar empire has died, and three people who were close to her mourn her passing in different ways.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFRevu:4 GDozois

Score: 2 -> 1-2 Recommendations

A Stopped Clock by Madeline Ashby  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueWar Stories from the Future 
(Military SF) An elderly pair of food vendors in a near-future Seoul, Korea cope with increasingly troublesome malfunctions in the city's cyber infrastructure.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
A Turkey with Egg on His Face by Rob Chilson  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueF&SF 05.06|15
Modest, young Missouri man has "friends" who bully him, a "girlfriend" who doesn't know he likes her, and a time machine.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:5
Acrobatic Duality by Tamara Vardomskaya1  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 02/11/15
Kim and Alana are two bodies sharing a single mind, which makes them world-class gymnasts--as long as they keep it a secret.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
All in a Hot and Copper Sky by Megan Arkenberg  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
Thirty years after a catastrophe in a Mars mission simulation, a woman writes letters to her dead lover--the one they call the Angel of death.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
In the modern world, a water spirit mourns the loss of her mortal lover.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Blessings by Nancy Kress  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueThe End Has Come 
(Hard SF) About a century ago, aliens distributed "the Blessing," which ended war by making people less violent. But civilization collapsed, and it's proving difficult to rebuild.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Blood, Ash, Braids by Genevieve Valentine  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueOperation Arcana 
(Alternate History) The Russians in WWII recruit women to fly crop dusters against the Germans, who call them "witches."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: JStrahan
Blue Ribbon by Marissa Lingen  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueAnalog 03|15
Out in the Oort cloud, teen-age Tereza and her sister just won a 4H club competition, but when the kids try to return to the space station, no one answers.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
Cocoons by Nancy Kress  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) The narrator escorts an official concerned about a disease that converts unlucky colonists into alien creatures.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke
Damage by David D. Levine  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 01/21/15
An intelligent, patchwork fighter ship struggles to help the last of the Free Belt fight off the Earth Force.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke
Documentary by Vajra Chandrasekera  Time: 05m (2K words)  IssueLightspeed 58
Somebody is making a documentary about Kamaria, who is a were-helicopter.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Egg Island by Karen Heuler  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
In a fairly near future, Audra visits the mid Pacific to watch how the ecosystem is evolving to incorporate plastics.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: KTB
Elephants and Corpses by Kameron Hurley  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 05/13/15
Nev can jump to bodies of the freshly dead, or to bodies he keeps on ice, but his latest acquisition causes no end of trouble.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 09|15
An art connoisseur who specializes in dynamic "evolutionary art" gets involved with the finest collection there is.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton
For the Love of Sylvia City by Andrea M. Pawley  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueClarkesworld 104
The 19-year-old heroine, who maintains the cable that links her peaceful underwater city with the war-torn mainland, finds something troubling during a routine repair.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Further North by Kay Chronister1  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
Two Turkish sisters struggle to survive in an Alaska ravaged by giant mutant worms.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Headwater LLC by Sequoia Nagamatsu1  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 56
Headwater Bottled Refreshments sells bottled water with literally magical properties. Yoko works in the home office and knows that the mythical, aquatic, Kappa on the logo isn't so mythical.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Hold-Time Violations by John Chu  Time: 17m (5K words)  IssueTor.com 10/07/15
Ellie is trying to catch a train from Boston to DC so she can visit her ailing mother when her sister calls to tell her she needs to "go to the skunkworks and repair the physics of this universe."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke
How to Walk Through Historic Graveyards in the Post-Digital Age by Fran Wilde  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
After a grave injury reporting on a future US war, Eleanor's eyes were replaced with advanced prosthetics--but now she seems to be seeing ghosts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Ice by Rich Larson  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 109
At 16, freshly moved to an alien planet, Sedgewick plans to meet some local boys for a midnight challenge/initiation, but his 14-year-old brother tags along.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Xia Jia  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueClarkesworld 110
The narrator is a librarian who acquires a mysterious book of poems and becomes obsessed with finding information about the author.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [0]  Recommended By: KTB
In Panic Town, on the Backward Moon by Michael F. Flynn  Time: 14m (4K words)  IssueMission: Tomorrow 
(Hard SF Mystery) Mickey works for the Martian Port Authority on Phobos. When a mysterious artifact goes missing, Mickey goes down to the surface to look for it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
Influence Isolated, Make Peace by John Chu  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
Cyborg struggles to prove he can fit into society now that the war is over.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Iron Pegasus by Brenda Cooper  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueMission: Tomorrow 
(Hard SF) Cynthia mines the asteroids alone except for her robot companion, Harry. They respond to a distress call, although something seems wrong about it.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke
Little Girls in Bone Museums by Sadie Bruce2  Time: 11m (4K words)  IssueF&SF 03.04|15
Deeply disturbing story about Piedra, a young woman whose body has been twisted into a work of art called a "bone knot."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
Oral Argument by Kim Stanley Robinson  Time: 07m (2K words)  IssueTor.com 12/07/15
(SF) A transcript of testimony before the U.S. Supreme Court gradually reveals what really happened with a human photosynthesis technology.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: JStrahan
Paul and His Son by Joe M. Mcdermott2  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 04.05|15
In a near-future NYC, 14-year-old Paul Jr. keeps running away from home, and Paul Sr. is willing to go to great lengths to stop him.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Petroglyph Man by Rudy Rucker  Time: 18m (6K words)  IssueAsimov's 07|15
Julio, a young man visiting Hawaii with his wife, explores his company's technology that modifies photos based on the user's thoughts.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Pictures From The Resurrection by Bruce Sterling  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) Fort Lucky, Texas, has survived the super-soldiers called "zombies," but Calderon thinks it won't be long now.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: LTilton
Rates Of Change by James S.A. Corey  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(Hard SF) A fun story about a near future where doctors can transplant your brain into a designer body, and a woman whose son nevertheless manages to sustain life-threatening injuries.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
Samsara and Ice by Andy Dudak  Time: 11m (3K words)  IssueAnalog 01.02|15
On a distant planet, every few years, two soldiers awake and try to kill each other. The locals think they're gods, and no one seems to remember what the war was about.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Security Check by Han Song  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueClarkesworld 107
A man in a future, security obsessed America longs for freedom, but lacks the courage to defy the security guards at the subway entrance.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Young scientist trying to develop time travel encounters an alien intelligence that lives outside of time.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: NClarke
Slowly Builds An Empire by Naim Kabir  Time: 21m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 102
In a future Tokyo, Shinsuke Takinami is an outcast because he can't use the augments that normal people use to communicate with each other--he has to talk.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: KTB
Some Gods of El Paso by Maria Dahvana Headley  Time: 13m (4K words)  IssueTor.com 10/28/15
In a magical, 2020s Texas, Lorna and Vix sell sex, but they mostly trade emotions; they'll take what you don't want, and sell the kind you do. As long as the law doesn't catch them.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Songs in the Key of You by Sarah Pinsker  Time: 09m (3K words)  IssueAsimov's 01|15
In the near future, all the cool Highschool kids wear "Kurzwailers" on their wrists, which play music that's customized for them alone. Aisha's family is too poor for her to have one, but she does have a gift for creating music.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFEP
Steel Ships by Tanya Huff  Time: 25m (8K words)  IssueOperation Arcana 
(Military Fantasy) Fun tale about navy seals (who really do turn into seals in the water) on a mission to destroy potentially deadly steel-hulled ships the enemy has built.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
Telling Stories to the Sky by Eleanor Arnason  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueF&SF 01.02|15
Heartwarming tale of a beggar girl in a long-forgotten city who tells stories to the wind.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
The Cold Inequalities by Yoon Ha Lee  Time: 12m (4K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(SF) Anzhmir supervises the data stores on an interstellar spaceship. The people encoded in the data are asleep, but Anzhmir thinks there's a stowaway.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke
The Falls: A Luna Story by Ian Mcdonald  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueMeeting Infinity 
(Hard SF) Interspersed with the narrator's account of her work on an intelligent AI for a Saturn mission, she describes how her daughter fell three kilometers on the moon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
The First Gate Of Logic by Benjamin Rosenbaum  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueStories for Chip 
Today, little Fift will attempt the first gate of logic. She's excited, but some of her fathers and mother are worried that she's not ready.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois
The Gods Have Not Died in Vain by Ken Liu  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueThe End Has Come 
(SF) In the wake of a war fought against uploaded humans who called themselves "gods," teenage Maddie is approached by an AI claiming to be her "sister."
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: NClarke
(High Fantasy) The usurped king lives in exile, guarded (and tortured) by an automaton--so people say. The truth seems to be a bit more comfortable than that though.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: RHorton
The Master's Voice by Brendan DuBois  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueAnalog 12|15
Today is Jake's 7th birthday (13 Earth years), and the celebration formally makes him a man.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
The Muses of Shuyedan-18 by Indrapramit Das  Time: 29m (9K words)  IssueAsimov's 06|15
Lesbian couple studying the native life on Teysanzi make a real impression on a towering alien.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: GDozois
The Myth of Rain by Seanan Mcguire  Time: 16m (5K words)  IssueLightspeed 60
In the near-future Pacific Northwest, environmentalists race to save key species from a forest that's slated to be destroyed.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: SFEP
The Ninth Seduction by Sean Mcmullen  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
A goblin craftsman who makes things of beauty for his cruel elvish mistress learns to make her weapons from the mundane world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Plausibility of Dragons by Kenneth Schneyer  Time: 21m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 66
In which Malik, a Moor from Cordoba, and Fara, a lady knight, unite to hunt a powerful and uniquely deceitful dragon.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: LTilton
The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri2  Time: 21m (6K words)  IssueTor.com 03/04/15
The narrator's uses the family time machine to try to reach some closure with mother who abandoned him in 1963.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
In 2001, just before the attacks, a girl out West has a very close encounter with space aliens.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: GDozois
The Way Home by Linda Nagata  Time: 22m (7K words)  IssueOperation Arcana 
A squad of US soldiers is trapped in Hell, and every hour, a demon materializes and tries to kill them.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [4]  Recommended By: RSR:4 SFRevu:4
The Ways of Walls and Words by Sabrina Vourvoulias  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueTor.com 04/15/15
In Mexico in 1562, Bienvenida meets an imprisoned Spanish girl her own age, befriends her, and looks for the magic to set her free.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
A war reporter investigates a possible alien landing in Hungary although her previous reporting has made her a lot of enemies there.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
Three Bodies at Mitanni by Seth Dickinson  Time: 23m (7K words)  IssueAnalog 06|15
Earth has sent a powerful starship to find the colonies it established 1,000 years ago and to destroy any that pose a threat to humanity.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: NClarke
Time Bomb Time by C. C. Finlay  Time: 10m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 60
Hannah's boyfriend wants to test his time experiment in Hannah's room.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [1]  Recommended By: RHorton
Two By Two by Tim Susman  Time: 20m (6K words)  IssueLightspeed 61
The blight destroyed almost all plant life, and Daniel and Vijay are seeking shelter with Daniel's family in Texas who may have a way out.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [5]  Recommended By: RSR:5
Werewolf Loves Mermaid by Heather Lindsley  Time: 08m (3K words)  IssueLightspeed 64
Humorous slipstream tale about a romance between a werewolf and a mermaid in the real world.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
When Your Child Strays From God by Sam J. Miller  Time: 19m (6K words)  IssueClarkesworld 106
Fundamentalist mom takes networking drug so she can track down her missing teenage boy.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: KTB
With Folded RAM by Brooks Peck  Time: 06m (2K words)  IssueAsimov's 10.11|15
A team infiltrates a space station just as two researchers are about to create the ultimate AI.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [2]  Recommended By: KTB
Yuanyuan’s Bubbles by Liu Cixin  Time: 24m (7K words)  IssueClarkesworld 111
(Hard SF) Yuanyuan has been fascinated with bubbles ever since she was a baby, but her hometown is dying from drought and needs water, not bubbles.
Other Reviews  RSR Mini-Review [3]  Recommended By: SFRevu:5


Eric Wong
February 17, 2016

4 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Isn't there a problem with treating SFEP and Gardner Dozois as separate sources, since Dozois contributed heavily to SFEP?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I had gone back and removed SFEP recommendations made by GDozois, RHorton (RHH) and NClarke if the story had made it into their anthology. It was a bit of work but necessary to avoid double counting.

      Delete
  2. "The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild" is by Catherynne Valente, not Suzanne Palmer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops, thanks for the correction. I've updated my spreadsheet and the fix will roll out to the various lists soon.

      Delete