"The Paper Menagerie", Ken Liu

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) March/April 2011 – fantasy

An American boy's Chinese mother makes origami paper animals for him. She breathes life into them, at least figuratively, perhaps more. The paper tiger, Laohu, takes on the neighbor kid's Obi-Wan Kenobi toy. The boy wants his mother to be less foreign, more American, and speak English to him.

A good story. When grown-up, the boy regretfully realizes he didn't know his mother, who was a mail-order bride, that well.

"Finisterra", David Moles

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) December 2007 – science fantasy
<<- F&SF Dec 2007 cover by Cory and Catska Ench for "Finisterra"

Bianca Nazario y Arenas, daughter in a family of aeronautical engineers, takes a job on Sky, a gas-giant world featuring an archipelago of island-sized floating creatures called zaratán. Thousands of people live and farm on top of the humongous zaratán named Finisterra. Bianca's employer Valadez, and his spidery, alien, firija associates, are butchering zaratanes for their skin and bones, despite the fact that the Concilium considers zaratanes a protected species.

This is a story has a memorable setting. The characters speak Spanish and Arabic, which is nicely different. Yet it's a bit hard to believe that someone like Bianca would take this job, even to escape her surprisingly patriarchal society on Earth. I would have liked to read more about the wondrous aspects of Sky.

"The Bone Man", Frederic S. Durbin

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) December 2007 – dark fantasy
A creepy man called Conlin is sidetracked to a small American town with a strangely unmemorable name. It happens to be the day of the Hallowe’en Parade which features the Bone Man, a dancing skeleton. Apparently not everyone can see the Bone Man.

This story depicts its setting well. The protagonist's unsettling past is revealed. The ending takes a decidedly dark turn.

"Cold Comfort", Ray Vukcevich

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) July 2007 - science fiction
A freezer which is an artificial intelligence calls security / maintenance on a Holiday. They have a nice chat.

A cute, quirky story. It's only about three pages long.

"Stray", Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) December 2007 - fantasy
In the era of FDR, Ivan, a down and out immortal, is found by a Muriel, a colored doctor's daughter. For her, Ivan becomes a light-skinned black man. They marry and Ivan works to fit into Muriel's world. Then, in a cemetery, Ivan meets crying white girl.

This story seems profound, but I'm a bit fuzzy about the point it's trying to make. Sure, there's the race issue. My guess is that this story is about making people like you.

"Who Brought Tulips to the Moon?", S.L. Gilbow

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) December 2007 - science fiction
Healthy ninety-four year old Mr. Hudson is taken to the moon by his always in a rush daughter Laura Severs and her husband Danny. On the way to Smooth Passing, a company that helps you pass away, Mr. Hudson accidentally knocks over an old woman. Later, he goes out of his way to apologize to the woman and they chat over drinks. The tulips mentioned in the title are displayed with the funeral urns.

Sort of a sad story. The author evokes resignation to fate well. There's a nice twist ending.

"Osama Phone Home", David Marusek

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) December 2007 - science fiction
Angry that the U.S. Government did not capture Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora, a group of friends form a secret organization to help bring bin Laden to justice. They are deadly serious in their mission. Their Project Phone Home involves a truth serum drug dubbed True Confessions, genetically modified ragweed, voiceprint recognition traps, and cheap prepaid cell phones.

This is a suspenseful present-day story involving spooky but not impossible sounding technologies. It was originally published earlier in 2007 in MIT's Technology Review magazine.

"Don't Ask", M. Rickert

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) December 2007 – fantasy
The lost boys were stolen from their everyday modern lives. After they are found, they are not only older but different. Don't ask, but they've been running with the wolves.

A poignant short story about mothers trying to undue what happened to their boys, hoping to find the boys they lost.

"Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)", Geoff Ryman

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) October/November 2006 - fantasy
This fantasy tale is set in a time like today in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. According to the author "this is a completely untrue story about someone who must exist." The story is about a rich young woman named Sith, who is Pol Pot's daughter. She lives an eccentric, narrow life trying to avoid unpleasantness. Sith falls in love with Dara, a young salesman working at a mobile phone shop. Sith is afraid to admit who she is. Sith is haunted by ghosts with no one to mourn them that call on her cell phones, and whose faces appear on her photocopier.

An exotic, colorful, (dare I say) haunting novelette. I enjoy tales with modern day ghosts. I was very impressed with this story. A very worthy Hugo award nominee.

"Penultima Thule", Chris Willrich

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) AUG 2006 - fantasy
A thieving couple, Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone, take a "cacography" book to the northern rim of their flat world to throw it off the edge. This book, Mashed Rags Bound in Dead Cow, is so magically malicious that reading it is fatal, sort of like Monty Python's Killer Joke. In the far North, Gaunt and Bone encounter Stonekin, Hunger Stones, and Tornarssuk, which are tool-using polar bears.

A strange, but imaginatively strange, fantasy trek. Apparently previous stories have featured these characters.

"Another Word for Map is Faith", Christopher Rowe

SS F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) AUG 2006
In a future very Christian America, a teacher/reverend and her students try to make the world as it was mapped. They are in the wilds of Kentucky. They want to correct a ridge and valley of its so-called sins.

Some interesting details, but I wasn't sure for most of the story where it was going.

"Damascus", Daryl Gregory

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) DEC 2006 - science fiction
This is a story that slowly and interestingly unfolds. It features a disease that CDC is concerned about, a strange communion, and a woman with her own personal Jesus.

"Damascus" is an impressive speculative fiction story which is set in the present day.

"Shambhala", Alex Irvine

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) March 2006 - science fiction
Shambhala is a commercial virtual world, where people move to escape their physical bodies. But now Shambhala is crashing. Mike Chancey and various professional Nerds somewhere on earth, see computer status indicators are going yellow and red and worry about the legal ramifications. Shannon DeWalt, who is in the virt or virtual world, searches for Charon, who is knowledgeable, and sees the apocalypse from the inside.

I like the idea of and many of the details of this story, but the characters didn’t really draw me in.

"The Long and The Short and The Tall", John Morressy

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) Feb 2006 – fantasy
The King of the Dwarves hires the wizard Kedrigern to find his stolen magical belt. Along the way the wizard goes to a fair where he encounters an old friend, the giant Ossomore, and later solves the crime.

A sort of rambling, but pleasant story. Apparently part of a loose series of stories.

"Boon", Madeleine E. Robbins

NT F&SF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) Feb 2006 – fantasy
Elves have come to New York City. Young unmarried mother Mia, who is just scrapping by with a waitress job, is uncomfortable with elves. After the lady who watched her baby daughter takes ills, Mia reluctantly hires a gnome couple as child sitters.

This is an entertaining contemporary fantasy tale.

"Planet of Mystery", Terry Bisson

NV F&SF Jan 2006/Feb 2006
pulp fiction sci-fi
<<- F&SF Jan 2006 cover by Max Bertolini for "Planet of Mystery"

A manned space mission to the planet Venus improbably discovers a cool surface and breathable air on Venus. Astronauts Aeneas Hall and Lu-Hsun Chang are captured by amazon women riding centaurs. Lost robotic lander RB1011, or Robbie, has gained sentience. Chang falls in love with Queen of the Amazons Sha-Nee-La. After Hall reports seeing a flying saucer, orbital pilot Collins says that she considers the UFO more plausible than the centaurs and amazons because it's more scientific.

This is a lightweight tale that pokes fun at the ridiculousness of some old time sci-fi. Mission Control is mentioned as Houston and Burroughs (Mars). This novella was serialized. Part one is in the January 2006 F&SF issue, part two in the February issue.

"Less than Nothing", Robert Reed

NT F&SF Jan 2006 - modern fantasy
Native American boy Raven Dream is banished from his people. Angry ghost One-Less follows him to ranch of Blue Clad and Stone Face, otherwise known as Edward and Clare. The hidden Lakota people call others demons.

Part of a series, which I haven’t read the other stories. Nonetheless, this novelette was well-written enough to hold my interest.

"The Boy in Zaquitos", Bruce McAllister

NT F&SF Jan 2006 - fiction
Retired operative tells of tells of his South American missions for the CIA in the 1960s. He was spreading pneumonic plague, trying to make it look natural, germ warfare. Doing this work put him in therapy.

Interesting but uncomfortable story. It reads more like fact than fiction. Made me wonder where the facts ended.

"Shadow Man", Matthew Hughes

SS F&SF Jan 2006 - horror/science fiction
Young man, Damien, who tortures cats and thinks serial killers are "interesting people" is occasionally being watched. He calls his watchers shadow men.

A short, creepy, unsettling story. Not my sort of thing.

"Horse-Year Women", Michaela Roessner

SS F&SF Jan 2006 - modern fable
Western woman born in the Oriental Year of the Tiger, hears of bad things about Year of the Horse women from her martial arts teachers. Later she meets a young woman, Thera, who is a Horse-Year woman. Old time fables of horse-year women and horse folk are mixed in with the tales of the ups and downs in Thera's modern day life.

A well-done story.