Status Updates From The Best American Science F...

LOVED seanan McGuires story each to each

Read Jess Row’s “The Empties,” which suffered from its being a non-SFF writer’s attempt at crafting a post-apocalyptic future; Kelly Sandoval’s “The One They Took Before,” a somewhat evocative but sketchy tale of the Fae; T.C. Boyle’s intriguing but melodramatic “The Relive Box”; and the fantastic, funny, and moving “How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps” by A. Merc Rustad.

Read Nathan Ballingrud’s “Skullpocket,” a clever, darkly funny Southern Gothic take on a group ghouls’ relationship with the human inhabitants in a small town; and Kelly Link’s extremely funny and inventive and oddball “I Can See Right Through You.” I’m definitely going to seek out more of her work.

Read Daniel H. Wilson’s compact, impactful “The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever”

Read Sam J. Miller’s “We Are the Cloud,” which had very intriguing aspects, and some surprisingly vivid queer content, but also didn’t totally coalesce.

Read Adam-Troy Castro’s wonderfully amusing and surprisingly sweet “The Thing About Shapes to Come”

Read Susan Palwick’s tender, compact “Windows”

Read “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back,” an enjoyable little trifle of a tale by the now-known-to-be-very-problematic Neil Gaiman

Read Jo Walton’s intriguing “Sleeper”

Read Theodora Goss’s fascinating, haunting “Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology”

Read Sofia Samatar’s evocative, inventive anti-colonization story “Ogres of East Africa”

Read Seanan McGuire’s mermaid tale “Each to Each.” This is my second encounter with her work, and I’m once again pretty allergic to what she offers. I recognize that she has intriguing ideas and that her voice is distinctive in its own way. But I have bounced off of caring about any of her characters, and I don’t find myself buying into the worlds she creates.

Read “How to Get Back to the Forest” by Sofia Samatar, “Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead” by Carmen Maria Machado, “Tortoiseshell Cats Are Not Refundable” by Cat Rambo, “The Bad Graft” by Karen Russell, and “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i” by Alaya Dawn Johnson. All are vividly written, featuring bold ideas. Of these, I most enjoyed Machado’s darkly funny and sad story.