Book Review Teaser :: The Devil Inside by Jenna Black

New on Fantastic Reviews is Amy's review of The Devil Inside by Jenna Black.

From Amy's book review of The Devil Inside :
"The Devil Inside by Jenna Black is book one of the Morgan Kingsley urban fantasy series. There are four more books in this series -- The Devil You Know, The Devil's Due, Speak of the Devil, and The Devil's Playground."

"I thought The Devil Inside would be about a female exorcist battling the Devil. But it isn't, even though it features demons. The Devil Inside is mainly about a heroine running from one bad situation to another while having a titillating sex life."

"The book's first-person protagonist, Morgan Kingsley, is a Philadelphia exorcist, although she only performs two exorcisms in this book. Morgan likes to dress daringly and she has a tattoo, which seems to be the norm for an urban fantasy heroine. Months earlier, bad guys drugged Morgan and got a demon inside her. Slowly she realizes that she is possessed, which is her worst nightmare. But her demon can't do anything initially, because Morgan is so strong...."

To read the entire review -> The Devil Inside

Aaron's Book of the Week :: Acacia by David Anthony Durham

The Book of the Week is Acacia by David Anthony Durham, which won Mr. Durham this year's John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Acacia is the first volume is an epic fantasy series, the second of which, The Other Lands, was just released. This is the 2007 first edition, with cover art by Paul A. Romano.

It is a bit odd for David Anthony Durham to receive an award as a "new writer," since he is already an accomplished author, with three very well-received historical novels to his credit, Gabriel's Story, Walk through Darkness, and Pride of Carthage. But he was eligible for the award because Acacia was his first foray into science fiction and fantasy, and presenting Durham the Campbell Award certainly accomplishes one of the award's purposes, to introduce SF/F readers to excellent writers with whom they may not yet be familiar. I believe that Durham is only the second African-American to win the Campbell Award, after Nalo Hopkinson -- coincidentally, both Durham and Hopkinson are of Caribbean descent. (The Campbell Award wasn't around when Samuel Delany broke into the field, and I don't know how Octavia Butler was overlooked.) David Anthony Durham is a very welcome addition to the SF/F field.

Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Asimov's Science Fiction June 2007

The Magazine of the Week is the June 2007 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, with funky alien cover art by John Allemand. This is the Magazine of the Week because it contains "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear, this year's Hugo Award winner for Best Short Story.

Elizabeth Bear has recently burst onto the science fiction and fantasy scene. Her first story was published in 2003 and her first novel in 2005, but incredibly she will have released fourteen books by the end of this year, all of which have been well received. "Tideline," her first work to be nominated for a Hugo Award but one suspects not the last, is the moving tale of a derelict but intelligent war machine seeking meaning in its final days of consciousness before its batteries die.

Having now covered all of Denvention's Hugo winners for fiction, next week's Book of the Week will be the most collectible item I acquired in the Denvention dealer room.

Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Fantasy & Science Fiction September 2007

The Magazine of the Week is the September 2007 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (cover art by Bryn Barnard), in recognition of the cover story "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette of 2007, presented earlier this month at a much better behaved Denver convention than the one going on right now.

Ted Chiang's fiction is very low in quantity and very high in quality. He began writing in 1990 and in that time has published only about a dozen pieces of short fiction, but those stories have garnered nearly universal praise and a host of major awards. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" was Chiang's second Hugo Award winner (the first was his outstanding novelette "Hell Is the Absence of God") to go with three Nebula Awards and many others. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is a time travel story, but set in the Middle East of long ago with a nice Arabian Nights flavor.

Next week we will finish paying tribute to the winners of the Hugo Awards for fiction with the Best Short Story winner.

Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Asimov's Science Fiction December 2007

The Magazine of the Week is the December 2007 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction (cover art by Michael Carroll) with cover story "All Seated on the Ground" by Connie Willis.

At the World Science Fiction Convention here in Denver earlier this month, "All Seated on the Ground" received the Hugo Award for Best Novella of 2007. This was the tenth Hugo Award for fiction of Connie Willis's illustrious career, making her the Michael Phelps of science fiction and fantasy -- the next highest total of Hugos for fiction is seven, by both Poul Anderson and Harlan Ellison. It was fitting that Connie received her tenth award so close to her Greeley home.

"All Seated on the Ground" was Connie's Christmas story for 2007, in which Christmas music proves the key to establishing contact with a stern alien race. Connie Willis Christmas tales are a fixture of Asimov's December issues. Some of her previous Christmas stories were collected in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (which I reviewed for Fantastic Reviews - see my review). Next week's Magazine of the Week will contain the Hugo winner in the Best Novelette category.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

The Book of the Week is The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, winner of the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of 2007, presented at the Hugo ceremony in Denver last Saturday night.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a murder mystery set in present-day Alaska, but not Alaska as it really exists today. Rather, the novel assumes that the creation of Israel failed after World War II and many of the Jewish people instead settled in Alaska, dramatically altering the landscape. This is an example of alternate history, long considered a subgenre of science fiction -- for instance, Philip K. Dick won the Hugo Award for best SF novel of 1962 for an alternate history, The Man in the High Castle, in which the Allies lost World War II.

Michael Chabon is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author well respected by the literary mainstream. Mainstream authors commonly resist classification of any of their works as science fiction, for fear of catching sci-fi cooties. Michael Chabon has endeared himself to SF fans by refusing to follow this pattern and instead embracing genre fiction. He has been an advocate of genre fiction, often including science fiction and fantasy stories and authors in anthologies he edited. Chabon was not able to attend the Hugo ceremony Saturday, but he sent an acceptance speech read on his behalf, which contained the crowd-pleasing declaration, "I am a science fiction writer. I say that with great pride."

Next week's Magazine of the Week will be the Hugo winner for Best Novella, won by a Colorado author who has won more Hugo Awards for fiction than any other writer in the history of the genre.

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations :: Novella

FIVE FAVORITE NOVELLAS OF 2007:
Neal Asher, “Alien Archeology” (Asimov's, June ’07)
Orson Scott Card, “Stonefather” (Wizards)
John Meaney, “Sideways from Now” (Fast Forward 1)
Dan Simmons, “Muse of Fire” (The New Space Opera)
Connie Willis, “All Seated on the Ground” (Asimov's, December ’07)

NOTES:
There were many fewer novellas published last year than novelettes and short stories. Out of this relatively small pool, by far my favorite novella of 2007 was “Sideways from Now” by John Meaney, a terrific combination of hard SF with a New Weird sensibility.

It is a testament to the amazing talents of Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, and Connie Willis that their respective stories merit award consideration even thought they all fall short of the authors’ very best work. I’d especially love to see Orson Scott Card get a Hugo nomination, just to annoy the tolerance police who insist that Card should not win awards because they dislike his political and religious beliefs.

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations :: Novelette

FIVE FAVORITE NOVELETTES OF 2007:
John Barnes, “Rod Rapid and His Electric Chair” (Helix, Winter ’07)
Ted Chiang, “The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate” (F&SF, Sept. ’07)
Greg Egan, “Glory” (The New Space Opera)
Mike Resnick & Nancy Kress, “Solomon's Choice” (Fast Forward 1)
Rachel Swirsky, “The Debt of the Innocent” (Glorifying Terrorism)

OTHER VERY GOOD NOVELETTES FROM 2007:
Daniel Abraham, “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” (Logorrhea)
Keith Brooke, “The Accord” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Paul Di Filippo, “Wikiworld” (Fast Forward 1)
Hal Duncan, “The Whenever at the City's Heart” (Interzone, April ’07)
Jeffrey Thomas, “In His Sights” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Harry Turtledove, “News from the Front” (Asimov's, June ’07)
Robert Charles Wilson, “YFL-500” (Fast Forward 1)

NOTES:
As with the short stories, I will update this if I encounter other worthy pieces this month, and I welcome other suggestions.

Unlike the novella and short story categories, there was no single novelette that was a clear favorite for me. Forced to pick one, I would probably go with “Glory” by Greg Egan, far-future SF as only Egan can do it, combining interesting hard science speculations (including a method of interstellar travel I’ve never seen before in the first two pages) with thought-provoking human issues. I have always been a big Greg Egan fan, and of the three stories of his I read last year (I never saw a fourth, from the magazine Foundation), this was my favorite.

Incidentally, anthologies generally don’t identify whether a piece is a short story, novelette, or novella, and it’s not always easy to tell. Apologies if I mislabeled any of these.

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations:: Short Story

FIVE FAVORITE SHORT STORIES OF 2007:
Susan Palwick, “Sorrel’s Heart” (The Fate of Mice)
Robert Reed, “The Hoplite” (Helix, Spring ’07)
Adam Roberts, “A Distillation of Grace” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Lavie Tidhar, “Daydreams” (Apex #10)
James A. Trimarco, “The Sundial Brigade” (Glorifying Terrorism)

OTHER VERY GOOD SHORT STORIES FROM 2007:
Stephen Baxter, “No More Stories” (Fast Forward 1)
Elizabeth Bear, “The Something-Dreaming Game” (Fast Forward 1)
Paul Di Filippo, “Personal Jesus” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Greg Egan, “Steve Fever” (MIT Technology Review, Nov.-Dec. ’07)
James Patrick Kelly, “Don’t Stop” (Asimov’s, June ’07)
Ben Payne, “Inside” (Ticonderoga Online, Autumn ’07)
Elizabeth Sourbut, “‘How I Took Care of My Pals’” (Glorifying Terrorism)

NOTES:
The first list shows the stories I would nominate for the short story Hugo Award as of today, while the second list contains my near misses. (Both lists are in alphabetical order by author.) There is still a month left before the nominations deadline, so I will update this if I run across anything else exceptional in that time. Suggestions of stories I may have missed are welcome.

My single favorite short story of 2007 is “Sorrel’s Heart” by Susan Palwick. “Sorrel’s Heart” is a love story between a girl who literally carries her heart on the outside of her chest, and a sadistic yet oddly noble young man. It is a powerful, beautifully written piece, and I believe it would have a very good shot at the Hugo if only enough people read it. So do yourself a favor and go track down a copy of Palwick’s collection The Fate of Mice. That goes double if you are one of those folks complaining that not enough women have appeared on the Hugo shortlist in recent years.

There has been a significant shift in the past couple years as to where one can expect to find strong SF/F short fiction. Until very recently, the best short fiction was largely confined to the major print magazines, notably Asimov’s, F&SF, Analog, and Interzone. While those magazines remain very good, much more excellent short fiction is now appearing in original anthologies and on-line. Six of the stories listed above are from original anthologies and three from on-line publications. Five years ago, the only on-line site that compared to the major print mags was Ellen Datlow’s SciFiction. Today, there is a great deal of short fiction on-line at Helix, Clarkesworld, Subterranean, Strange Horizons, Lone Star Stories, Baen’s Universe, and others that is well up to the standards of the major print magazines.

If you are a member of Denvention 3 or were a member of Nippon 2007, and you read anything from 2007 that you thought was very good, PLEASE NOMINATE. Do not feel that you need to have read everything published in 2007 to be qualified to nominate, because no one has.

Amy's Bookshelf :: Fantasy & Science Fiction December 2007

The December 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction contains a good selection of well-written stories. There are six stories - two novelettes and four short stories. Two of which are set in the future off Earth, one is set in the past, and the remaining stories are set in the present day, or something near to it.

The cover story is the novelette "Finisterra" by David Moles, with cover art by Cory and Catska Ench. In "Finisterra" an aeronautical engineer takes a job on a world featuring island-sized floating creatures called zaratán. Her employer and his alien associates are poachers. They are killing the zaratanes, a protected species, for profit.

The other novelette is "The Bone Man" by Frederic S. Durbin, in which a creepy man is sidetracked to a small town on what happens to be the day of the Hallowe’en Parade. The star of the parade is the Bone Man, a dancing skeleton.

In the short story "Osama Phone Home” by David Marusek, there is a secret American organization dedicated to bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. Their plan uses spooky, futuristic, but not impossible sounding, technologies.

"Don't Ask" by M. Rickert has mothers trying to cope with having their boys stolen to run with the wolves, and having them return home not only older but different.

In "Who Brought Tulips to the Moon?" by S.L. Gilbow a healthy old man, his impatient daughter, and her husband go to the moon to Smooth Passing, a mortuary-like company that helps you pass away.

"Stray" by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert features a worn out immortal trying to fit into an African American community in the 1930s.

The stories in this issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine were, at times, thought provoking. Each had some sort of emotional conflict or tension. My least favorite story was "The Bone Man" because of its thug of a protagonist. There weren't any stories that I would shout about from a mountaintop, but overall a good magazine to read.

(For more on these stories, and others, visit my blog Short Reviews of SF and fantasy short fiction)

Book Review Teaser :: Fast Forward 1 edited by Lou Anders

New on Fantastic Reviews is Aaron's review of the anthology Fast Forward 1 edited by Lou Anders.

From Aaron's Review of Fast Forward 1:
"Short fiction has always been the lifeblood of the science fiction genre, so the dwindling of the print SF magazine market is a serious concern for the future of the field. One glimmer of hope is the recent resurgence of the original anthology, and so it is very encouraging to come across Fast Forward 1, edited by Lou Anders, an original anthology of 19 strong stories (and two poems) from many of the leading names in SF, the first volume of what will hopefully be a long-running series."

"There is precedent for original anthologies filling the void when print magazines suffer a period of decline. When multiple digests folded in the late 1960's and early 70's, anthologies such as Orbit, Universe, New Dimensions, and Dangerous Visions picked up the slack. (Notably, stories from original anthologies received over 40 Hugo nominations in the 1970's, after print magazines had accounted for all but one of the short fiction nominations before 1968.)"

"2007 is shaping up as perhaps the best year for original anthologies since the days of Orbit and Dangerous Visions. Most of the new original anthologies are theme anthologies, including The New Space Opera and Wizards, both edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann; Farah Mendlesohn's political protest anthology Glorifying Terrorism (to which I was a contributor); John Klima's Logorrhea; and Interfictions, edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss."

"Fast Forward 1, aptly subtitled Future Fiction from the Cutting Edge, may prove more important than any of these, because it is the first in a planned series of unthemed original anthologies - something that has not been done effectively since Patrick Nielsen Hayden's Starlight series from 1996 to 2001. It is nice to see Pyr, a relatively new SF publisher, using the original anthology format to showcase its brand of literary yet entertaining SF...."

To read the entire review -> Fast Forward 1

Amy's Take on the 2007 Hugo Nominees :: NOVELETTES

Novelette is my favorite short fiction category. Novelettes have more time to develop characters than short stories, but not enough time for the complexity of plots found in many novellas.

"All the Things You Are", Mike Resnick (Jim Baen's Universe October 2006)
A man saves a girl by confronting robbers and is mortally wounded. This wasn't the first he put himself in such danger. Another man repeatedly risked his life too. A spaceport security man learns that both men survived a bloody battle on the deserted planet of Nikita. How did their experiences on Nikita affect them?

This is a readable story, but hardly groundbreaking. If you know something is an illusion, even if it's a pleasant illusion, why would you fall for it?

"Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth", Michael F. Flynn (Asimov's Science Fiction October/November 2006)
A ferry heading from Seattle to Bremerton mysteriously vanishes with nearly a thousand people aboard. No wreckage is found. This story tells how some people are affected by this tragedy and what scientists determine happened.

A readable story told from multiple viewpoints. I found most of the tales interesting and down-to-earth, but I would have preferred to hear from more folks I that could admire.

"Yellow Card Man", Paolo Bacigalupi (Asimov's Science Fiction December 2006)
Ethnic Chinaman Tranh has lost everything and is merely surviving in the slums of Bangkok. He once ran a shipping business in Malaysia, but his family was killed and his livelihood destroyed. Now he is just another yellow-card refugee without a steady job. But he does have a fine white linen suit. Tranh encounters a rich man whom he once fired.

This story is set in the same future as Bacigalupi's "The Calorie Man", which I liked very much, but the science fictional elements aren't as integral to the plot. This is a well-written story, but it's rather grim.

"The Djinn's Wife", Ian McDonald (Asimov's Science Fiction July 2006)
In the near-future in India, young female dancer meets a handsome admirer who appears out of nowhere, like a djinn. He is a diplomat, but also an artificial intelligence or aeai. A government inspector notices that the A.I. spends time with the dancer. When the dancer marries the artificial intelligence she becomes a tabloid celebrity. But soon her husband's differences begin to annoy her.

A clever, well-written story set in an exotic future. This story shares the same background as McDonald's story "The Little Goddess". It contains some memorably atypical, romantic encounters. I nominated this novelette.

"Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)", Geoff Ryman (Fantasy & Science Fiction) October/November 2006)
According to the author "this is a completely untrue story about someone who must exist." It’s s tale about a young woman in Cambodia who is named Sith, who is Pol Pot's daughter. She lives an eccentric life trying to avoid unpleasantness. She falls in love with a salesman at a mobile phone shop. Sith is afraid to admit who she is. She is haunted by ghosts that call on her cell phones, and whose faces appear on her photocopier.

An exotic, colorful, and dare I say, haunting novelette. I enjoy tales with modern day ghosts.

Deciding between first and second was very difficult for me. Ordering the remaining stories wasn't difficult at all. It's interesting to note that my top three were all set in southern or Southeast Asia.

Amy's Ballot for Best Novelette:
1. "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)", Geoff Ryman
2. "The Djinn's Wife", Ian McDonald
3. "Yellow Card Man", Paolo Bacigalupi
4. "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth", Michael F. Flynn
5. "All the Things You Are", Mike Resnick

Amy's Take on the 2007 Hugo Nominees :: SHORT STORIES

Frankly, last years' nominees in the short story category were disappointing. Saying that they were (as a group) weak, is an understatement. I was so annoyed that I made time to read stories and I nominated in this category this year. (One of my nominees made the final ballot.)

I'm pleased to say that this years' group of nominees are more readable.

"The House Beyond Your Sky", Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange Horizons Sep 2006)
A powerful yet compassionate priest called Matthias has a library containing worlds such as our own. He is building a bubble universe behind his house. An ancient one wants to become ubiquitous in Matthias's new universe. Matthias hides his keys.

I found this story difficult to get into, but it was something different.

"Eight Episodes", Robert Reed (Asimov's Jun 2006)
A unheralded TV series called Invasion of a Small World debuts. It has unglamorous characters and sloppy dialog. The series is cancelled after the fifth episode. But months later, the final three episodes create a buzz by showing planetary vistas and a Paleozoic ecosystem. Who created this series?

This story may present a more realistic view of life in the wide universe, but I found its outlook a bit discouraging.

"Kin", Bruce McAllister (Asimov's Feb 2006)
In an overpopulated California of the future, a twelve-year old boy wants a man killed because he is going to kill his sister. A dangerous alien, called an Antalou, answers the boy's note. The boy understands the alien better than either imagined.

This story has a way to make a bureaucrat think, plus a nice outcome for the boy.

"How to Talk to Girls at Parties", Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
Two English teenage boys head off to a party, but forget to bring the directions. They find a party, but it's a different party entirely, and the beautiful girls at the party are quite different indeed.

A charming, well-told story. I read this story only this month.

"Impossible Dreams", Tim Pratt (Asimov's Jul 2006)
Pete discovers a video store from a parallel universe which rents DVDs of movies that were lost in our world or were never actually filmed. Paying for and trying to play a DVD from another universe complicates things. Pete befriends the store clerk who shares his love of movies.

An enjoyable story that I wish could be true. This is the story I nominated. It was a close call for me between "Impossible Dreams" and "How to Talk to Girls at Parties".

Amy's Ballot for Best Short Story:
1. "Impossible Dreams", Tim Pratt
2. "How to Talk to Girls at Parties", Neil Gaiman
3. "Kin", Bruce McAllister
4. "Eight Episodes", Robert Reed
5. "The House Beyond Your Sky", Benjamin Rosenbaum