As before, five free stories with mini-reviews. I originally did not intend to make themed posts, but this time I managed to find five stories by Chinese-American authors, so this is a Chinese-American-themed post!

It seems like there is a lot of flash fiction by people who belong to underrepresented groups. I have to say I was totally unaware of this, so many great flash stories just fly below the radar – they never get reviewed anywhere, never get promoted, etc. I’ve been wondering about setting up a small award for “best SF flash story by an underrepresented author” (which is a very broad category) – I’m reading all this stuff anyway, I might as well pick the best. I don’t really have any money to offer as an award prize, but at least I can provide some publicity. What do you folks think? Anyone else interested in forming an awards committee? Maybe we could do a fundraiser to fund a prize? I’m just thinking out loud here.

Let’s get back to the actual stories… Don’t forget to check out the battle standings! Scroll down, the flash listings are at the bottom. (I assume once I’ve read everything I managed to find, the one on top gets the prize…)

The Apocalypse Artist by Claire Light (a Chinese-American woman)

from See|Saw

Mythpunk with a light touch of body horror. A bit too eclectic for my tastes, but interesting.

To the stars by Ken Liu (a Chinese-American man) and Shelly Li (a Chinese-American woman)

from Nature Futures (February 2011)

I’ve already praised Ken Liu’s ability to make good fiction out of forum postings and online flamewars, but this one is not it. It’s a rather unfocused and pointless ramble. I’d rather read an actual flamewar…

Ascension by Su-Yee Lin (a Chinese-American woman)

from Ideomancer (March 2011)

A taken-child tale with beautiful imagery – leaves falling upward! The mother acted more like an older sister, which confused me slightly, but maybe she gave birth very young…

Selfless by Kenneth S. Kao (a Chinese-American man)

from Daily Science Fiction

A highly personal take on cloning. It leaves a lot for the imagination, but isn’t that what flash is for?

A good time by Shelly Li (a Chinese-American woman)

from Nature Futures (April 2011)

Yet another sexbot story. *groan* The “microeconomics of prostitution” theme seems to come from SuperFreakonomics.

Also, unbelievably low dig: “Maybe the potholes in my neighbourhood were finally fixed last year at the expense of some socially stunted invalid who scheduled daily appointments of sexual therapy?” (Yeah, I get it that this is a first-person story and the narrator is a jerk. Still.)

Today we have two stories by women authors. I’m trying to come up with a schedule… I’ve just read something I loved, recommended by a reader (review coming soon IY”H), so keep those recommendations coming! Also, feel free to recommend bad stories, especially if they have to do with underrepresented groups. I’ll review them and hopefully that’ll help others avoid Teh Suffarz

Nebula nominations are closing in two weeks! There’s still time for the Hugos though… and I also need to decide what to nominate for the Carl Brandon awards. I have a metric TON of short stories I’d love to nominate, but seeing as these awards usually go to longer-form works, that might be a waste of time. Still, I’ve read several good novelettes and novellas that would be a good fit; I just need to make up my mind. Carl Brandon nominations are open to everyone, so head over:

The Carl Brandon Parallax Award is for an outstanding speculative fiction work by a self-identified writer of color. The Carl Brandon Kindred Award is for an oustanding speculative fiction work dealing with race and ethnicity. You may nominate the same work for both awards.

After the short intermission, back to today’s stories:

This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (a Mexican-Canadian woman)

from GigaNotoSaurus – audio version available on Podcastle

This story was published in GigaNotoSaurus, a magazine specializing in novelettes, but it’s not actually a novelette (the word count is around 5400) – just mentioning this in case you want to nominate it for awards. Despite the length, it is a quick read, as Moreno-Garcia’s other stories: she writes lean prose that simply flies by. Let’s see what this one offers!

A girl makes a pact with Death, over the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution. The fascinating setting saves the story from being a boring rehash of the old theme.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia also writes straight-up fantasy, but to be honest I appreciate it more when she sets her stories a bit closer to home – especially since she does not tend to overexoticize anything. I’ve wondered if some magazines pressured “ethnic” writers in that direction, or maybe that’s just the kind of style that tends to resonate with the (white, American) editors. Anyway, Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a good counterexample: her stories are not loaded down with extraneous detail, but they are still pronouncedly local. More please!

The Sighted Watchmaker by Vylar Kaftan (an American woman)

from Lightspeed (Dec 2011)

An “alien observer” story, with a twist. I think I dislike this “with a twist” template more and more with each passing day: in a story building on ages-old tropes, where said tropes are changed in one specific way, the reader (ME!) still has to wade through too much of the same old same old in order to get to the heart of the matter.

Still, the change was interesting (it made me feel the author would see some opposition from both sides of the creationism debate) and the writing was touching. I also liked the sweeping perspective. I wouldn’t choose this story as one of the year’s best – like Rich Horton did -, but it was decent enough.

Today’s stories are both about… apples! In a roundabout way, at least… You know you are tempted to read on!

Black Fire by Tanith Lee (a British woman)

from the January 2011 issue of Lightspeed

This has to be the first British work I’m reviewing unless I’ve managed to miss something. It is a retelling of the Adam and Eve story – I do love me some Bible fanfic, but Black Fire just isn’t strong enough.

The narrative is composed of police interviews with ordinary citizens. With this type of structure, a lot hinges on the voices being convincing. Here, the citizens sound realistic, but also slightly boring.

Special groanworthy quote: “My last thought is, I confess, is this really then what is meant by Science Fiction?“

iTime by Ferrett Steinmetz (an American man)

from the September 2011 issue of Redstone Science Fiction

A highly readable time travel story with two shortcomings. First, one of the characters is such a stereotyped vacuous bimbo that I found the first half of the story hard to read, I kept on cringing. Sure, the protagonist is a hacker girl, but as the story is based around their interactions,  the difference between these two women only emphasizes that the author tried to build on lazy stereotypes. The complete opposite of a caricature is also a caricature.

The second shortcoming is worldbuilding-related: there is zero social context. Minor characters are completely oblivious to the time-travel technology, even though a resale market has sprung up already: “Daddy paid four hundred thousand on eBay for an unbonded four-hour model,” she said, puffing out her chest. Still, no one understands that Miss Vacuous Bimbo is using a time-travel gizmo!

Also, the device must have a really horrendous user interface if  (spoiler!) Bimbo manages to use it without ever being exposed to any warnings. Even my Nintendo Wii keeps on telling me to please wear the controller strap, and that’s really minor in comparison. As the name strongly hints at the fictional gizmo being produced by Apple, a company whose strong suit is providing a smooth user experience, this is even more puzzling.

It’s a shame – the temptation aspect is very well-executed, and I liked  that different characters experienced similar temptation for different reasons. There is also a “learning social interactions” theme to the story that will probably resonate with many readers.

Today we have two stories about human-alien interaction! To be honest I prefer the term “extraterrestrial”, it’s less value-laden… but that’s probably only me.

Join by Liz Coleman (an American woman) – I don’t have a link for her personal website

from the September 2011 issue of Lightspeed

A story about a human man who becomes a surrogate father to an alien joined to his body – for the time being, at least. A topic I personally find fascinating, and the characterization of the protagonist is decent.

I’m surprised SFnal body modification usually does not relate to the real-life body modification subculture in any shape or form, it’s like the authors do not even know (or have trouble contemplating?) that such a thing exists. This story is an exception! Unfortunately that alone does not really carry it through to the conclusion.

The protagonist visits his family on Earth and a strained coming-out scene ensues. It made me groan – the whole story looks like an extended metaphor for gay adoption even if that was not the author’s intent. It really comes across as  “look, I’m writing a story about a current issue, JUST IN SPAAACE“. Aliens are used as stand-ins for minority groups all too often and this is a trend I strongly dislike. If people want to write about minority groups, they should write about minority groups. If people want to write about aliens, they should write about aliens. Mixing the two has very unfortunate implications even if, I repeat, that was not the author’s original intent.

Also, I think the mother’s reaction was completely unrealistic (spoiler cut): the mother goes from “I’d never seen her like this. She looked like a wilted flower, her hand draped limply over her knee, her big onyx ring dangling from her grasp. She looked at me with empty eyes.” to “But she slowly smiled as she looked at the photo, and then at Ngoraich’s battered casing, and asked: “What’s her name?”” People don’t change that much in the course of a single conversation. I guess the author wanted a happy ending, but this is a huge oversimplification of coming out (related to any topic), and thus potentially harmful to people who’ve had to go through a coming-out talk themselves.

One more spoilery note: I’m not saying coming-out stories should always have bad endings, G-d forbid! But if the author wanted to end the story on a positive note, she shouldn’t have set up the story this way, with people starting off from an extremely negative position.

Making My Entrance Again with My Usual Flair by Ken Scholes (an American man)

from Tor.com Originals (Jan 12 2011)

This is a lighthearted story about a clown and a monkey… There are a few moments of brilliance here and there, but by and large the story is not very deep. Terry Bisson has proven that one can write humorous stories which are also very profound, and that really influences my expectations. If something is not very deep, it should at least be unique and memorable, and this story is neither.

It’s an okay read, but definitely not award-winning material. I find it hard enough to say much about it, but fortunately I ranted all too long about the first story, so there’s enough for you to read

All That Touches the Air by An Owomoyela (an American asexual neutrois person of color)

from the April 2011 issue of Lightspeed

A lengthy alien-contact story with great characterization. Very few stories try to tackle the fundamental claustrophobia inherent in living in an alien environment (Bios by Robert Charles Wilson comes to mind, and… not much else) and this one does a great job. It’s great to see that not everyone reacts the same way, and some people might take precautions a bit too far, just like in real life.

There is also an annoying little know-it-all in there, a character type seldom seen in SF probably because it uncomfortably reminds most authors of their childhood selves.

It’s hard to say whether this story is better than Frozen Voice, the author’s previous work I reviewed… I enjoyed this one more on an intellectual level, but Frozen Voice had more striking imagery that stayed with me over time. (I am a very visual sort of person, you can bribe me with spiffy pictures ) Anyway, both stories are well worth the read!

As before, read the author interview – it gives a really new perspective on the story. (And yes, there’s a bit about childhood selves in there…)

The Rotten Beast by Mary E. Pearson (an American woman)

from Tor.com Originals (Nov 30 2011)

What a simplistic tale. I kept on waiting for a faint glimmer of originality – or perhaps a masterful twist that will subvert all the bad tropes in the story at the same time – but no, nothing.

Of course maybe we’re all just dealing with an unreliable narrator – after all, she is an emotional teenager who comes across as the straw-man who people like to attack when talking about religious fundamentalists. (No, actual religious fundamentalists are not necessarily like that, but this is an unrelated tangent best saved for some other time.) There is no mention of religion in the story though, there are only lengthy anti-technology and anti-science rants that are about as profound as those conspiracy theories about Satan’s barcode printed on your forehead.

The technology is laughable: “I press my hand to my chest and try to feel the biochips clicking away inside”, “Being controlled by all the computer chips stuffed into his Biogel?”. I understand this is a YA story, but young adults are not stupid for the most part; they should not be treated as such.

Unfortunately there is not a shred of evidence in the story itself that the narrator is unreliable. Moreover, the story is a straight-up retelling of Eve and the apple, except… with a peach. I’m serious. A peach.

I’d say this one is a lemon.

(:O Couldn’t resist…)

The reviews are back – sorry for the long delay!

In this issue, both stories were trying to say something new about time-worn SF tropes, but I think only one of them managed to pull it off. Let’s see…

Clarkesworld, Issue 58 – July 2011

Trois morceaux en forme de mechanika by Gord Sellar (a Canadian man who lives in South Korea)

The ultimate triumph of style over substance! This story depicts evil robots taking over the world – that’s the entire plot and I’m not kidding. It is told in a flourishing style. Example: Gorgeous steel, stainless save the spattered blood of this metropolis aflame, and the reflections of frail bodies strung all about the towers above, ornaments to celebrate the tidings of the new year, the new world, the ends and beginnings of various histories. If this is not your thing, you won’t like the story, if it is, you probably will – it’s that simple.

There is sheet music included… maybe this is not so surprising, since the story is titled after Erik Satie’s Trois morceaux en forme de poire. The score reminded me of Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz, one of the classics of sheet music humor. In the audio version of the story there is actual music. It sounds better than it looks! It also sounds better than Faerie’s Aire (Youtube link!).

This is the second time this year that I’ve seen Clarkesworld run an “inspired by music” story. Trois morceaux en forme de mechanika really fell flat for me even though I’m a Satie fan… and I still prefer works of art that can stand on their own.

Here is a Satie mix by a friend of mine:

Frozen Voice by An Owomoyela (who is an American asexual neutrois person of color)

This one is about an alien invasion and book burnings. Fortunately, the aliens burn books for a rather unexpected reason – I won’t spoil it, read the story, it’s interesting.

I can see more potential here than a simple short story. I liked the way the aliens communicated with a “hum” in addition to spoken and signed (!) languages, even though this wasn’t really elaborated upon. Also, this is another story that will fit nicely into my “Languages in SF” series. Is the theme coming back in fashion?

There is a small typo in the text, the word for book in Arabic is kitab, not kitap. Just thought I’d mention it because in Arabic, only loanwords have p. But I readily admit this is not very relevant to the topic at hand…

Clarkesworld #54 – March 2011

I enjoyed this issue, but I still had gripes with both stories. By the way, I forgot to mention that the previous issue had a great “making of” feature about the cover image, by Julie Dillon. I wish all issues had a similar column, this would also help me decide who to pick in the artist categories of the Hugo! Artists talking about their technique make a more memorable impression on me than picture dumps.

The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from the Great Book) by Nnedi Okorafor (a Nigerian-American woman)

Lush greenery is a recurring theme in Nnedi Okorafor’s work and this particular story is no exception. Yay for lush greenery! As for the rest, it’s certainly an interesting, fast-paced tale, but it leaves way too many questions unresolved. All kinds of intriguing plot elements are introduced, but none of them are discussed in detail. The title refers to a larger text – I could see this story work as a chapter of a novel, but not as much as a standalone short story, even though I’d enjoyed it while reading. (Nnedi Okorafor’s website says that the story is set in the universe of Who Fears Death, which is on my TBR pile – I liked her other novels a lot, so I have high hopes for this one as well.)

Being a scientist, I tend to dislike stories which heavily build on the evil scientist trope, especially when there is no particular justification for this. The rationale behind including a Holocaust scene also eluded me, was it included just to demonstrate how evil the scientists were? It certainly did not seem to serve any other purpose.

Also, minor annoyance (but one I see quite often in stories, and this one was no exception): the Bible includes the Torah, these are not separate sacred texts. If someone is trying to say that a character read both the Christian and the Jewish versions of the Bible, the proper word for the latter is “the Tanach”. Spellings may vary, “Tanakh” is also used.

Perfect Lies by Gwendolyn Clare (an American woman)

I love interspecies diplomatic relations stories, and this one is also fascinating, but I am confused: did the author just rediscover high functioning autism / Asperger syndrome? The protagonist’s behavior shows many characteristics of autism, which enable her to negotiate with the aliens, but she is  repeatedly described as “the only human”  capable of doing so. I don’t really know what to think: is this an instance of deliberate erasure, or “only” ignorance? I read the comments on the story, and I’m not the first person the Asperger analogy occurred to – so it’s probably not a case of “one who has a hammer sees nails everywhere”

I think the moral is, if you make up a cognitive minority, try hard to make sure the group does not already exist, and if it does, take that into account?