What I Read in August

Neil Clarke’s post on Clarkesworld explaining why his magazine doesn’t have a short fiction review column struck me. Not having access to his web traffic logs I can’t argue with the facts he brings to bear, namely that short fiction reviews don’t drive readers to the site. I would say on a pure anecdotal level, however, that I have read many short stories on the basis of review columns and, more importantly, also discovered markets where such stories appear. These “What I Read” posts also tend to attract the most traffic on my site.

That said, I agree with him on one level - this blog, which really is just a list of the stories I like - is probably not going to be moving anyone to read a particular story. I do hope that in assembling these lists every month a casual short story reader might come across a title that does seem worth interesting or a magazine that they had not heard of. Really, if the year so far has taught me anything, it’s that there is an incredible wealth of quality fiction available, most of it free, for any one willing to follow a few links.

Okay, stepping down from the soap box, let me once more offer a few stories I think worth your time. Seriously, please read one of these stories. They’re amazing.

Hani's: Purveyor of Rusks, Biscuits, and Sweat Teas by Sara Saab. (The Dark) I like my fairy tales dark and perfectly understandable within the context of that world. This work is a succinct and cogent story reworking of the “House of Candy” trope, creating a pastry shop and it’s not-so-sweet proprietor. A dark long con played upon hungry children, with sweet caramelized dollops of body horror.
It Was Educational by J. B. Park (Clarkesworld) I clicked open this story humming that old Pixie song, not sure of what I’d find. Essentially this story plays with an idea I’ve always found stimulating - history as a simulation for the edification of the future. Beautiful and full of ideas.
Ships and Stars and Childhood Things by Gwendolyn Kiste (Flash Fiction Online) A bitter sweet tale of a love grown into through magic of time dilation and then outgrown in turn. Kiste writes about terrible things with a rare clarity and precision. I also recommended one of her stories from February “Once Lost, Gone Forever."
Mustard World by James Victor (Apex and Abyss) This is a horror story - essentially a fairy tale - swapping out princes and fairies for chlorine drenched hellscapes and astronauts. Raiding old stories is a tactic I whole-heartedly endorse, especially when done with vivid and knowing skill. The chummy, unaware attitude demeanor of the narrator makes this story worm beneath your skin.
Milagroso by Isabel Yap (Tor.com) I loved this story - a vibrant and riotous exploration of the future and significance of real food. Even as the narrator - a food engineer himself - recognizes the obvious benefits genetically tailored food provides, he longs for the simple imperfections of the past. In a world where artificial miracle food feeds the poor and prevents disease, true luxury is clutching onto the fragile and already rotting artifacts of the past.

Review of R. Scott Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before

First, a word about how I came to pick up the first novel in R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing historical fantasy series. In short, after finishing "A Dance with Dragons," by George R.R. I googled what should I read next. This series came up. I mention this because it might serve as a usual gauge for what to expect from "The Darkness That Came Before;" people liking Martin's mix of history, in-depth characterization, dark subject matter, and world-building will probably like Bakker's work. People not fond of entire chapters devoted to the Byzantine political maneuvers, a dozen pages of appendices on characters, maps, and language trees, or character names with umlauts should avoid this book. Basically, the story of 'The Darkness That Comes Before," follows a warrior monk by the name of Anasürimbur Kellhus, who during a quest to find his father, becomes entwined with a Holy War against a nation of fanatical monotheists. The story is...

Death's End by Liu Cixin

Having recently finished the last book in Liu Cixin's instant classic "The Remembrance of Earth's Past" series, Death's End, I can only report a feeling of total amazement and awe. There is so much about this novel that blew my mind, that offered different and better ways of viewing the universe. This novel did what I wish more novels would, serve up a new universe entire, evoking beauty and horror, nobility and disgust, in a timeless monument to unfettered speculation. Obviously, in discussing the events of the last of a trilogy books, spoilers are to be expected. I am, however, going to try to avoid discussing much beyond the first 100 pages of the third novel. I read the translation of this novel, as ushered into being by the amazing talent of Ken Liu. Ken has written of a certain prickliness when it comes to translating work. He makes an effort not to anglicize the source material, not smudging away the occasional difficulties in bringing Cixin...

A Reaction to Peter Watts' "Echopraxia"

Peter Watts’ Echopraxia is a side-sequel to his previous hard sf horror novel Blindsight . Daniel Bruks, a biologist in the Eastern Oregonian desert, gets stuck in the middle of a war between a fugitive vampire and a cult of rewired post-humans called Bicamerals, ultimately kidnapped by them as they head towards the sun. The goal of post-human and vampire alike is to investigate a possible alien intelligence gaining strength there, to determine if it poses a threat, or offers a weapon for the two sides as they struggle for advantage. Bruks' goal is simple survival. Reading Watts is a simultaneously bracing and discouraging experience. Bracing because his depiction of the future and the oddities who inhabit it continue to get better and better, his plots more complicated and more involving, his characters less like sock-puppets for his ideas and more like actual human beings (or whatevers). Discouraging because Watts uses his considerable gifts, artistic and academic, ...

Ancient Logic

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