The short story recommendations (which by now has turned into something of a monthly thing) are a little different this time around. Daily Science Fiction, which is my usual go-to for large amounts of great fiction, is only represented once on the list. In fact, there’s only flash fiction story on the list.
That doesn’t mean the list is any weaker than usual, though. In fact, I think it’s been a long time since I’ve had such a strong and varied list of recommendations. So go ahead an give them a read/listen.
Influence Isolated, Make Peace by John Chu (Lightspeed): I must admit I haven’t read nearly as much from Lightspeed Magazine as I would like too. But I jumped on the chance to listen to their Queers Destroy Science Fiction anthology through my audiobook provider, since it’s widely regarded as being one of the best science and fantasy magazines out there.
The anthology was a little disappointing in general, but this story caught my attention. It was a nice blend of old school action-adventure SF with military cyborgs showing of their strengths and special abilities and more thought-provoking modern SF highlighting how societies alienates people to justify their inhuman treatment of them.
The story follows a group of first generation cyborgs who’s been classified as weapons instead humans and thus have to face possible decomissioning. They have to struggle both with proving their right to be humans and the possible threat of being overpowered by second gen cyborgs.
The Economist’s Sisyphean Task by Sean Vivier (Daily Science Fiction): The premise in this one is funny and original, an economist trying to explain to Sisyphos that he’s wasting his time. The execution could’ve been better, as the story turns into a lecture pretty quickly. However, it does nicely tie the general idea into something more tangible, how people will stick to one career instead of changing gears even if it makes them misserable because they don’t want to start over. And the joke at the end, that the POV is also continuing down a frustrating, repetitive path, gave the story the last punch it needed to go from mediocre to good.
The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats by Scott Lynch (Fearsome Journeys anthology): (Sorry, I don’t have a link for this one. The anthology is totally worth the money, though)
Something about the title suggested to me that this was a tie-in to a novel or series of Lynch’s which made me groan before I even started reading. However, it sure didn’t read that way. There’s no blown-up info dumps refering to backstory from five other books you should’ve read for this to be interesting. Instead, we’re thrown right into the action.
The plot itself is so-so, but the characters are compelling. Lynch uses sarcasm and banter to make both the protagonist and his wizard colleague interesting and fleshing out their relationship and personalities. He also adds some more or less unexpected-yet-satisfying twists to make the plot less linear and pull it above average.
The Two-Choice Foxtrot of Chapham County by Tina Conolly (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction/Podcastle): This was generally just a great story. It had a unique and interesting speculative element that was integral to the main conflict: women who get pregnant out of wetlock give birth to stone babies (the earlier the woman get married to the father afterwards, the less of the baby will turn out to be made of stone).
The writing was excellent. The author expertly showed and hinted at deeper elements of the world withtout stopping the story dead to rant about them, making the setting feel real. The characters’ dilemmas were interesting: how to deal with unwanted pregancy and an uncaring father.
And, of course, the story highlighted socially important themes, focusing on how unwanted pregnancies discreminates against women compared to men. It also hinted a lesbian undertones without bogging the story down with a theme that wasn’t central to the plot. The ending could’ve been a bit stronger, but that’s my only complaint. This was a great read.
Also, so you don’t think I’ve forgotten about all the great flash fiction out there, a shout out to the Podcastle Flash Fiction Extravaganza (episode 600), for those of you who enjoy flash fiction but wants something different than my usual recommendations.
Toby Backman 