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As an avid consumer of sci-fi and fantasy in all its forms, please allow me to say a few words about my favorite subject.
Tag Archives: short story
Flash review: Victory Citrus is Sweet by Thoraiya Dyer
This short story (missing the novelette category by a mere 15 words) has an interesting premise, a quirky central character and a hint of a redemption arc. It is a fun, quick read. However, if one thinks about it a … Continue reading
Hugos 2022 – Short Stories
The common thread of this year’s short story nominees is the lack of a twist or ambiguous ending. The stories are expertly written, but they seem to lack deeper meaning that one could discuss later, or contain something of a … Continue reading
Flash review: Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
Bears Discover Fire is one of the most decorated science fiction short stories. It has won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Sturgeon awards, among others, and has been nominated for even more. It is a wonderful bittersweet piece of writing, … Continue reading
Hugos 2021 – Short Stories
The finalists for this year’s short story Hugo Award were a pleasant surprise. A full half of them were actually science fiction, but I enjoyed the rest just as much. The quality of the writing was consistently high, which caused … Continue reading
Flash review: A Rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazny
Roger Zelazny was a master wordsmith, and Rose is one of his early masterpieces. It is so skillfully written that one doesn’t even notice that it is more akin to a Greek tragedy than to science fiction. And one doesn’t … Continue reading
Flash Review: The Little Black Bag by Cyril M. Kornbluth
This highly amusing and cynical short story hits all the right buttons. It contains a future that may be funny for some and terrifying for others. It has a highly emotional redemption arc. And a crime and punishment element so … Continue reading
Flash review: Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith
Before Alastair Reynolds and the Ultras, before the mind-numbing and soul-crushing emptiness of deep space travel, there was Smith and his Scanners. This is one of the first stories that combine Lovecraftian horror with space travel. It uses very vivid … Continue reading
Hugos 2020 – Short Stories
This year, the short story ballot was very strong. Unlike the last few years, the stories feel complete, gradually tapering off instead of an abrupt ending, and they all made actual sense to me. I found it quite difficult to … Continue reading
Hugos 2019 – Short Stories
This year’s short stories nominations for Hugos were a disappointment for me. I’ve read three of the six nominated stories last year, and my records indicate that none of the three were in my top twenty short stories. What’s more, … Continue reading
Hugos 2018 – Short Stories
I find many short stories more entertaining than novels. In my opinion, some of the best works of well-known authors, from Clarke, Bradbury and Asimov, to Brin and Gaiman, come in the form of short stories. Naturally, I was curious … Continue reading