The Year's Top Short SF Novels 4

by Allan Kaster (Editor), Stephen Baxter (Contributor), Michael Blumlein (Contributor)

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This audio collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2013 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of story-telling. In “Earth I,” by Stephen Baxter, a search among the stars to ferret out the origins of mankind amidst the Xaian normalization digs up many surprises. In “Success,” by Michael Blumlein, a brilliant but erratic biologist studying epigenetics struggles to hang on to his grip on everyday life as he writes his ground-breaking tome. In “Feral Moon,” by Alexander Jablokov, the Alliance military is invading Phobos to retrieve dead bodies for later repatriation, but the stiff resistance is putting the operation in serious doubt. In “The Weight of the Sunrise,” by Vylar Kaftan, winner of both the Nebula Award and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, the Incan empire is offered a vaccine, to contain a smallpox out-break, by a Virginian raising funds for the American war against the British. In “One,” by Nancy Kress, a boxer down on his luck gains the ability to read minds and grapples round-after-round with the consequences. In the Great Ship story “Precious Mental,” by Robert Reed, an immortal captain who has been living incognito for hundreds of years is kidnaped to help salvage an ancient derelict spaceship. Finally, in the Poirot-like mystery “Murder on the Aldrin Express,” by Martin L. Shoemaker, murder is suspected in the death of the leader of a Mars expedition when evidence of sabotage is uncovered.

Genres: Short Stories

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2014

About the author

Editor of science fiction anthologies

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's something here for everyone. Undoubtedly, some will derive more readerly pleasure from this collection than others, but I believe you can find at least one or two stories that will hold your interest, perhaps even tickle your fancy.

Table of Contents:
* Precious Mental by Robert Reed
* Success by Michael Blumlein
* The Weight of the Sunrise by Vylar Kaftan
* Feral Moon by Alexander Jablokov
* Murder on the Aldrin Express by Martin L. Shoemaker
* Earth I by Stephen Baxter
* One by Nancy Kress

No bones about it, I was disappointed with this collection. I thought much of the writing in the stories lacked a certain storytelling cohesion that I associate to collected works labeled with "Best" appearing in the title. In most of the stories, the writing was "okay," a few stories fell below this mediocre mark, and one rose above the rest as being the best story and best written. This latter was Robert Reed's "Precious Mental." Nancy Kress turns in a nice story with her "one," but the writing is a little tedious.

But again, there is something here for everyone. I would recommend this to anyone interested in shorter SF works that may just be looking for a nice little collection to flavor whatever it is you're currently reading. When it's all said and done, this is a nice diversion, but there's not much substance here.

Audiobook:
I have mixed feelings. A couple of the stories suffered from substandard recording conditions, almost as if the reader was placed in an environment with the intent to distort sound. Most of the sound quality was all right, and those questionable tracks do not drag down the rest of the recordings. As for narrators, I don't have anything negative to say. But I might recommend reading the print version rather than listening to the audiobook.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories, some so-so.
__*** “Earth I,” - an alright story about a far distant future where an expedition sets out to prove the universe isn't a simulation by finding the original Earth.
__*** “Success" - a strange tale about an increasingly eccentric (mad?) scientist trying to prove his theories about epigenetics
_**** “Feral Moon” - a good piece of military SF about an invasion of Phobos led by a disgraced noble that gets bogged down into guerrilla warfare
__*** “The Weight of the Sunrise” - a pretty good alternate history story about a 19th century Incan empire gets weighed down by moralising
_**** “One” - a very good story, despite a very unlikeable main character, who finds himself changed for the better(?) after brain surgery unlocks hidden talents
_**** “Precious Mental” - another very good story about an immortal who's been trying to live life incognito but gets hijacked onto an expedition to find an ancient alien starship
__*** “Murder on the Aldrin Express,” - a very Agatha Christie-like story about the investigation into an accident/murder on a Mars expedition

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Being exposed to new authors is always nice. I liked the variety of stories.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

January 16, 2025 –
46.0% "Notes so far:
Precious Mental, Robert Reed - a good but strange Great Ship novella, Reed hints around at things with this one much more than usual, making it a more difficult story than usual.

Success, Michael Blumlein- a strange and bizarre story exploring... What? Doesn't meet the criteria for SF, and I really couldn't find a point in it at all."
January 16, 2025 –
47.0% "The Weight of the Sunrise, Vylar Kaftan- again, not SF, rather it's an alternate history, and didn't really make much impression though it was that year's Nebula winner"
January 17, 2025 –
59.0% "Progress:
Feral Moon- Alexander Jablokov, didn't make much out of this...successive statements are conflicting or nonsensical in the context. 👎"
January 17, 2025 –
72.0% "Murder on the Aldrin Express- Martin L. Shoemaker, this one I had trouble biting into, because of some dribbling of the plot in the beginning, but it turned out fairly well."
January 17, 2025 –
83.0% "Earth I- Stephen Baxter, unforgivably sloppy with the plot, SKIPPED"
One, by Nancy Kress, THIS now, is a top-notch SF novella!!
January 17, 2025 – Finished Reading