October 17

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 2

Click to Buy
Click to Buy

Continued from yesterday

“Singing of Mount Abora” by Theodora Goss is a fairy tale at its heart. It’s beautiful in imagery and language and has an exotic feel that’s easy to relate to a heroine trying to earn the right to marry her love through cleverness. The story threads a delicate line between familiar and legendary.

“The Witch’s Headstone” by Neil Gaiman is actually a chapter from his upcoming release, The Graveyard Book, about a boy growing up in a graveyard. In this tale Bod ventures outside of the graveyard in a quest to get a witch her very own headstone. What he finds instead is human greed and a curiously shaped curse. Gaiman is a master of creating characters readers can relate to, spinning vivid worlds and lining his fantasy with morbid curiosity. “The Witch’s Headstone” is no exception.

A tale straight out of an episode of The Universe, “Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter is an exceedingly sad tale of The Big Rip, that is a wormhole swallowing the Galaxy. Told primarily through conversations between a woman and her daughter, both scientists, it’s beautifully written and heart ripping at the same time. A very human take, it might be the most graceful story of The Epic End out there.

“Jesus Christ, Reanimator” by Ken MacLeod is a satirical look at the Second Coming. The world’s disillusionment in Christ is equally matched by his disillusionment at the world. As he himself points out: “I am the embodiment of the Logos, the very logic of creation, or as it was said in English, ‘the Word made flesh.’ Just because I am in that sense the entirety of the laws of nature doesn’t mean I know all of them, or can override any of them.” Story events unfold ironically close to the original stories, but most satisfying of all is how MacLeod, like many other authors in this book, adds a level of humanity to the character and events, using the contrast between the possible reality and the version of religion that extremists want others to believe in as a framework for the story.

“Sorrel’s Heart” by Susan Palwick is a startlingly dark tale that opens up with a young girl laying in the dirt trying to cut off her own heart. It continues from there morbid bits flung casually at the reader wrapped around a surprisingly powerful love story between freaks and outcasts in a future world where normal people hunt those born different in very obvious ways.

Michael Swanwick’s “Urdumheim” is a creation tale every bit as vivid as the stories found in Greek, Norse or Egyptian myths. Strange, and sometimes cruel(though no crueler that the Greek story of a god swallowing his children, or the Norse story of Odin forming the world from the blood and bones of a giant), this is an epic story of how the world came to be, solid enough to base a mythos on.

M. Rickert’s “Holiday” takes child pageants to a whole new place with a tale of a murdered pageant queen who begins to haunt (and perform for) a writer who is ill prepared to add the baffling problems of a murdered child to his already struggling life. There’s a real sinister mix if innocence and wickedness in this tale. It certainly sticks out even from the others in this book, leaving the reader unsettled and unsure, wondering if they were supposed to enjoy the story at all.

“The Valley of the Gardens” by Tony Daniel combines science and superstition (or outright magic) in curious ways, building a world that is tech heavy, but has every bit of the magic woven into the prior fantasy tales. Here are the twin tales of a man fighting a horrible enemy that seeks to destroy all life in our galaxy and a farmer whose memories are literally tied to the land who falls in love with a woman from the wilds of desert where strange magic/technology grows rampant. The two and their worlds are more closely related than the reader might suspect. This gem of a tale transcends both genres yet is firmly rooted in epic space opera, transporting readers into a magical world far beyond our future.

“Winter’s Wife” by Elizabeth Hand is a tale of the strangely exotic set in a small town with something familiar for most everyone, even if they aren’t familiar with Maine woods. Justin, friended before birth through his mother, has a close bond with Winter, a modern imagining of the wizard of the woods. The friendship leads to Justin being immediately accepted by Winter’s rather unique bride and treated as an adopted child. The close bond leads Justin through several extraordinary events that could make readers believe that magic does still exist in the woods of America.

Chris Roberson’s “The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small” has exotic down pat with a tale of a Chinese researcher who travels to a prison each day to hear the reminiscent tale of a prisoner who once traveled across the sea to Mexica to study the people there. A tale to remind readers that aspirations and man’s imagination and spirit are essential parts of science this one is satisfied to suggest a future of star traveling and leave those imagined stories to other authors.

“Orm the Beautiful” by Elizabeth Bear is sheer magic, the tale of a dying dragon who will take with him more than just his life, but will also relinquish control of the world to men and technology. Here Bear sets the beauty of fantasy to war with the potential of science fiction. But it also shows how the genres can work together as Orm the Beautiful, last of the dragons, goes to the humans to protect his species’ memories from other humans. Another sweet-sad tale in this collection the prose in this one echoes in the readers head like a nearly forgotten song.

Finally comes “The Constable of Abal” by Kelly Link, a complex tale of respectability, ghosts and blackmail. Zilla, famous in a society recently struck by plague for making charms that draw ghosts to the fashionable remains of the town, also happens to be using her daughter, Ozma to gather the secret evidence that Zilla uses to blackmail the highest of Abal. Until the day that Zilla, in a terrible temper, kills the constable, sending herself and her daughter into flight. But Zilla’s escape is truly a quest, as she drags Ozma and others through strange events in her search for something even she can’t put words to. It sets a fitting tone for the end of the anthology, not an end of sadness, such as “Orm the Beautiful” or “Last Contact”, but one that can lead readers to feel as if the stories in this book have at last released them to live their life anew.

Category: Personal | Comments Off on The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 2
October 16

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 2

Click to Buy
Click to Buy

*I am splitting this review into two parts, 12 stories to be posted today and the other 12 will be posted to tomorrow, to make the review more reader friendly. This is part one.

Impressive and, honestly, intimidating this tome of stellar science fiction and fantasy features masters of the genres at their best in twenty four dazzling tales of other worlds. If readers want some of the most impressive recently published tales of the SF/F genres without having to hunt them down through the multitude of anthologies and magazines printed this year this is an excellent buy.

If the first tale, Ted Chiang’s “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, is any indication then this anthology is one to savor like a fine box of chocolates. When a merchant stumbles upon a strange shop in Baghdad that is home to a gateway between the past, future and present he is treated not just to a triad of tales about what other visitors have found inside the gateway, but he also gets the opportunity to travel back to his own past, to find closure to the one event in his life that haunts him. A rare gem of a story it expertly straddles the line between fantasy and science fiction as well as tragic and hopeful.

“The Last and Only, or Mr. Moskowitz Becomes French” by Peter S. Beagle seems to be more of a philosophical study on identity than a tale that’s recognizable fantasy. No one knows why, but Mr. Moskowitz began (“from the bones out”) to turn French. So much so that even those born in France sought out his approval. Strange and well written, it still didn’t capture my interest as much as I’d hoped.

Charles Stross’ “Trunk and Disorderly”, as one might guess is a humor piece. Completely out of control (much like its lead, “Ralph MacDonald Suzuki… a genuine Japanese Highland Laird from old Scotland…”) “Trunk and Disorderly” is a hilarious adventure of debauchery, nobility and robots gone wrong that’s best read without any drinks nearby.

“Glory” by Greg Egan sums itself up with a line from its own prose, “There’s more to life than mathematics…but not much more.” A hard science fiction love note to math, and the sciences that heavily rely upon them, this tale of alien exploration and archeology is at times mind boggling in level and at other times, perfection down to the last little atom. Despite the heavy importance of the math the story is told in the characters’ actions, allowing the story to reach the reader and not be lost under the weight of technicality.

Daryl Gregory’s “Dead Horse Point” is very personal, heart wrenching and incredibly interesting. Julia is a special woman. Incredibly brilliant she’s breaking new ground in science and on the verge of something world changing. But her brilliance comes with a downside. She lives an autistic-like life, completely aware, capable and down right normal one moment and mentally gone, incapable of even the simplest of tasks, completely lost in a mental world of science and unbreakable concentration. Gregory captures the strength and potential inside what many others would consider to be a horrible disease in desperate need of a cure. He also shows the effects it can have on even the most loyal of caretakers, the years slowly wearing them down. It’s very exciting to see a well written, thoughtful tale dealing with a neural-atypical mind, another facet of our current world that could easily lend itself to speculative futures.

“The Dreaming Wind” by Jeffrey Ford takes readers into a fairy tale, from its image invoking opening to an end that answers none of the questions. “The Dreaming Wind” is beautiful tale of the intimidating, raw power of creativity that’s likely to spark a few strikes of inspiration of its own.

Continuing the streak of fantasy is “The Coat of Stars” by Holly Black. It’s yet another beautiful story, a modern fairy tale of a gay man who learns his childhood love was stolen by fairies. In trying to win his love back he must also come to terms with himself and his family. Not moralistic, but the kind of story one can picture being told along side Grimm’s most popular, it’s stories like these that will become the classic short stories of our generation’s portion of the fantasy genre.

“The Prophet of Flores” by Ted Kosmatka takes on evolution, creating a world where it’s been debunked and religion rules science. This isn’t a horror tale however, but a scientific one, not just about the evolution of life, but about the evolution of religion as well.

Alex Irvine’s “Wizard’s Six” is a delightfully classic fantasy tale, the kind you forget how much you enjoy after reading more in vogue subgenres like science fantasy and urban fantasy. Paulus, at the behest of a wizard, is traveling across the land to stop an apprentice’s quest to collect “his six”, six people with magical potential that the apprentice needs to become a full wizard. But this apprentice is dangerous and has been denied by the guild, which would put his six in great danger should he succeed in collecting them, and make the apprentice himself much harder to control once he gained his full power. A true example of the best of fantasy, this is the kind of story that leaves the characters and reader changed.

“The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham is a tale for the puzzle lovers. When bored nobleman Lord Iron approaches cambist (money exchanger) Olaf he admits that he’s just bored, and that Olaf is simply in the wrong place at the right time. Destroying the cambist will provide a momentary distraction. Until Olaf manages to exchange the exotic bills from a tiny, distant, nearly unknown foreign land, stunning and impressing Lord Iron. Of course Olaf’s feat of intelligence just ends up getting him pulled into greater challenges, with higher stakes. The last challenge of all lays a human soul bare with enough honesty and need to make readers shiver with its strength. Every bit as human and soul-filled as the first story, Ted Chiang’s “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, this tale is an excellent example of the best of fantasy.

“By Fools Like Me” by Nancy Kress is a tale writers and passionate readers can get behind. A Post-Apocalypse fantasy tale it centers on a young girl’s discovery of old fashioned print books (the kind trees were sacrificed for), and the books’ power many, many years later, to still entrap the mind. In a world where see-o-two clouds and destructive ash are among the worst hazards, not immediately destroying the books is a moral sin. But the true story in this tale is how the human spirit can corrupt all things, and even rules meant to guarantee survival in a harsh world, can go too far.

Bruce Sterling’s “Kiosk” is the first miss so far. This futuristic tale strongly focuses on the socio-political-economic truths of society rather than invoking the universal human feel of the other stories. A midstream switch from telling the story from a close third view of a kiosk owner and savvy businessman to a wide, fast forward, history book feeling approach killed my interest. The story failed to regain it when it focused on the lead character again for an attempt at a tight end. Surrounded with the present day politically poisoned media this tale just didn’t offer me the escape I found in other tales.

July 18

Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams

Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams

Implied Spaces is an incredibly detailed voyage through a multi genre world, shot through with barbs at our own pop culture. It starts with Aristide, a man who comes off like the all knowing NPC at times, traveling through a desert world inhabited by trolls, ogres and other fantasy creatures. With his magic sword and his talking cat Aristide joins a motley crew turning against a large band of thieves and their blue skinned priest overlords who have been attacking caravans and plundering supplies for months.

Did I mention that this is a science fiction novel?

Aristide, it soon turns out, is overly knowledgeable because this fantasy world is actually a constructed world, part of a larger multi-cosim where humans have advanced to the point of being able to “save” their personalities and memories, much like we save games on memory cards. The ability to reincarnate themselves into new, healthy and highly adapted bodies at will has lead to quite lengthy life spans.

Complications arise when the strange blue priests in the world co-created by gamers and anachronists wield the same power as Aristide possesses in his sword, a curious ability to say the least. In fact, the ability leads directly to the more modern world, where Aristide and his allies discover that someone, or something has been funneling humans from the unwired worlds elsewhere and reprogramming them as mental slaves. Call them zombies or pod people, someone, or something is building an army.

This barely scratches the surface though. Implies Spaces is packed with incredible amounts of detail. In the first few chapters the long description in nearly painful detail seems a little odd, but by the time the story stretches into an expansive multiverse the sheer amount of detail makes the story absolutely solid.

Aristides himself is an interesting tool used to establish the limits of the world. Given his position as an aged, respected and highly intelligent member of society unlike many other books on the market Aristide doesn’t have to figure out motives or plots, the reader eventually learns to trust his leaps of logic and suspicions as true. Of course, considering that A.I.s with brains the size of planets exist in these worlds Aristide’s intelligence is quite challenged.

The depth and detail of this book simply cannot be explained in a simple review. Expanding through both social and hard science fiction, as well as touching on mystery and fantasy, Implied Spaces is an impressive tale that’s surprisingly human at its core.

April 25

Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi’s collection starts, no introduction or ease-in, with “Pocketful of Dharma”, an eastern flavored science fiction tale of a Chinese beggar who stumbles into a hostage scheme that can only be birthed by a tech-heavy future. At the center of the tale is a living building, akin to a bonsai tree, that the city is literally growing as a monstrous tenement for its masses. The elements of darkness–the destitute conditions of the beggars, the violence of the street, the conspiracy and the underlying creepiness to the living building–are very carefully balanced to make this a tale, not of horror, but a surreal semblance of the world we know.

“The Fluted Girl” is a stunningly beautiful, but quite perverted story similar to Jennifer Pelland’s “The Last Stand of the Elephant Man”. Chemicals have made it possible for artists to live forever in the prime of their life. This has led from a media crazed world to one where the stars rule fiefdoms with insanely loyal servants, often controlled through chemicals or baser manipulations. Lidia and Nia are the literal creations of Belari, her attempt to break free of the man who created her and still possesses a lingering control of her. The twisted lengths Belari has gone to are enough to turn a reader’s stomach, not from gore, but sheer perverseness. However there’s a surreal beauty to the prose, as well as to Belari’s creations and their bizarre performance.

In “The People of Sand and Slag” humanity, through technology, has completely removed itself from the food chain. Once people could eat anything (and survive anything) other concerns, like the environment, conservation and pollution, dropped significantly in importance. In the wastelands of Antarctica three modified killer guards find an ordinary, living dog that has somehow survived the acid pools and slag wastelands of the excavation. What follows in their decision to keep it or not is a musing commentary on human nature in the speculative future that is not too far from what can be found today. This one is another sad tale full of startling beauty and insight.

“The Pasho” takes readers to a pseudo-Middle East, years after “The Cleansing”, a vaguely mentioned plague that purified the world of overpopulation. The world hasn’t forgotten the time and technology of before, however. A monk-like sect still holds and protects the knowledge, following the belief that before the cleansing the technological power came too fast and now knowledge must be earned slowly, cautiously. Precariously balanced in an area commonly torn by war the Pasho try to improve the lives of those around them without giving rise to the negative uses of technology and advancement. The Pasho Raphel returns home to his highly traditional Jai village only to be shunned by some for choosing the Pasho path. In a complex turn of events Raphel finds his traditional upbringing clashing with his neutral path of knowledge. This one is an interesting tale more for its familiar feel than from voyaging to new worlds.

“The Calorie Man” is a strange hybrid of the heart of India and the heart of the Mississippi, two cultures that aren’t that different under Bacigalupi’s treatment. A testament to the delicate balance of power in this tale a series of blights (pest and fungal rots) has killed off all the natural crops of the world. Luckily a few companies have stepped forward with high quality, high calorie grains that are immune to the blights. Unclear of his own motivations an Indian transplant, Lalji, agrees to voyage up the Mississippi in search of a geneticist, and man hunted by the companies for a very good reason. The three competing themes never come completely together, but the result is a multi-angled tale similar in feel to the recent film “Children of Men”.

“The Tamarisk Hunter” takes a different angle on speculations of a future with disappearing water. In the west the northern cities have been banned from using the water flowing through them for the sake of the heavier population of Southern California. With no care for the rest of the populace cities like L.A. and Las Vegas are suing to have other cities shut down and sealing up the river so that the water can neither evaporate nor seep into the ground. A few people, like Lolo, make a living and collect a water bounty by hunting water guzzling trees like the tamarisk. But even sharing tiny amounts of the available water is too much for the hated “Calis”. Unlike most of the previous stories this one abandons a hopeful or positive ending, opting instead to leave a dry spot in readers’ throats.

Each story explores a darker side to the attainment of technological goals and “Pop Squad” tells the sinister tale of human immortality, which renders procreation not only needless, but illegal. The lead is a cop whose sole job is to hunt down illegal breeders, arresting the adults and executing the children. Bacigalupi weaves a delicate line, in the tale and in the lead’s mentality, between the selfishness of the child-free immortal life and the degrading influences birthing and raising children has on the human mind and body. This tale is largely a mental voyage, but the action invokes a dread that ensures the reader wishes to remain in an indecisive mind rather than face reality.

“The Yellow Card Man” takes readers back to the world of “The Calorie Man”, where the food source is highly controlled by rich corporations thanks to an oddly time triple scourge of blights. This tale is centered in Bangkok, around a man named Tranh who used to be a very successful business man and is now just one of a mass of unwelcome immigrants, hated and abused and not young enough, fast enough or strong enough to survive. Closer to a true horror story this tale abandons the hopeful tinge of its predecessors.

The only true horror tale in the book “Softer” is a sociopathic tale of a man who kills his wife and the effect it has on his mind and his life. Like the others the thread of darkness is delicately mixed into the story. The overwhelming influence of lighter, more positive aspects of the story versus the darker leave the reader with an unsettled feeling that is rare even in more traditional horror fiction.

“Pump Six” edges of the collection away from future where humanity has advanced and instead shows a future where humanity is degrading back toward primate ancestors. A few problem solvers still exist, but the mechanics that keep the city water clean and factories running are failing. With this tale the collection eases the reader back away from a science fiction future and back into a familiar world with frustrations that any reader can sympathize with.

Last is “Small Offerings”, one more cautionary tale wherein children suffer for the sins of the parents. In this one prenatal care is less about the health of a pregnant mother and the infant and more of a clean up crew for what slips out of the birth canal. The shortest of the collection’s tales it also hits close to home, reflecting the staggering growth of learning disorders and mental impairments, most still without a cause in the current time. But in Bacigalupi’s future the damages haunt prospective parents, driving them to dramatic ends to birth their future.

“Pump Six and other stories” is a superb collection of dark science fantasy which should be a must read for fan of the genres.