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talkstowolvesAs you've no doubt noticed already, Locus released their 2009 Recommended Reading List this week. It is chock-full of awesome, as you would expect. Parts of it also include a number of shorter works available online, and nearly all of them free of charge. For this week's free fiction highlights, I've decided to reproduce part of the Recommended Reading List here, with all the freely available1 stories appropriately linked.
I have no thoughts to share on any of them yet, sadly, for I haven't had time to finish reading any! I have started Catherynne M. Valente's "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew," however; so far, it is quite interesting.
Locus Recommended Reading List, Shorter Works2
Short Stories
"On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk", Peter M. Ball (Strange Horizons 7/6/09)
"Strappado", Laird Barron (Poe)
"Home Again", Paul M. Berger (Interzone 3-4/09)
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf", Holly Black (Troll's Eye View)
"The Coldest Girl in Coldtown", Holly Black (The Eternal Kiss)
"Under The Shouting Sky", Karl Bunker (Cosmos 8-9/09)
"Baby in the Basket", Cecil Castellucci (Strange Horizons 5/18/09)
"Voice Like a Cello", Catherine Cheek (Fantasy 5/4/09)
"Early Winter, Near Jenli Village", J. Kathleen Cheney (Fantasy 5/4/09)
"Three Fancies from the Infernal Garden", C.S.E. Cooney (Subterranean Winter '09)
"Erosion", Ian Creasey (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Bad Matter", Alexandra Duncan (F&SF 12/09)
"Lady of the White-Spired City", Sarah L. Edwards (Interzone 5-6/09)
"The Pelican Bar", Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
"An Invocation of Incuriosity", Neil Gaiman (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"As Women Fight", Sara Genge (Asimov's 12/09)
"Child-Empress of Mars", Theodora Goss (Interfictions 2)
"A Story, With Beans", Steven Gould (Analog 5/09)
"Butterfly Bomb", Dominic Green (Interzone 5-6/09)
"Salt's Father", Eric Gregory (Strange Horizons 8/03/09)
"In the Lot and in the Air", Lisa Hannett (Clarkesworld 7/09)
"Spar", Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Collision", Gwyneth Jones (When It Changed)
"Going Deep", James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's 6/09)
"The Logic of the World", Robert Kelly (Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between)
"The Motorman's Coat", John Kessel (F&SF 6-7/09)
"Echoes of Aurora", Ellen Klages (What Remains)
"Singing on a Star", Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
"Dulce Domum", Ellen Kushner (Eclipse Three)
On the Human Plan", Jay Lake (Lone Star Stories 2/1/09)
"Ferryman", Margo Lanagan (Firebirds Soaring)
"Living Curiosities", Margo Lanagan (Sideshow)
"The Cinderella Game", Kelly Link (Troll's Eye View)
"Excellence", Richard A. Lovett (Analog 1-2/09)
"Useless Things", Maureen F. McHugh (Eclipse Three)
"Catalog", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 2/09)
"The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale", Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21)
"Her Voice in a Bottle", Tim Pratt (Subterranean Winter '09)
"Narrative of a Beast's Life", Cat Rambo (Realms of Fantasy 12/09)
"Before My Last Breath", Robert Reed (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Tests", Robert Reed (Postscripts 20/21)
"Edison's Frankenstein", Chris Roberson (Postscripts 20/21)
"Writ of Exception", Madeleine E. Robins (Lace and Blade 2)
"My She", Mary Rosenblum (Federations)
"Colliding Branes", Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling (Asimov's 2/09)
"The Men Burned All the Boats", Patricia Russo (Fantasy 2/9/09)
"Blocked", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/09)
"Of Melei, of Ulthar", Gord Sellar (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Wizard's Apprentice", Delia Sherman (Troll's Eye View)
What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night, Michael Marshall Smith (Nightjar Press)
"Bob Choi's Last Job", Jonathan Stroud (The Dragon Book)
"The Dying World", Lavie Tidhar (Clarkesworld 4/09)
"The Shangri-La Affair", Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons 1/19/09)
"Ragged Claws", Lisa Tuttle (Postscripts 20/21)
"A Delicate Architecture", Catherynne M. Valente (Troll's Eye View)
"The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/09)
"Bespoke", Genevieve Valentine (Strange Horizons 7/27/09)
"Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction", Jo Walton (Tor.com 2/6/09)
"Three Twilight Tales", Jo Walton (Firebirds Soaring)
"Donovan Sent Us", Gene Wolfe (Other Earths)
"The Horse Angel", Marly Youmans (Postscripts 20/21)
Novelettes
"Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor's Vengeance", Daniel Abraham (Postscripts 19)
"The Best Monkey", Daniel Abraham (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
"A Tiny Feast", Chris Adrian (The New Yorker)
"Things Undone", John Barnes (Jim Baen's Universe 12/09)
"Formidable Caress", Stephen Baxter (Analog 12/09)
"By Moonlight", Peter S. Beagle (We Never Talk About My Brother)
"Vanishing", Peter S. Beagle (Intergalactic Medicine Show 3/09) (Note: Preview only, have to pay $2.50 to read the rest.)
"The Qualia Engine", Damien Broderick (Asimov's 8/09)
"This Wind Blowing, and this Tide", Damien Broderick (Asimov's 4-5/09)
"Truth and Bone", Pat Cadigan (Poe)
"Lowland Sea", Suzy McKee Charnas (Poe)
"One of our Bastards is Missing", Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
"Healing Benjamin", Dennis Danvers (Realms of Fantasy 8/09)
"Yes We Have No Bananas", Paul Di Filippo (Eclipse Three)
"The Lion's Den", Steve Duffy (Cern Zoo: Nemonymous Nine)
"The Dragaman's Bride", Andy Duncan (The Dragon Book)
"each thing i show you is a piece of my death", Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
"The Death of Sugar Daddy", Toiya Kristen Finley (Electric Velocipede Spring '09)
"Sails Above Greensea", Adam Corbin Fusco (Realms of Fantasy 4/09)
"Economancer", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 6-7/09)
"It Takes Two", Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)
"Dragon's Deep", Cecelia Holland (The Dragon Book)
"Dragon's Teeth", Alex Irvine (F&SF 12/09)
"Seventh Fall", Alex Irvine (Subterranean Summer '09)
"The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles", Kij Johnson (Tor.com 7/14/09)
"Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance", John Kessel (The New Space Opera 2)
"Galapagos", Caitlín R. Kiernan (Eclipse Three)
"Blood Dauber", Ted Kosmatka & Michael Poore (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"First Flight", Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor.com 8/25/09)
"A Wild and a Wicked Youth", Ellen Kushner (F&SF 4-5/09)
"Technicolor", John Langan (Poe)
"Clockatrice", Tanith Lee (Fantasy 10/5/09)
"The Pain of Glass", Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
"The Bones of Giants", Yoon Ha Lee (F&SF 8-9/09)
"Secret Identity", Kelly Link (Geektastic)
"Diana Comet", Sandra McDonald (Strange Horizons 3/2 - 3/9/09)
"White Charles", Sarah Monette (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Mongoose", Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear (Lovecraft Unbound)
"The Heart of the City", Garth Nix (Subterranean Summer '09)
"The Long, Cold Goodbye", Holly Phillips (Asimov's 3/09)
"Thieves of Silence", Holly Phillips (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 7/16/09)
"Controlled Experiment", Tom Purdom (Asimov's 6/09)
"Siren Beat", Tansy Rayner Roberts (Siren Beat/Roadkill)
"Hair", Adam Roberts (When It Changed)
"SinBad the Sand Sailor", R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's 7/09)
"Wife-Stealing Time", R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Cracklegrackle", Justina Robson (The New Space Opera 2)
"Lion Walk", Mary Rosenblum (Asimov's 1/09)
"You", Geoff Ryman (When It Changed)
"A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon", Ken Scholes (Tor.com 2/17/09)
"Sylgarmo's Proclamation", Lucius Shepard (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale", Robert Silverberg (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"Infinities", Vandana Singh (The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet)
"Black Swan", Bruce Sterling (Interzone 3-4/09)
"Monetized", Jason Stoddard (Interzone 2/09)
"Zeppelin City", Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn (Tor.com 10/6/09)
"Eros, Philia, Agape", Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/3/09)
"The City Quiet as Death", Steven Utley & Michael Bishop (Tor.com 6/9/09)
"Riders of the Three-Toed Horse", Garrett W. Vance (Jim Baen's Universe 2/09) (Note: Preview, with option to pay for access to archives.)
"Conquistador de la Noche", Carrie Vaughn (Subterranean Spring '09)
"The Island", Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)
"Sails the Morne", Chris Willrich (Asimov's 6/09)
"This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher
Stowe", Robert Charles Wilson (Other Earths)
"Utriusque Cosmi", Robert Charles Wilson (The New Space Opera 2)
"Everland", Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)
"Twilight of the Gods", John C. Wright (Federations)
Novellas
The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
Horn, Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)
"Sugar", Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit 4/5/09)
"Cuckoo", Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, & Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit 8/2/09)
"Paradiso Lost", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 6-7/09)
"Hot Rock", Greg Egan (Oceanic)
"Where the Winds Are All Asleep", Michael F. Flynn (Analog 10/09)
"Wives", Paul Haines (X6)
The Push, Dave Hutchinson (NewCon Press)
"Act One", Nancy Kress (Asimov's 3/09)
"Sea-Hearts", Margo Lanagan (X6)
"The Wide, Carnivorous Sky", John Langan (By Blood We Live)
"Crimes and Glory", Paul McAuley (Subterranean Spring '09)
"Vishnu at the Cat Circus", Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)
Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon)
A Special Place, Peter Straub (Borderlands Press)
"Palimpsest", Charles Stross (Wireless)
"The Far End of History", John C. Wright (The New Space Opera 2)
1. Two of the stories linked are only previews with the option to purchase access to the rest of the story. The sites that go with this model are Intergalactic Medicine Show and Jim Baen's Universe.
2. I've followed Locus' conventions in this list, italicizing magazine titles and bolding book titles.
This entry originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.
I have no thoughts to share on any of them yet, sadly, for I haven't had time to finish reading any! I have started Catherynne M. Valente's "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew," however; so far, it is quite interesting.
Short Stories
"On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk", Peter M. Ball (Strange Horizons 7/6/09)
"Strappado", Laird Barron (Poe)
"Home Again", Paul M. Berger (Interzone 3-4/09)
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf", Holly Black (Troll's Eye View)
"The Coldest Girl in Coldtown", Holly Black (The Eternal Kiss)
"Under The Shouting Sky", Karl Bunker (Cosmos 8-9/09)
"Baby in the Basket", Cecil Castellucci (Strange Horizons 5/18/09)
"Voice Like a Cello", Catherine Cheek (Fantasy 5/4/09)
"Early Winter, Near Jenli Village", J. Kathleen Cheney (Fantasy 5/4/09)
"Three Fancies from the Infernal Garden", C.S.E. Cooney (Subterranean Winter '09)
"Erosion", Ian Creasey (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Bad Matter", Alexandra Duncan (F&SF 12/09)
"Lady of the White-Spired City", Sarah L. Edwards (Interzone 5-6/09)
"The Pelican Bar", Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
"An Invocation of Incuriosity", Neil Gaiman (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"As Women Fight", Sara Genge (Asimov's 12/09)
"Child-Empress of Mars", Theodora Goss (Interfictions 2)
"A Story, With Beans", Steven Gould (Analog 5/09)
"Butterfly Bomb", Dominic Green (Interzone 5-6/09)
"Salt's Father", Eric Gregory (Strange Horizons 8/03/09)
"In the Lot and in the Air", Lisa Hannett (Clarkesworld 7/09)
"Spar", Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Collision", Gwyneth Jones (When It Changed)
"Going Deep", James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's 6/09)
"The Logic of the World", Robert Kelly (Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between)
"The Motorman's Coat", John Kessel (F&SF 6-7/09)
"Echoes of Aurora", Ellen Klages (What Remains)
"Singing on a Star", Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
"Dulce Domum", Ellen Kushner (Eclipse Three)
On the Human Plan", Jay Lake (Lone Star Stories 2/1/09)
"Ferryman", Margo Lanagan (Firebirds Soaring)
"Living Curiosities", Margo Lanagan (Sideshow)
"The Cinderella Game", Kelly Link (Troll's Eye View)
"Excellence", Richard A. Lovett (Analog 1-2/09)
"Useless Things", Maureen F. McHugh (Eclipse Three)
"Catalog", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 2/09)
"The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale", Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21)
"Her Voice in a Bottle", Tim Pratt (Subterranean Winter '09)
"Narrative of a Beast's Life", Cat Rambo (Realms of Fantasy 12/09)
"Before My Last Breath", Robert Reed (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Tests", Robert Reed (Postscripts 20/21)
"Edison's Frankenstein", Chris Roberson (Postscripts 20/21)
"Writ of Exception", Madeleine E. Robins (Lace and Blade 2)
"My She", Mary Rosenblum (Federations)
"Colliding Branes", Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling (Asimov's 2/09)
"The Men Burned All the Boats", Patricia Russo (Fantasy 2/9/09)
"Blocked", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/09)
"Of Melei, of Ulthar", Gord Sellar (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Wizard's Apprentice", Delia Sherman (Troll's Eye View)
What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night, Michael Marshall Smith (Nightjar Press)
"Bob Choi's Last Job", Jonathan Stroud (The Dragon Book)
"The Dying World", Lavie Tidhar (Clarkesworld 4/09)
"The Shangri-La Affair", Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons 1/19/09)
"Ragged Claws", Lisa Tuttle (Postscripts 20/21)
"A Delicate Architecture", Catherynne M. Valente (Troll's Eye View)
"The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/09)
"Bespoke", Genevieve Valentine (Strange Horizons 7/27/09)
"Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction", Jo Walton (Tor.com 2/6/09)
"Three Twilight Tales", Jo Walton (Firebirds Soaring)
"Donovan Sent Us", Gene Wolfe (Other Earths)
"The Horse Angel", Marly Youmans (Postscripts 20/21)
Novelettes
"Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor's Vengeance", Daniel Abraham (Postscripts 19)
"The Best Monkey", Daniel Abraham (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
"A Tiny Feast", Chris Adrian (The New Yorker)
"Things Undone", John Barnes (Jim Baen's Universe 12/09)
"Formidable Caress", Stephen Baxter (Analog 12/09)
"By Moonlight", Peter S. Beagle (We Never Talk About My Brother)
"Vanishing", Peter S. Beagle (Intergalactic Medicine Show 3/09) (Note: Preview only, have to pay $2.50 to read the rest.)
"The Qualia Engine", Damien Broderick (Asimov's 8/09)
"This Wind Blowing, and this Tide", Damien Broderick (Asimov's 4-5/09)
"Truth and Bone", Pat Cadigan (Poe)
"Lowland Sea", Suzy McKee Charnas (Poe)
"One of our Bastards is Missing", Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
"Healing Benjamin", Dennis Danvers (Realms of Fantasy 8/09)
"Yes We Have No Bananas", Paul Di Filippo (Eclipse Three)
"The Lion's Den", Steve Duffy (Cern Zoo: Nemonymous Nine)
"The Dragaman's Bride", Andy Duncan (The Dragon Book)
"each thing i show you is a piece of my death", Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
"The Death of Sugar Daddy", Toiya Kristen Finley (Electric Velocipede Spring '09)
"Sails Above Greensea", Adam Corbin Fusco (Realms of Fantasy 4/09)
"Economancer", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 6-7/09)
"It Takes Two", Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)
"Dragon's Deep", Cecelia Holland (The Dragon Book)
"Dragon's Teeth", Alex Irvine (F&SF 12/09)
"Seventh Fall", Alex Irvine (Subterranean Summer '09)
"The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles", Kij Johnson (Tor.com 7/14/09)
"Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance", John Kessel (The New Space Opera 2)
"Galapagos", Caitlín R. Kiernan (Eclipse Three)
"Blood Dauber", Ted Kosmatka & Michael Poore (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"First Flight", Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor.com 8/25/09)
"A Wild and a Wicked Youth", Ellen Kushner (F&SF 4-5/09)
"Technicolor", John Langan (Poe)
"Clockatrice", Tanith Lee (Fantasy 10/5/09)
"The Pain of Glass", Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
"The Bones of Giants", Yoon Ha Lee (F&SF 8-9/09)
"Secret Identity", Kelly Link (Geektastic)
"Diana Comet", Sandra McDonald (Strange Horizons 3/2 - 3/9/09)
"White Charles", Sarah Monette (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Mongoose", Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear (Lovecraft Unbound)
"The Heart of the City", Garth Nix (Subterranean Summer '09)
"The Long, Cold Goodbye", Holly Phillips (Asimov's 3/09)
"Thieves of Silence", Holly Phillips (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 7/16/09)
"Controlled Experiment", Tom Purdom (Asimov's 6/09)
"Siren Beat", Tansy Rayner Roberts (Siren Beat/Roadkill)
"Hair", Adam Roberts (When It Changed)
"SinBad the Sand Sailor", R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's 7/09)
"Wife-Stealing Time", R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Cracklegrackle", Justina Robson (The New Space Opera 2)
"Lion Walk", Mary Rosenblum (Asimov's 1/09)
"You", Geoff Ryman (When It Changed)
"A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon", Ken Scholes (Tor.com 2/17/09)
"Sylgarmo's Proclamation", Lucius Shepard (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale", Robert Silverberg (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"Infinities", Vandana Singh (The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet)
"Black Swan", Bruce Sterling (Interzone 3-4/09)
"Monetized", Jason Stoddard (Interzone 2/09)
"Zeppelin City", Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn (Tor.com 10/6/09)
"Eros, Philia, Agape", Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/3/09)
"The City Quiet as Death", Steven Utley & Michael Bishop (Tor.com 6/9/09)
"Riders of the Three-Toed Horse", Garrett W. Vance (Jim Baen's Universe 2/09) (Note: Preview, with option to pay for access to archives.)
"Conquistador de la Noche", Carrie Vaughn (Subterranean Spring '09)
"The Island", Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)
"Sails the Morne", Chris Willrich (Asimov's 6/09)
"This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher
Stowe", Robert Charles Wilson (Other Earths)
"Utriusque Cosmi", Robert Charles Wilson (The New Space Opera 2)
"Everland", Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)
"Twilight of the Gods", John C. Wright (Federations)
Novellas
The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
Horn, Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)
"Sugar", Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit 4/5/09)
"Cuckoo", Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, & Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit 8/2/09)
"Paradiso Lost", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 6-7/09)
"Hot Rock", Greg Egan (Oceanic)
"Where the Winds Are All Asleep", Michael F. Flynn (Analog 10/09)
"Wives", Paul Haines (X6)
The Push, Dave Hutchinson (NewCon Press)
"Act One", Nancy Kress (Asimov's 3/09)
"Sea-Hearts", Margo Lanagan (X6)
"The Wide, Carnivorous Sky", John Langan (By Blood We Live)
"Crimes and Glory", Paul McAuley (Subterranean Spring '09)
"Vishnu at the Cat Circus", Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)
Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon)
A Special Place, Peter Straub (Borderlands Press)
"Palimpsest", Charles Stross (Wireless)
"The Far End of History", John C. Wright (The New Space Opera 2)
1. Two of the stories linked are only previews with the option to purchase access to the rest of the story. The sites that go with this model are Intergalactic Medicine Show and Jim Baen's Universe.
2. I've followed Locus' conventions in this list, italicizing magazine titles and bolding book titles.
This entry originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.