Category: 2011

Short fiction I read in December 2011

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Here is the short fiction I read in December. Finally, for the first time, I beat my goal of reading 1 story/day. I read 38 this month, most of them while I was on vacation, but hey, I’ll take it. As always, bold titles are recommended.

  1. Found in the Wreckage by Marge Simon (Daily SF, 12/1/2011).  [12/1/2011]
  2. Action Comics #4. “Superman and the Men of Steel.”  [12/8/2011]
  3. Going Home by Bruce McAllister and Barry Malzberg (Asimov’s 2/12). [12/18/2011].
  4. You Can’t Win by Malcolm Jameson (Astounding, November 1941).  [12/18/2011]
  5. Murder Born by Robert Reed (Asimov’s 2/12). [12/19/2011]
  6. Finity by E. A. Grosser (Astounding 11/41). [12/19/11]
  7. Sirius by Ben Peek (Clarkesworld 12/11). [12/19/11]
  8. In Which Faster-Than-Light Travel Solves All of Our Problems by Chris Stabback. (Clarkesworld 12/11). [12/19/2011]
  9. The Sighted Watchmaker by Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed 12/11). [12/19/11]
  10. Direct Action by John Hawkins (Astounding, November 1941). [12/22/2011]
  11. The Door by Oliver Saari (Astounding, November 1941). [12/22/2011]
  12. The Hammer of God by Arthur C. Clarke (Lightspeed, December 2011). [12/22/2011]
  13. Stock Photos by Robert Reed (F&SF, May/June 2011). [12/22/2011]
  14. The Road Ahead by Robert Reed (F&SF, May/June 2011). [12/22/2011]
  15. Fine Green Dust by Don Webb (F&SF, May/June 2011). [12/22/2011]
  16. Twelves by Leah Cypess. (Asimov’s, July 2011). [12/22/2011]
  17. The Messenger by Bruce McAllister (Asimov’s, July 2011). [12/22/2011]
  18. Seat of Oblivion by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding, November 1941). [12/23/2011]
  19. The Ants of Flanders by Robert Reed (F&SF, July 2011). [12/23/2011]
  20. Semiramis by Genevieve Valentine (Clarkesworld, June 2011). [12/23/2011]
  21. Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of Curveballs by Gray Rinehart (Analog, Septmber 2011). [12/23/2011]
  22. Beyond All Weapons by Nat Schachner (Astounding, November 1941). [12/24/2011]
  23. The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s, November 2011). [12/25/2011]
  24. Beyond the Aquila Rift by Alastair Reynolds (Year’s Best 23rd). [12/25/2011]
  25. Triceratops Summer by Michael Swanwick (Year’s Best 23rd). [12/25/2011]
  26. Strong Medicine by William Shunn (Year’s Best 21st). [12/25/2011]
  27. It’s All True by John Kessel (Year’s Best 21st). [12/26/2011]
  28. 10^16 to 1 by James Patrick Kelly (Year’s Best 17th). [12/26/2011]
  29. How We Lost the Moon, a True Story by Frank W. Allen by Paul McAuley. (Year’s Best 17th). [12/26/2011]
  30. People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter (Year’s Best 17th). [12/26/2011]
  31. Scherzo with Tyrannosaur by Michael Swanwick (Year’s Best 17th). [12/27/2011]
  32. Lists by Annie Bellet (Daily SF, 12/28/2011). [12/28/2011]
  33. Ten Seconds by Scott W. Baker (Daily SF, 12/26/2011). [12/28/2011]
  34. Camouflage by Robert Reed (Year’s Best 23rd). [12/28/2011]
  35. Cold Cuts by Don Norum (Daily SF, 12/29/2011). [12/29/2011]
  36. Superman #4: “Mind for the Taking”. [12/29/2011]
  37. Hero of the Empire by Robert Silverberg (Year’s Best 17th). [12/31/2011]
  38. The Great Goodbye by Robert Charles Wilson. (Year’s Best 19th). [12/31/2011)
And a New Year’s reminder: reading more short fiction in 2012 is a great way to entertain yourself. And inexpensive, too. For less than a night out at the movies, you can have a year long subscription to a great SF/F magazine. As always, I list a bunch of my favorites below. Happy New Year!

Get your short fiction fix:

* Denotes magazines to which I have an active subscription.

Short fiction I read in November 2011

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Here is this month’s list for short fiction I managed to read. Still aiming for that allusive 1 story/day, 30 stories/month, but this month was a particularly busy one for me. That said, I think I did on okay job. As always, bold titles are recommended.

  1. Call Center Blues by Carrie Cuinn (Daily SF, 11/2/11).  [11/2/2011]
  2. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov (Astounding, September 1941).  [11/2/2011]
  3. Action Comics #3: “World Against Superman“.  [11/2/2011]
  4. Time to Go by Erin M. Hartshorn (Daily SF, 11/3/11).  [11/3/2011]
  5. Adam and No Eve by Alfred Bester (Astounding, September 1941).  [11/3/2011]
  6. Listen Up, Nitwits by Jack McDevitt (Analog, Jan/Feb 2012).  [11/4/2011]
  7. Short-Circuited Probability by Norman L. Knight (Astounding, September 1941). [11/8/2011]
  8. Mission by M. Krulfeld (Astounding, September 1941). [11/9/2011]
  9. Maiden Voyage by Jack McDevitt (Asimov’s, Jan 2012). [11/9/2011]
  10. Test of the Gods by Raymond F. Jones (Astounding, September 1941).  [11/10/2011]
  11. Elsewhere by Caleb Saunders (Astounding, September 1941). [11/12/2011]
  12. Methuselah’s Children, Part 3 by Robert Heinlein (Astounding, September 1941). [11/13/2011]
  13. By His Bootstraps by Anson MacDonald (Astounding, October 1941). [11/18/2011]
  14. Not Final! by Isaac Asimov (Astounding, October 1941). [11/19/2011]
  15. Safe Empathy by Ken Liu (Daily SF, 11/21/11). [11/21/2011]
  16. Manic Perverse by Winston K. Marks (Astounding, October 1941). [11/22/2011]
  17. Two Percent Inspiration by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding, October 1941). [11/23/2011]
  18. Superman #3: “A Cold Day in Hell”. [11/24/2011]
  19. Recovering Apollo 8 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. [11/25/2011]
  20. Common Sense by Robert Heinlein. (Astounding, October 1941). [11/27/2011]
  21. An Interstellar Incident by Catherine Schaffer (Analog, Jan/Feb 2012). [11/29/2011]
  22. Bruce Springsteen by Paul McAuley (Asimov’s January 2012). [11/30/2011]
  23. Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes by Michael Bishop (Tor.com, 7/11/2011). [11/30/2011]**

In the 3 months that I’ve been keeping this list I’ve read a total of 73 stories, spread over most of the major SF/F magazines and a few of the smaller ones as well. I would have liked to have read around 90 at this point, but life gets in the way. Still, 73 stories every 3 months amounts to 288 pieces of short fiction a year. The fact that I can read 292 pieces of short fiction a year and still not keep up with all of the good short fiction out there is yet another piece of evidence that we are living in a Golden Age of short science fiction.

Get your short fiction fix:

* Denotes magazines to which I have an active subscription.

** ETA: Added after initial post

Short fiction I read in October 2011

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Here is this month’s list of short fiction that I managed to read. I’ve been aiming for one story a day from a variety of magazines. I think I did a pretty good job this month. Just like last month, the bold titles are, in my opinion, particularly worth reading.

  1. Old Fireball by Nat Schachner (Astounding, June 1941) [10/2/2011]
  2. To Fight Another Day by Robert Moore Williams (Astounding, June 1941) [10/2/2011]
  3. The Purple Light by E. Waldo Hunter (Astounding, June 1941) [10/2/2011]
  4. Superman #1: “What Price Tomorrow”. [10/2/2011]
  5. Staying Behind by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld, October 2011).  [10/3/2011]
  6. Wider and Deeper by Carma Lynn Park (Daily SF, 10/3/11).  [10/3/2011]
  7. F&SF Mailbag by David Gerrold (F&SF, 9/10).  [10/4/2011]
  8. Action Comics #2: “In Chains”. (DC Comics, 10/5/11).  [10/5/2011]
  9. Methuselah’s Children, Part 1 by Robert Heinlein (Astounding, July 1941).  [10/6/2011]
  10. All About Emily by Connie Willis (Asimov’s, 12/11).  [10/7/2011]
  11. Spaceship in a Flask by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding, July 1941). [10/10/11]
  12. The Seesaw by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding, July 1941).  [10/10/11]
  13. The Probable Man by Alfred Bester (Astounding, July 1941). [10/13/2011]
  14. The Geometrics of Johnny Day by Nelson S. Bond (Astounding, July 1941) [10/15/2011]
  15. “–We Also Walk Dogs” by Anson MacDonald (Astounding, July 1941). [10/16/2011]
  16. Brown by Frank Belknap Long (Astounding, July 1941). [10/16/2011]
  17. Jurisdiction by Nat Schachner (Astounding, August 1941). [10/17/2011]
  18. Spidersong by Alex Shvartsman  (Daily SF, 10/17/11). [10/17/11]
  19. The Countable by Ken Liu (Asimov’s, 12/11). [10/17/11]
  20. Her Husband’s Hands by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed, 10/11). [10/17/11]
  21. Meteor Legacy by Raymond Z. Gallun (Astounding, August 1941). [10/18/2011]
  22. Grace Immaculate by Gregory Benford (TOR.com, 10/19/2011). [10/19/2011]
  23. Like Origami In Water by Damien Walters Grintalis (Daily SF, 10/25/11). [10/25/2011]
  24. Apologue by James Morrow (TOR.com, 10/24/11).  [10/25/2011]
  25. Methuselah’s Children, Part 2 by Robert Heinlein (Astounding, August 1941). [10/24/2011]
  26. Biddiver by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding, August 1941).  [10/26/2011]
  27. Backlash by Jack Williamson (Astounding, August 1941). [10/26/2011]
  28. Superman #2: “Flying Blind”. [10/29/2011]
It is hard to keep up with everything that is out there. I think that is a good thing. Keeping in mind that I am more of science fiction than fantasy fan (but I’m always willing to read good fantasy): is there anything good that I missed?

Short fiction I read in September 2011

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While there are still a few hours left in September, I doubt I’ll get any more short fiction read this month, especially since the Yankees open the division playoffs tonight at 8:30. You know where I’ll be. But since I wrote a while back about at least trying to read a piece of short fiction every day, I thought I’d start posting the lists of the short fiction I read each month here on the blog.  Titles, authors and the magazine or book in which I read it is listed. The date at the end of each line is the date on which I read the stories. Bold stories are ones which I particularly enjoyed.

  1. “The Observation Post” by Allen Steele (Asimov’s, September 2011) [9/2/11]
  2. “Stalker” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, September 2011) [9/2/11]
  3. “Jay Score” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding, May 1941) [9/2/11]
  4. “Fish Story” by Vic Phillips and Scott Roberts (Astounding, May 1941) [9/3/11]
  5. “Subcruiser” by Harry Walton (Astounding, May 1941) [9/3/11]
  6. “The Stolen Dormouse, Part 2” by L. Sprague de Camp (Astounding, May 1941) [9/4/11]
  7. “Sleeping Dogs” by Joe Haldeman (Year’s Best Science Fiction 28th Annual Edition) [9/5/2011]
  8. “The Emperor of Mars” by Allen Steele (Year’s Best Science Fiction 28th Annual Edition) [9/6/11]
  9. “Bubbles” by David Brin (Lightspeed, September 2011) [9/9/11]
  10. “Dig Site” by Jack McDevitt (Analog, November 2011) [9/10/11]
  11. “Ian, Isaac and John” by Paul Levinson (Analog, November 2011) [9/10/11]
  12. “Overtaken” by Karl Bunker (F&SF, September 2011) [9/11/11]
  13. “A Hundred Hundred Daisies” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s, November 2011) [9/11/11]
  14. “Again and Again and Again” by Rachel Swirsky (Year’s Beset Science Fiction 28th Annual Edition) [9/11/11]
  15. “Pack” by Robert Reed (Clarkesworld, September 2011) [9/11/11]
  16. “Signals in the Deep” by Greg Mellor (Clarkesworld, September 2011) [9/11/11]
  17. “Time Wants a Skeleton” by Ross Rocklynne (Astounding, June 1941) [9/11/11]
  18. “The Lycanthropic Principle” by Carl Frederick (Analog, October 2011) [9/11/11]
  19. “Hetero3” by Robert Reed (Daily Science Fiction, 9/12/11) [9/12/11]
  20. “Artnan Process” by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding, June 2011) [9/17/2011]
  21. “Exit Stage Life” by Cate Gardner (Daily Science Fiction, 9/22/11) [9/22/11]
  22. “Devil’s Powder” by Malcolm Jameson (Astounding, June 1941) [9/26/2011]

So, not exactly a story each day, but I’ll get there. And it should give you some insight into how I try to keep up with the various science fiction venues that are out there.

What short fiction did you read in September?