Quality Time, by Ken Liu

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Remarkably accurate and interesting on several levels

(SF Robot) The narrator joins a big Silicon Valley company to work on home robots, and she’s excited when her ideas seem to work out—at first. (8,360 words; Time: 27m)

Recommended By: 📙JStrahan+2 👍RSR+1 (Q&A)

Build Me a Wonderland, by Seanan McGuire

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Modern Fantasy) Clover’s people produce all the special attractions in the Enchanted Garden region of the Dreamland park, and they’re very anxious when an efficiency expert visits for fear he’ll discover some of the magic is real. (5,830 words; Time: 19m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 (Q&A)

Twelve Tomorrows 5, edited by Wade Roush

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Hard SF) A hard-sf anthology, aimed at reembodying “the best aspects of the hard-SF craft in the mode of Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke without bringing back its worst.” Plausible, hopeful stories with diverse characters. (82,995 words; Time: 4h:36m)

Vespers, by J.M. Ledgard

[Anthology]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Post-Human) A human-built AI that operates a spaceship headed for the Trappist system hasn’t heard from home in 28,716 years, but it has decided to broadcast its story. (6,406 words; Time: 21m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+2 (Q&A)

Disaster Tourism, by Malka Older

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Action/Adventure) After an earthquake, drones flown in to evaluate the damage and look for survivors start falling apart in midair. It almost looks like a virus, but what sort of virus eats metal? (6,797 words; Time: 22m)

Different Seas, by Alastair Reynolds

[Anthology]

★★★★★ Nice action, powerfully emotional

(SF Action) Lilith is sole crew member on a sail-by-wire clipper ship off the coast of Chile when a big solar storm knocks out the system that controls her rudder. She ends up getting help from an unlikely source. (5,230 words; Time: 17m)

The Heart Of The Matter, by Nnedi Okorafor

[Anthology]

★☆☆☆☆ Needs Improvement

(SF Medical Thriller) The president of Nigeria gets a heart transplant using a printed heart made in China which causes all sorts of controversy. (10,948 words; Time: 36m)

Escape From Caring Seasons, by Sarah Pinsker

[Anthology]

★★★★★ Who Knew a Slow-Motion Chase Could Be So Exciting?

(SF Thriller) Zora and Anya hoped to spend their golden years in an assisted living facility they helped design. But now it’s under new management, which is keeping Anya in the hospital, so Zora decides to break her out. (8,299 words; Time: 27m)

Fields of Gold, by Cixin Liu

[Anthology]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(SF Adventure) A malfunctioning spaceship sends a young woman on a hyperbolic trajectory out of the solar system. Can humanity build a rescue vessel that can reach her before her hibernation meds run out? (5,894 words; Time: 19m)

Chine Life, by Paul McAuley

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Post-Apocalypse) The human settlement called the Factory sent envoys to the mass mind called the Reef in hopes of stopping the machines that keep attacking them. This is the story of how that failed. (6,958 words; Time: 23m)

Byzantine Empathy, by Ken Liu

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Thoughtful, Detailed, Shocking

(Near-Future SF) Two women compete to use virtual reality and cryptocurrencies to redirect the money that supports refugees and change the world. But will empathy or reason win? (12,449 words; Time: 41m)

Okay, Glory, by Elizabeth Bear

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Hacking) Brian wakes up in his mountain retreat to find his home AI system has been hacked and he can’t escape the house without paying a huge ransom. He’s an engineer, so he’s not ready to pay up without a fight. (9,723 words; Time: 32m)

Recommended By: 📙JStrahan+2 (Q&A)

The Woman Who Destroyed Us, by S.L. Huang

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Medical SF) A mother feels that a brain implant meant to treat her neuro-atypical son has turned him into a completely different person, so she goes after the doctor who put them up to it. (10,291 words; Time: 34m)

Recommended By: 📙JStrahan+2 (Q&A)

Sequestration; Vitrification, by Allison Jamieson-Lucy

[Strange Horizons]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Near-Future SF) In the shadow of a looming nuclear war, Lynn researches the effect of nuclear waste on diatoms, but she increasingly feels life is pointless. (4,413 words; Time: 14m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+2 (Q&A)

The Book of Magic, edited by Gardner Dozois

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ A Magical Experience

(Fantasy) Gardner Dozois's last original anthology explores all types of magic in all sorts of settings. (175,649 words; Time: 9h:45m)

The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril, by Scott Lynch

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ A great tale of hubris and redemption

(SF Fantasy) When the wizard has a fatal accident, his house AI tries to run things in his absence. (12,659 words; Time: 42m)

Bloom, by Kate Elliott

[Anthology]

★★★★★ A Rich Setting, A Complex Plot, and Sympathetic Characters

(Alternate History Fantasy; Spiritwalker Trilogy) Autumn House is failing for lack of new magisters, so Titus grudgingly accepts the aid of a young diviner, even if she is a woman. (16,441 words; Time: 54m)

The Devil's Whatever, by Andy Duncan

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Folktale) This is the story of how Petey was cursed to travel among all the places in America named for the Devil and reenact the tales of how they got their names and how Perleen tried to save him. (12,352 words; Time: 41m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 (Q&A)

The Wolf and the Manticore, by Greg van Eekhout

[Anthology]

★★★★★ A Slipstream Thriller in a Dog-Eat-Dog World

(Alternate Reality Dark Fantasy) Agnes works at the La Brea Tar Pits helping the Kingdom of Southern California make magical munitions, but she’s secretly spying for the Northern Californians. Unfortunately, someone has figured this out. (10,430 words; Time: 34m)

Widow Maker, by Lavie Tidhar

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Fantasy Adventure; Gorel of Goliris) Gorel takes a job escorting an expedition to the top of a mountain in search of the legendary “Widow Maker” weapon, which destroyed two advanced civilizations thousands of years ago. (10,442 words; Time: 34m)

Although this is part of a long-running series, there’s no need to read earlier ones first, but if you want to avoid spoilers for the series, you might want to start with “Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God.”