John Loyd's Reviews > Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2010

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.