Science Fiction: The Short Stuff discussion

Number: 1
Title: The Triad's Gift
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Year: 2006
Type: Short Story
Appearance: Deep Magic, #45, February 2006
Genre: Fantasy
Subgenre: Lovers' Triangle, Revenge
Number of Pages: 17
Series: None
Rating: 6
Recommended For: People who like revenge stories and fantasy.
Comments: This is probably de Bodard's first published story. It appeared in the February 2006 (#45) issue of Deep Magic, a now defunct but quite good webzine when it was being published. With patience and effort it is possible to pull this story up (from that magazine issue) and read it via scribd's website. Google AI can be your friend on the mechanics of how to do this, if necessary.
The story is about Arune's revenge. His friend unseated Arune from his kingdom, took his wife, and ruled the land. Arune took 12 years to make it back, plotting his revenge the entire time he was gone. But is revenge ever truly worthwhile? What if his friend and former lover haven't had such a great go of things in his absence? This is a fun story with a lot of atmosphere and worthwhile moral issues to ponder. The main thing holding it back for me is its slow pace and repetitiousness. Still, not a bad start for this author, who according to the anthologist's note was a college student finishing up her graduate studies when she wrote this.

Number: 2
Title: Most Things
Author: Rich Larson
Year: 2025
Type: Novelette
Appearance: Asimov's Science Fiction, July-August 2025
Genre: SF
Subgenre: Dystopia, Alien Invasion
Number of Pages: 21
Series: None
Rating: 6
Recommended For: People who like a little horror and dystopia with their SF
Comments: The story had a great starting premise, a well-crafted world, and a good inciting incident. However, by the end I felt the way had been lost and was ready for the story to close. In a near-future dystopia a drug-addled protagonist and friend are hired to perform the kidnapping of a scientist who inadvertently transported a murderous menace from another dimension into ours. Little do the would-be kidnappers know they're being turned into rescuers as the menace gives chase. And that's it. The story does not really take this premise anywhere. Another annoyance are the every-other-paragraph gratuitous f-bombs. There were none in the first two thirds of the story, but the author must have given up revising them out at that point because the last third contained far too many. Sloppy work. It's mostly amateur writers I see overusing profanity. I thought the editor of Asimov's preferred to purchase manuscripts without these. In any event, I guess she saw something in this story I didn't. It was nominated for a Nebula, somehow, which suggests to me that the competition this most recent year might have been really weak.

Number: 3
Title: Clover
Author: Charlie Jane Anders
Year: 2016
Type: Short Story
Appearance: Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2016 Edition
Genre: Fantasy
Subgenre: Cat Story
Number of Pages: ?
Series: None
Rating: 8
Recommended For: Gender fluid folks, cat lovers, urban fantasy enthusiasts, and people who like original thinking in otherwise conventionally told stories.
Comments: I have never read Charlie Jane Anders. LGTBQ+ writing is not a draw for me. But I don't rule anything out on that basis either. Anyway, although the main human relationship was between two men, the protagonist was their cat not liking being replaced by another cat. It was a good study on what cat life consists of, only told in a very interesting original way. I like how the mystical element was brought into the story. It was a subtle kind of side note and not really necessary, though it added slightly to the story. The narrative borders on magical realism and weird fiction in that the parameters of how the world operated were assumed and left unexplained. I didn't miss the explanation. The focus was on the cat's feelings upon gaining a new rival and the breakup of his humans' marriage. Poignant stuff! I'd read more Charlie Jane Anders. This story is in a free download of an anthology of really talented writers, made available by Tor.

Number: 4
Title: The New Accelerator
Author: H. G. Wells
Year: 1901
Type: Short Story
Appearance: First published in The Strand Magazine in December 1901; later included in Wells’ collection Twelve Stories and a Dream (1903) and the first edition of Amazing Stories in 1926.
Genre: Science fiction
Subgenre: Scientific innovation and its consequences, perception and time
Number of Pages: 28
Series: None
Rating: 8
Recommended For: Science fiction history fans.
Comments: A classic 1901 story about a drug that dramatically accelerates human perception and action, making the world appear almost frozen to the user. It's an early exploration of the DC Comics' concept of The Flash. This treatment is darker as H.G. Wells’ explores the possibilities and perils of scientific advancement.

Number: 5
Title: In the Halls of the Makeshift King
Author: Tobias S. Buckell
Year: 2025
Type: Short Story
Appearance: First published in Asimov's Science Fiction, July-August 2025
Genre: Science fiction
Subgenre: Religious.
Number of Pages: 9
Series: None
Rating: 2
Recommended For: No one.
Comments: I have the feeling the editor bought this story on the strength of the name that wrote it alone. She said, "Tobias examines how we find meaning in the practices that are handed down to us through the generations." I guess the point is that the practices have no point other than that which is assigned by the devotees. I don't consider this to be a point worth making and therefore not fodder for a story.

Number: 6
Title: Once Upon a Monbeast...
Author: Charles E. Fritch
Year: 1952
Type: Short Story
Appearance: Imagination (March 1952), but I read it in The 55th Golden Age of Science Fiction MEGAPACK®: Charles E. Fritch.
Genre: Science fiction
Subgenre: Metafiction
Number of Pages: 7
Series: None
Rating: 8
Recommended For: People who like science fiction that's quirky, light, and autobiographical in a metafiction sense.
Comment: A story about why Charles E. Fritch should not be a science fiction author.