The Year's Top Short SF Novels 6

by Allan Kaster (Editor), Aliette de Bodard (Contributor), Eugene Fischer (Contributor)

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This unabridged collection presents the best-of-the-best science fiction novellas published in 2015 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of story-telling. In “The Citadel of Weeping Pearls,” by Aliette de Bodard, set in the author’s Dai Viet interstellar empire, an Empress orders her scientific Grand Master to search deepest space and track down the missing Citadel, along with its technologies, to help defend against enemies amassing on her borders. In “The New Mother,” by Eugene Fischer, a freelance journalist pursues the career-making opportunity to write a feature article for a major publication following a contagion that turns human ova diploid, capable of parthenogenesis—reproduction without the need for sperm. In “Inhuman Garbage,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, set in the author’s popular Retrieval Artist series, a detective investigates the murder of a body found in a recycling/composting waste disposal crate in a dome on the moon. In “Gypsy,” by Carter Scholz, a meticulously rendered, slower-than-light, starship flees a totalitarian Earth on a mission whose outcome is not a clear-cut success or failure. Finally, in “What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear,” by Bao Shu, Xie Baosheng and his lifelong love, Qiqi, are small children as the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics has begun. Their lives in China are prosperous but then history starts to run backwards.

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2016

About the author

Editor of science fiction anthologies

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains the following novellas~
1. 'Inhuman Garbage' by Kristine Kathryn Rusch;
2. 'What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear' by Bao Shu;
3. 'The New Mother' by Eugene Fischer;
4. 'Gypsy' by Carter Scholz;
5. 'The Citadel of Weeping Pearls' by Aliette de Bodard.
I liked Rusch's work, which was a 'Retrieval Artist' novella. It was a crisp police procedural embedded in future luna. But the work that I absolutely loved, and would recommend this anthology solely due to its presence, is de Bodard's Xuya Universe work. It's haunting, mysterious, intriguing, fantastic, heart-achingly lyrical, and utterly unforgettable.
The rest, I'm afraid, were either plain boring or didn't make much of an impression upon me.
Your call.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to know about the acclaimed short novels of the previous year, this book will give you a sampling. The stories are good, if not brilliantly curated.