Variety SF

Alex Shvartsman's "The epistolary history" (flash fiction, time travel, humor, free)

2013-05-10T23:47:00.002+05:30

While the idea is like any number of old time travel stories - a man travels to make a "minor" tweak to past to make a better present, it made me smile more than once.

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 25 April 2013.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Alex Shvartsman.

Conor Powers-Smith's "For your information" (flash fiction, humor, free): The future of social networks

2013-05-09T21:01:00.001+05:30

Is it so far fetched to expect everyone's genome as standard component of their online profile, just like photos are? Not entirely funny things happen when a lover decides to check her potential partner's profile...

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 4 April 2013.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

C J Cherryh's "The Pride Of Chanur" (novel, space opera): What if lions evolved into intelligence?

2013-05-08T01:56:00.000+05:30

I won't call it a bad read, but I seem to no longer enjoy most space opera now-a-days. But this may be the first space opera I've seen that is almost entirely from aliens' point of view; humans play a very minor & junior role.

Story summary.

There is something called Compact - a region of space somewhere on the edge of human space. Many alien space traveling species live here, cooperating & fighting. One of the more villainous of them, "kif", had got hold of some human spacemen, whom they tortured to presumably get the coordinates of human homeworld. Three prisoners died, one escaped. The escaped one found sanctuary in a "hani" ship. Much of the story is the chase & fights across star systems to get hold of this human prisoner, sucking in other alien races in the fight too.

Hani look like intelligent lions. Through the story, I got an impression this was a feminist work because gender roles among Hani are reversed relative humans - females do outside work & earning, men keep homes. But a discussion at ClassicScienceFiction points out similarity of Hani culture with that of lions. In fact, the "Pride" of title might be a pun on pride of lions; "Chanur" is the hani clan to which the heroine, Pyanfar, belongs. Officially, "Pride of Chanur" is the name of the hani spaceship in the story.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1982.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Hugo Award 1983 in novel category.

Stanley Mullen's "Fool Killer" (short story, justice, free): Do you _really_ want impartial & logical justice?

2013-05-01T20:56:00.001+05:30

While it has a mundane start, it changes gears in a completely unexpected way part way through. Much of the story is about the implications of this twist, but almost anything I say about it will spoil the most interesting moment in the story.

Notes.

Author clarifies the title near end: "The Fool Killer never has to kill; it is enough if the fools know he is present, ready to strike, to keep them on their toes, make good citizens of bad, or at least careful citizens of those inclined to heedless cruelty or stupidity."

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, May 1958.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding (British ed), August 1958.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.

Frank Herbert's "You Take the High Road" (short story, detective, free)

2013-05-01T02:39:00.001+05:30

Here is a peaceful place, its peacefulness asserted by its natives. Natives that were told beforehand that they'll get a significant prize if they're peaceful! And there are no obvious signs that suggest they're not peaceful.

But a detective's got a hunch they're putting up a false show...

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, May 1958.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding (British ed), August 1958.
This is the first of the four stories that went into the making of author's fixup novel "The Godmakers".
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Frank Herbert.

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British edition), August 1958 (magazine, free) (ed John W Campbell): Annotated table of contents

2013-04-30T02:07:00.002+05:30

Links on author fetch more fiction by author. Where I've read the story, my rating appears in brackets. If I have a separate post on a story, link on its title goes there.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

[novel - 1/3] Hal Clement's "Close to Critical" (A): "Meet Tenebra, the planet where raindrops are fifty feet through ... & hard quartz rocks dissolve away like salt. Under three gravities, & a monstrously deep atmosphere, with oily seas of sulphuric acid, two children touch off a political situation that is ... close to critical".
[ss] Frank Herbert's "You Take the High Road" (A); detective: Is this village really of peaceful people?
[ss] Stanley Mullen's "Fool Killer" (A): What if law allowed you one murder!
[ss] John Rackham's "One-Eye" (B): A man has an unusual gift - he "sees" bad things happen just before they do happen. And figuring out the nature of this "gift" gets him in trouble.

Title is from the story about a one-eyed man among the blind ones. As is the man with the gift among the ordinary humans.
[novelette] Charles V de Vet's "Special Feature": "What constitutes public entertainment changes with the mores of a society. The Romans liked the circuses ... but the feline devil loose in their city might have been a bit too stimulating for them..."
[ss] Gordon R Dickson's "The Question": "It wasn't too surprising that aliens couldn't answer the Question. After all, we've been trying for millenia ourselves!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XIV No 8.
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link points to a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around some hosting service file naming constraints.
Related: Stories from the Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell, old "pulps", 1950s.

Free fiction: Universe, #1 (June 1953)

2013-04-30T01:46:00.001+05:30

Someone posted scans of this issue as pdf via a torrent.

Includes a then controversial story of Theodore Sturgeon, & one of the minor stories of Murray Leinster (assuming I'm recollecting the right story of Leinster!) Other notable authors include Mack Reynolds & Mark Clifton.

Related: Old pulps; fiction from 1950s.

Hugo Awards 2013 - novelettes: nominees & my ranking

2013-04-28T18:00:00.001+05:30

Five nominees, of which 3 are online. I finished 2 - ok reads, but I get a feeling there are better ways of spending my time. I left another one unfinished, & didn't bother to look up the remaining 2.

Caution: Both stories I finished involve homosexual love. Was that the flavor of the season?

List below is in order of my preference, best first, unread last. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

Thomas Olde Heuvelt's "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" (B); download: This is actually a several years old Dutch story, probably translated to English last year - hence eligible.

Two teenage boys, bullied by their peers because they're "different", try coming to terms with their differences...
Seanan McGuire's "In Sea-Salt Tears" (B); download; fantasy: One of the many clans of Faeries living (among humans?) on US west coast is living a life of punishment for past hunting sins. This is a coming of age story of a girl from this clan.
Catherynne M Valente's "Fade To White": download text/audio; Clarkesworld, August 2012: It comprises of many vignette sized & independent sections. I gave up after may be 3 or 4 of them; just could not get into the story. Apparently describing a media-driven society.
Seanan McGuire's "Rat-Catcher"; Yanni Kuznia (ed)'s "A Fantasy Medley 2": Not read.
Pat Cadigan's "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Edge of Infinity": Not read.

Related.

Official announcement of 2013 nominees @The Hugo Awards.
My reading of Hugo awards 2013 nominees: short stories.
Other Hugo nominees & winners.
"best of" lists.

Thomas Olde Heuvelt's "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" (novelette, free)

2013-04-24T01:46:00.002+05:30

The best I've seen so far among this year's Hugo nominees, though still far short of being great. An easy read, but may be a bit too long.

Caution: There are a couple of episodes late in the story of homosexual encounters.

Story summary.

Two male teenagers with peculiar bodies - one who neither casts a shadow nor gets a reflection in the mirror, irrespective of lighting conditions; other made of glass! And they get bullied & teased by their peers because of their differences. This is the story of their coming to terms with their differences.

Fact sheet.

First published: ? (as "De jongen die geen schaduw wierp" in Dutch)
Online mobi copy of the story contains this note: "Winner of the €750 Paul Harland Award ’09 for best Dutch story of the Fantastic". So originally published no later than 2009.
Download full text of English translation by Laura Vroomen from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Hugo Award 2013 in novelette category (perhaps the English translation was first published last year?)

Hugo Awards 2013 - short stories: nominees & my ranking

2013-04-22T01:48:00.001+05:30

Note 22 April 2013: I'm not clear what happened. This article was posted yesterday & appeared ok. But I just noticed it stopped appearing at the site & Blogger had changed its status from Published to Draft! I'm just hitting the Publish button again.
---

Only 3 nominees this year, 2 online. All originally published during 2012.

None really worked for me, though Bodard's has an idea briefly taken up near the end of the story that I could identify with - intelligently adapting an artifact of an alien civilization isn't easy; for best results, you better be born in the culture that originated it! Artifacts carry around their cultural origins in many ways.

List below is in order of my preference. Links on author or publisher fetches more matching fiction.

Aliette de Bodard's "Immersion" (B); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, June 2012: Not sure what to think of it. And it certainly didn't touch me at any emotional level.

There is a gadget - an "immerser". "Wear" it & you become someone else, whatever avatar you choose. And you can wear it at varying levels of power that determines how much you will be aware of you real self when wearing it.

Set aboard a "station" that makes money from "Galactics", a technologically advanced stream of humanity that has split from earth.

There is a minor side story of a woman who married to a different culture, felt completely lost, tried to fit in so much she lost her own original self.
Kij Johnson's "Mantis Wives" (B); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, August 2012; macabre: The story doesn't really say anything, but uses nice language & is comprised of many tiny episodes.

Mantis, an insect whose female eats the male after copulation. Could the mantis develop this killing into an art? Story describes many ways the female could slowly torture & kill her mate!
Ken Liu's "Mono no Aware" (B); Nick Mamatas & Masumi Washington (eds)' "The Future is Japanese"; apocalypse: Tries too hard to arouse your emotions. And too dramatic near end, for my taste.

Life on earth is about to be destroyed by an asteroid(?) impact & the world knows it early enough. It's about reactions in a small Japanese town to this news, & later escape to a distant star in a solar-sail powered generation ship of the only human survivors - mostly Americans, plus a few others, among them a child from this Japanese town

Related.

Official announcement of 2013 nominees @The Hugo Awards.
Other Hugo nominees & winners.
"best of" lists.

Lee Michael Ash's "A Darling Situation" (short story, humor, free)

2013-04-19T22:13:00.002+05:30

A woman conceives a baby through a new genetic engineering process, with many all-new genes. After birth, the freak everyone was expecting turns out to be a normal adorable baby, & extremely well behaves one.

But there are freak genes in this lovely baby, as they begin manifesting a year down the line...

Fact sheet.

First published: Cosmos, 18 April 2013.
Download full text from publisher's website.
Rating: B.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's "The Goddess Parka" (short story, non-genre)

2013-04-19T01:35:00.002+05:30

I loved the first half - a scheming worldly wise old woman from Moscow trying to catch an unmarried man in small town Russia for a girl she knows in Moscow.

Later half is rather ordinary in comparison - the old woman is actually very lonely, ...

Fact sheet.

First published: ?
This post is based on the English translation from Russian by Anna Summers in Playboy (US), March 2013.
Rating: A.

Amitav Ghosh's "The Calcutta Chromosome" (novel, immortality)

2013-04-17T01:19:00.000+05:30

This was disappointing in a way that many bestsellers are - quick page turner, great mystery build up, some interesting characters, but a dull ending. Ending was very confusing, & for a story that is mostly quite logical, there is an ghost story as one of the chapters!

A note for Indian readers: I picked up the story seeing an Indian author's name on cover. But while reading, I kept getting the impression that it's primarily targeted at western audiences, even though much of the story is set in Calcutta.

Story summary.

Story starts off with a historical fact - Ronald Ross, an Englishman born in India who made a medical discovery that won him a Nobel prize: that malaria is transmitted to humans via mosquitoes. Most of his research was done as a colonial officer in India, last part of it in Calcutta.

The story treats this medical discovery as part of a conspiracy. There is a secret sect of "Silence" worshipers in India who've already discovered some things about malaria & mosquitoes. But their main interest is immortality: there is a generally unknown human chromosome, the "Calcutta chromosome", that is found only in brain cells & that encodes whatever makes you you.

And these guys are trying to figure out a way of transmitting this identity so you can continue living in another body by consciously infecting that body (with a variant of malaria). And they kept nudging Ross in the right direction at critical points because, unknowingly, he was solving one of their immortality problems.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1995.
Rating: B.

Herbert W Franke's "Paradise 3000" (short story, overpopulation dystopia)

2013-04-15T01:47:00.003+05:30

While there are many overpopulation dystopias in fiction, there are two things here that I've not seen often (ok - I've seen some that can be called variants of the second but not in this form):

Why overpopulation? Well, in this future, you have a welfare society that won't let anyone die, & refuses to accept birth control. Because human life is sacred.
To cope with the overpopulation, the society practices "Reduction". Reduction in living space per person, reduction in allowed rations per person, reduction in normal life expectancy, ... And woe be on you ("OrdCit", short for ordinary citizen) if you're over 16 & you manage to get yourself hurt in an accident - you'll be "recalled". As is everyone over 30.

What's "recall"? It's cold storage hibernation, in completely unreasonable hope that a future will discover how to cope with the huge population & revive those hibernating. I was a bit confused with the ending; may be nice dreams are piped directly into the brains of the hibernating?

It's told as a love story with a confused ending for protagonists who've been indoctrinated since childhood to not get emotionally involved with their partners.

Collected in.

Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "The Best from the Rest of the World: European Science Fiction".

Fact sheet.

First published: 1975? (in German) (where?)
This post is based on the translation from German by Christine Priest.
Rating: B.

David G Blake's "To my father" (flash fiction, free): Lament of an unloved "child"

2013-04-08T00:09:00.000+05:30

It read like just another story till: "to learn what it was that I felt as I stared down at you and your new family: diminished, as though I had become nothing more than an outmoded contrivance." From then on, it was a different story for me.

It's an emotional one - lament of a sentient robot, abandoned by its creator during a disaster. Replace robot with an unloved adopted child or a pet, & it might feel a little more familiar.

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 31 January 2013.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: A.

Stories from "Nature" magazine, February 2013 issues

2013-04-06T00:37:00.004+05:30

Sorry I vanished for more than week. Actually, I've not recently seen many stories I want to talk about. This post is more in the nature of "yes, I'm still alive"; stories included are all minor.

All stories are flash fiction length. All are online.

7 Feb: Donald S Crankshaw's "Local 623" (B); download; humor: Advice, on their rights, to folks who offer themselves as subjects to mad science experiments...
14 Feb: Danny Dunlavey's "Peace" (B); download: Centuries after humans died out in a disaster, intelligent mantis have inherited earth. And one of their females is having pangs of guilt, having just torn the head off her mate & eaten him...
21 Feb: V G Campen's "A gift of pain" (B); download: A new class of medical practitioners specialize in diagnosis of the cause of pain in a patient where ordinary procedures don't work. These folk wear a headset linked to a machine, another headset worn by patient, & literally feel the patient's pain & thereby, using practice & knowledge of pain patterns, make the diagnosis.
28 Feb: John P Murphy's "Tumbleweeds and indelicate questions" (C); download: In a pub, someone is telling of an encounter with alien plant-beings called "Tumbleweeds" & of their strange burial customs.

Related: Fiction from Nature magazine.

"Astounding Science-Fiction" (British Edition), August 1939 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

2013-03-31T00:50:00.001+05:30

Three rather well-known stories here - "The Blue Giraffe", "Heavy Planet", & "Life-Line".

Where I've read a story, my rating appears in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. Link on an author's name fetches more fiction by author.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

[ss] Robert Heinlein's "Life-Line" (A): Soothsaying considered harmful...

This is the first published story of Heinlein.
[novelette] L Sprague de Camp's "The Blue Giraffe" (B); humor: When a man was honored with the opportunity to marry an uplifted baboon!
[ss] Lee Gregor's "Heavy Planet" (B): "A dead spaceship drifted down to the heavy planet--& whichever side would learn her secrets, ruled the planet!"
[ss] Nelson S Bond's "Stowaway" (B): A Venusian electricity-eating "ampie", a pet of a Venusian stowaway aboard a Venus to Earth ship, has got loose & wrecking havoc to ship's systems. Until they figure out it need not be a pest but can be an essential part of the ship...
[serial - 1/2] Frederick Engelhardt's "General Swamp, C.I.C.": "The General that ruled that war was--Swamp--swamp that made half Venus!"
[novelette] Lester del Rey's "The Luck of Ignatz": "Meet Ignatz--who sleeps in boiling water or on superheated steam pipes!"

Fact sheet.

Labeled: Vol XXXIII No 6.
No mention of editor's name on Toc page (but it's probably John Campbell).
Download scans as a CBR file. [via Bob@pulpscans]
Note: Link fetches a RAR file that contains target CBR, probably to work around file the naming constraints of hosting service.
Related: Fiction from Astounding/Analog (whole issues only); old pulps; 1930s.

James E Gunn's "The Listeners" (fix up novel, hard sf, first contact): Just what does SETI do?

2013-03-28T00:40:00.003+05:30

Another important classic that doesn't get included in many classics lists of genre. While a fix up novel constructed from stories published earlier, it doesn't really feel like a disjointed one.

It gives a realistic view of how impossible a task SETI has set for itself (but I found it occasionally over-dramatic, predictable & sometimes boring).

Listeners of title are scientists on "The Project", funded by US government, to listen to signals from the stars - hoping there are intelligent aliens out there broadcasting. It brings out starkly how remote are the odds of catching alien signals even if there are a lot of aliens out there. And how much patience & perseverance is required for the task.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1972.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of James E Gunn, first contact fiction.

Karel Capek's "War wih the Newts" (novel, satire, free): Man is the lord of Earth. Or is he?

2013-03-25T00:46:00.001+05:30

I wonder why this epic doesn't get listed in many classics lists. In my book, it's among the very best of science fiction.

It's a satire on human folly, mostly from the point of view of colonial Europe. There were places that made me wince, but author appears to be only satirizing certain views. It's sometimes very funny, but is occasionally a bit draggy too.

Story summary.

Newts are prehistoric animals living in shallow salt water, unknown so far because the sole small group that survived since prehistoric times lived in a salt water lake on an isolated island. They're intellectually man's equal, but are far behind technologically.

When a group of colonials discover them, they are mercilessly hunted & killed. Only two who survived are being transported back to Europe, but escape en route.

They multiply & thrive in shallow waters near an island. So, of course, when they're rediscovered by the European man, they're fair game for hunting, slavery & worse. Tables will eventually turn, however...

Fact sheet.

First published: 1936 (original Czech).
Download full text from Project Gutenberg of Australia or eBooks@Adelaide.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Karel Capek.

No posts for a fortnight

2013-03-09T10:50:00.001+05:30

I'll be traveling; should be back during the week of 25th.

John Frizell's "Pest control" (flash fiction, humor, free)

2013-03-09T10:47:00.002+05:30

A way to get rid of ugly rats at home...

Fact sheet.

First published: Nature, 10 January 2013.
Download full text from publisher's website.
Rating: B.

Jon Bing's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (short story, color blindness): When men refused to see colors!

2013-03-09T01:28:00.002+05:30

The key idea is an unusual form of conjectured color blindness: humans living for generations on a cold, always snowy, world with no colors have their vision changed to the extent that they can no longer see bright colors! At least their brains don't register them anymore.

Story summary.

This is a shipwreck story. A star faring humanity, spread across many worlds. A shipwreck forces an unscheduled landing on the barren snowy world of its small crew. A world that was colonized by humans generations ago, but was forgotten.

But all attempts of the stranded travelers to get the attention of natives fail, until a man finally gets the idea...

Fact sheet.

First published: in English translation in Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "The Best from the Rest of the World: European Science Fiction" (1976). Translated from the original the Norwegian by Steven T Murray.
Rating: B.

Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "The Best from the Rest of the World: European Science Fiction" (anthology): Annotated table of contents & review

2013-03-08T01:33:00.001+05:30

This book collects representative pieces from Western Europe - mostly from 1960s & 1970s, I think. Eastern Europe & Russia are specifically excluded.

Actually, I didn't find the editor's introduction very encouraging - he seemed to be effectively saying that Western European sf is mostly a copy of English one, except for French & pre-war German flavors. But since I have it, I'm going to give it a try.

None of the authors here are familiar to me.

My rating for read stories appears in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

PS: If you are familiar with the works of some of the authors & have fond memories of some stories, please share in comments. I would be particularly interested in any works that might be available in English translation - especially online, but a book form collection will also do. And would you have chosen a different work of an author, or a different author from a country, for representation here? Thank you.

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

[ss, Holland] Manuel van Loggem's "Pairpuppets" (A); Luitingh SF Verhalen, #6 (1974) (as "Paarpoppen"): Speculating on the future of love & sex...
[ss, Norway] Jon Bing's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (B); first published in this English translation by Steven T Murray: When men refused to see colors!
[novelette, France] Gerard Klein's "Party Line": Not read.
[ss, Italy] Sandro Sandrelli's "The Scythe": Not read.
[ss, Germany] Herbert W Franke's "Paradise 3000": Not read.
[novelette, Belgium] Eddy C Bertin's "My Eyes, They Burn!": Not read.
[ss, France] Pierre Barbet's "A Problem in Bionics": Not read.
[novella, Germany] Wolfgang Jeschke's "The King & the Dollmaker": Not read.
[ss, Norway] Tor Age Bringsvaerd's "Codemus": Not read.
[ss, Italy] Luigi Cozzi's "Rainy Day Revolution No 39": Not read.
[ss, Sweden] Sam Lundwall's "Nobody Here But Us Shadows": Not read.
[novelette, Spain] Domingo Santos's "Round & Round & Round Again": Not read.
[ss, Denmark] Niels E Nielsen's "Planet for Sale": Not read.
[ss, France] Charles Henneberg & Nathalie Henneberg's "Ysolde" (as by Nathalie-Charles Henneberg): Not read.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1976.
Related: Works of Donald A Wollheim.

Manuel Van Loggem's "Pairpuppets" (short story): Speculating on the future of love & sex

2013-03-07T01:02:00.001+05:30

Skip it if the discussion of explicit sex & lust bothers you.

This one, like one more I've read so far from the anthology "The Best from the Rest of the World: European Science Fiction", gives the impression of an imperfect translation. But it's translated by the author himself; so the warts all really belong to him!

While the story is an ordinary one, what makes it notable is the shock value. Plus the surprise ending made me laugh out loud.

Story summary.

A future that has solved the problem of our imperfect love & lust that results today in so many unhappy or broken hearts & homes. A computer can now find you the perfect love of today from your neighborhood. Early cultural indoctrination of children includes detailed instructions on how to behave correctly during intercourse & foreplay. Then there are "pairpuppets" (androids) produced specifically to satisfy the lust of men & women of all kinds of sexual preferences.

But is the human heart ever satisfied? The search for fulfilment will lead our protagonist to...

Fact sheet.

First published: in Dutch as "Paarpoppen" in Luitingh SF Verhalen, #6 (1974). [via ISFDB]
This post is based on the English translation by author himself.
Rating: A.

Robert Silverberg's "To Be Continued" (short story, immortality, free): Slow life is frustrating!

2013-03-04T01:41:00.003+05:30

Immortality here is of a curious kind - your growth slows down. Like you'll develop physically & psychologically by a year when actual time lapsed in say 100 years! Author didn't elaborate how the hero survived infancy since parents aren't normally immortals & the immortals exist without society knowing about them; that's a weak point of the story.

The only immortals we meet in the story also have a curious super ability - they can morph into a different individual, in all observable ways. So, e.g., you can simultaneously romance two girls using your different personas, & no trouble even if one of them spots you with another.

This is the story of a 2000 year old man, Gaius Titus Menenius, who's now finally reached puberty! Story is mostly his search for a mate, with a funny ending.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, May 1956.
Download full text as part of the scans of Astounding (British ed), April 1957.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Robert Silverberg.

Variety SF

Alex Shvartsman's "The epistolary history" (flash fiction, time travel, humor, free)

Fact sheet.

Conor Powers-Smith's "For your information" (flash fiction, humor, free): The future of social networks

Fact sheet.

C J Cherryh's "The Pride Of Chanur" (novel, space opera): What if lions evolved into intelligence?

Story summary.

Fact sheet.

Stanley Mullen's "Fool Killer" (short story, justice, free): Do you _really_ want impartial & logical justice?

Notes.

Fact sheet.

Frank Herbert's "You Take the High Road" (short story, detective, free)

Fact sheet.

"Astounding Science Fiction" (British edition), August 1958 (magazine, free) (ed John W Campbell): Annotated table of contents

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

Fact sheet.

Free fiction: Universe, #1 (June 1953)

Hugo Awards 2013 - novelettes: nominees & my ranking

Related.

Thomas Olde Heuvelt's "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" (novelette, free)

Story summary.

Fact sheet.

Hugo Awards 2013 - short stories: nominees & my ranking

Related.

Lee Michael Ash's "A Darling Situation" (short story, humor, free)

Fact sheet.

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's "The Goddess Parka" (short story, non-genre)

Fact sheet.

Amitav Ghosh's "The Calcutta Chromosome" (novel, immortality)

Story summary.

Fact sheet.

Herbert W Franke's "Paradise 3000" (short story, overpopulation dystopia)

Collected in.

Fact sheet.

David G Blake's "To my father" (flash fiction, free): Lament of an unloved "child"

Fact sheet.

Stories from "Nature" magazine, February 2013 issues

"Astounding Science-Fiction" (British Edition), August 1939 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

Fact sheet.

James E Gunn's "The Listeners" (fix up novel, hard sf, first contact): Just what does SETI do?

Fact sheet.

Karel Capek's "War wih the Newts" (novel, satire, free): Man is the lord of Earth. Or is he?

Story summary.

Fact sheet.

No posts for a fortnight

John Frizell's "Pest control" (flash fiction, humor, free)

Fact sheet.

Jon Bing's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (short story, color blindness): When men refused to see colors!

Story summary.

Fact sheet.

Donald A Wollheim (ed)'s "The Best from the Rest of the World: European Science Fiction" (anthology): Annotated table of contents & review

Table of contents (best first, unread last).

Fact sheet.

Manuel Van Loggem's "Pairpuppets" (short story): Speculating on the future of love & sex

Story summary.

Fact sheet.

Robert Silverberg's "To Be Continued" (short story, immortality, free): Slow life is frustrating!

See also.

Fact sheet.