Dan’s Comments (group member since Aug 20, 2024)

Dan’s comments from the Science Fiction: The Short Stuff group.

I email myself books I download to that address. It's never bounced. I also subscribe to some vendor products and they simply use that email address. Their stuff never bounces. I think it will work. In any event, I'll give it a go when it gets to me. Thanks.

Cornelius wrote: "Hello all! Searching for my tribe on GoodReads. I'm a huge old SF fan, video game developer for many years, and about 5 yr ago, created and Kickstarted a tabletop card game that has you and several..."

The book sounds intriguing, from origin to execution. I'm always up for new methods to see what results they bring. Can you email your book to a Kindle address? If so, the one of mine I use for this purpose is daniel.quigley_7uJkob@kindle.com

Thanks!

The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is a podcast that narrates science fiction magazine short stories mostly from the 1950s and early 1960s. It's hosted by Scott Miller and revives mostly obscure (or "long-forgotten") tales from the pulp magazine era and classic anthologies, making them accessible to a modern audience.

Each episode features a narrated short story or two covering classic sci-fi themes such as time travel, aliens, strange planets, and weird futures. I've noticed Miller's selections tend to the softer side of SF, especially the slightly humorous. This is probably because it lends itself to the audio format more than reciting a lot of technospeak at a fast pace would.

I really enjoy this series and recommend others look it up. I listen to it for free on Spotify. It has been in existence almost four years now and they have more than 450 episodes which comes out to probably 600 or so short stories. That's about a one episode every three days pace, which now amounts to an amazingly large number of audio stories available for the listening to.

This story was surprisingly strong, four and a half stars! A husband and wife team are on a mission to take a spaceship out to nuclear missiles inbound from an enemy planet and dismantle them before they reach Earth. Given the distances they have to travel, they go in and out of cryo (suspended animation) to accomplish this. All their friends and family on Earth died long ago. The wife wonders after a while what the point is. But husband wants to stay on mission. Their disagreement and how it plays out forms the basis for this really startling and well-told story. Highly recommended.

I started the first story, “A Tide of Paper” by Leah Cypess two weeks ago, but could not get into it. Then I couldn't sleep last night and therefore picked it up again. This time I kept a character chart as I was reading, and something just clicked this time. This opening novelette is not SF and therefore not one of our three reads from this issue this month. But it's really good nevertheless, recommended.

The story is nominally fantasy. The protagonist can see ghosts, although this feature does not figure in the story's plot all that prominently. Rather than a fantasy, I would say two more prominent genres for the story is historical fiction and then murder mystery/suspense. It takes place in an accurately depicted historical Venice with Jews who are in the publishing business and facing persecution from Christians. For me the best feature of the story was the setting, followed by the strength of the characters, and then finally the mystery's solution. The ghosts were a nice touch too.

I believe the story's author, judging by her name and story perspective, is Jewish. The storyline comes on as rather pro-Jewish and does not portray Christians in a positive light at all. This might be off-putting for some. The persecution rings true to my knowledge of history in this period. Christians don't have a great track record in many times and situations. I wish that were not the case, but I deal with it. Leah Cypess is referred to as a younger readers' author primarily, which I found surprising. Did I mention this story's theme is heavy? She probably lightens up some for younger readers. I would happily read another story by this author, although not her YA probably. Reading YA is too much like watching the Hallmark channel. I can handle dark.

The next story is one of our group's featured three from this magazine this month. It's about rounding up nuclear missiles that have gone astray somehow, at least that's what I gather from the blurb. Looks like fun.

For November 2025, the ambitious read this month is Ted Kosmatka's "The Signal and the Idler", a novella just published in the September/October 2025 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. His photo is the author photo gracing our group home page this month. If you are considering joining in with this read or one of the others, I found a good, spoiler-free review of all this issue's stories: https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-mo...

If you care to join in with this month's reading, but lack a subscription to the magazine, you can purchase the September-October 2025 Asimov's Science Fiction ebook from various digital platforms, including a single-issue purchase on Barnes & Noble and through their own website, which offers the digital edition on stores like Amazon Kindle and Magzter. For a subscription, you can also buy directly from the official Asimov's Science Fiction website, which offers digital subscriptions for purchase.

For November 2025 group read SF novelette, on the menu is "The Last of Operation Shroud" by Alexander Jablokov. It is featured in the September October issue of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Since the story is so current I have no information right now to share on it. I'll try to read it soon to let you know something about it.

If you care to join in with this month's reading, but lack a subscription to the magazine, you can purchase the September-October 2025 Asimov's Science Fiction ebook from various digital platforms, including a single-issue purchase on Barnes & Noble and through their own website, which offers the digital edition on stores like Amazon Kindle and Magzter. For a subscription, you can also buy directly from the official Asimov's Science Fiction website, which offers digital subscriptions for purchase.

The SF short story for November 2025 is "Strays" by Scott William Carter, published in the September/October 2025 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. We're on the bleeding edge of new. Therefore, I have no information right now to share on this story. I'll try to read it soon to let you know something about it.

If you care to join in with this month's reading, but lack a subscription to the magazine, you can purchase the September-October 2025 Asimov's Science Fiction ebook from various digital platforms, including a single-issue purchase on Barnes & Noble and through their own website, which offers the digital edition on stores like Amazon Kindle and Magzter. For a subscription, you can also buy directly from the official Asimov's Science Fiction website, which offers digital subscriptions for purchase.

I give this story a generous three stars. It's an early AI-runs-amok-and-harms-all-mankind story. As such it might have been novel in 1962. Today, it doesn't quite rise to the level of pedestrian, and not even good writing saves it.

Another problem is that Ellison lacks the characterizations skills to set his story up properly. He doesn't introduce us to the characters and give us a chance to care about them before he starts having bad things happen to them. Rookie mistake.

The cannibalism is over the top too. So, what did I like about it? Hmm. Okay, downgrading it to two stars. Others who are curious about what an early AI menace story looks like can rate it higher.

For short story, I nominate "Shandy" by Ron Goulart. It was first published in If Worlds of Science Fiction, Vol. 8, No. 6, October 1958.

For the SF novelette category, I nominate "The Velvet Glove" by Harry Harrison, first published in Fantastic Universe, Vol. 6, No. 4, November 1956.

Please nominate up to two group-read worthy SF works shorter than a novel for us all to read together in December 2025.

No one nominated anything for November. Therefore, as a default I have decided to simply use three stories from the most recent issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, the September/October 2025 issue. It arrived in my mailbox today, October 27, 2025, which is odd because if that's the time the issue is getting to 'stands for sale, it already looks obsolete when judging by the dates. Most magazines choose time periods that are 1-3 months in advance.

Anyway, it looks like there are at least three excellent science fiction stories in our three categories ready to read. If you wish to, procure a copy and join in on the discussion this month. We'll be on the bleeding edge together!

I read this over a week ago and was not that impressed. I wanted to give it another more careful read, but so far can't bring myself to do it. Based on the one reading, I give the story a generous three stars.

It's about teleportation of human beings. My introduction to the concept was of course Star Trek Original Series. This teleportation is a little more primitive and more involved.

The reason I didn't care for the story is because I believe it's exceptionally poorly written. Much of the dialogue between the characters has the flimsiest of motivations and seems to be there to inform the reader. Much of the story happens in flashback. Other bits of it simply have explanations provided by one character to another. There's very little action, no characterization, and real antagonist. It's quite a weak story for a writer of King's stature to have composed.

He informs us after the end that the story was rejected by Omni because of its "wonky science." I actually don't have a problem granting King his starting scientific premises. I suspect the Omni editor rejected the story for the reasons I mention, but rather than tall King his writing sucked, thus messing up a relationship, gave him an excuse he thought King could better accept.

The closing plot twist, no doubt King's entire reason for writing the story in the first place, is cute, but not enough to justify the rest of the story and the way it was mistold. The plot itself is okay; it just required better presentation.

I went on to purchase Lamentation by Ken Scholes. I figured if he could write such a strong short story, his novel-writing ability might be worth the additional time investment. I am only on page 19, but the starting premise is wonderful.

It is a fantasy book, not SF. A loud explosion decimates a city. All that is left of it is a black cloud of smoke. We learn this from the perspective of three sets of characters who witness this event from outside the city. It's three separate stories so far from characters in different relationships to the city.

It looks like the story will be about finding out who blew up that city, how and why. And then what these three characters are going to do about it. Scholes' writing style appeals to me. It's easy enough to understand, yet sophisticated.

My copy of Skeleton Crew arrived today. It was a hardback, which surprised me. No dustcover of course, not for the low price I paid. Looking forward to starting it soon.

I ordered Skeleton Crew last week, used, for about $5 including tax and shipping. Then I realized, how silly of me. I could no doubt have requested it be sent me by my local library and I would have had a copy sooner and cheaper. Oh well, looking forward to having a jaunt in a week or so.

Wow! Modern SF authors sure can world build. Unlike in the days of yore they never hit you in the face with it via data dump. They just assume they can impart what the reader needs to know as they go. Written well, they're right. Sam J. Miller makes it look easy.

I must admit I am not much on the eco story. I mean the environment has been a thing ever since the concern started in the '60s. But follower of fashion I've never been. I recognize environmentalism's importance, but that still doesn't make me particularly passionate about the subject. Melting glaciers ruining NYC somehow makes me tired verging on bored. This aspect of the story will probably be appreciated by those who appreciate the gravity of that subject more.

Still, I have to give this story as high a rating as 3.5 stars because there is a human element to bring it together that at first seemed like drama churn to me. Nevertheless, it really captures teenage boys' attitudes well. The verisimilitude of the father's situation, and then the son's, and the tragedy of it all, drew me in even though I didn't want to be.

I just finished this and give it a solid four stars. Basically, it's an ascension story. The king is dying. Who in all the kingdom can take his place and how does he prove himself worthy. Put this in an SF setting. Add in some unexpected twists, awesome world-building, and good writing, and you have this story.

I loved it. I'm going to have to read another Scholes story sometime soon.

The second short story on offer this month is "Calved" by Sam J. Miller. This story first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2015, and was nominated for a Locus award. It too can be found in Forever Magazine, Issue 16, May 2016 among other places. It's been anthologized a lot, here: The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction, for example.

The short story "Calved" is a near-future climate fiction tale about an immigrant father, Dom, who works on an iceboat harvesting freshwater from Arctic glaciers to sell to drought-stricken nations after global flooding has destroyed cities like New York. The story focuses on Dom's strained relationship with his son, Thede, who resents his long absences and struggles to connect with his father amidst this near-apocalyptic world. The narrative explores themes of loss, father-son bonds, the struggle for connection, and the emotional toll of environmental disaster.