A woman, an orca, and a polar bear walk into a bar. Sorry, I had to say it. It’s not a bar, but an artificial island, she doesn’t walk into it so much as motor in on a skiff, but the orca swam alongside, the polar bear was in chains, at least until it wasn’t, and she’s definitely come to kick ass. Set in a world that’s paid the price of environmental recklessness and where refugees from plague and economic collapse are building an ad-hoc society north of the arctic circle, Blackfish City is an entrancing story, a vision neither utopian nor dystopic, but human in all its glory and weakness. Continue reading →

 Michael Mammay Interview
Links: SFRevu Review: Planetside / Author’s Blog

Michael Mammay’s debut novel, Planetside is as much a mystery as a Mil-SF novel, and it’s a great start to what we hope is a productive career. He retired from the Army last year after serving in Desert Storm, Somalia, and Afghanistan, where he used the Kandahaar Air Base as a model for the orbital station in his novel, Planetside. The novel raises the bar for intelligent Mil-SF, but that’s not really a surprise. The author is a graduate of West Point, holds a Masters degree in Military History, was active duty for 25 years, and has been in love with writing since he was a boy. Now he’s gone on to share that love with the next generation by teaching American and British literature at a military academy. The author was happy to give us some insights into his process, love of reading, and what comes next. Continue reading →

For thirty-five years Gardner Dozois helped define not only what the best science fiction of the year was, but what the genre itself was. Every year since I started reading his annual collection (I’m not sure when that was, but the earliest copy on my shelf is from year seven) I’ve looked forward to reading it on vacation and saving it as a special treat.

Since SFRevu began in 1997 I looked forward to the little dopamine hit that I got from seeing this publication mentioned in his annual summary, despite the fact it always (and yes, I did tell him more than once) gave our URL as being hosted by the now-shuttered SFSite.

But, as you no doubt know, shortly before the publication of this year’s edition, Gardner passed away, which was a tremendous loss to the science fiction community. I didn’t know him well enough to say we were friends, but I liked him as well as admired and respected him, and the thought that this is his last collection saddens me.

Will there be a Thirty Sixth annual collection next year with a new editor?

I don’t know, and if not, then editor’s like Neil Clarke, bionic heart and all, and  Jonathan Strahan. will keep the flame alive with their own collections. Just the year before we lost editor David Hartwell, though his Year’s Best SF series seemed to have petered out in 2013.

But more than enough about the past and future. On with the present.

The 35th annual collection has 38 stories in it, as well as the usual insightful summation at the beginning and honorable mentions at the end.

There is no shortage of regulars. Nancy Kress managed to get in twice (DEAR SARAH, CANOE), and names like Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, Harry Turtledove, Alastair Reynolds, Sean McMullen, James S.A. Corey, Greg Eagan, and Tobias S. Buckell promise more of the stuff we know and love.

There are also newcomers, like Indrapramit Das (THE MOON IS NOT A BATTLEFIELD) whom I don’t know but am delighted to read for the first time, which is much of what this is all about. Others, like Linda Ngata (THE MARTIAN OBELISK) are here for the first time (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on that) and I was pleased to see Silvia Moreno-Garcia (PRIME MERIDIAN) which I had just reviewed for this issue on the list.

This collection represents more than each of the stories, it puts a mark down on what Gardner considered worthy. Science fiction goes on, and will always be a genre in flux, but think about that when you read, and enjoy the stories.

Contents:

• SUMMATION: 2017
• THE MOON IS NOT A BATTLEFIELD – Indrapramit Das
• MY ENGLISH NAME – R. S. Benedict
• AN EVENING WITH SEVERYN GRIMES – Rich Larson
• VANGUARD 2.0 – Carter Scholz
• STARLIGHT EXPRESS – Michael Swanwick
• THE MARTIAN OBELISK – Linda Nagata
• WE WHO LIVE IN THE HEART – Kelly Robson
• WINTER TIMESHARE – Ray Nayler
• DEAR SARAH – Nancy Kress
• NIGHT PASSAGE – Alastair Reynolds
• THE DRAGON THAT FLEW OUT OF THE SUN – Aliette de Bodard
• WAITING OUT THE END OF THE WORLD IN PATTY’S PLACE CAFE – Naomi Kritzer
• THE HUNGER AFTER YOU’RE FED – James S. A. Corey
• ASSASSINS – Jack Skillingstead and Burt Courtier
• THE MARTIAN JOB – Jaine Fenn
• THE ROAD TO THE SEA – Lavie Tidhar
• UNCANNY VALLEY – Greg Egan
• THE WORDLESS – Indrapramit Das
• PAN-HUMANISM: HOPE AND PRAGMATICS – Jessica Barber and Sara Saab
• ZIGEUNER – Harry Turtledove
• THE PROVING GROUND – Alec Nevala-Lee
• ZEN AND THE ART OF STARSHIP MAINTENANCE – Tobias S. Buckell
• THE INFLUENCE MACHINE – Sean McMullen
• CANOE – Nancy Kress
• THE HISTORY OF THE INVASION TOLD IN FIVE DOGS – Kelly Jennings
• PRIME MERIDIAN – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• TRICERATOPS – Ian McHugh
• MINES – Eleanor Arnason
• THERE USED TO BE OLIVE TREES – Rich Larson
• WHENDING MY WAY BACK HOME – Bill Johnson
• DEATH ON MARS – Madeline Ashby
• ELEPHANT ON TABLE – Bruce Sterling
• NUMBER THIRTY-NINE SKINK – Suzanne Palmer
• A SERIES OF STEAKS – Vina Jie-Min Prasad
• THE LAST BOAT-BUILDER IN BALLYVOLOON – Finbarr O’Reilly
• THE RESIDUE OF FIRE – Robert Reed
• SIDEWALKS – Maureen F. McHugh
• NEXUS – Michael F. Flynn
• HONORABLE MENTIONS: 2017

 Tachyon Publications Pub Date 12 Jun 2018

• Netgalley
• Amazon

Publisher’s Description : She believed in the mission with all her heart.
But that was sixty million years ago.

How do you stage a mutiny when you’re only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes and hears through your ears and relentlessly, honestly, only wants whats best for you?

Sunday Ahzmundin is about to find out.

Continue reading →

The singer is a dead man walkin,
and he sounds a little rough, both singing and talkin.