Tim Pratt » Blog Archive » Manic Nixie Dream Girl As an enticement to get people to contribute to my Kickstarter for Closing Doors, the last Marla Mason novel, here’s a Marla story that has never appeared online before: “Manic Nixie Dream Girl”. If you like it, you can show your appreciation by hurling money at me or encouraging others to do so, or both. www.kickstarter.com/projects/timpratt/closing-doors-the-last-marla-mason-novel The 10 Best Sci-Fi Fantasy Novels of 2015 So Far Generation ships, sentient forests, exploding moons — there has been no shortage of action, speculation, and mystery in the year’s best sci-fi and fantasy novels. These books are remarkable, too, for the way they brazenly combine tropes from many different genres. In several of these novels, for example, mythological, intellectual, and literary history combine in unfamiliar and enlightening ways. In others, the uncanny reigns and the human is decentered — whether we’re talking about a disturbing imaginary friend or a weaponized cat. Here are the best sci-fi and fantasy novels of the year so far. Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson
Chatter Monkey by Caroline Couderc Part of the attraction for the emissaries of planet Donar was a visit to the zoo. At ten sharp, the driver stopped in front of the compound and the delegation of six ambassadors and one host boarded the elegant chrome craft. "We've been really looking forward to this," ambassador Kellhoum said to the state secretary. "We haven't had any zoos on Donar since the uprising." "Very unpleasant story that," the secretary said, smiling and showing one long tooth. "We have upped the security after we've been informed of it.
‘Good Morning, Midnight’ and other best new science fiction and fantasy By Nancy HightowerAugust 16 "Good Morning, Midnight" by Lily Brooks-Dalton (Random House) Good Morning, Midnight (Random House) by Lily Brooks-Dalton is a beautifully written, sparse post-apocalyptic novel that explores memory, loss and identity. The narrative moves seamlessly between Augustine (Augie), a 78-year-old scientist at an observatory at the top of the Arctic archipelago, and Sullivan (Sully), a mission specialist on a deep space flight to Jupiter. Motivated by their deep curiosity of the natural world, both Sully and Augie have left their families and devoted their time to scientific inquiry in the most desolate of landscapes. Yet both must begin to re-evaluate these life choices when all communication goes dead as a result of a world-changing apocalyptic event.
EP516: Married Filed in 13 and Up, Podcasts on January 6, 2016 with 1 comment by Helena Bell narrated by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali This story first appeared in UPGRADED.Discuss on our forums. EP507: The Call of the Sky Filed in 10 and Up, Podcasts on October 22, 2015 with 2 comments by Cliff Winnigread by Marguerite Kenner This story was originally published in the anthology When the Hero Comes Home: 2.Discuss on our forums. Black Baccara by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold Baccara is one of the dark ones from among the ranks of the Rose Knights. She is a pale woman, needle-thin with large eyes dark as bruises. She always goes clad in satin of a color that falls somewhere between maroon and leaf mold. Baccara follows battle rather than leading it like most of her fellows, always in the service of the Armies of the Moon. Baccara can hear the whispers of the departing souls of the dead. From them she bargains for secrets.
A Cure Over Coffee by Pontius Paiva The church across the street looks busy for a Thursday. People shuffle in and out. I count the cars as they drag along the wet streets of town. The steam from the pavement and car exhausts rise and blend seamlessly into the morning mist. I sit at a little table outside a cafe, patiently waiting for the waitress to come back and freshen my cup of coffee. A Dance to End Our Final Day by Beth Cato - Evil Girlfriend Media Evil Girlfriend Media The world would end at 6:09 p.m., but Meg’s final batch of chocolate chip cookies would be done in three minutes. She had kept the dough in the fridge all night, chilling it to perfection, and began to bake before the sun even rose. It’s not as though sleep had a point. Will couldn’t grasp the concept of cookies for breakfast.
You're Doing the Best You Can by Heather Morris So you put on your headphones, and listen. In the universe where Cold War Kids is your favorite band it turns out that you never fled the city. You go to shows where you can stand alone in a sea full of strangers, and drink whisky to show how cool and edgy and different you are. Grad school didn't destroy every ounce of your self-worth, or if it did, you were strong enough to claw your way back. You overlook your own obsolescence and make eighty thousand dollars a year. You ignore the heart palpitations, the headaches, the phone calls from your parents, the warning signs, the hangovers, the loneliness, the fear.
Harlekin by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold Harlekin was fair as a maiden, with a blush to match. Women can possess the kind of beauty that was his and still be taken seriously, but not men--or so it seemed to the beautiful youth. Is it any wonder that he chose to wear particolor and play the clown?