"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.

"Hot Water", Richard Parks

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 - fantasy
Lord Yamada is taken to a small Buddhist temple in the mountains to dry out after a bout of hard drinking. An angry, female, so-called demon is messing with temple's hot spring water. Young monk Hoshi fears he knows why this is happening.

Not memorably profound, but a pleasant little tale.

"The White Isle", Von Carr

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 – fairy tale
<<- Realms of Fantasy December 2007 interior illustration by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for "The White Isle"
A witchgirl lives alone on an island in a white tower. She has a shoebox of fingernails to sink ships with. When a second shipwrecked man washes up her island’s shore, she helps him and saves his life. The man, a son of a rich merchant, signals a passing ship and convinces the captain to take him and the witchgirl, whom he loves, to the mainland.

This is a story of why you might not want to bring home exotic people from faraway places. The witchgirl is interestingly not human. The purposely unexplained magic makes this a fairy tale.

"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.

"Still Point", Graham Edwards

SS RoF (Realms of Fantasy) December 2007 – fantasy
A struggling private investigator; a behemoth in a labyrinth; a police captain existing outside time; an angelic chaperone; a creepy landlord; and The Still Point of the Turning World.

This story is overstuffed with odd details, along with some humor and some gore. The characters are rather flat. The plot was a bit too convoluted to truly work.

"Bullet Dance", John Schoffstall

SS ASFM (Asimov's Science Fiction) May 2007 - modern-day fantasy
Clio is the young daughter of an embassy official in Cairo. She claimed that she could dodge bullets. Others put this down as childish imagination. Even Clio herself, years later, thought her lessons were daydreams, until she needed to bullet dance.

This is a story where modern day issues intersect with unexplained fantasy. It's different, in a good way.

2007 Hugo Awards (fiction categories)

Best Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge [Tor, 2006]

Best Novella: "A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed [Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2006]

Best Novelette: "The Djinn’s Wife" by Ian McDonald [Asimov’s July 2006]

Best Short Story: "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt [Asimov’s July 2006]

"Lord Weary's Empire", Michael Swanwick

NV ASFM (Asimov's Science Fiction) December 2006 - science fantasy
Will escapes his pursuers into the underground infrastructure of Babel. There he encounters the high-elf Lord Weary and his small Army of Night, and defeats their champion Bonecrusher in combat. Will becomes the new champion and takes residence in their subterranean shantytown. As flamboyant Captain Jack Riddle, Will defeats the Breakneck Boys and becomes a hero. He leads a raid to capture some underground horses. Lord Weary, perhaps unwisely, starts a war.

The protagonist, Will, experiences an adventure with grungy fey folk in the underground. In the end, nothing is truly changed. This story is a roundabout trip to nowhere, with some dark techno-fantasy scenery along the way.

"Inclination", William Shunn

NV ASFM (Asimov's Science Fiction) April/May 2006 – science fiction
Young Jude Plane takes a job outside the safety his Machinist Quarter on Netherview Space Station. His people live simply and worship the Builder, a religion that seems a mix of engineering and Christianity. On the space docks Jude works with the Sculpted, who are people that have been physically modified in various ways. What Jude learns challenges his previous views.

Maybe I had problems relating to this teenage boy's issues. I couldn't really get into this story, although there were some interesting bits.

"All the Things You Are", Mike Resnick

NT Jim Baen's Universe October 2006 - science fiction
A man saves a girl by confronting armed robbers and is mortally wounded. This wasn't the first time he put himself in such danger. Another man had repeatedly risked his life playing the hero too. A spaceport security man learns that both men saw service in the Patrukan War on the deserted planet of Nikita. What affected the battle survivors on Nikita? The security man travels lightyears on his vacation to find out.

This is a readable story, but, in my opinion, hardly groundbreaking. Plus, if you know something is an illusion, even if it's a pleasant illusion, why would you fall for it?