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Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2010
Volume 118, Number 1&2, Whole Number 687
Contents:
Robert Reed - The Long Retreat
Charles de Lint - Books to look For
Chris Moriarty - Books
Robin Aurelian - Bait
Arthur Masear - Cartoon
Charles Oberndorf - Writers of the Future
Marc Laidlaw - Songwood
Paul Park - Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance
Steven Popkes - The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales
Kate Wilhelm - The Late Night Train
Lucius Shepard - Films: A Pair of Nines
Dean Whitlock - Nanosferatu
John Langan - City of the Dog
John Eggeling - Curiosities
Cover by Kristin Kest for "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance"
Contents:
Robert Reed - The Long Retreat
Charles de Lint - Books to look For
Chris Moriarty - Books
Robin Aurelian - Bait
Arthur Masear - Cartoon
Charles Oberndorf - Writers of the Future
Marc Laidlaw - Songwood
Paul Park - Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance
Steven Popkes - The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales
Kate Wilhelm - The Late Night Train
Lucius Shepard - Films: A Pair of Nines
Dean Whitlock - Nanosferatu
John Langan - City of the Dog
John Eggeling - Curiosities
Cover by Kristin Kest for "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance"
258 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2010
About the author
Gordon van Gelder
292 books25 followersGordon Van Gelder (born 1966) is an American science fiction editor. From 1997 until 2014, Van Gelder was editor and later publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, for which he has twice won the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form. He was also a managing editor of The New York Review of Science Fiction from 1988 to 1993, for which he was nominated for the Hugo Award a number of times. As of January 2015, Van Gelder has stepped down as editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction in favour of Charles Coleman Finlay, but remains publisher of the magazine.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 1, 2020
5 • The Long Retreat • 23 pages by Robert Reed
Good. The Emperor and his court are being attacked again and half to relocate. He has kept Lieutenant Castor as his long-serving assistant. So when the boat arrives and can take only a handful Castor is with him. The Emperor confides in Castor leaving him with a difficult task. The Field Marshall, the pilot and the general have all talked with Castor.
45 • Bait • 10 pages by Robin Aurelian (Nina Kiriki Hoffman)
Good+. The family is dragging Navin along on the twice a year hunting trip. He hates it, doesn't like hunting and he must taste good, because he keeps getting bitten.
55 • Writers of the Future • 27 pages by Charles Oberndorf
Very Good. The remnant of flesh and blood humanity lives in the hundred worlds in the former orbit of Mars. The Minds in a halo where the Earth used to be. An aspiring writer is ready for his worlds tour and starts it off with a a workshop hosted by his favorite author. There are an odd number of male and female and he gets roomed with Gale. He's distracted imagining him and Gale together. Gale has more questions than anyone else in the group. Her conviction that humanity is stuck unless something changes.
82 • Songwood • 16 pages by Marc Laidlaw
Good+. Spar, a gargoyle, leaving town, has to decide in a hurry which ship to board. A female voice beckons him, his choice is made. He still needs to hide from the crew, but is intrigued to find the girl who waved him aboard. She is the ship's figurehead carved by humans out of songwood. Spar was chiseled from quickstone by humans. A common point to start their friendship.
98 • Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance • 69 pages by Paul Park
Awful. What a slog. I didn't get any sense of continuity except that these people were all related to the narrator. Mother's mother did this, Father's father did that, great aunt did such and such, great uncle was a lawyer that defended the Germans pre-WWI. I also can't track the time line. There's mention of one grandparent with Robert E. Lee, and these others around WWI and a great-grandparent in 1902. Rev. Paul Parke wrote something in phonetic English that made no sense to me. Andromeda is his wife. No that was just made up. He reads a newspaper article that starts quoting a woman, who then quotes someone else. Not just there, but several times I lost track of who's talking.
167 • The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales • 12 pages by Steven Popkes
Good/OK. Gimmicky. Several fairy tales melded together. Enough humor to make it worth reading.
179 • The Late Night Train • 8 pages by Kate Wilhelm
Good+. Christy moves back in with her parents who are no longer able to take care of themselves. Her father often flew into a rage when she was growing up. Now it's everyday. They refuse to sell the orchard and move into assisted living. There is no end in sight.
193 • Nanosferatu • 29 pages by Dean Whitlock
Good. Viagra beat Vaunterplex to the market. Graeber's team is looking for a new product, and they've got it. A fountain of youth, cure for cancer and more. It takes three injections and you're good to go. The story focuses on Graeber's greediness and lack of empathy more than the implication of wide spread use.
222 • City of the Dog • 36 pages by John Langan
Good+. The narrator is being smothered at home, having lived there through college. His girlfriend Kaitlyn graduated a semester early and moved upstate to Albany. Even though she cheated on him, he needs to leave the nest and moves there. To make matters worse he can't find affordable housing and has to share an apartment with Chris, the guy who slept with her. Very Good for a horror story.
Good. The Emperor and his court are being attacked again and half to relocate. He has kept Lieutenant Castor as his long-serving assistant. So when the boat arrives and can take only a handful Castor is with him. The Emperor confides in Castor leaving him with a difficult task. The Field Marshall, the pilot and the general have all talked with Castor.
45 • Bait • 10 pages by Robin Aurelian (Nina Kiriki Hoffman)
Good+. The family is dragging Navin along on the twice a year hunting trip. He hates it, doesn't like hunting and he must taste good, because he keeps getting bitten.
55 • Writers of the Future • 27 pages by Charles Oberndorf
Very Good. The remnant of flesh and blood humanity lives in the hundred worlds in the former orbit of Mars. The Minds in a halo where the Earth used to be. An aspiring writer is ready for his worlds tour and starts it off with a a workshop hosted by his favorite author. There are an odd number of male and female and he gets roomed with Gale. He's distracted imagining him and Gale together. Gale has more questions than anyone else in the group. Her conviction that humanity is stuck unless something changes.
82 • Songwood • 16 pages by Marc Laidlaw
Good+. Spar, a gargoyle, leaving town, has to decide in a hurry which ship to board. A female voice beckons him, his choice is made. He still needs to hide from the crew, but is intrigued to find the girl who waved him aboard. She is the ship's figurehead carved by humans out of songwood. Spar was chiseled from quickstone by humans. A common point to start their friendship.
98 • Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance • 69 pages by Paul Park
Awful. What a slog. I didn't get any sense of continuity except that these people were all related to the narrator. Mother's mother did this, Father's father did that, great aunt did such and such, great uncle was a lawyer that defended the Germans pre-WWI. I also can't track the time line. There's mention of one grandparent with Robert E. Lee, and these others around WWI and a great-grandparent in 1902. Rev. Paul Parke wrote something in phonetic English that made no sense to me. Andromeda is his wife. No that was just made up. He reads a newspaper article that starts quoting a woman, who then quotes someone else. Not just there, but several times I lost track of who's talking.
167 • The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales • 12 pages by Steven Popkes
Good/OK. Gimmicky. Several fairy tales melded together. Enough humor to make it worth reading.
179 • The Late Night Train • 8 pages by Kate Wilhelm
Good+. Christy moves back in with her parents who are no longer able to take care of themselves. Her father often flew into a rage when she was growing up. Now it's everyday. They refuse to sell the orchard and move into assisted living. There is no end in sight.
193 • Nanosferatu • 29 pages by Dean Whitlock
Good. Viagra beat Vaunterplex to the market. Graeber's team is looking for a new product, and they've got it. A fountain of youth, cure for cancer and more. It takes three injections and you're good to go. The story focuses on Graeber's greediness and lack of empathy more than the implication of wide spread use.
222 • City of the Dog • 36 pages by John Langan
Good+. The narrator is being smothered at home, having lived there through college. His girlfriend Kaitlyn graduated a semester early and moved upstate to Albany. Even though she cheated on him, he needs to leave the nest and moves there. To make matters worse he can't find affordable housing and has to share an apartment with Chris, the guy who slept with her. Very Good for a horror story.
Displaying 1 of 1 review