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badseedgirl's review
3.0
Read March 2017
This story falls squarely in the weird fiction category. Many people have said the main character is unlikable, but I found his behavior understandable, if not particularly likable. I mean who hasn't wallowed in self-pity after being dumped. It just so happened he was dumped the day before the entire world went to hell.
You can read this story for free at Lightspeed Magazine.
This story falls squarely in the weird fiction category. Many people have said the main character is unlikable, but I found his behavior understandable, if not particularly likable. I mean who hasn't wallowed in self-pity after being dumped. It just so happened he was dumped the day before the entire world went to hell.
You can read this story for free at Lightspeed Magazine.
acrisalves's review
5.0
(com links para as histórias disponibilizadas gratuitamente em https://acrisalves.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/lightspeed-magazine-volume-47/)
Coordenada por John Joseph Adams (conhecido pela qualidade das antologias que organiza) esta edição da Lightspeed Magazine é dos melhores volumes que li de qualquer revista de ficção especulativa. Entre as re-edições e as novas publicações o nível de qualidade é bastante elevado, fazendo com que eu considere adquirir os restantes números organizados por John Joseph Adams.
Este volume começa com uma história de Linda Nagata, Codename:Delphi, uma história bélica em que uma mulher ajuda a coordenar, à distância, grupos de combate, analisando os dados obtidos por drones na área onde estes grupos se encontram. Coordenando não um, nem dois, mas vários grupos de combate torna-se um trabalho esgotante do qual apetece, por vezes, desistir. Sem ser o meu género de ficção científica, apresenta um cenário pouco distante da realidade actual, centrando na luta emocional de quem coordena estas regras. A história encontra-se disponível gratuitamente no site da Lightspeed Magazine.
Segue-se Francisca Montoya’s Almanac of Things that can kill you de Shaenon K. Garrity, um conto pós-apocalíptico que se apresenta num formato interessante – um misto de almanaque com diário onde quem o escreve lista as coisas que, neste mundo podem matar uma pessoa – nalgumas descreve tratamentos ou probabilidades, salientando aquelas em que, antigamente, antes da queda da civilização, seria raro falecer.
Complex God de Scott Sigler é um excelente conto irónico em que uma cientista, com recurso a pequenos robots espera limpar uma cidade do lixo radioactivo. Estes pequenos robots terão capacidade de aprendizagem e de cooperarem entre si para tarefas mais difíceis (do ponto de vista físico ou intelectual). Sendo a responsável pela solução barata e inovadora, a cientista espera colher os louros das melhores ambientais. Apesar de ter um desenvolvimento algo expectável (entre o título e a capacidade de aprendizagem / pensamento dos robots está-se mesmo a ver o rumo) consegue ser interessante pela forma como se apresenta.
Recentemente Ted Chiang tornou-se um dos meus escritores de ficção científica favoritos. Contos inteligentes com uma grande componente científica ou tecnológica que se desenvolvem logicamente a partir de premissas simples. Este volume tem um conto do autor, Exhalation que, infelizmente já tinha lido na antologia de contos.
O primeiro conto de fantasia é, a meu ver, o mais fraquito. Observations about eggs from the man sitting next to me on a flight from Chicago, Illinois to Cedar Rapids, Iowa de Carmen Maria Machado é exactamente o que o título descreve, observações disconexas sobre ovos, lançadas de forma estranha. Receitas entrelaçadas com conversa e observações fantasiosas sobre estados de um ovo que não existem.
A segunda história é, novamente, excelente, conforme detalhei em entrada própria no blog. The Day the world turned upside down de Thomas Olde Heuvelt centra-se num jovem que tenta encontrar a ex-namorada num mundo em que a gravidade o virou do avesso. Assim, tudo o que se encontrava na fase do planeta e não estava firmemente agarrado ao solo foi cuspido. Safaram-se algumas pessoas que estavam dentro das casas. Conto fantasioso, é interessante pela situação retratada acompanhando um jovem que pouco tem de herói.
Alsiso de K. J. Bishop consegue ser uma história simples mas extraordinária acompanhando a evolução do nome utilizado por um assassino desconhecido que se foi transformando em figura de carnavais e teatros. Figura anónima mas romanceada até à exaustão que passa por períodos de esquecimento apenas para ser reavivada de forma ainda mais rocambolesca.
A próxima história é de C.J. Cherryh, The only death in the city que acompanha uma civilização humana que se terá recolhido às profundezas da terra, escavando novos níveis subterrâneos sempre que surge a necessidade de expansão. Civilização decadente onde não há novas invenções e onde as pessoas renascem recordando as vidas antepassadas, podendo continuá-las. Após centenas de reencarnações os laços criados em vidas anteriores são mais fortes do que as da família e, assim que o bebé consegue falar, afirma a sua proveniência para que possa ser encaminhado para o clã. Neste mundo gasto de ciclos repetitivos, nasce uma nova alma, a única criança que é verdadeiramente criança e que por isso é tratado com condescendência por todos. Uma excelente história fantásticas que cativa quer em ideias, quer em desenvolvimento das mesmas, conseguindo tornar-se inovadora.
The Autopsy de Michael Shea é uma das grandes histórias deste volume, a reedição de um clássico que mistura horror com ficção científica acompanhando um médico legista que está a autopsiar cadáveres que sofreram uma morte misteriosa. Uma história bem longa que vai criando momento e inquietação, enquanto, cadáver atrás de cadáver, o médico se começa a aperceber de algo comum a todos eles. Sem pressas mas premeditado, consegue criar, sem muitos elementos, um cenário de forte horror.
Depois de alguns excertos (que nunca leio) e de entrevistas (que raramente me interessam) segue-se a galeria do artista responsável pela capa, Rémi Le Capon, com arte de vários géneros onde, na maioria, se denota um contraste entre as zonas escuras e difusas e as zonas luminosas de maior detalhe, criando imagens muito centradas nas figuras principais e pouco detalhadas nos cenários. No portfolio encontram alguma das imagens publicadas nesta revista.
Coordenada por John Joseph Adams (conhecido pela qualidade das antologias que organiza) esta edição da Lightspeed Magazine é dos melhores volumes que li de qualquer revista de ficção especulativa. Entre as re-edições e as novas publicações o nível de qualidade é bastante elevado, fazendo com que eu considere adquirir os restantes números organizados por John Joseph Adams.
Este volume começa com uma história de Linda Nagata, Codename:Delphi, uma história bélica em que uma mulher ajuda a coordenar, à distância, grupos de combate, analisando os dados obtidos por drones na área onde estes grupos se encontram. Coordenando não um, nem dois, mas vários grupos de combate torna-se um trabalho esgotante do qual apetece, por vezes, desistir. Sem ser o meu género de ficção científica, apresenta um cenário pouco distante da realidade actual, centrando na luta emocional de quem coordena estas regras. A história encontra-se disponível gratuitamente no site da Lightspeed Magazine.
Segue-se Francisca Montoya’s Almanac of Things that can kill you de Shaenon K. Garrity, um conto pós-apocalíptico que se apresenta num formato interessante – um misto de almanaque com diário onde quem o escreve lista as coisas que, neste mundo podem matar uma pessoa – nalgumas descreve tratamentos ou probabilidades, salientando aquelas em que, antigamente, antes da queda da civilização, seria raro falecer.
Complex God de Scott Sigler é um excelente conto irónico em que uma cientista, com recurso a pequenos robots espera limpar uma cidade do lixo radioactivo. Estes pequenos robots terão capacidade de aprendizagem e de cooperarem entre si para tarefas mais difíceis (do ponto de vista físico ou intelectual). Sendo a responsável pela solução barata e inovadora, a cientista espera colher os louros das melhores ambientais. Apesar de ter um desenvolvimento algo expectável (entre o título e a capacidade de aprendizagem / pensamento dos robots está-se mesmo a ver o rumo) consegue ser interessante pela forma como se apresenta.
Recentemente Ted Chiang tornou-se um dos meus escritores de ficção científica favoritos. Contos inteligentes com uma grande componente científica ou tecnológica que se desenvolvem logicamente a partir de premissas simples. Este volume tem um conto do autor, Exhalation que, infelizmente já tinha lido na antologia de contos.
O primeiro conto de fantasia é, a meu ver, o mais fraquito. Observations about eggs from the man sitting next to me on a flight from Chicago, Illinois to Cedar Rapids, Iowa de Carmen Maria Machado é exactamente o que o título descreve, observações disconexas sobre ovos, lançadas de forma estranha. Receitas entrelaçadas com conversa e observações fantasiosas sobre estados de um ovo que não existem.
A segunda história é, novamente, excelente, conforme detalhei em entrada própria no blog. The Day the world turned upside down de Thomas Olde Heuvelt centra-se num jovem que tenta encontrar a ex-namorada num mundo em que a gravidade o virou do avesso. Assim, tudo o que se encontrava na fase do planeta e não estava firmemente agarrado ao solo foi cuspido. Safaram-se algumas pessoas que estavam dentro das casas. Conto fantasioso, é interessante pela situação retratada acompanhando um jovem que pouco tem de herói.
Alsiso de K. J. Bishop consegue ser uma história simples mas extraordinária acompanhando a evolução do nome utilizado por um assassino desconhecido que se foi transformando em figura de carnavais e teatros. Figura anónima mas romanceada até à exaustão que passa por períodos de esquecimento apenas para ser reavivada de forma ainda mais rocambolesca.
A próxima história é de C.J. Cherryh, The only death in the city que acompanha uma civilização humana que se terá recolhido às profundezas da terra, escavando novos níveis subterrâneos sempre que surge a necessidade de expansão. Civilização decadente onde não há novas invenções e onde as pessoas renascem recordando as vidas antepassadas, podendo continuá-las. Após centenas de reencarnações os laços criados em vidas anteriores são mais fortes do que as da família e, assim que o bebé consegue falar, afirma a sua proveniência para que possa ser encaminhado para o clã. Neste mundo gasto de ciclos repetitivos, nasce uma nova alma, a única criança que é verdadeiramente criança e que por isso é tratado com condescendência por todos. Uma excelente história fantásticas que cativa quer em ideias, quer em desenvolvimento das mesmas, conseguindo tornar-se inovadora.
The Autopsy de Michael Shea é uma das grandes histórias deste volume, a reedição de um clássico que mistura horror com ficção científica acompanhando um médico legista que está a autopsiar cadáveres que sofreram uma morte misteriosa. Uma história bem longa que vai criando momento e inquietação, enquanto, cadáver atrás de cadáver, o médico se começa a aperceber de algo comum a todos eles. Sem pressas mas premeditado, consegue criar, sem muitos elementos, um cenário de forte horror.
Depois de alguns excertos (que nunca leio) e de entrevistas (que raramente me interessam) segue-se a galeria do artista responsável pela capa, Rémi Le Capon, com arte de vários géneros onde, na maioria, se denota um contraste entre as zonas escuras e difusas e as zonas luminosas de maior detalhe, criando imagens muito centradas nas figuras principais e pouco detalhadas nos cenários. No portfolio encontram alguma das imagens publicadas nesta revista.
nathanaeljs's review
1.0
When I started reading this story, I thought the premise was creative and exciting. The world literally turned upside down! Was it magic? Science gone amuck? Aliens? Magical alien scientists? Brace yourself for disappointment, we never find out. Oh, and the protagonist is an incredible asshole.
It's been awhile since the protagonist of a short piece of fiction made me hate them as much as I did this guy by the end of the story. The world ends, literally the single most traumatic possible event imaginable. No doubt billions are dead. Most of the world's land animals are probably gone. The surviving humans have potential lifespans best counted in days. Does this concern our protagonist? No, he's upset his girlfriend broke up with him. This is almost the only thing he ever talks about. He is self-centered to the point of being almost comically sociopathic. He lets a woman fall to her death so he can save his ex's goldfish, which he hopes to return to her and win her back with. He leaves a tiny child with two insane women who undoubtedly died along with the girl as soon as they were offscreen, all so he can continue on to his girlfriend. When he sees her crying over her dead rebound guy, who was crushed to death in her home in the room next to her when the world ended, he's enraged. Because she doesn't promptly take him back and start humping him (she's hurt her back and broken her kneecap btw), he rushes off in a rage and leaves her behind and probably dies shortly after the story ends.
I. Hate. This. Story. It sucks. The end.
It's been awhile since the protagonist of a short piece of fiction made me hate them as much as I did this guy by the end of the story. The world ends, literally the single most traumatic possible event imaginable. No doubt billions are dead. Most of the world's land animals are probably gone. The surviving humans have potential lifespans best counted in days. Does this concern our protagonist? No, he's upset his girlfriend broke up with him. This is almost the only thing he ever talks about. He is self-centered to the point of being almost comically sociopathic. He lets a woman fall to her death so he can save his ex's goldfish, which he hopes to return to her and win her back with. He leaves a tiny child with two insane women who undoubtedly died along with the girl as soon as they were offscreen, all so he can continue on to his girlfriend. When he sees her crying over her dead rebound guy, who was crushed to death in her home in the room next to her when the world ended, he's enraged. Because she doesn't promptly take him back and start humping him (she's hurt her back and broken her kneecap btw), he rushes off in a rage and leaves her behind and probably dies shortly after the story ends.
I. Hate. This. Story. It sucks. The end.
djotaku's review
4.0
This was a GREAT issue. I don't think there was one story that wasn't top-notch. My favorite SF stories were Codename: Delphi and Exhalation. My favorite fantasy was The Only Death in the City. The Afterparty excerpt was great and I added the book to my To Read list. As I normally do with collections or SFF magazines, below are my reviews per story. (They roughly align with my status posts, but sometimes I have to trim the statuses to remain within the character limits)
Science Fiction
--
Codename: Delphi - a story almost certainly inspired by the Iraq/Afghanistan wars of the 2000s-2020s where drone operators worked from afar to provide backup to the war effort. In this story, battlefield oversight and command is now a job contracted out. Our protagonist works in a "call center" providing this oversight role and we spend a night with her. It's one of those short stories that is less about character growth or a full story. Instead it's a scene in what could be a much larger narrative. I enjoyed the story quite a bit.
Francisca Montoya's Almanac of Things that Can Kill You - what starts off as a darkly humorous explanation of all the ways humans can die ends up telling the tale of a post-apocalyptic world. It's especially creative for the fact that the story is told through ways of dying that are listed alphabetically.
Complex God - A very interesting take on the emergent AI concept. It also leads to an unexpected twist as our protagonist has their own twist planned as well.
Exhalation - a neat metaphor for what the current scientific thought tells us will happen with out own universe as time passes. It has a bit of that SF Golden Age (1930s-1940s) tone to it and I really enjoy that whenever I find it. 5/5 for this story.
Fantasy
--
Observations about Eggs from the Man Sitting Next to Me on a Flight from Chicago, Illinois to Cedar Rapids, Iowa - very odd sort of fantasy in which you get glimpses of magic or things not quite being what they seem.
The Day the World Turn Upside Down - A fantastical metaphor for a breakup alongside a literal, non-metaphorical breakup. It was a sweet story and a nice read.
Alsiso - An exploration of how memes mutate that was a lot of fun to read. Also seems to maybe overlap a bit with the premise of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.
The Only Death in the City - Something has happened on Earth and now people are reincarnated and completely remember their past lives. What would this to do life and society? Then our main character is the first newly born in thousands of years (he does not have a past life) - and so a moving story begins. An excellent selection for this fantasy reprint!
Novellas & Author Spotlights
--
The Autopsy - A science fiction horror novella that has a bit of a Lovecraftian bent to the narration. The plot has a few unexpected turns, but they are executed quite well. Reading the first paragraph of the next section of the magazine, an author feature, mentions this story is a classic. It definitely deserves that award.
Mihael Shea: No Form is Eternal- A tribute to Mr. Shea and The Autopsy.
Novel Excerpts
--
Afterparty - An intriguing novel involving (essentially) 3D printed drugs. The character of The Vincent cinched it for me and I added this book to my To Read List (long though it is)
Steles of the Sky - An excerpt from a novel that takes place in a fantasy-tinged Mongol empire. Thanks to having read The Mongoliad I recognized the names as Mongolian immediately. Story seems fascinating. Perhaps I will give the author another shot. (I didn't like the first novel of hers I read)
Non-Fiction
--
Interviews
--
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - An interview about the movie and graphic novel adaptations of Noah.
The Myth of Everyman - An essay on why it was problematic that the entire Noah cast (in the movie) was white. A good, short essay to show someone who doesn't understand the concept of why it's bad that "white" is assumed to be the "default".
Interview: Scott Sigler - Wonder how well Pandemic the book squares with the reality of pandemic in 2020-2021. Man, this is hard to read during COVID.
Artist Gallery/Artist Spotlight: Remi Le Capon - a mix of steampunk and SF images. His description of an ideal art project sounds like The Witcher meets Steampunk.
Author Spotlights
--
Linda Nagata - Looks like I was slightly off in the inspiration. Apparently the short story is providing POV to a character from one of her novels.
Shaenon K. Garrity - About the inspiration for the character in Almanac of Things that can kill you
Scott Sigler - A little more background on Prawatt and where she came from and her motivations in "God Complex"
Ted Chiang - How a Philip K Dick short story was part of the inspiration for "Exhalation!"
Carmen Maria Machado - The origin of the egg story.
Thomas Olde Heuvelt - The author's experience with grief led to the story and its extended metaphor.
Spotlight: KJ Bishop - Discussion on how Alsisso comes from the idea of consumerism as the evolution of theology.
Spotlight: CJ Cherryh - In the discussion of The Only Death I learned that Paris is one of the oldest European cities.
Misc
----
The Legend of RoboNinja - A parody of cyberpunk, complete with unnecessarily complex words. Very fun.
Author Spotlight: RoboNinja - A great parody of the author spotlights.
Science Fiction
--
Codename: Delphi - a story almost certainly inspired by the Iraq/Afghanistan wars of the 2000s-2020s where drone operators worked from afar to provide backup to the war effort. In this story, battlefield oversight and command is now a job contracted out. Our protagonist works in a "call center" providing this oversight role and we spend a night with her. It's one of those short stories that is less about character growth or a full story. Instead it's a scene in what could be a much larger narrative. I enjoyed the story quite a bit.
Francisca Montoya's Almanac of Things that Can Kill You - what starts off as a darkly humorous explanation of all the ways humans can die ends up telling the tale of a post-apocalyptic world. It's especially creative for the fact that the story is told through ways of dying that are listed alphabetically.
Complex God - A very interesting take on the emergent AI concept. It also leads to an unexpected twist as our protagonist has their own twist planned as well.
Exhalation - a neat metaphor for what the current scientific thought tells us will happen with out own universe as time passes. It has a bit of that SF Golden Age (1930s-1940s) tone to it and I really enjoy that whenever I find it. 5/5 for this story.
Fantasy
--
Observations about Eggs from the Man Sitting Next to Me on a Flight from Chicago, Illinois to Cedar Rapids, Iowa - very odd sort of fantasy in which you get glimpses of magic or things not quite being what they seem.
The Day the World Turn Upside Down - A fantastical metaphor for a breakup alongside a literal, non-metaphorical breakup. It was a sweet story and a nice read.
Alsiso - An exploration of how memes mutate that was a lot of fun to read. Also seems to maybe overlap a bit with the premise of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.
The Only Death in the City - Something has happened on Earth and now people are reincarnated and completely remember their past lives. What would this to do life and society? Then our main character is the first newly born in thousands of years (he does not have a past life) - and so a moving story begins. An excellent selection for this fantasy reprint!
Novellas & Author Spotlights
--
The Autopsy - A science fiction horror novella that has a bit of a Lovecraftian bent to the narration. The plot has a few unexpected turns, but they are executed quite well. Reading the first paragraph of the next section of the magazine, an author feature, mentions this story is a classic. It definitely deserves that award.
Mihael Shea: No Form is Eternal- A tribute to Mr. Shea and The Autopsy.
Novel Excerpts
--
Afterparty - An intriguing novel involving (essentially) 3D printed drugs. The character of The Vincent cinched it for me and I added this book to my To Read List (long though it is)
Steles of the Sky - An excerpt from a novel that takes place in a fantasy-tinged Mongol empire. Thanks to having read The Mongoliad I recognized the names as Mongolian immediately. Story seems fascinating. Perhaps I will give the author another shot. (I didn't like the first novel of hers I read)
Non-Fiction
--
Interviews
--
Interview: Darren Aronofsky - An interview about the movie and graphic novel adaptations of Noah.
The Myth of Everyman - An essay on why it was problematic that the entire Noah cast (in the movie) was white. A good, short essay to show someone who doesn't understand the concept of why it's bad that "white" is assumed to be the "default".
Interview: Scott Sigler - Wonder how well Pandemic the book squares with the reality of pandemic in 2020-2021. Man, this is hard to read during COVID.
Artist Gallery/Artist Spotlight: Remi Le Capon - a mix of steampunk and SF images. His description of an ideal art project sounds like The Witcher meets Steampunk.
Author Spotlights
--
Linda Nagata - Looks like I was slightly off in the inspiration. Apparently the short story is providing POV to a character from one of her novels.
Shaenon K. Garrity - About the inspiration for the character in Almanac of Things that can kill you
Scott Sigler - A little more background on Prawatt and where she came from and her motivations in "God Complex"
Ted Chiang - How a Philip K Dick short story was part of the inspiration for "Exhalation!"
Carmen Maria Machado - The origin of the egg story.
Thomas Olde Heuvelt - The author's experience with grief led to the story and its extended metaphor.
Spotlight: KJ Bishop - Discussion on how Alsisso comes from the idea of consumerism as the evolution of theology.
Spotlight: CJ Cherryh - In the discussion of The Only Death I learned that Paris is one of the oldest European cities.
Misc
----
The Legend of RoboNinja - A parody of cyberpunk, complete with unnecessarily complex words. Very fun.
Author Spotlight: RoboNinja - A great parody of the author spotlights.
typewriter's review
adventurous
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Favourite Stories:
- Codename: Delphi - riveting, and I really want to read more from this perspective. The action was fast-paced and the characters were intriguing.
- The Only Death in the City - this felt poetic and reminded me of A Memory Called Empire because everyone in this city is obsessed with the past in the same way the civilization in the aforementioned novel are.
- Exhalation - this read like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in tone; the narrator's enthusiasm and joy for discovery is contagious.
- The Day the World Turned Upside Down - the writing was good and heartfelt, but the ending was a bit weird for me. This is likely just a me thing though.
Honourable Mention:
- Observations About Eggs from the Man Sitting Next to Me on a Flight from Chicago, Illinois to Cedar Rapids, Iowa - this made me laugh.
dr_matthew_lloyd's review
3.0
"The Day the World Turned Upside Down" is an extended metaphor about a whiney young man whose girlfriend leaves him right before the eponymous disaster strikes. The whiney young man (Toby) then embarks across the upside-down world to find Sophie, the girlfriend in question, and to return her goldfish, Bubbles. The metaphor is well done, the writing (translating?) fine, and the story is really only let down by the impossibility with having any sympathy whatsoever with Toby.
nancyotoole's review
3.0
April's issue of Lightspeed Magazine (yes, I'm behind), while not one of my favorites, still has some worthwhile fiction inside. My favorites from the science fiction side were Codename: Delphi by Linda Nagata, a exciting military sci-fi story about a woman who's job is to control troops remotely (a profession I would never want), and Complex God by Scott Sigler. Complex God is from the recently released Robot Uprising anthology, so you can tell where the story is going, but the author brings the story to its inevitable conclusion in a very creative way. My favorite on the fantasy side was The Only Death in the City by CJ Cherryh, which I found to be lushly written and filled with great worldbuilding. The story focuses on a society where people are constantly reincarnated with full knowledge of all of their previous lives, and the consequences that result. There's also Alsiso by KJ Bishop, an entertaining study of how legends develop over time.
April's issue of Lightspeed is not a must read, but I still considered it to be a worthwhile use of my time.
April's issue of Lightspeed is not a must read, but I still considered it to be a worthwhile use of my time.
lamnatos's review
3.0
laurafigueiredo's review
4.0
There is a fact about magazines: you know you will like some of the stories, and you know you won't like some of the stories.
You're not buying the latest book of your favourite writer, you did not mean to read something which you knew in advance you'd probably like - in fact what you want is an effortless way to find some new favourite writers, and this way you only have to go through some other stories which you don't give a damn!
So what's the fair score for a magazine?
Not all the stories in this edition would be 4-stars imho but there are definetely a few which were ok to read and two which I loved and will have me looking for more of their authors. So I would say this is a success.
Btw the two stories I loved were "Francisca Montoya’s Almanac of Things That Can Kill You" by Shaenon K. Garrity and "The Only Death in the City" by C. J. Cherryh.
In case anyone cares.
You're not buying the latest book of your favourite writer, you did not mean to read something which you knew in advance you'd probably like - in fact what you want is an effortless way to find some new favourite writers, and this way you only have to go through some other stories which you don't give a damn!
So what's the fair score for a magazine?
Not all the stories in this edition would be 4-stars imho but there are definetely a few which were ok to read and two which I loved and will have me looking for more of their authors. So I would say this is a success.
Btw the two stories I loved were "Francisca Montoya’s Almanac of Things That Can Kill You" by Shaenon K. Garrity and "The Only Death in the City" by C. J. Cherryh.
In case anyone cares.