This is the same set of stories listed in the Year-To-Date by
Rating page, grouped by score, filtered
by score > 1, where a recommendation is worth 2 points (RSR:5, SFRevu:5, GDozois:5,
RHorton:5, SFEP, NClarke, JStrahan, Nebula, Readers, Hugo, LTilton) except RSR:4,
SFRevu:4, GDozois:4, and Rhorton:4 which are worth 1 point.
Score: 12 -> 6-7
Recommendations
Score: 11
|
(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.
Other
Reviews RSR
Mini-Review [5] Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:4 GDozois:5 RHorton:5 NClarke JStrahan
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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.
Other
Reviews RSR
Mini-Review [3] Recommended By: SFRevu:4 GDozois:5 RHorton:5 NClarke JStrahan Nebula
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Score: 10 -> 5 Recommendations
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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.
Other
Reviews RSR
Mini-Review [5] Recommended By: RSR:5 SFRevu:4 GDozois:5 RHorton:4 NClarke Readers
|
Score: 9
Score: 8 -> 4-5
Recommendations
|
(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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(Near-Future SF) Benji was an ordinary
terrier until his master decided to have him sentientized.
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Ten Poems for the Mossums, One for the Man
by Suzanne Palmer Time: 24m (Novelette)
Issue: Asimov's 07|16
(Hard SF) Davin is spending a year
alone on Ekye to observe the local wildlife and, he hopes, to recover his
lost creativity.
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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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(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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Score: 7
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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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(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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(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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(Historical Fantasy) In a magical Old
West, young Ellis has a love for the desert and an affinity for dead things.
Both of these attract unwelcome attention from strangers visiting from back
East.
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Score: 6 -> 3-4
Recommendations
|
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) 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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(Portal Fiction; Wayward Children)
Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children helps kids who passed through a
portal to another world and returned unable to cope with this one.
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(SF) Ruth, a 22-year-old Walmart
cashier, meets a very weird-and-scary-looking alien, who seems down on his
luck, and brings him home with her.
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(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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(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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(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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(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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(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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(SF) In 2066 a woman struggles over
continuing life-support for her comatose mother and over what to do with the
things she's leaving behind.
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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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Score: 5
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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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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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(Fairy Tale) Tabitha has been walking
a long time, trying to wear out seven pairs of iron shoes; Amira has been
sitting alone on a glass hill that suitors try to climb.
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Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea
by Sarah Pinsker Time: 25m (Novelette)
Issue: Lightspeed 69
(Near-future SF) Bay lives alone and
subsists off things that wash ashore from cruise ships and such. Then Gabby
washes up, alive, and complicates her life.
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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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(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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(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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(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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(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) A violent Martian mining town
reconstructs Wyatt Earp to try to restore order.
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Score: 4 -> 2-3
Recommendations
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A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers
by Alyssa Wong Time: 11m (ShortStory)
Issue: Tor.com 03/02/16
(Magical Realism) Hannah watched her
sister Melanie die, incinerated with her own magic. Hannah can't accept that
and sets out to use her own magic to put things right.
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(Space Opera; Xuya) Thuy seeks her
daughter's remains in the twisted parts of unreal space where salvagers pick
over the remains of wrecked starships.
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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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(Fantasy/SF) Young Aqib has a bright
future as a noble, but he meets an enchanting foreigner who makes him
consider risking everything.
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(Historical Fantasy) On the even of
the Nazi takeover, a young German man's first assignment fixing a living
statue becomes more complicated than he expected.
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Dispatches From The Cradle: The Hermit -- Forty-Eight Hours In The Sea
Of Massachusetts by Ken Liu
Time: 22m (ShortStory) Issue: Drowned Worlds 2016
(Post Apocalypse) Around 2650 AD, the
narrator interviews a wealthy recluse who lives above the sunken ruins of
Boston.
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(Alien Invasion) You are building a
home on an alien world, despite the objections of the natives and the
complaints of your wife and children.
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(Alternate History) A private
detective takes a job guarding Albert Einstein as he flees the Nazis on an
ocean-liner-sized airplane.
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(Near-Future SF) A refugee from a
drowned island nation works on the Antarctic peninsula, where he studies
mysterious stones with elven runes in his spare time.
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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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(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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(SF) A police detective tries to cope
with an attractive female robot who confesses to murder.
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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
(Urban 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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(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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(Horror) The girl he killed was much
more than merely human, and there will be consequences.
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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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(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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(Far Future SF) Mia marks her
birthdays as powers of 7, which gives her lots of time to work out her issues
with her mother.
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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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(High Fantasy) The old magician rarely
takes students, but young Schmendrick has so much potential--if he could just
make his spells come out right.
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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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(SF) Mitchell was a navigator on the
Francis Drake, but something terrible happened. The doctors tell him he's
losing his mind, but he doesn't believe them. If only he could remember what
happened.
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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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(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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(Urban 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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(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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(Fairy Tale) A young, newly minted
witch meets an equally green knight, and they go off together in search of
dragons.
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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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(SF Horror) EncelaCorp
"streams" the consciousness of explorers to distant parts of the
galaxy. Jonathan worries that the experience may have changed his wife
somehow.
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(Hard SF) The Chinese Mars base asks
old First-Expedition crew members Julia and Viktor for help with a problem
involving Mars's only large native life form.
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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) The transmitter sends copies of
people to remote locations, but the copies don't want to do their jobs, and
Margery is in trouble if she can't figure out why.
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Score: 3
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(Modern Fantasy) When Penny's house
burns, she rebuilds a smaller place on the ashes. She only misses a few of
the contents, and really wishes for a way to get them back.
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(SF; Lydia Duluth) The AIs contract
Lydia to check out an unusual planet and the secretive corporation that's
supposed to be developing it.
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(Military SF) Constanza flies a
stealthed warplane for the US in a near-future war, and she's picked for a
series of special missions carrying a single, silent, soldier up to the front
and back.
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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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(SF) Charles Mann leads a wild,
exciting life, which he shares with millions who join his
"live-link."
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(Hard SF) A radio astronomer comes to
a conference prepared to deliver a shattering paper, but fully expecting to
die before he gets the chance.
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(Military SF Horror) Elliot's squad of
convict-soldiers crash-lands in the middle of a swamp far away from help.
Extracting them doesn't seem to be a priority, but something seems to be
wrong with the swamp.
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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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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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(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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(Climate Change) On the edge of the
ruined land, village people worship Orcas as gods. Unbeliever Kelb is up to
something, and Adze tries to help him because she loves him.
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(Superheroes) A kid who was burned to
death returns to life as a human torch, eager for revenge. Old Man Gasper has
a similar story, a different power, and advises caution.
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Life In Stone, Glass, And Plastic
by José Pablo Iriarte Time: 14m (ShortStory)
Issue: Strange Horizons 06/13/16
(Modern Fantasy) Sergio is called to
remove an offensive mural, but when he touches it, it makes him
"remember" things from other people's lives.
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(SF) Before Mimi dies from
Alzheimer's, Walter gets her an illegal consciousness transfer done in India.
Then all he has to do is sneak the copy back into the US.
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(Military SF) The enemy are up to
something in "blank" areas of space that sensors can't penetrate.
Devi takes a "single ship" into one to find out what's there, but
her ship has a mind of its own, and it's terrified.
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(SF Android) You adopt an android
baby. You name him Ben. He grows amazingly fast.
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(SF) Nawiz has pursued the boy who
ruined her life across the galaxy. Before she can get her vengeance, they're
both swallowed by a gigantic sea creature, and it will be a struggle merely
to survive.
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(Far-Future SF; Great Ship) An ancient
robot tells a human how it helped build a planet-sized ship and what the
consequences were.
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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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(Dystopia) Casey, a disabled vet in a
cheap, rebuilt body, tries walking to another city to find work, but trouble
is waiting out in the country.
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Penric And The Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold Time: 2h:05m (Novella) Issue: Penric And The Shaman 06/24/16
(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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(High Fantasy; Five Gods) Penric's
secret mission to Cedonia gets off to a bad start when he's arrested and
thrown into a pit to die.
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(Black Historical Fantasy) In the
closing years of segregation, Emmaline uses her magic to help neighbors and
protect her children, for trouble is coming.
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(Fantasy Horror) The narrator resents
being transformed into a monster to fight for her tribe, not least because
she thinks they're screwing it up.
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(Transhuman SF) Marmeg's augments are
illegal and hand-tweaked, but if she can win a race for augmented humans, she
can earn enough money to become licensed and have a real future.
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(Modern Fantasy) Malka is a little
Jewish girl living in Brooklyn in 1920. She likes her new friend, David, even
though he’s older than her, black, Christian, and claims to be dead.
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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
(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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(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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(Historical SF) In 1955, Nancy's best
friend Ellen dates a bad boy who introduces her to Bug Town, where aliens
live. Nothing is the same after that.
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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) 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) 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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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) On Caithiriin, murderers get a
choice between execution or anti-violence treatment. No human has had to make
that choice before, but it's suspicious that the natives almost always prefer
death.
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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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(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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(Steampunk) In 1880s London, Sir
Arthur's "Illogic Engine" has gone missing, so he seeks help from
Mycroft Holmes.
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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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The Journeyman: In The Great North Wood by Michael F. Flynn Time: 1h:16m (Novella)
Issue: Analog 06|16
(SF) Teodorq and his friend Sammi
agree to organize security for a nobleman's archaeological expedition. They
expect danger from the local tribes, but not from the artifacts themselves.
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(SF) A century from now, Tipper works
at an automated carnival, in a world with few jobs for humans. She falls in
with Luke, a boy trying to make an illegal manual car work.
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The Mighty Slinger by Karen Lord and Tobias S.
Buckell Time: 32m (Novelette) Issue: Bridging Infinity 2016
(Far-Future SF) Developers are
planning to resurface the entire Earth to create properties for people from
Mars and Venus. But can an old singer and his band rally the solar system
against it?
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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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(Slipstream) An old man lies dying,
his faithful companion at his side.
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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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(Fantasy) Every year, Far Island rises
from the sea, and the spirits of the dead return to Near Island, until the
bone horses usher them back on the third day. The horses need a living rider,
and Rowan is sure she can do it and survive.
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(Fantasy) From prehistoric times, the
stone man crouched on a hill. Every now and then a person would find it and
try to get it to do something. But to succeed was to die.
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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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(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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(Fantasy Math) A strange student give
Professor Dunn a math problem whose solution will change the world.
Literally.
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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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Score: 2 -> 1-2 Recommendations
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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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(Near-Future SF) Jesse Is just in the
third grade, but his dad sends him letters telling him about the time-machine
experiment he's working on.
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(SF) A disabled human veteran takes in
a disabled AI veteran. The AI doesn't talk anymore due to trauma, but Tawn
tries to get through to it, even though his mother thinks it's dangerous.
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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
monster, Devon would rather negotiate with them and blog about it later.
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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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A Spell to Retrieve Your Lover from the Bottom of
the Sea by Ada Hoffmann Time: 08m (ShortStory) Issue: Strange Horizons 11/07/16
(Magical Allegory) Your lover has sunk
to the bottom of the sea. You're a witch with tremendous powers, but can you
really save him?
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(SF) The destruction of the new Space
Elevator puts human expansion into space at risk.
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(SF Apocalypse) The kilometer-wide
asteroid didn't quite destroy civilization, but the things it brought with it
just might finish it off.
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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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An Open Letter To The Person Who Took My Smoothie From The Break Room
Fridge
by Oliver Buckram Time: 02m (ShortStory)
Issue: F&SF 07.08|16
(Cartoon Humor) Someone in the
Alliance of Doom has stolen Dr. Nemesis's smoothie, and he e-mails his fellow
super-villains to complain.
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Applied Cenotaphics in the Long, Long Longitudes
by Vajra Chandrasekera
Time: 21m (ShortStory) Issue: Strange Horizons 09/05/16
(Near-Future SF) An interview with a
simulation of the dead artist, Satka, who still has a big online following
years after her death.
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Because Change Was The Ocean And We Lived By Her Mercy
by Charlie Jane Anders
Time: 21m (ShortStory) Issue: Drowned Worlds 2016
(Post-Apocalypse) Pris abandons
22nd-Century Fairbanks and moves to a commune that floats above the ruins of
San Francisco.
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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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(Slipstream) While fourteen-year-old
Ellie's parents are away, her world starts to change into something very
strange.
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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, ~2060) A man reviews drawings and
descriptions of animals he knew and loved during his life, updating them to
reflect recent changes. Very moving.
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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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(Mainstream) Violet comes to a resort
town to kill herself. Daisy is shipwrecked with a man she loves. Rose is
shipwrecked with a monster.
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(SF Fantasy) When Earth's day changed
to 96 hours, some adapted (with drugs) and some did not (with lights). Now
they hate/fear each other. But two young people are curious.
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(Climate Change) Maggie has a plan to
reverse climate change by capturing methane up in the arctic and selling the
carbon.
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(Climate Change) Derek and Zack visit
the underwater ruins of New Orleans, where they'd honeymooned fifty years
before.
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Detroit Hammersmith Zero-Gravity Toilet Repairman (Retired)
by Suzanne Palmer Time: 24m (ShortStory)
Issue: Analog 09|16
(SF) At the height of diplomatic
meetings, the toilets in the Station start to malfunction, even though
diagnostics say nothing is wrong. So they call for an expert.
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(Superhero SF; Wild Cards) Tiago, a
fifteen-year-old orphan boy scraping by on his own in Rio de Janeiro,
contracts the "Wild Card" virus and ends up horribly disfigured.
But the virus has given him a gift too.
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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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(Hard SF) Trying to find
"outside," Ogby's team digs into the ice at the bottom of the
world, but Roov's team has been getting better results blasting rocks at the
top.
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(SF) Old Mr. Coanda fans Jimmy's love
for outer space by showing him how to build and launch real rockets.
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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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(Modern Fantasy) Abused by his father,
Rafi leaves his small town, but he sends his best friend Becca a gift that
will change both their lives.
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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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(Drug SF) In the middle of
preparations for Tindal’s roommate’s funeral, two teenagers show up and start
eating the psychotropic drugs off the wall.
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(Post Apocalypse) Just as things are
looking up, survivors in a Northwest community face a threat from the east.
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(Slipstream Metafiction) Once upon a
time a man’s therapist asked him to write a story about himself, his family,
and the strange world he lived in, with its dragons and lawyers, witches and
doctors, and the darkness closing in.
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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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(Hard SF) Anna’s grandmother died on
Europa, and her mother was traumatized for life, but she’s determined to go
there and finish the work they started.
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(Far-Future SF) Irtholin visits her
friend Anketil to tell her that a long-lost starship has been found, and to
try to interest her in helping salvage it.
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(SF Thriller) Every since she leaked
the secret of mind-expanding nanotech, Dyer has been on the run. And they're
getting close.
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How the God Auzh-Aravik Brought Order to the World
Outside the World by Arkady Martine2
Time: 08m (ShortStory) Issue: Strange Horizons 01/18/16
(Fantasy/Myth) The goddess of order
has been flayed, and without the laws on her skin, the world will fall into
chaos. So she goes beyond the world to look for it.
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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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(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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KIT: Some Assembly Required by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz Time: 15m (ShortStory) Issue: Asimov's 08|16
(SF AI) Christopher Marlowe thinks
he's been reincarnated as a 21st Century AI.
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(Post Apocalypse) Filip is an advanced
AI, and his job is taking care of Ella, who may be the last person left on
Earth.
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(Sports SF) Gloria and her friends
play one last game of hockey before they leave the alien space station
they've been stuck on ever since their dreams of interstellar competition
collapsed.
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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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(Horror) In near-future Toronto, a
young Chinese-Canadian girl sneaks out to seek the services of an illegal
underground surgeon.
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(Chinese Post-Apocalyptic Slipstream)
Long after the fall of humanity, a dragon/horse robot wakes up and explores
the ruins of Beijing.
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(Hard SF) Fifty million years after
the extinction of humanity, a new intelligent race tries to understand
records left on the moon.
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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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Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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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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(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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(Post Apocalypse) When fan #6 fails,
the underground city's AI decides to abandon it, but an overachieving worker
is determined to fix it anyway.
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(Space Opera; Xuya) Da Trang earned
favor with the Empress because his remora, Pearl, feed him information. He
has lost Pearl, but cannot stop searching for it.
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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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(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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(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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(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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(Folk Tale) Sal, the country witch,
took a razorback hog as her familiar and named him Rawhead. Sal was a good
witch, but then Rawhead disappeared. Simple, but effective.
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(Historical Fantasy) In Eastern Europe
between the wars, Klara works as a kitchen maid. One night she admits a woman
she thinks is a lost fairy-tale princesses into the castle.
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(Near-Future SF) Lydia's boyfriend,
Ross, was just a brain in a jar. So how, exactly, did she injure him during
sex?
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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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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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Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee by Alastair Reynolds Time: 14m (ShortStory)
Issue: Bridging Infinity 2016
(Far-Future SF) Kamala discovered an
alien artifact inside the sun, and she spent her life finding a way to reach
it.
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(Horror) Four friends meet for a
writer’s critique group, on a stormy night when a dangerous beast is on the
loose outside.
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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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(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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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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(Portal Fantasy) 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) After an alien terrorist kills
Majd's little brother back on Earth, he struggles to accept it, and starts
making changes to his own life.
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(Fantasy) The philosopher Saloninus
makes a deal with the Devil. Except he approaches the Devil, not the other
way around, and the Devil is worried it's a trick.
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(Horror) Ignoring how the adult world
is falling apart, teenage Annie tries to lose herself in a new video game.
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(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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(Horror) What if the Green Knight were
real? What if he were still alive? What if he had his own reality show? And
how does his wife really feel about the whole thing?
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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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(Hard SF) A woman in a space ship
illegally tries to bring a baby to term in zero-g to prove it can be done,
and the space station management sends an enforcer to stop her.
|
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(Horror; Lychford) Just before
Christmas, the ghost of a little boy appears in the vicarage and disturbs the
vicar and her two friends.
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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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(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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(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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(Historical Fantasy) Horace was a
celebrated blues player, but he failed to make the move to jazz. Now he's
washed up, and desperate enough to sell his soul, if need be.
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(Modern Fantasy) A Hatian girl and a
Syrian girl flee their countries but with very different results.
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(SF) Draiken used to be a spy, but now
he wants revenge on his former masters, and he has a complicated plan to
enlist a former associate.
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(Historical Fantasy) In 1961, Larry joins
the LA mob as an enforcer, keeping the wrong people from fixing the horses.
But does that include an old man who only talks to them?
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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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(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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(African Fantasy) After her father's
death, Tausi needs someone to take her from Epoulu before her aunts marry her
off.
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(Horror) When old Merle was young, he
wanted to paint all the bars in South Jersey. He did The Thousand Eyes last.
A hard place to find. A place where The Voice of Death performs on
Wednesdays.
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(Fantasy) Someone (or something) is taking
Grandma Harken's tomatoes, but finding the thief leads to a real mystery--and
danger.
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(High Fantasy) Despite the rebellion,
the narrator makes friends with a local girl, and she wonders when their
bird-like overlords will come to replace her heart.
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(High Fantasy) As a thief, Raffalon
has made a few enemies, but he didn't think anyone was mad enough to hire an
assassin.
|
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(Hard SF) Fresh from Earth, Peter
finds himself assigned to an unpromising part of the colony planet, and he
finds the natives even harder to talk with than he'd expected.
|
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(Portal Fantasy) Ellie used to travel
freely to the other world, but lately her door doesn’t work. In fact, all the
portals are broken for some reason.
|
|
(Psionic SF) Ava recounts the visit of
the "Needlers" to Earth and her part in the attempts to communicate
with the aliens.
|
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(Military SF) On top of fighting
against an anarchist revolution, a soldier copes with what he's sure is a man
pretending to be a woman in the Women's Volunteer Corps.
|
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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.
|
|
(Post Apocalypse) Hanger lives in a
canvas bag on the outside of the Empire State Building, but the secrets to
survival are hidden in the deadly mist far below.
|
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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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(Navajo Fantasy) An old Navajo myth
intersects the modern world unexpectedly.
|
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(Time Travel) A group of lost time
travelers tries to make the fall of Nineveh happen in a way consistent with
the future they're trying to get back to.
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Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) by Caitlín R. Kiernan Time: 00m (ShortStory)
Issue: Sirenia Digest 125
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
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(SF; Luna) Five Irish sisters enjoy a
celebration using money their aunt sends them from the moon.
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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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