Paul Emily Ryan’s Reviews > Event Horizon 2017 > Status Update

"Haunted" by Sarah Gailey; I read this in Up and Coming, but for the first time all collection I don't mind. I was positively delighted to see it come up in fact. I'm pretty sure I thought it was brilliant then, and it's still brilliant now. They really saved the best for last with this one. A genuine standout and a more than worthy finalist for the John W Campbell.

And done. :)

"When Anya Met Rigel" by S.L. Saboviec;short but sweet, and written in an appealingly conversational way. I like it! Despite the typo in the title.

"The Elissiad" by Asha Bardon; a rough but compelling mixture of sci-fi and mythology that nonetheless never really comes together like it should. Shades of N.K. Jemisin in there, but not quite as good.

"Game Not Over" by Ron S. Friedman; and now I've read this one already too. In fact I'm going to look up what I thought of it then, and I didn't like it. Some ways now I like it more, and some other ways I don't like it at all. Honestly it doesn't do much for me at all, and in a sense all it does is just raise further questions. Disappointing.

I don't know what I thought of Kelly Robson's "Two-Year Man", but it was in Up and Coming 2016, so I've decided to skip it. Honestly though, I'm kind of disappointed she seemingly didn't have anything new to submit this year.

"Only Then Consume Them" by Aimee Picchi; it's not bad, and the magic steampunk Robots were nice, but it didn't really do as much for me as I would've liked, new or otherwise. Could've done with a bit more overt lesbianism too, I didn't mind that it seemed like it was going down that road.

"Ghosts in the Machine" by Aaron Moskalik; well, that escalated quickly. But in a way I like! Really though all these stories that've been coming from Nature are pretty good, more than pretty good actually. Not so much stories as short, sharp glimpses of the future,

"The Beautiful Bird Sits No Longer Singing in the Nest" by Kate Lechler; it's all right, but it didn't do a whole lot for me and its ambiguity weirded me out maybe more than it should have.

"The Parasite and the Widow" by Jeremy M. Gottwig; in a way it's just a whole load of nothing, but that's not a bad thing either. Honestly it's nice to have a story that's only two characters meeting up briefly and passing the time, even if those characters happen to be a parasite and a widow.

"Walls of Nigeria" by Jeremy Szal; starts out as boring enough military sci-fi that then shifts into unnerving body horror. A little bland and familiar in its bones for my tastes, but I still like it.