Scan barcode
felinity's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first such collection which seems to be consciously aware of non-Anglophone writers, and it shows in the incredibly variety of themes and characters. From inadvertent rebellion against a caste system or bodyswapping to the more traditional worlds in danger, these strange stories bring new meaning to the term "liking your drink too much". New moral dilemmas are introduced, new histories are created, unlikely heroes emerge, and finally I found a realistic dragon hunt.
As always with anthologies there are stories I loved, stories I enjoyed, and some which just made me think, "Huh?". The details in each kept me reading, as the geography spanned countries from China to the U.S. to Iceland, as I moved between alternate pasts to possible futures, as the plots included magic and history and science and mythology, until finally, with disappointment, I reached the end. (I thoroughly appreciate the "Recommended Reading" list though, which did ease the pain somewhat, as well as increasing the books I need to search out.)
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As always with anthologies there are stories I loved, stories I enjoyed, and some which just made me think, "Huh?". The details in each kept me reading, as the geography spanned countries from China to the U.S. to Iceland, as I moved between alternate pasts to possible futures, as the plots included magic and history and science and mythology, until finally, with disappointment, I reached the end. (I thoroughly appreciate the "Recommended Reading" list though, which did ease the pain somewhat, as well as increasing the books I need to search out.)
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
cosmo_chico_rodriguez's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: This review is based on the reading of the advanced reader's edition of this novel provided by the publisher via NetGalley. The review, in its entirety, is of my own opinion of the novel.
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014 Edition is a book of short stories in the genres of science fiction and fantasy from various authors. There are stories that range from dragonslayers to a man that can switch consciousness with others. Hell, as a science fiction fan, how could you not like this book that has such an awesome binary joke: "What's the difference between 00110110 and 00100110? 11001011!"?
There are stories in this compilation from people from all over the world, in fact, some of the stories were translated for this collection. Although one could read this book all at once, my recommendation is to read a little bit at a time because it is a bit long and you could enjoy the random stories at your leisure.
I give this book a solid 3 out of 5 because although I enjoyed many of the stories, there were some that I just didn't like.
I recommend this book to readers that are fans of science fiction and/or fantasy, or for those that want to begin reading stories from either genre.
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014 Edition is a book of short stories in the genres of science fiction and fantasy from various authors. There are stories that range from dragonslayers to a man that can switch consciousness with others. Hell, as a science fiction fan, how could you not like this book that has such an awesome binary joke: "What's the difference between 00110110 and 00100110? 11001011!"?
There are stories in this compilation from people from all over the world, in fact, some of the stories were translated for this collection. Although one could read this book all at once, my recommendation is to read a little bit at a time because it is a bit long and you could enjoy the random stories at your leisure.
I give this book a solid 3 out of 5 because although I enjoyed many of the stories, there were some that I just didn't like.
I recommend this book to readers that are fans of science fiction and/or fantasy, or for those that want to begin reading stories from either genre.
blakeybuttons's review
4.0
Featuring thirty-four short stories selected as the best from 2014, this anthology showcases the best and brightest of the past twelve months. The stories selected show a real range in perspectives- it is wonderful to see an anthology with plenty of stories from international talents.
Some of my personal favourites are:
"Effigy Nights" Yoon Ha Lee
"Loss with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu
"The Memory Book" by Maureen McHugh
"Call Girl" by Tang Fei
"Town's End" by Yukimi Agawa
This anthology gives a real overview and insight into the speculative fiction trends and stars of 2015
Some of my personal favourites are:
"Effigy Nights" Yoon Ha Lee
"Loss with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu
"The Memory Book" by Maureen McHugh
"Call Girl" by Tang Fei
"Town's End" by Yukimi Agawa
This anthology gives a real overview and insight into the speculative fiction trends and stars of 2015
spacenoirdetective's review
4.0
Soulcatcher by James Patrick Kelly – A woman tries to find and free her twin, who is a slave. I liked all the artifacts in the antique shop. Really cool ideas there. I don’t generally like the evil Fae as a subgenre. Some cool visuals but I didn’t get enough of a grasp as to why things were happening the way they were. How did she and her sister get separated? Why was her sister enslaved to begin with? Why must the Fae be SO evil? Meh. C
Trafalgar and Josefina by Angélica Gorodischer – South American magical realism is always such a wonderful genre. I could see the influence from Borges here, but the sly way that the main storyteller gets away with her trick is the best part. Is she telling a story about a man who somehow traveled to a country in another dimension? Is this her story? Is it his? It is true? With the best stories, it doesn’t matter. A crazy story about a weird hidden kingdom where they do things in a way that doesn’t make any sense to us is still going to be captivating in spite of the fact that we don’t know the answers to any of those questions. B+
A Stranger from a Foreign Ship by Tom Purdom – I will admit that the body switching subgenre is one that is difficult to hook me with. I’m picky and most stories I’ve read in this vein have been horrible. This, though, took a real leap into gritty crime-noir and mixed it up with a body hopping thief who can dig around the minds of his victims. I was riveted. A-
Blanchefleur by Theodora Goss – A fairy tale has to have several elements to keep the work from feeling like a stale copy of other folktales and fairy tales, but still keep enough tropes to make it feel solid. This story knocked it out of the park for just those reasons. Very good characters fill this story, who can back up very good metaphors. And they surround a coming of age story of a young farmboy finding himself as he commits to a year of training each as a scholar, a nanny, and a soldier. Did I mention there are lots of talking animals? I liked the mix of grit and whimsy that Goss balances between. It’s refreshing, and she makes it look easy when I know it’s not. A+
Effigy Nights by Yoon Ha Lee – Yoon Ha Lee has a talent for really beautiful ideas. I love the poetry of his work. Little details are important here. The visuals are what I would describe as dark, almost gothic sci-fi. No character really stood out to me, though. Still, the worldbuilding is good. B
Such & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana Hedley – Ugh. Yeah. Pass on this one. A man goes to bars and dates embodiments of alcohol who come to life as various men and women. Is this a metaphor? Is this a fever dream of an alcoholic? Who knows? Unclear, muddled, and ultimately unsatisfying. D+
Grizzled Veterans of Many and Much by Robert Reed – Robert Reed is still able to surprise me. I like the subgenre of transcendence scifi, especially with virtual worlds. James Patrick Kelly and David Marusek have created masterpieces in this genre. For this story, I wanted a little bit more, but it was still a really good ride. The worldbuilding about the people left behind in the world that was depopulating quickly was more interesting to me than the virtual environment that people copy their minds into. I love the arc of a man’s life in one story as a concept but I think the story doesn’t really pick up until about halfway through. The ending, after repeated readings, was an appropriately ironic twist. However, I felt that in order for that twist to have worked better, there could have been more attention paid to the character of the grandfather who is introduced at the beginning of the story. B
Rosary and Goldenstar by Geoff Ryman – I just couldn’t “buy” the reality of this one. Shakespeare as a shaved headed gay boy twink, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as two jockish Swedish philosophers, etc. etc. It’s historical fiction but it didn’t feel authentically historical. The only part I liked was Shakespeare’s future wife having a cameo and she was more interesting than anyone else. C-
The Bees Her Heart, the Hive Her Belly by Benjanun Sridaungkaew – So I knew about the drama surrounding this author before I read the story. Trying to be objective in my analysis of this story here. It didn’t have any huge amount of characterization. The characters are largely unemotional. It’s mostly worldbuilding that isn’t deeply explained. How exactly does someone have a porpoise inside them? Is it just part of the porpoise? Was it shrunk? Whaaaaa? Details like that aside, I hated the main character right off the bat for murdering anyone that portrayed her in art because…??? I guess she’s just a really private person but that aspect seemed to jarring to me without any context or explanation. I like the idea of a hivemind. The mystery of a hivemind split over several bodies all working in tandem together is a good idea. But this story did nothing for me. D+
The Dragonslayer of Merebarton by Tom Holt – A story about a bunch of old timers that has to defend their village from a dragon. Typical story for fantasy with some solid narrating skills. I liked the narrator. The story itself was well written but felt a little bit unoriginal. C+
The Oracle by Lavie Tidhar – Two separate stories taking place at separate points in the future describe how civilization had a jumping off point with artificial intelligence, though the outcome of that artificial intelligence being released into the world remained unclear to me, so the second timeline could have used some more explanation. Still, there was some interesting writing here. B-
Loss, with Chalk Diagrams by E. Lily Yu – A very moving story about a world where emotion can be controlled with surgery. The author takes this concept and really explores it well, explores the ramifications, the justifications, and asks what the pros and cons would be of such a decision. What if we could bypass the emotion of loss? The characters totally sold me on this world and their own personal journeys. This would make a great independent film. A
Martyr’s Gem by C.S.E. Cooney – A high fantasy story with several elements I really liked. The protagonist is a brave but overweight young man written off by his society until he is chosen as the husband for one of the wealthiest girls in the land. Personality interactions were very fun to watch here. On the worldbuilding side, well there’s a very fun mystery. Theirs is the last land left. The other lands were all destroyed by a massive flood/tsunami/cataclysm. We get tantalizing tidbits on that. Well done there. A few cliché elements, though. The little sister went from telling stories that shamed a group of people to winning those people over. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of how she accomplished this. I also thought the ending, which I won’t spoil, was a bit deux ex machina. Still. A solid entry. B-
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass by Alaya Dawn Johnson – Post apocalypse fiction. The most interesting thing about this was not the journey undertaken by two women to get an abortion, though that subject may unsettle some readers. For me, it was the antagonists. The aliens seemed almost well meaning in this story, though they’ve killed most of humanity and are putting the rest under strictly enforced guidelines for survival. I wanted more, but this was a slice of life bit of writing. We only know as much as our character knows. I would like to find out more about their plans for Earth, their motivations, etc. B+
A Window or a Small Box by Jedediah Berry – This story was amazing. It reminded me of the best of Kelly Link or Jeff Vandermeer. Surreal, funny, absurd, frenetic, fast-paced alternate world insanity. It really pushes the idea of what an alternate universe could look like in an anthropological sense. I love his attention to coming up with catch phrases, sayings, customs, socio-behavioral models that all paint the picture of a totally different culture. A lot of it doesn’t make sense but the tapestry all comes together anyway. Bizarre and wonderful. I can’t believe this guy has only published two short stories. A+
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn – Really interesting idea here about changing fate with mild superpowers in an alternate early 20th century Europe. Good narrator. Engrossing. B+
Live Arcade by Erik Amundsen – Terrible. So your video game character is sentient and…this went nowhere. F
Social Services by Madeline Ashby – I like some aspects of this story. I like the near future ideas about intrusion of privacy and wearable tech. The story’s theme seems to be intrusion. But this is a story based on the reality of where humans will be in a few decades. I thought the ending was unrealistic. Spoilers: The main character goes to truant children and convinces them to go to school. At the end of this story, the child is evil and he drugs her. Says he’s convinced the AI’s that his parents are still alive and he’s killed them. He thinks she can just quit her job and assume the identity of his mother but I think in a society with this level of technological identification, this plan is not going to work. Someone would investigate. And on top of that the genre switch didn’t work for me, either. D
Found by Alex Daily MacFarlane – So in another star system in the far future, a bunch of people live on asteroids because they didn’t make it to some planet due to some emergency/disaster. They finally make contact with the world in the system that got settled and a bunch of people are preparing to migrate there. There is a big theme about spices being the only plants they had to cultivate. Which leads me to wonder what they eat. They don’t have regular food (rice, noodles, bread, any other crops) so I had no idea how they got their food, and since food or flavor is an important theme, I was left wanting more there. I thought most of the ideas in this story were solid up until the end when a very confusing passage on gender fluidity was introduced. I wasn’t sure if there was a gender change or if everyone on the planet does gender changes. And the plot sort of just tacks this on with no previous mention of it, or context. I wasn’t sure what was happening. D
A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel by Ken Liu – I wanted to like this story more. Alternate history story about said tunnel being build during the Depression. Again, unrealistic for the tech available at that time. Basic logic problems. Planes and boats are easier, more economical, and any engineer would know that. Trade was not heavy enough to warrant a tunnel at that time. The real story is about labor exploitation and cover-up. C-
Ilse, Who Saw Clearly by E. Lily Yu – One of the best stories here. A young girl in a German fairytale you’ve definitely never read before. Yu is my favorite new author in this collection. Writing folktales such as this one and Theodora Goss’ works is a rare talent. A+
It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and We Feel Fine by Harry Turtledove – I had no idea Harry Turtledove could be this funny. Hilarious slice of life from a future that is equally dytopian and utopian. So bravo for accomplishing that. A+
Killing Curses: a Caught-Heart Quest by Krista Hoeppner Leahy – Almost incomprehensible. You have to be careful when introducing vocabulary your audience is supposed to guess the meaning of. Gene Wolfe pulled that off, but this was struggling to make sense. This would definitely be categorized as “weird fiction” but while making all these references, the story elements don’t seem to match the references we know. I am rarely this perplexed while reading anything. So I’ll bump it up from an F to a D- for making an impression, at least. D-
Firebrand by Peter Watts – Okay so you have a bacteria causing spontaneous human combustion. Great idea. But then Watts just doesn’t really do anything much with it. There could have been so many possibilities so I was disappointed with the plot, and the characters bored me. I like Watts so this was a disappointment. D+
The Memory Book by Maureen F. McHugh – An increasingly eerie Victorian era story about a young girl sent to be a nanny. I thought I could see where this was going, and I was pleasantly surprised. Very good characterization and minimal language totally evokes the era without referencing it directly. Masterful gothic fiction. A
The Dead Sea-Bottom Scrolls by Howard Waldrop – Meh some recordings of some Martians about sailing around in something out of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. Semi-interesting but kinda meh. I liked some of the descriptive writing. It’s not easy to write about Mars and come up with something I haven’t seen before, so maybe I’m picky but I didn’t feel like the plot was at all unique. C
A Fine Show on the Abyssal Plain by Karin Tidbeck – This might be the most unique story in this collection along with Jedediah Berry’s story. It’s not The Little Mermaid, that’s for sure. It has a series of characters that fit plays within plays, and I don’t want to spoil it. It’s odd, impossible, definitely a “weird fiction” story. But it’s one that totally works for its oddball nature. It’s like “Schenectady, New York” meets “The Life Aquatic” meets “The Twilight Zone” by way of Finding Nemo. A
Out in the Dark by Linda Nagata – Thoroughly satisfying detective noir science fiction. I happen to love this genre and this was a theme I’d seen before but it was done so well. The unraveling mystery of identity was handled well. B+
On the Origin of Song by Naim Kabir – This story had elements I normally love. Epistolary (story told in letters) is a favorite subgenre of mine. But the worldbuilding didn’t match the plot. It was very ambitious worldbuilding but in the end it’s much ado about nothing regarding a character who just captivates various people, but doesn’t manage to do a whole lot. Perplexing. D+
Call Girl by Tang Fei – Magical realist tale from China about a girl who can induce addictive virtual worlds via some kind of telepathy. I appreciated all the slice of life details here. The writing is spare and effective. It has a very Twilight Zone feel to it and if anything, I wanted it to be fleshed out more and would like to have gotten more about the main character’s motives. A-
Paranormal Romance by Christopher Barzak – Okay, I don’t normally like supernatural romance. But the character writing and dialogue in this story was top notch. A witch who is just a regular gal gets set up on a blind date by her mother. One of the stronger entries in this book. Unexpected romance is always a plus when it’s done correctly. B+
Town’s End by Yukimi Ogawa – Dynamite mythic urban fiction story taking place in Japan. A woman in a dating agency sets up various spirits. I found this story to be surprising, charming and visually wonderful. A
Trafalgar and Josefina by Angélica Gorodischer – South American magical realism is always such a wonderful genre. I could see the influence from Borges here, but the sly way that the main storyteller gets away with her trick is the best part. Is she telling a story about a man who somehow traveled to a country in another dimension? Is this her story? Is it his? It is true? With the best stories, it doesn’t matter. A crazy story about a weird hidden kingdom where they do things in a way that doesn’t make any sense to us is still going to be captivating in spite of the fact that we don’t know the answers to any of those questions. B+
A Stranger from a Foreign Ship by Tom Purdom – I will admit that the body switching subgenre is one that is difficult to hook me with. I’m picky and most stories I’ve read in this vein have been horrible. This, though, took a real leap into gritty crime-noir and mixed it up with a body hopping thief who can dig around the minds of his victims. I was riveted. A-
Blanchefleur by Theodora Goss – A fairy tale has to have several elements to keep the work from feeling like a stale copy of other folktales and fairy tales, but still keep enough tropes to make it feel solid. This story knocked it out of the park for just those reasons. Very good characters fill this story, who can back up very good metaphors. And they surround a coming of age story of a young farmboy finding himself as he commits to a year of training each as a scholar, a nanny, and a soldier. Did I mention there are lots of talking animals? I liked the mix of grit and whimsy that Goss balances between. It’s refreshing, and she makes it look easy when I know it’s not. A+
Effigy Nights by Yoon Ha Lee – Yoon Ha Lee has a talent for really beautiful ideas. I love the poetry of his work. Little details are important here. The visuals are what I would describe as dark, almost gothic sci-fi. No character really stood out to me, though. Still, the worldbuilding is good. B
Such & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana Hedley – Ugh. Yeah. Pass on this one. A man goes to bars and dates embodiments of alcohol who come to life as various men and women. Is this a metaphor? Is this a fever dream of an alcoholic? Who knows? Unclear, muddled, and ultimately unsatisfying. D+
Grizzled Veterans of Many and Much by Robert Reed – Robert Reed is still able to surprise me. I like the subgenre of transcendence scifi, especially with virtual worlds. James Patrick Kelly and David Marusek have created masterpieces in this genre. For this story, I wanted a little bit more, but it was still a really good ride. The worldbuilding about the people left behind in the world that was depopulating quickly was more interesting to me than the virtual environment that people copy their minds into. I love the arc of a man’s life in one story as a concept but I think the story doesn’t really pick up until about halfway through. The ending, after repeated readings, was an appropriately ironic twist. However, I felt that in order for that twist to have worked better, there could have been more attention paid to the character of the grandfather who is introduced at the beginning of the story. B
Rosary and Goldenstar by Geoff Ryman – I just couldn’t “buy” the reality of this one. Shakespeare as a shaved headed gay boy twink, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as two jockish Swedish philosophers, etc. etc. It’s historical fiction but it didn’t feel authentically historical. The only part I liked was Shakespeare’s future wife having a cameo and she was more interesting than anyone else. C-
The Bees Her Heart, the Hive Her Belly by Benjanun Sridaungkaew – So I knew about the drama surrounding this author before I read the story. Trying to be objective in my analysis of this story here. It didn’t have any huge amount of characterization. The characters are largely unemotional. It’s mostly worldbuilding that isn’t deeply explained. How exactly does someone have a porpoise inside them? Is it just part of the porpoise? Was it shrunk? Whaaaaa? Details like that aside, I hated the main character right off the bat for murdering anyone that portrayed her in art because…??? I guess she’s just a really private person but that aspect seemed to jarring to me without any context or explanation. I like the idea of a hivemind. The mystery of a hivemind split over several bodies all working in tandem together is a good idea. But this story did nothing for me. D+
The Dragonslayer of Merebarton by Tom Holt – A story about a bunch of old timers that has to defend their village from a dragon. Typical story for fantasy with some solid narrating skills. I liked the narrator. The story itself was well written but felt a little bit unoriginal. C+
The Oracle by Lavie Tidhar – Two separate stories taking place at separate points in the future describe how civilization had a jumping off point with artificial intelligence, though the outcome of that artificial intelligence being released into the world remained unclear to me, so the second timeline could have used some more explanation. Still, there was some interesting writing here. B-
Loss, with Chalk Diagrams by E. Lily Yu – A very moving story about a world where emotion can be controlled with surgery. The author takes this concept and really explores it well, explores the ramifications, the justifications, and asks what the pros and cons would be of such a decision. What if we could bypass the emotion of loss? The characters totally sold me on this world and their own personal journeys. This would make a great independent film. A
Martyr’s Gem by C.S.E. Cooney – A high fantasy story with several elements I really liked. The protagonist is a brave but overweight young man written off by his society until he is chosen as the husband for one of the wealthiest girls in the land. Personality interactions were very fun to watch here. On the worldbuilding side, well there’s a very fun mystery. Theirs is the last land left. The other lands were all destroyed by a massive flood/tsunami/cataclysm. We get tantalizing tidbits on that. Well done there. A few cliché elements, though. The little sister went from telling stories that shamed a group of people to winning those people over. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of how she accomplished this. I also thought the ending, which I won’t spoil, was a bit deux ex machina. Still. A solid entry. B-
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass by Alaya Dawn Johnson – Post apocalypse fiction. The most interesting thing about this was not the journey undertaken by two women to get an abortion, though that subject may unsettle some readers. For me, it was the antagonists. The aliens seemed almost well meaning in this story, though they’ve killed most of humanity and are putting the rest under strictly enforced guidelines for survival. I wanted more, but this was a slice of life bit of writing. We only know as much as our character knows. I would like to find out more about their plans for Earth, their motivations, etc. B+
A Window or a Small Box by Jedediah Berry – This story was amazing. It reminded me of the best of Kelly Link or Jeff Vandermeer. Surreal, funny, absurd, frenetic, fast-paced alternate world insanity. It really pushes the idea of what an alternate universe could look like in an anthropological sense. I love his attention to coming up with catch phrases, sayings, customs, socio-behavioral models that all paint the picture of a totally different culture. A lot of it doesn’t make sense but the tapestry all comes together anyway. Bizarre and wonderful. I can’t believe this guy has only published two short stories. A+
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn – Really interesting idea here about changing fate with mild superpowers in an alternate early 20th century Europe. Good narrator. Engrossing. B+
Live Arcade by Erik Amundsen – Terrible. So your video game character is sentient and…this went nowhere. F
Social Services by Madeline Ashby – I like some aspects of this story. I like the near future ideas about intrusion of privacy and wearable tech. The story’s theme seems to be intrusion. But this is a story based on the reality of where humans will be in a few decades. I thought the ending was unrealistic. Spoilers: The main character goes to truant children and convinces them to go to school. At the end of this story, the child is evil and he drugs her. Says he’s convinced the AI’s that his parents are still alive and he’s killed them. He thinks she can just quit her job and assume the identity of his mother but I think in a society with this level of technological identification, this plan is not going to work. Someone would investigate. And on top of that the genre switch didn’t work for me, either. D
Found by Alex Daily MacFarlane – So in another star system in the far future, a bunch of people live on asteroids because they didn’t make it to some planet due to some emergency/disaster. They finally make contact with the world in the system that got settled and a bunch of people are preparing to migrate there. There is a big theme about spices being the only plants they had to cultivate. Which leads me to wonder what they eat. They don’t have regular food (rice, noodles, bread, any other crops) so I had no idea how they got their food, and since food or flavor is an important theme, I was left wanting more there. I thought most of the ideas in this story were solid up until the end when a very confusing passage on gender fluidity was introduced. I wasn’t sure if there was a gender change or if everyone on the planet does gender changes. And the plot sort of just tacks this on with no previous mention of it, or context. I wasn’t sure what was happening. D
A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel by Ken Liu – I wanted to like this story more. Alternate history story about said tunnel being build during the Depression. Again, unrealistic for the tech available at that time. Basic logic problems. Planes and boats are easier, more economical, and any engineer would know that. Trade was not heavy enough to warrant a tunnel at that time. The real story is about labor exploitation and cover-up. C-
Ilse, Who Saw Clearly by E. Lily Yu – One of the best stories here. A young girl in a German fairytale you’ve definitely never read before. Yu is my favorite new author in this collection. Writing folktales such as this one and Theodora Goss’ works is a rare talent. A+
It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and We Feel Fine by Harry Turtledove – I had no idea Harry Turtledove could be this funny. Hilarious slice of life from a future that is equally dytopian and utopian. So bravo for accomplishing that. A+
Killing Curses: a Caught-Heart Quest by Krista Hoeppner Leahy – Almost incomprehensible. You have to be careful when introducing vocabulary your audience is supposed to guess the meaning of. Gene Wolfe pulled that off, but this was struggling to make sense. This would definitely be categorized as “weird fiction” but while making all these references, the story elements don’t seem to match the references we know. I am rarely this perplexed while reading anything. So I’ll bump it up from an F to a D- for making an impression, at least. D-
Firebrand by Peter Watts – Okay so you have a bacteria causing spontaneous human combustion. Great idea. But then Watts just doesn’t really do anything much with it. There could have been so many possibilities so I was disappointed with the plot, and the characters bored me. I like Watts so this was a disappointment. D+
The Memory Book by Maureen F. McHugh – An increasingly eerie Victorian era story about a young girl sent to be a nanny. I thought I could see where this was going, and I was pleasantly surprised. Very good characterization and minimal language totally evokes the era without referencing it directly. Masterful gothic fiction. A
The Dead Sea-Bottom Scrolls by Howard Waldrop – Meh some recordings of some Martians about sailing around in something out of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. Semi-interesting but kinda meh. I liked some of the descriptive writing. It’s not easy to write about Mars and come up with something I haven’t seen before, so maybe I’m picky but I didn’t feel like the plot was at all unique. C
A Fine Show on the Abyssal Plain by Karin Tidbeck – This might be the most unique story in this collection along with Jedediah Berry’s story. It’s not The Little Mermaid, that’s for sure. It has a series of characters that fit plays within plays, and I don’t want to spoil it. It’s odd, impossible, definitely a “weird fiction” story. But it’s one that totally works for its oddball nature. It’s like “Schenectady, New York” meets “The Life Aquatic” meets “The Twilight Zone” by way of Finding Nemo. A
Out in the Dark by Linda Nagata – Thoroughly satisfying detective noir science fiction. I happen to love this genre and this was a theme I’d seen before but it was done so well. The unraveling mystery of identity was handled well. B+
On the Origin of Song by Naim Kabir – This story had elements I normally love. Epistolary (story told in letters) is a favorite subgenre of mine. But the worldbuilding didn’t match the plot. It was very ambitious worldbuilding but in the end it’s much ado about nothing regarding a character who just captivates various people, but doesn’t manage to do a whole lot. Perplexing. D+
Call Girl by Tang Fei – Magical realist tale from China about a girl who can induce addictive virtual worlds via some kind of telepathy. I appreciated all the slice of life details here. The writing is spare and effective. It has a very Twilight Zone feel to it and if anything, I wanted it to be fleshed out more and would like to have gotten more about the main character’s motives. A-
Paranormal Romance by Christopher Barzak – Okay, I don’t normally like supernatural romance. But the character writing and dialogue in this story was top notch. A witch who is just a regular gal gets set up on a blind date by her mother. One of the stronger entries in this book. Unexpected romance is always a plus when it’s done correctly. B+
Town’s End by Yukimi Ogawa – Dynamite mythic urban fiction story taking place in Japan. A woman in a dating agency sets up various spirits. I found this story to be surprising, charming and visually wonderful. A
velokyrie's review
4.0
Please find my review here: http://echoes-empty-mind.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-years-best-science-fiction.html
More...