Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Ong grew up with his brilliant parents in the Laotian city of Vientiane, but when his father’s civilly-disobedient writings cause trouble Ong flees the country. He eventually ends up working for an internet news conglomerate in the USA - a news corporation that is only interested in how many hits Ong’s articles are generating. His penchant for writing deep, thoughtful and not-so-happy articles gets Ong into trouble with his boss, but a sympathetic co-worker lines up an interview with a mega-star in an attempt to gain more readers. The question is what will Ong do with this incredibly lucky break?

In the maelstrom, their work flares, tagged with site location, content tags, and social poke data. Blooms of color, codes for media conglomerates: shades of blue and Mickey Mouse ears for Disney-Bertelsmann. A red-rimmed pair of rainbow O’s for Google’s AOL News. Fox News Corp. in pinstripes gray and white. Green for us: Milestone Media—a combination of NTT DoCoMo, the Korean gaming consortium Hyundai-Kubu, and the smoking remains of the New York Times Company. There are others, smaller stars, Crayola shades flaring and brightening, but we are the most important. The monarchs of this universe of light and color.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• I totally enjoyed reading about the fast pace of internet news life - all the talk about scoops and clicks reminded me of the blog-o-sphere.
• I loved the cultural diversity of "The Gambler". The weaving of a future history of Laos along with Ong’s current troubles was very skillfully done.
• Ong: what a great character! The telling of his story - and his refusal to give in to trite news articles - was inspiring.

• The bad:

• There are a few instances of strong language.
• The ending doesn’t really resolve the main conflict of the story - so stay away if you require closure on everything you read!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 23
• Word Count: 10,294
• “The Gambler” garnered the following awards:

• It was nominated for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

Where you can find “The Gambler”:

• This novelette first appeared in the excellent 2008 anthology Fast Forward 2, edited by Lou Anders.
• You can read “The Gambler” for free online at the website which hosts sample chapters of Pyr books.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Paolo Bacigalupi’s essays have appeared in numerous newspapers? Yep. You can learn more about this excellent new science fiction author at Wikipedia.
• To make this story even more interesting and relevant, I suggest you take a little time to learn more about Laos.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like the Henry David Thoreau themed story Burn, about a farmer-turned-firefighter who accidentally summons the ruler of a distant world to help fight forest fires, by James Patrick Kelly.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

This story is set in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion universe - several hundred years after the events of Endymion - and is about several hundred thousand people of the Amoiete Spectrum Helix who are traveling far outside of human occupied space to settle a new world. However, in the midst of their journey, the AIs controlling the ship drop out of C-Plus Hawking space to investigate a distress signal. The signal turns out to belong to a group of Ousters and Templars who have settled a forest ring in a binary system. The problem is that a huge harvester ship is on its way to collect part of the ring - and it doesn’t seem to care that millions of people will die! As the Ousters ask for help the leaders of the Spectrum Helix culture make a startling discovery that changes everything.

The True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteen nodded. “We had just begun attempting that - and diversifying the protogene growth centers just a few hundred kilometers from where we had parked the seedship in the leaves and branches of the alien ring, when…” She paused as if searching for the right words.

“The Destroyer came,” broadcast Far Rider.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• I am a huge fan of the Hyperion books, so it was really fun to read a short story set in that universe. It was neat reading all the references to Hyperion, Aenea, The Shrike and others.
• The harvester machine (and where it came from) was a very cool idea that lent a lot of tension to "Orphans of The Helix".
• Ah, I had to love the Spectrum Helix culture! They had some really interesting ideas. (In case you don’t remember, they were the ones who sheltered a sick Raul Endymion on Vitus-Gray-Balianus-B)

• The bad:

• The only thing I didn’t like about "Orphans of The Helix" was the slow build up of the plot. It reads more like a novel than a short story.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 46
• “Orphans of The Helix” garnered the following awards:

• It won the 2000 Locus Award for best novella.

Where you can find “Orphans of The Helix”:

• This novella first appeared in Robert Silverberg’s Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction.
• I was able to read the entire story online at the Google Book preview for The Space Opera Renaissance. (Website may not be viewable outside the USA)

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Dan Simmons worked for 18 years in elementary education? Yep. You can learn more about this fantastic science fiction author on his website.
• If it has been a while since you read the Hyperion Cantos (or if you have never read them) then you may want to brush up on the story and its major characters.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Color of Sunfire, about a man who tells the story of discovering the elusive Puppeteer home world, by Larry Niven.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Ralph is your average university research scientist. He spends his time teaching, advising graduate students, attending conferences and trying to publish original articles. It is that last one that is starting to weigh on his mind - and the mind of his department chairman - as Ralph nears tenure at U.C. Irvine. And just as he discovers a very strange object in the night sky his story is scooped by another scientist - except that other scientist seems to have missed a very important detail and Ralph is determined to find out what it means!

Few astronomers had expected to find so many runaway neutron stars.

Their likely origin began with two young, big stars, born circling one another. One went supernova, leaving a neutron star still in orbit. Later, its companion went off, too, spitting the older neutron star out, free into interstellar space.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• I quite enjoyed all the discussion about astronomical objects. I love astronomy so reading about pulsars, neutron stars and quasars was a blast!
• Like many other stories, the end justified the means - and was pretty cool too.

• The bad:

• While I liked "Bow Shock" and the subjects discussed in it, I realize that not everyone will. It is a slow paced, jargon intensive, story about scientific research. If that doesn’t sound interesting to you then maybe you should read something else.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 28
• Word Count: 12,934
• “Bow Shock” garnered the following awards:

• It placed 21st in the 2007 Locus poll for best novelette.

Where you can find “Bow Shock”:

• This novelette first appeared in the June 2006 issue of Jim Baen’s Universe.
• “Bow Shock” is included in The Best of Jim Baen’s Universe.
• You can read a free online version of this story at webscription.net.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Gregory Benford really is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine? Yep. You can learn more about this prolific science fiction author at his web site.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Collapse, about an astronomer who believes the universe has begun to contract., by Michael Burstein.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

In the future everyone is finally equal in every way. How is this possible? Well, the government has their hand in it for sure, and they use handicapping equipment (such as birdshot weights on strong people, and ear piercing bursts of sound on people who concentrate too much) to pull talented people back down to “normal.” In this oppressive environment one couple has a son who dares take on the government restrictions - with some very interesting results.

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The idea of using handicaps to bring down talented people was both revolting and funny at the same time.
• Harrison is a pretty amazing dude! And the stuff he does at the end is fun to read about.
• The style and tone of “Harrison Bergeron” was quite interesting - being both sad and humorous at the same time. That made it totally fun to read.

• The bad:

• While I liked the character of Harrison, the descriptions of him and his actions seemed a little bit too fantastical. That dance at the end was something else wasn’t it?

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 8
• Word Count: 2,201
• “Harrison Bergeron” garnered the following awards:

• It placed 24th in the 1999 Locus All-Time Poll for short stories.

Where you can find “Harrison Bergeron”:

• This short story first appeared in the October 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
• “Harrison Bergeron” is included in the amazing anthology The Road to Science Fiction: Volume 3: From Heinlein to Here.
• You can read an online version of this story at the West Valley College web site.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Kurt Vonnegut used his famous book Cat’s Cradle as his thesis for a masters degree in anthropology? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author at Wikipedia.
• Special thanks to my good friend Dane for recommending this story!

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The First Men, about a group of gifted children, raised in a controlled environment, who evolve into super humans, by Howard Fast.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Did you ever see the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life?” Do you remember what happened to George after he jumped in the river to save Clarence the angel? Well, what if Clarence wasn’t really an angel, but rather a talented inhabitant of an alternate reality Earth? Be sure to check out this story to find out what happens to George when instead of going back in time he in transported to a world where Mary is a whole lot smarter and a little bit more risque!

“The date,” he insisted. “What’s the date?”

“December 24th-”

“It’s Christmas Eve,” he interrupted.

Mary sighed, and then she nodded. Pulling her empty hand out of the gun pocket, she smiled at the mysterious visitor, asking, “By any chance, George…is there an angel in this story of yours?”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• I thought it was cool how “A Woman’s Best Friend” played on the plot of a famous Christmas story! I enjoyed reading about what could possibly have happened to George.
• Mary! Ha - she was much more fun in this story than in the original show!
• The idea of traveling between alternate reality Earths was pretty cool - especially how it was used in this story.

• The bad:

• There were a few spelling errors in “A Woman’s Best Friend” - nothing huge, but still kind of annoying.
• In case you are wondering, this story is a bit sexier than the original movie - probably not the best story for kids.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 10
• Word Count: 3,854

Where you can find “A Woman’s Best Friend”:

• This short story first appeared in the December 2008 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine.
• You can read a very nice online version of “A Woman’s Best Friend” at the Clarkesworld Magazine web site.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Robert Reed has a degree in biology? Yep. You can learn more about this prolific science fiction author at Wikipedia.
• If you have never seen the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” then you may want to learn a little something about it.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Eight Episodes, about a short lived web series that proves to be much deeper than anyone initially suspects, by Robert Reed.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Martel is a member of the elite Scanners - a group of men who have voluntarily severed all sensory input (except their eyes) so that they can stay awake and help humans travel through space. While taking a small vacation from his duties Martel is called to an emergency Scanner meeting where he learns that a human named Adam Stone has discovered a way for humans to travel through space without the help of the Scanners. Most of the Scanners want to kill Adam Stone before his knowledge gets out, but Martel has other plans.

Smith stepped slowly up into the light, watching his own feet. He turned so that they could see his face. He spoke: “I say that this is a lie. I say that Stone is a liar. I say that the Instrumentality must not be deceived.”
He paused. Then, in answer to some question from the audience which most of the others did not see, he said:

“I invoke the secret duty of the Scanners.”

Smith raised his right hand for Emergency Attention:

“I say that Stone must die.”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The idea of the Scanners was very unique and something I had not seen before. But it was cool, and provided a totally different way for humans to be able to cross the great distances in space.
• Going along with the Scanners was the totally cool ideas of Habermans and cranching. Wow! I wonder where Cordwainer Smith ever came up with these ideas?
• The ending of “Scanners Live in Vain” was great and provided nice closure to it.

• The bad:

• Because of the seriously strange ideas presented in “Scanners Live in Vain” it took me a little while to figure out what was going on.
• I thought the part where the Scanners recite their code was a little bit too much. I realize that it was there to convey information about how they operate, but still - we get the point already!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 22
• Word Count: 13,289
• “Scanners Live in Vain” garnered the following awards:

• It won the 2001 Retro Hugo award for best novelette.
• It placed 19th in the 1999 Locus All-Time Poll for best novelette.

Where you can find “Scanners Live in Vain”:

• This novelette first appeared in the January 1950 issue of Fantasy Book.
• “Scanners Live in Vain” is included in Cordwainer Smith’s short story collection When the People Fell.
• You can read a very nice free online version of this story at Webscription.

Some Interesting Links:

• If you want to learn more about Cordwainer Smith be sure to check out the official web site, run by his daughter.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Helen O’Loy, about two men who buy a beautiful robot house keeper and the all too life-like problems they encounter with her, by Lester del Rey.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Wolf, a cloned copy of a real human being, has recently downloaded himself into an extremely fast, super strong, ant sized body. In this dialog that he prepares for his original self he lets the reader know that he is much more than just a copy - he is also a pilot, a physicist and a unique and separate identity. As he prepares for an unprecedented voyage into a nearly perfect black hole, he treats us to a history lesson, a physics lesson and a lesson about relativity and time travel. But when the moment of truth arrives and he dives into the event horizon, he discovers a bizarre “twist” that leaves him stranded in a very strange place indeed!

My body seems weird, too big and at once too small. The feel of my muscles, my vision, my kinesthetic sense, everything is wrong. Everything is strange. My vision is fuzzy, and colors are oddly distorted. When I move, my body moves unexpectedly fast. But there seems to be nothing wrong with it. Already I am getting used to it. “It will do,” I say.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The wormhole engineering was an extremely cool idea! I really enjoyed how this story described in detail how humans set up a galaxy wide network - very nice!
• You can tell that Geoffrey Landis is a *real* scientist - the detail with which he describes what is happening as Wolf descends towards the black hole is phenomenal!
• The end of the story - where Wolf describes an unexpected twist in the space-time continuum - was awesome! Not an idea I had ever seen before!

• The bad:

• Even though I enjoyed the entire story, people who don’t like hard science fiction may have their eyes glaze over a little bit as they read through the more technical sections of this story. In all honesty though, Geoffrey Landis does a much better job with it than some other authors I’ve read.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 17
• Word Count: 10,351
• “Approaching Perimelasma” garnered the following awards:

• It placed 5th in the 1999 Asimov’s Reader Poll for best novelette.
• It also placed 12th in the 1999 Locus poll for best novelette.

Where you can find “Approaching Perimelasma”:

• This novelette first appeared in the January 1998 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Approaching Perimelasma” is included in Geoffrey A. Landis’s short story collection Impact Parameter: And Other Quantum Realities.
• You can read a very nice free version of this story at Mike Brotherton’s excellent Diamonds in the Sky anthology.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Geoffrey A. Landis was a visiting professor of Astronautics at M.I.T.? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author by reading the bio page on his web site.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Planck Dive, about a group of beings who are sending cloned copies of themselves on a scientific journey into a black hole, by Greg Egan.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

The story begins as our narrator is surveying the New England countryside for a proposed reservoir and he happens upon the “blasted heath” - five acres of grey desolation, sickly trees and hauntingly creepy feelings. Determined to learn the story of what happened he tracks down an old man named Ammi who tells him a most disturbing story: It all began in 1882 when a meteorite crashed onto Nahum Gardner’s property. Well, this created quite a stir and scientists and reporters soon showed up to investigate. The problem was that the meteorite was made of an extremely strange material - and it was shrinking more and more each day. Finally it dissolved into the ground, but that wasn’t the end - oh no, the problems were only getting started as the Gardner family was about to discover in horrible detail!

When I went into the hills and vales to survey for the new reservoir they told me the place was evil. They told me this in Arkham, and because that is a very old town full of witch legends I thought the evil must be something which grandams had whispered to children through centuries. The name “blasted heath” seemed to me very odd and theatrical, and I wondered how it had come into the folklore of a Puritan people. Then I saw that dark westward tangle of glens and slopes for myself, and ceased to wonder at anything beside its own elder mystery. It was morning when I saw it, but shadow lurked always there. The trees grew too thickly, and their trunks were too big for any healthy New England wood. There was too much silence in the dim alleys between them, and the floor was too soft with the dank moss and mattings of infinite years of decay.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• If you like strange, creepy tales then you are sure to love “The Colour Out Of Space”. The slow, suspenseful build up leads to several horrific events that left chills on my arms! Very scary.
• The whole idea of using colors to enrich this story was awesome. The bland greys and blacks set against the vibrant colors of life provided excellent contrast.
• The detailed and meticulous story telling style served this piece very well. The detailed build up of all the problems caused by the meteorite really enhanced this story.

• The bad:

• “The Colour Out Of Space” was written a long time ago and as such has a lot of outdated words, several quaint phrases and a very different story telling style. Mostly this wasn’t a problem, but there were a few places where I was like “what?”

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 20
• Word Count: 12,196
• “The Colour Out Of Space” garnered the following awards:

• It placed 26th in the 1999 Locus All-Time Poll for best novelette.
• It was ranked 12th in the 1971 Astounding / Analog All-Time Poll, pre-1940 short fiction category.

Where you can find “The Colour Out Of Space”:

• This novelette first appeared in the September 1927 issue of Amazing Stories.
• “The Colour Out Of Space” is included in H.P. Lovecraft’s chilling collection The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories.
• You can read this story at several different places on the web, but I found the HTML version at moonbooks.info to be one of the best.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Howard Phillips Lovecraft is the creator of the strange yet popular Cthulhu Mythos? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction and horror author at Wikipedia.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Hanging Stranger, about the one man in Pikeville who notices a dead stranger hanging from a lamp post in the middle of town, by Philip K. Dick.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Soon after the birth of Totyoalli the local priest chose him to represent the god Tezcatlipoca during his 29th year. Now some may say that is a good thing, but Totyoalli isn’t so sure. Why? Well, because it means that eventually Totyoalli’s life will be sacrificed! Ouch! Even worse is the fact that Totyoalli wants to join the Aerospace Corps and go into space - but there just won’t be enough time. Complicating matters even more is one of his future wives, who also wants to go into space, but she will unfortunately also receive a grim and early demise. What are two young lovers to do? How about a visit to the emperor to see if he can help. But can an emperor change a person’s destiny? Hmm… you’ll have to read this fine story to find out the answer to that question.

Cuauhtemoc set a firm hand on Totyoalli’s shoulder. “Everyone meets Xolotl; you just know ahead of time the exact moment and place He will visit you. Eighteen years is a long time, and there are still many opportunities to pursue your passions. Living is not wasted time. Always remember that.”

“I can still be an astronaut, then?” Totyoalli asked.

Smiling, Cuauhtemoc replied, “We’ll discuss that when you’ve finished calmecac.”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The alternate history setting of this story was brilliant! I loved reading about the empire and all their amazing achievements.
• The ending of “Night Bird Soaring” was excellent - it took me a little bit by surprise.

• The bad:

• Nothing really - I enjoyed the whole thing.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 17
• Word Count: 7,316
• “Night Bird Soaring” garnered the following awards:

• It was nominated for the 2008 Sidewise Award for Best Short-Form Alternate History.

Where you can find “Night Bird Soaring”:

• This short story first appeared in the Autumn 2008 issue of Gud.
• You can read a free HTML version of “Night Bird Soaring” (for a limited time) at the Gud magazine web site.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that T. L. Morganfield used to work for a chain of airport bookstores? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author by checking out her web site.
• Special thanks to Kaolin Fire for recommending this great story to me!

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like O One, about the chief computator, in an alternate history China, who is challenged by a new computing engine, by Chris Roberson.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

The admiral telling this story is doing so from his prison cell. After the war has ended he decides to make a request and also tell the true reason why his side was defeated. According to him that reason is plain and simple: they got too caught up in trying to develop superior technology and lost touch with the basics. He then relates the story in its hilarious and all too life-like details. Along the way the reader is treated to some good battle tactics, a bit of juicy political bickering and a few very cool scientific weapons.

The situation was now both serious and infuriating. With stubborn conservatism and complete lack of imagination the enemy continued to advance with his old-fashioned and inefficient but now vastly more numerous ships. It was galling to realise that if we had only continued building, without seeking new weapons, we would have been in a far more advantageous position.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The “Exponential Field” was a very cool idea, and not one that I had come across before.
• C’mon, don’t most people like to root for the underdog? It *was* fun seeing the cocky, more advanced side get their butts kicked!
• The very end of “Superiority” was justifiably funny!

• The bad:

• The style used to tell this story makes it feel as if you are reading a military briefing - which you are, but it makes the story slightly less interesting.
• Remember - “Superiority” was written in 1951, so there are some outdated ideas. Like the million vacuum tubes needed to run the Analyzer - Ha! No wonder they lost the war!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 7

Where you can find “Superiority”:

• This short story first appeared in the August 1951 issue of The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
• “Superiority” is included in the amazing collection entitled The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.
• You can read a free online version of this story at the Google Book Preview for The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.

Some Interesting Links:

• Special thanks to Tinkoo at Variety SF, who told me that he had recommended this story to many of his friends.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Chance Encounter, about two men who accept dangerous but lucrative assignments as crewmen on an exploration ship to the edge of the galaxy, by A. Bertram Chandler.