Year's Best SF Reader

Iron Shoes - J. Kathleen Cheney

2012-01-18T14:35:00.000+10:30

Horse war.

3 out of 5

The Obscure Bird - Nicholas Royle

2011-09-19T17:10:00.000+09:30

Tasty pellet.

3 out of 5

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside - Christopher Fowler

2011-09-13T20:06:00.001+09:30

Dummy eaten.

3.5 out of 5

Seven Cities Of Gold - David Moles

2011-09-11T10:52:00.000+09:30

Madwoman bomb.

2.5 out of 5

Shomer - Glen Hirshberg

2011-09-09T19:50:00.000+09:30

Guard action figure death.

2.5 out of 5

Till The Morning Comes - Stephen Graham Jones

2011-09-09T13:13:00.001+09:30

Jamison say.

2.5 out of 5

The Fear - Richard Harland

2011-09-09T13:12:00.000+09:30

Old Roe horror movie.

3.5 out of 5

Was She Wicked? Was She Good? - M. Rickert

2011-09-09T13:11:00.000+09:30

Sheilah play.

3 out of 5

The Spontaneous Knotting Of An Agitated String - Lavie Tidhar

2011-09-08T20:18:00.001+09:30

Generic Sampling device.

3.5 out of 5

Seven Years From Home - Naomi Novik

2011-09-06T15:37:00.001+09:30

Melisa Adjustments conflict.

3.5 out of 5

And Ministers of Grace - Tad Williams

2011-09-06T15:36:00.000+09:30

Lamentation Kane, Guardian religious nut human weapon.

3.5 out of 5

Mammoths of the Great Plains - Eleanor Arnason

2011-08-29T20:49:00.001+09:30

Extinct, frozen, stewarded, revived, frolicing in casino rivers.

4.5 out of 5

Mammoths of the Great Plains - Eleanor Arnason

2011-08-29T20:48:00.000+09:30

Extinct, frozen, stewarded, revived, frolicing in casino rivers.

4.5 out of 5

Fallen Boys - Mark Morris

2011-08-29T11:52:00.001+09:30

Ghost mine.

3 out of 5

My Father's Singularity - Brenda Cooper

2011-08-28T15:52:00.001+09:30

Dogged dad changeless.

3 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/cooper_06_10/

Lesser Demons - Norman Partridge

2011-08-23T19:58:00.001+09:30

Demon book bloodface aftermath.

4 out of 5

Just Outside Our Windows Deep Inside Our Walls - Brian Hodge

2011-08-22T17:47:00.000+09:30

Drawn a boy.

3.5 out of 5

--30-- - Laird Barron

2011-08-22T15:10:00.000+09:30

Coyote Ugly monster Family.

4 out of 5

City of the Dog - John Langan

2011-08-22T12:42:00.002+09:30

Not so groovy ghuly girl.

4 out of 5

http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/19025/1d/randomhouse1.download.akamai.com/19025...

Mr Pigsny - Reggie Oliver

2011-08-22T12:39:00.001+09:30

Slug men.

3.5 out of 5

At the Riding School - Cody Goodfellow

2011-08-21T17:33:00.000+09:30

Hunt mystery school beast stable mistress rebellion.

3.5 out of 5

Gwydion and the Dragon - C. J. Cherryh

2011-08-21T15:41:00.001+09:30

Madog Glasog shape.

3 out of 5

Draco Draco - Tanith Lee

2011-08-21T15:18:00.000+09:30

Sacrifice snack.

3.5 out of 5

The Books - Kage Baker

2011-08-21T13:25:00.001+09:30

Library looting.

3 out of 5

The Taste of Night - Pat Cadigan

2011-08-21T13:22:00.001+09:30

Extra brain?

3 out of 5

http://martyhalpern.blogspot.com/2010/05/taste-of-night-by-pat-cadigan-part-3-of...

Blind Cat Dance - Alexander Jablokov

2011-08-21T13:15:00.000+09:30

Animal Training.

3.5 out of 5

The Shipmaker - Aliette de Bodard

2011-08-21T13:08:00.002+09:30

Mind birth.

3.5 out of 5

http://ttapress.com/downloads/the-shipmaker.pdf

Libertarian Russia - Michael Swanwick

2011-08-21T13:01:00.002+09:30

An enhanced fantasy.

3.5 out of 5

Return To Titan - Stephen Baxter

2011-08-21T12:48:00.000+09:30

Virtual Poole projection.

4.5 out of 5

Again And Again And Again - Rachel Swirsky

2011-08-21T12:44:00.001+09:30

Crinked.

2 out of 5

The Starship Mechanic - Jay Lake and Ken Scholes

2011-08-21T12:34:00.000+09:30

Alien booknerd byebye.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=58363

The Peacock Cloak - Chris Beckett

2011-08-21T12:28:00.000+09:30

Fabbro follow.

3 out of 5

The Emperor of Mars - Allen M. Steele

2011-08-20T22:06:00.002+09:30

Prefer planetary romance to reality.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.starshipsofa.com/blog/2010/12/21/aural-delights-no-168-allen-steele/

Flying In the Face of God - Nina Allen

2011-08-20T21:47:00.001+09:30

Frozen space friend goodbye.

3.5 out of 5

Amaryllis - Carrie Vaughn

2011-08-19T16:52:00.001+09:30

Getting a banner kid.

3.5 out of 5

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

In-Fall - Ted Kosmatka

2011-08-19T16:45:00.002+09:30

Big black hole no death threat chop off.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/in-fall/

Flower Mercy Needle Chain - Yoon Ha Lee

2011-08-19T16:38:00.002+09:30

Bullets yet again.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/flower-mercy-needle-chain/

Sleepover - Alastair Reynolds

2011-08-19T16:13:00.001+09:30

Unfrozen for basal simulation AI Realm war peoplesicle platform robot repair back up, hopefully not to be eaten by inter-reality sea monsters.

4 out of 5

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2011/01/sleepover-alastair-reynolds-2/

Sleeping Dogs - Joe Haldeman

2011-08-19T14:53:00.000+09:30

Dysprosium cornering memory fix.

3.5 out of 5

Chimbwi - Jim Hawkins

2011-08-19T14:45:00.000+09:30

Zambian flying pig fusion warrior climb return.

4 out of 5

Elegy For A Young Elk - Hannu Rajaniemi

2011-08-19T12:52:00.001+09:30

Booze, bears and quantum relatives plague.

4 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring-2010/fiction-elegy-for-a-...

Recrossing the Styx - Ian R. MacLeod

2011-08-19T12:48:00.001+09:30

Dead minder trap.

3 out of 5

http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/19025/1d/randomhouse1.download.akamai.com/19025...

Under The Moons Of Venus - Damien Broderick

2011-08-19T12:42:00.000+09:30

'Massri’s dinosaur fantasy was off by a factor of at least 7.4.' Sporky.

3 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring-2010/fiction-under-the-mo...

Chicken Little - Cory Doctorow

2011-08-19T12:24:00.002+09:30

Vat man numeracy virus fear.

4 out of 5

http://craphound.com/walh/e-book/browse-all-versions

Jackie's Boy - Stephen Popkes

2011-08-19T00:02:00.001+09:30

Talking elephants and dragons.

4.5 out of 5

The Things - Peter Watts

2011-08-18T23:59:00.001+09:30

Communal network rejection assimilation Goes There, that's Who.

4.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/#

The Sultan of the Clouds - Geoffrey A. Landis

2011-08-18T23:55:00.001+09:30

Venus terraform fall.

3 out of 5

The Night Train - Lavie Tidhar

2011-08-18T23:36:00.001+09:30

No-name no girl chop choice.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2010/20100614/nighttrain-f.shtml

A History of Terraforming - Robert Reed

2011-08-18T23:33:00.002+09:30

Atum future embarkation.

3.5 out of 5

Dead Man's Run - Robert Reed

2011-08-18T23:31:00.000+09:30

Upload murder, coach.

3.5 out of 5

Braiding the Ghosts - C. S. E. Cooney

2011-08-18T21:32:00.000+09:30

Ghost stop.

3 out of 5

The Thing About Cassandra - Neil Gaiman

2011-08-18T21:02:00.001+09:30

Mum found my imaginary girlfriend.

3.5 out of 5

The Magician And The Maid And Other Stories - Christie Yant

2011-08-18T20:49:00.000+09:30

Audra-rora defense.

2.5 out of 5

Holdfast - Matthew Johnson

2011-08-18T18:13:00.001+09:30

Charm knot.

3 out of 5

http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fiction/holdfast/

Swords and Dark Magic - Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders

2011-07-30T14:21:00.000+09:30

As a sword and sorcery anthology this generally succeeds, and in general the writers understand what that actually means.

Except for Gene Wolfe. Having read a lot of stuff by Wolfe, I see no evidence of him ever having the ability to produce a sword and sorcery story.
And I still don't. As a story his is passable - and I do happen to like chess. However, passable, but a failure as a S&S tale. A case of editor really likes writer and wants the name perhaps, but they certainly should have dumped this. You wouldn't ask Glen Cook to write fluffy unicorn stories, so same thing, wrong writer.

They also could have got rid of the Silverberg. Maybe the Majipoor thing was a selling point, but this was ordinary and predictable and also outside the subgenre.

While I don't think you'd ever get a sword and sorcery story out of Wolfe, even if you beat him over the head with a hammer, it seems that Michael Moorcock can still do it if he wants to - and with what he has produced here, he could probably manage it with one hand while beating Gene Wolfe in the head with the hammer in the other.

Steven Erikson, along with the camel-killing sized novels has shown a talent for shorter work in the novella, and this is shorter still. Goats of Glory is one of the three best stories in this book, the other two being the aforementioned Moorcock, and Tim Lebbon's 'Echo City' tale. The other standouts are Enge's Singing Spear and Lynch's library exam outing.

I like the Black Company a lot, so was very happy to see another story, however I think that those unfamiliar may find this one a little lacking.

Rounding up, this book gets a 4.5. Without the bad cases of editormusthaveitis and replaced with something that fits it would approach the top score.

Swords and Dark Magic : Goats of Glory - Steven Erikson
Swords and Dark Magic : Tides Elba A Tale of the Black Company - Glen Cook
Swords and Dark Magic : Bloodsport - Gene Wolfe
Swords and Dark Magic : The Singing Spear - James Enge
Swords and Dark Magic : A Wizard of Wiscezan - C. J. Cherryh
Swords and Dark Magic : A Rich Full Week - K. J. Parker
Swords and Dark Magic : A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet - Garth Nix
Swords and Dark Magic : Red Pearls An Elric Story - Michael Moorcock
Swords and Dark Magic : The Deification of Dal Bamore - Tim Lebbon
Swords and Dark Magic : Dark Times at the Midnight Market - Robert Silverberg
Swords and Dark Magic : The Undefiled - Greg Keyes
Swords and Dark Magic : Dapple Hew the Tint Master - Michael Shea
Swords and Dark Magic : In the Stacks - Scott Lynch
Swords and Dark Magic : Two Lions A Witch and the War-Robe - Tanith Lee
Swords and Dark Magic : The Sea Troll's Daughter - Caitlin R Kiernan
Swords and Dark Magic : Thieves of Daring - Bill Willingham
Swords and Dark Magic : The Fool Jobs - Joe Abercrombie

We kill demons for a living, silly shovel boy.

4 out of 5

Taken generation garrison not hairy.

4 out of 5

Chess tyrant chop.

3 out of 5

You killed my bartender, demon. You're really in the shit now.

4 out of 5

Tewk me. I'm an illusion Master.

3.5 out of 5

DeadHeadroom for improvement

3.5 out of 5

Maladroit music mishaps, evil entity. Naked God preferred.

4 out of 5

Sphere world Phroom pirate slaughter dragon dad distraction White Sword steal.

4.5 out of 5

Sorcerer torture scare stunt revenant rebellion ending.

4 out of 5

Potion deflowering rebound problem.

3 out of 5

Godridden good riddance, virgins.

3.5 out of 5

Slymire crystal revelation.

3.5 out of 5

Vocabuvore giant exam passing psycho roommate consumption.

4 out of 5

Better if you geas don't think about it, brothers.

3.5 out of 5

Kill dad, no big deal short girls. Want furs?

3 out of 5

Sorcerers. If you stab them and they don't die they have an absolute shitload of deathtraps.

4 out of 5

No, get that thing.

3.5 out of 5

4.5 out of 5

Penumbra - Gregory Benford

2011-07-08T16:05:00.000+09:30

Gamma ray burster moon shadow Asia no burn.

3.5 out of 5

To Hie From Far Cilenia - Karl Schroeder

2011-07-08T15:48:00.000+09:30

Oversatch sanotica it 2.0/3.0 plutonium dispersal.

4 out of 5

All The Love In The World - Cat Sparks

2011-07-08T15:14:00.000+09:30

Postapocalyptic inconsistency, goodbye old crush on to surfing and beer.

4 out of 5

Sleeping Dogs - Joe Haldeman

2011-07-08T14:33:00.001+09:30

Dysprosium cornering memory fix.

3.5 out of 5

About It - Terry Bisson

2011-07-08T14:04:00.000+09:30

Bigfoot umpire.

3 out of 5

A Preliminary Assessment Of The Drake Equation - Vernor Vinge

2011-07-08T13:01:00.001+09:30

Planets For Sale - all for us.

3.5 out of 5

Castoff World - Kay Kenyon

2011-07-07T13:37:00.001+09:30

Nanoship landing.

3 out of 5

http://io9.com/5689271/can-a-story-about-mass-extinction-be-optimistic

Petopia - Benjamin Crowell

2011-07-07T13:04:00.000+09:30

Jelly kicking.

3 out of 5

Futures In the Memory Market - Nina Kiriki Hoffman

2011-07-07T12:57:00.001+09:30

Geeta business.

3 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/hoffman_06_10/

Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra - Vandana Singh

2011-07-07T12:43:00.001+09:30

Dead poet's society.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2010/20100329/somadeva-f.shtml

Under The Moons Of Venus - Damien Broderick

2011-07-07T12:42:00.001+09:30

'Massri’s dinosaur fantasy was off by a factor of at least 7.4.' Sporky.

3 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring-2010/fiction-under-the-moons-of-venus-by-damien-broderick/

At Budokan - Alastair Reynolds

2011-07-07T12:40:00.001+09:30

Dinosaurs rock more than zombies or robots.

4.5 out of 5

Graffiti In the Library of Babel - David Langford

2011-07-07T12:39:00.002+09:30

They is tagging our stuff.

3 out of 5

http://martyhalpern.blogspot.com/2010/06/graffiti-in-library-of-babel-by-david.h...

Steadfast Castle - Michael Swanwick

2011-07-07T12:38:00.000+09:30

House love cop torching.

3.5 out of 5

How To Become A Mars Overlord - Catherynne M. Valente

2011-07-07T12:36:00.002+09:30

One morning you will wake up and ask Y.

2 out of 5

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/how-to-become-a-mars-overlord/

The Hebras and the Demons and the Damned - Brenda Cooper

2011-07-07T12:35:00.003+09:30

Predator prey colonist diplomacy.

3.5 out of 5

http://futurismic.com/2011/02/28/the-hebras-and-the-demons-and-the-damned/

The Good Hand - Robert Reed

2011-07-07T12:33:00.001+09:30

French nuking resistance.

3.5 out of 5

The Cassandra Project - Jack McDevitt

2011-07-07T12:32:00.004+09:30

Alien bad news hid.

3 out of 5

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-cassandra-project/

Jackie's Boy - Stephen Popkes

2011-07-07T12:29:00.000+09:30

Talking elephants and dragons.

4.5 out of 5

Eight Miles - Sean McMullen

2011-07-07T12:28:00.000+09:30

Angelica lives advances.

3 out of 5

Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance - Paul Park

2011-07-07T12:27:00.000+09:30

A trial.

1.5 out of 5

The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi

2011-06-15T21:24:00.000+09:30

Posthuman Arsene Lupin on Mars.

So here you have a Finnish bloke doing his own homage to a famous French character while writing in English with greater skill than most native speaking writers can manage.

Not to mention his own spin on the planetary romance. Here's a habitable Mars, populated by weird beings and ancient superscience in places (even if the latter is of human origin and not millions of years old - although certainly the domain of scary immortals with godlike powers.) More smart matter and quantum missiles than heat guns, electro blasters and big strange machines.

So combine the flamboyant Gentleman Thief archetype with the planetary setting and it would be very hard not to like this book. The characters are addressed in the French manner at times, to keep with the overall Lupin feel. He mentions Leblanc an done of the novels by name, and takes a detective character from another that is mentioned to become an antagonist. To add to this twistily, the Thief's ex-girlfriend is a super powered vigilante known as The Gentleman. (The detective of the piece's girlfriend is a Valkyrie.)

However, even the best thieves sometimes get busted, and that is where you find le Flambeur at the start, in an AI-created prison. Others have use for his talents and assist him in getting the hell out, if he will agree to do a job for them. Plus be monitored by a hardarse and her spaceship.

This all leads back to Mars, and as the mystery to be solved unfold, including the regaining of memory, so does the sociopolitical and historical setting on the Red Planet come into play. In this information rich privacy focused (everyone has an interface to obscure what they look like and what they are doing) society everything is not as it seems. Which probably won't come as a surprise to those familiar with the Lupins of the world. Misdirection is the name of their game. So is taking down bad guys that are worse than they are. While avoiding the authorities, of course.

Really good.

4.5 out of 5

The Dervish House - Ian McDonald

2011-06-15T21:13:00.001+09:30

A novel with a short timeframe, following the events of a week in Istanbul. The story follows several characters.

A dodgy finance trader and his dodgy art dealer wife.
A young boy with a heart condition and a nanotech shapeshifting pet toy.
A Greek retired professor of economics.
A youth with a trouble violent past.
A fresh out of business college young woman.

A suicide bomber detonates on a tram in odd circumstances - the only person killed is herself. As the story unfolds the various strands of the book link together. The troubled youth was at the scene, affected by the nanotechnology delivery that the bomb was for. The young boy notices a robot watching the scene and begins to track down some information. The professor is a friend of his, taken a grandfatherly interest in the young lad and realises he has discovered something disturbing.

The dodgy trader and his mates are planning a short term gas price coup when they find out the company they work for is ridiculously insolvent - and are also the company that our young marketer has approached as a financier for the nanotech dna information writing project the two young men who have hired her have going.

And a gas pipeline is the final target for the terrorists who snatch the troubled youth to test the effects of their ideological conversion nanotech.

The problem with having so many disparate sections is that it feels somewhat fractured at times, compared to say, Brasyl, which does get a bit annoying.

A good book though.

4 out of 5

Under The Moons Of Venus - Damien Broderick

2011-06-10T23:00:00.001+09:30

The Maiden Flight Of Mcauley's Bellerophon - Elizabeth Hand

2011-06-10T22:59:00.001+09:30

Cryptoaviation discovery.

3.5 out of 5

The Sultan of the Clouds - Geoffrey A. Landis

2011-06-10T22:50:00.000+09:30

Venus terraform fall.

3 out of 5

Flower Mercy Needle Chain - Yoon Ha Lee

2011-06-10T22:48:00.001+09:30

Bullets yet again.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/flower-mercy-needle-chain/

Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance - Paul Park

2011-06-10T22:46:00.001+09:30

A trial.

1.5 out of 5

Dead Man's Run - Robert Reed

2011-06-10T22:41:00.001+09:30

Upload murder, coach.

3.5 out of 5

Troika - Alastair Reynolds

2011-06-10T22:37:00.000+09:30

Future message machine shell game madness infectious with music box.

4.5 out of 5

A Letter From The Emperor - Steve Rasnic Tem

2011-06-10T22:31:00.000+09:30

Nils diary.

3 out of 5

The Night Train - Lavie Tidhar

2011-06-10T22:28:00.001+09:30

No-name no girl chop choice.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2010/20100614/nighttrain-f.shtml

The Things - Peter Watts

2011-06-10T22:12:00.002+09:30

Communal network rejection assimilation Goes There, that's Who.

4.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/#

Ponies - Kij Johnson

2011-04-26T09:40:00.001+09:30

Party unicorn slices.

3 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/11/ponies

Ponies - Kij Johnson

2011-04-26T09:39:00.000+09:30

Party unicorn slices.

3 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/11/ponies

The Things - Peter Watts

2011-04-26T09:23:00.001+09:30

Communal network rejection assimilation Goes There, that's Who.

4.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/#

For Want of A Nail - Mary Robinette Kowal

2011-04-25T20:10:00.003+09:30

AI wrangling.

3 out of 5

Amaryllis - Carrie Vaughn

2011-04-25T19:48:00.002+09:30

Getting a banner kid.

3.5 out of 5

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

That Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made - Eric James Stone

2011-04-25T17:31:00.000+09:30

First swale or anything, Neuter Kimball.

3.5 out of 5

Plus Or Minus - James Patrick Kelly

2011-04-25T15:41:00.001+09:30

Crewmonkeys, lacking oxygen.

3.5 out of 5

The Jaguar House In Shadow - Aliette de Bodard

2011-04-25T15:38:00.001+09:30

Knight future.

3.5 out of 5

The Emperor of Mars - Allen M. Steele

2011-04-25T15:15:00.001+09:30

Prefer planetary romance to reality.

3.5 out of 5

Eight Miles - Sean McMullen

2011-04-25T14:27:00.000+09:30

Angelica lives advances.

3 out of 5

Troika - Alastair Reynolds

2011-04-25T13:24:00.001+09:30

Future message machine shell game madness infectious with music box.

4.5 out of 5

The Sultan of the Clouds - Geoffrey A. Landis

2011-04-25T12:33:00.001+09:30

Venus terraform fall.

3 out of 5

http://www.asimovs.com/2011_04-05/images/511Nebula10_sultan.pdf