Lois Tilton

The highlight this time is F&SF, with the best issue I’ve seen in almost a year. I give the Good Story award to the pieces from Wilhelm, Arnason and Ford.

A superior issue. The editor tells us the stories are full of wizards, which is true, but a lot

I take a look at The New Yorker‘s science fiction issue and recommend it.

Not only has the NYer put out a science fiction issue – its

A lot of reading this time, including an SF anthology and the debut of a new ezine. I found good stories, particularly at Tor.com, Strange Horizons, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

A pair of digests, one a double.

Plenty of good reads in this double issue with double novellas, definitely the best issue of the year so far.

Drew Zeigler – not his real name — has come to the moon to start a

The usual monthly ezines, plus a couple of less usual ones. The web is making it possible for individuals to create and publish their own personal visions for a magazine, and the quality is often as high as readers can find in more traditionally professional zines.

Here’s the latest F&SF, plus some more obscure publications, including a debut.

The best issue of the year, so far.

Another tale of Falco the shadow thief. Master Astolfo has accepted the commission of a nobleman to guard his house with shadows

A lot of reading this time.

Most of the stories this time involve aliens of some kind, in some way.

Cassandra, with her family lost and stricken by cancer, has embraced her mother’s extreme

A last-chance review of Weird Tales, along with the usual and less usual first-of-the-month ezines.

Weird Tales #359, Winter 2012

A sort of first and last, at the same time. I had for some time been wondering about the VanderMeer-edited version of

A mixed selection to close the month. The Good Story award goes to Interzone, to the Tem story, and to the Future is Japanese anthology, for the Sterling and the Valente.

Tor has done a Pretty Neat Thing, and they call it

Belatedly, the review of the new British futurezine Arc, thanks to a friend who helped me overcome Technical Difficulties. Also the winter issue of Subterranean Online, which didn’t disappoint my expectations of finding some good stories therein. The award, however, goes to “Scry” in BCS.

I am also announcing a change that publishers wishing to send material for review should note at the bottom of this column.

A short column this time. I wanted to take a look at Arc, the new futurist fictionzine from Britain’s New Scientist, but technical difficulties prevented. Next time, I hope. In the meanwhile, the usual monthly ezines offer no really superior fiction.

Three stories,

A heavy load of digests, all rather disappointing.

I’ve been waiting for another issue of this zine as good as last year’s superior September/October. This isn’t it, though the Beagle story is a fine one.

This one begins as alternate history, in which code expert Lieutenant Michael

A month’s worth of online publications plus one more 2011 leftover, mostly on the weird and absurd side. Some nice not-the-same-old stuff to be read.

Another one overlooked in 2011, as this publication shifted from print to

As readers should have noted, the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2011 has just been released, which in my mind is the kickoff for the annual awards season. As one of the contributors to the short fiction section, I must say that I am rather pleased with it this year. Which is to say, a good number of the stories I liked best are on the list, and only a

Lackluster issues from both Dell digests this time. The Good Story award to McCarron’s “Swift, Brutal Retaliation” from Tor.com.

Not a very inspiring issue this month.

After the supernova reduces the

New year’s stuff, with a little leftover old year’s stuff. I dust off the Good Story award for the de Bodard piece from Clarkesworld.

Beginning the new year

Wrapping up the year, although we’re already into the next one. Here’s the January/February issue of F&SF for 2012, and the Dell digests are even further along in the calendar date.

A large number of mid-length and shorter

When I look back at the year in short fiction, what stands out is the fact that there is nothing really standing out. The field seems to have been trapped in a stasis bubble. No major new publications started up. No major publications went under – at least for this year. Although there have been several reports of significant changes to come, mainly for the worst, the real impact of

Here’s a miscellaneous batch of zines.

Only four pieces of fiction in this issue, probably owing to the length of the Hawkins story. It is a much more literary, less skiffy collection of

Here are the monthly ezines, some various stuff in print from various sources, and a preview that bodes not well.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, November 2011

Only three

A sizable batch of first-of-the-month ezines and one small press printzine. After a bit of a drought, I bring out the Good Story award again, this time for Catherynne M Valente’s piece in Apex, a good issue of this zine.

A science-fictiony column this time. In a recent review, Tom Shippey says of the latest Nebula Awards anthology: “you might think that sci-fi was on its last legs: It is almost all fantasy, and such sci-fi as it contains is, again, dystopian.” Certainly no one could entertain such a thought after reading the works reviewed below.

No more Christmas stories in December issues, no Halloween stories for October.

The stories this time are all longer ones. Even the single “short story” comes close to crossing

The December issues of the digests already, the beginning of the end of the reviewing year. Some strong stories in both Asimov’s and Analog. I give the Good Story award to Steve Rasnic Tem’s depressing vision of the ephemerality of our worlds.

Gathering up the ezines, which don’t fill me with excessive enthusiasm, and tackling another urban fantasy anthology. Is it just me, or are there a whole lot of these around all of a sudden? The Good Story award goes to Bradley Denton’s WWII tale from the Strange Streets anthology, despite the absence of actual streets.

Another mix of print and online sources. I’m seeing a lot of anthologies coming in for review these days.

Panverse Three, edited by Dario Ciriello

The third in a small press anthology series of novellas, this one all SF, according to the

Most of the stories from print publications again this time: two new digests, a vampire anthology with few actual vampires, and a couple of first-of-the-month ezines. The Good Story award goes to Kij Johnson’s novella in Asimov’s.

This time, the double issue

A varied mix this time: a print anthology along with one of the digests and a couple of regular ezines. The Good Story award goes to two selections from F&SF: the Rickert and the Ryan.

I finally made it past the road construction to my post office box, where I found a stash of little printzines waiting. Online, a lot of Genevieve Valentine.

Fairy tales without magic and westerns

A couple of slick zines along with the online usuals. A lot of myth, a lot of gods. The Good Story award, again, goes to Yoon Ha Lee and Clarkesworld.

One of the best things about this ezine is that