The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition
Page 79
Alexander Jablokov is the author of six novels, most recently Brain Thief, a humorous technothriller that includes a rogue AI and a thirty-foot fiberglass cowgirl, as well as Carve the Sky and Deepdrive. He has also written a number of short stories, most recently “Feral Moon” and “Bad Day on Boscobel.” His fans tend to be well-educated if anomic loners with specialized hobbies. He is pretty sure that you qualify. Come visit him at www.ajablokov.com.
Benjamin Rosenbaum’s stories have appeared in F&SF, Strange Horizons, Harper’s, and Nature, nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, BSFA and Locus Awards, been translated into more than twenty languages, and, filmed, won Best Animated Short at SXSW. He has been a party clown, rugby flanker, synagogue president, and programmer for the Swiss banks. He currently works in Washington, DC, with his wife Esther and his kids, Aviva and Noah.
Tom Crosshill’s fiction has been nominated for the Nebula Award (thrice), the Latvian Annual Literature Award, and has appeared in venues such as Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Lightspeed. In 2009, he won the Writers of the Future contest. After some years spent in Oregon and New York, he currently lives in his native Latvia. In the past, he has operated a nuclear reactor, translated books and worked in a zinc mine, among other things. His debut novel, Salsa for Fidel, is forthcoming from Katherine Tegen Books in 2016.
Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year.When coupled with a childhood tendency to read the dictionary for fun, this led her inevitably to penury, intransigence, and the writing of speculative fiction. She is the Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, and Campbell Award winning author of twenty-seven novels (the most recent is Karen Memory, a Weird West adventure from Tor) and over a hundred short stories.
Jo Walton has published eleven novels, three poetry collections and an essay collection, with another novel due out in July 2015. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002, the World Fantasy Award in 2004 for Tooth and Claw, and the Hugo and Nebula awards in 2012 for Among Others. She comes from Wales but lives in Montreal where the food and books are much better. She writes science fiction and fantasy, reads a lot, talks about books, and eats great food. She plans to live to be ninety-nine and write a book every year.
Rachel Swirsky holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and has published more than sixty short stories in various magazines and anthologies. These days, she lives in the hot, dry territory of Bakersfield, California, where even the diseases are science fictional. (Look up “valley fever.”). For her tastes, she has too many cats, but the perfect number of husbands. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Hugo Award, the World Fantasy Award, and won the Nebula award twice; “Grand Jete” is a nominee for the 2014 Nebula Award for best novella.
C.S.E. Cooney is a Rhode Island writer, who lives across the street from a Victorian Strolling Park. She is the author of the forthcoming novella collection Bone Swans, as well as the Dark Breakers series, Jack o’ the Hills, and How to Flirt in Faerieland and Other Wild Rhymes. “Witch, Beast, Saint” is the first erotic fairytale in the Witch’s Garden Series. The second, “The Witch in the Almond Tree” is sold as an ebook on Amazon. Her website is csecooney.com.
Peter Watts—author of Blindsight, Echopraxia, and the Rifters trilogy among other things—is an ex-marine-biologist and convicted felon who seems especially popular among people who don’t know him. At least, his awards generally hail from overseas except for a Hugo (won thanks to fan outrage over an altercation with Homeland Security) and a Jackson (won thanks to fan sympathy over nearly dying from flesh-eating disease). Blindsight is a core text for university courses ranging from Philosophy to Neuropsychology, despite an unhealthy focus on space vampires. Watts’s work is available in eighteen languages.
Genevieve Valentine is the author of Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, and Persona. She’s currently the writer of DC’s CATWOMAN. Her short fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Shirley Jackson Award, and have appeared in several Best of the Year anthologies. Her nonfiction and reviews have appeared at NPR.org, The AV Club, LA Review of Books, The Dissolve, and Interfictions.
Timons Esaias is a satirist, poet, essayist and writer of short fiction, living in Pittsburgh. His works have appeared in eighteen languages. He has been a finalist for the British Science Fiction Award, and won the 2005 Asimov’s Readers Award for poetry. His story “Norbert and the System” has appeared in a textbook, and in college curricula. Recent genre appearances include Asimov’s, Analog, and Future Games. Literary publications include 5AM, New Orleans Review, Connecticut Review, The Brentwood Anthology, and Barbaric Yawp. He teaches in Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction M.F.A. Program.
Recommended Reading
Charlie Jane Anders, “As Good as New”, (Tor.com, 9/14)
Charlie Jane Anders, “The Unfathomable Sisterhood of Ick”, (Lightspeed, 6/14)
Kate Bachus, “Pinono Deep” (Asimov’s, 10-11/14)
Paolo Bacigalupi, “Shooting the Apocalypse”, (The End is Nigh)
Tony Ballantyne, “Threshold”, (Analog, 10/14)
Tony Ballantyne, “The Region of Jennifer”, (Analog, 6/14)
Chris Beckett, “The Goblin Hunter”, (Solaris Rising 3)
Paul M. Berger, “Subduction”, (F&SF 7-8/14)
Holly Black, “Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (The Successful Kind)” (Monstrous Affections)
Aliette de Bodard, “The Breath of War”, (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 3/6/14)
T. Coraghessan Boyle, “The Relive Box”, (The New Yorker, 3/17/14)
David Brin, “Chrysalis”, (Analog, 10/14)
David Brin, “Latecomers”, (Multiverse)
Sarah Brooks, “The Great Detective”, (Strange Horizons, 9/15/14)
Oliver Buckram, “Two Truths and a Lie”, (Interzone, 5-6/14)
Adam-Troy Castro, “The New Provisions”, (Lightspeed, 7/14)
Adam-Troy Castro, “Clutch”, (Nightmare, 2/14)
Seth Chambers, “In Her Eyes”, (F&SF, 1-2/14)
Megan Chaudhuri, “Rubik’s Chromosomes”, (Analog, 3/14)
Jérôme Cigut, “The Rider”, (F&SF, 9-10/14)
C. S. E. Cooney, The Witch in the Almond Tree, (Fairchild Books)
Haddayr Copley-Woods, “Belly”, (F&SF, 7-8/14)
Seth Dickinson, “Morrigan in the Sunglare”, (Clarkesworld, 3/14)
Christopher East, “Videoville”, (Asimov’s, 12/14)
Toh EnJoe, “Printable”, (Granta, Spring/14)
Paul Di Filippo, “I’ll Follow the Sun” (F&SF, 11-12/14)
Greg Egan, “Seventh Sight”, (Upgraded)
Karen Joy Fowler, “Nanny Anne and the Christmas Story”, (Subterranean, Winter/14)
John Grant, “His Artist Wife”, (Black Static, 1-2/14)
Kat Howard, “A Meaningful Exchange”, (Lightspeed, 8/14)
Nik Houser, “The Drawstring Detective”, (Lightspeed, 12/14)
N. K. Jemisin, “Walking Awake”, (Lightspeed, 6/14)
Matthew Johnson, “Rules of Engagement”, (Asimov’s, 4-5/14)
Alice Sola Kim, “Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They are Terrifying”, (Tin House #61)
T. Kingfisher, “The Dryad’s Shoe”, (Fantasy #58)
Naomi Kritzer, “Containment Zone”, (F&SF, 5-6/14)
Derek Künsken, “Persephone Descending”, (Analog, 11/14)
Megan Kurashige, “The Quality of Descent”, (Lightspeed, 10/14)
Jay Lake, “West to East” (Subterranean, Summer)
John Langan, “Children of the Fang” (Lovecraft’s Monsters)
Anaea Lay, “Salamander Patterns”, (Lightspeed, 1/14)
Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Jar of Water”, (Tin House, Winter/14)
Ann Leckie, “She Commands Me and I Obey”, (Strange Horizons, 11/14)
Yoon Ha Lee, “The Contemporary Foxwife”, (Clarkesworld, 7/14)
Yoon Ha Lee, “The
Bonedrake’s Daughter”, (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 3/20/14)
Michael Libling, “Draft 31”, (F&SF, 3-4/14)
Marissa Lingen and Alec Austin, “The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Re-Capitation”, (On Spec, Winter 2013/2014)
Kelly Link, “The New Boyfriend”, (Monstrous Affections)
Ken Liu, “The Regular”, (Upgraded)
Ian MacDonald, “Nanonauts! In Battle with Tiny Death Subs” (Robot Uprisings)
Seanan McGuire, “Midway Relics and Dying Breeds”, (Tor.com, 9/14)
Seanan McGuire, “We Are All Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen Wars” (Robot Uprisings)
Daniel Mason, “The Second Doctor Service”, (Harper’s, 6/14)
David Erik Nelson, “There Was No Sound of Thunder”, (Asimov’s, 6/14)
Alec Nevala-Lee, “Cryptids”, (Analog, 5/14)
Garth Nix, “Home is the Haunter (A Sir Hereward and Mr. Fitz story)” (Fearsome Magics)
Garth Nix, “Shay Corsham Worsted” (Fearful Symmetries)
Jay O’Connell. “Other People’s Things”, (F&SF, 9-10/14)
An Owomoyela, “And Wash Out by Tides of War”, (Clarkesworld, 2/14)
Suzanne Palmer, “Shatterdown”, (Asimov’s, 6/14)
Susan Palwick, “Windows”, (Asimov’s, 9/14)
K. J. Parker, “The Things We Do For Love”, (Subterranean, Summer/14)
K. J. Parker, “I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There”, (Subterranean, Winter/14)
Richard Parks, “The Sorrow of Rain”, ( Beneath Ceaseless Skies, October )
Tom Purdom, “Bogdavi’s Dream”, (Asimov’s, 9/14)
Chen Quifan, “The Mao Ghost”, (Lightspeed, 3/14)
Cat Rambo, “Tortoiseshell Cats are Not Refundable”, (Clarkesworld, 2/14)
Jessy Randall, “You Don’t Even Have a Rabbit”, (LCRW, 12/14)
Robert Reed, “Aether”, (Paradox)
Alter S. Reiss, “By Appointment to the Throne”, (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 9/4/14)
Alastair Reynolds, “In Babelsberg”, (Reach for Infinity)
Adam Roberts, “Thing and Sick”, (Solaris Rising 3)
Margaret Ronald, “The Innocence of a Place”, (Strange Horizons, 1/13/14)
Karen Russell, Sleep Donation, (Atavist Books)
Mark W. Tiedemann, “Forever and a Day” (Gravity Box)
Karl Schroeder, “Kheldyu”, (Reach for Infinity)
Vandana Singh, “Wake Rider”, (Lightspeed, 12/14)
Benjanun Sriduangkaew, “When We Harvested the Nacre-Rice”, (Solaris Rising 3)
Benjanun Sriduangkaew, “Autodidact”, (Clarkesworld, 4/14)
Michael Swanwick, “Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown”, (Asimov’s, 4-5/14)
Lisa Tuttle, “The Curious Case of the Dead Wives”, (Rogues)
Justina Robson, “On Skybolt Mountain”, (Fearsome Magics)
“The Walking-Stick Forest”, Anna Tambour, (Tor.com, May 2014 )
Jean-Louis Trudel, “The Snows of Yesteryear”, (Carbide Tipped Pens)
Genevieve Valentine, “A Dweller in Amenty”, (Nightmare)
Genevieve Valentine, Dream Houses,(WSFA Press / Wyrm Publishing)
Carrie Vaughn, “Harry and Marlowe and the Intrigues at the Aetherian Exhibition”, (Lightspeed, 2/14)
Neil Williamson, “The Posset Pot”, (Interzone, 5-6/14)
Kim Winternheimer, “M1A”, (Lightspeed, 6/14)
Publication History
“Schools of Clay” by Derek Künsken. © by Derek Künsken. Originally published in Asimov’s, February 14. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Scrivener” by Eleanor Arnason. © by Eleanor Arnason. Originally published in Subterranean, Winter 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Invisible Planets” by Hannu Rajaniemi. © by Hannu Rajaniemi. Originally published in Reach for Infinity. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Heaven Thunders the Truth” by K.J. Parker. © by K.J. Parker. Originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 2 October 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Selfie” by Sandra MacDonald. © by Sandra MacDonald. Originally published in Lightspeed, May 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Manor of Lost Time” by Richard Parks. © by Richard Parks. Originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 26 June 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“How to Get Back to the Forest” by Sofia Samatar. © by Sofia Samatar. Originally published in Lightspeed, March 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Wine” by Yoon Ha Lee. © by Yoon Ha Lee. Originally published in Clarkesworld, January 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Every Hill Ends With Sky” by Robert Reed. © by Robert Reed. Originally published in Carbide Tipped Pens. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Endless Sink” by Damien Ober. © by Damien Ober. Originally published in LCRW, September 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Long Haul: From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009” by Ken Liu. © by Ken Liu. Originally published in Clarkesworld, November 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i” by Alaya Dawn Johnson. © by Alaya Dawn Johnson. Originally published in F&SF, July/August 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Ghost Story” by John Grant. © by John Grant. Originally published in Interzone, March/April 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Break! Break! Break!” by Charlie Jane Anders. © by Charlie Jane Anders. Originally published in The End is Nigh. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Skull and Hyssop” by Kathleen Jennings. © by Kathleen Jennings. Originally published in LCRW. December 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Someday” by James Patrick Kelly. © by James Patrick Kelly. Originally published in Asimov’s, April/May 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology” by Theodora Goss. © by Theodora Goss. Originally published in Lightspeed, July 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Drones Don’t Kill People” by Annalee Newitz. © by Annalee Newitz. Originally published in Lightspeed, December 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“I Can See Right Through You” by Kelly Link. © by Kelly Link. Originally published in McSweeney’s 48. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Petard: A Tale of Just Deserts” by Cory Doctorow. © by Cory Doctorow. Originally published in Twelve Tomorrows. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Wild and Hungry Times” by Patricia Russo. © by Patricia Russo. Originally published in Not One of Us, September 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Trademark Bugs: A Legal History” by Adam Roberts. © by Adam Roberts. Originally published in Reach for Infinity. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“A Better Way to Die” by Paul Cornell. © by Paul Cornell. Originally published in Rogues. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Instructive Tale of the Archaeologist and his Wife” by Alexander Jablokov. © by Alexander Jablokov. Originally published in Asimov’s, July 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Fift & Shria” by Benjamin Rosenbaum. © by Benjamin Rosenbaum. Originally published in Solaris Rising 3. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Magician and Laplace’s Demon” by Tom Crosshill. © by Tom Crosshill. Originally published in Clarkesworld. December 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Hand is Quicker—” by Elizabeth Bear. © by Elizabeth Bear. Originally published in The Book of Silverberg. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Sleeper” by Jo Walton. © by Jo Walton. Originally published in Tor.com, August 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)” by Rachel Swirsky. © by Rachel Swirsky. Originally published in Subterranean, Summer 2014. Reprinted by permissio
n of the author.
“Pernicious Romance” by Robert Reed. © by Robert Reed. Originally published in Clarkesworld, November 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Witch, Beast, Saint: An Erotic Fairy Tale” by C. S. E. Cooney. © by C. S. E. Cooney. Originally published in Strange Horizons, 21 July 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Collateral” by Peter Watts. © by Peter Watts. Originally published in Upgraded. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Aberration” by Genevieve Valentine. © by Genevieve Valentine. Originally published in Fearsome Magics. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Sadness” by Timons Esaias. © by Timons Esaias. Originally published in Analog, July/August 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
About the Author
Rich Horton is an associate technical fellow in software for a major aerospace corporation and the reprint editor for the Hugo Award-winning semiprozine Lightspeed. He is also a columnist for Locus and for Black Gate. He edits a series of best of the year anthologies for Prime Books, and also for Prime Books he has co-edited Robots: The Recent A.I. and War & Space: Recent Combat.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Schools of Clay
The Scrivener
Invisible Planets
Heaven Thunders the Truth
Selfie
The Manor of Lost Time
How to Get Back to the Forest
Wine
Every Hill Ends with Sky
The Endless Sink
The Long Haul, From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009
A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i
Ghost Story
Break! Break! Break!
Skull and Hyssop
Someday
Cimmeria: From the JOURNAL OF IMAGINARY ANTHROPOLOGY
Drones Don’t Kill People
I Can See Right Through You
Petard: A Tale of Just Deserts
The Wild and Hungry Times
Trademark Bugs: A Legal History
A Better Way to Die
The Instructive Tale of the Archeologist and His Wife
Fift & Shria