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Well the midnight hour has passed and with it our two-day science fiction short story event. I personally had a wonderful time hosting the event and participating as well. I managed to read stories from:

The Starry Rift anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan
Eclipse Two anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan
Pump Six and Other Stories, by Paolo Bacigalupi
The New Space Opera, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Galactic North, by Alastair Reynolds
The World Turned Upside Down, edited by David Drake, Eric Flint, and Jim Baen

and online stories from:

Best Science Fiction Stories

All told I managed to read 14 short stories over the two day period. I am incredibly pleased with the variety and quality of the stories I read and am thankful I was able to crack into so many different books during the mini-challenge.

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s experiences throughout the weekend and would like to share mini-reviews of mine. At the end you can also take a peek at who the three winners for this mini-challenge are!

Out of This World Mini-Challenge, Saturday January 17th:

What’s Expected Of Us ~Ted Chiang (3.75/5 stars)

–2005, Nature Magazine
–1 page

*Can be read online here.

My first experience with the work of Ted Chiang was a fun one. A quick, potentially insanity-inducing, warning for you, the reader. The primary hook of the story brought to mind the excellent Twilight Zone episode, Nick of Time, starring William Shatner.

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Pocketful of Dharma ~Paolo Bacigalupi (4/5 stars)

–1999, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Feb. 99)
–read from Bacigalupi’s 2008 anthology, Pump Six and Other Stories.
–24 pages

A story set in China’s future, where a young beggar child, seeking enough coin to address his increasing hunger, comes into possession of a data-cube containing a mystery of great potential worth.

Firefly-esque dialogue and the description of a city that is a living, growing organism lent a great deal of interest to this story. Suspenseful, with an unforeseen revelation, this is a heartily satisfying story right up until the end…which is unfortunately weak. This could have easily been a 5 star story with a slightly stronger finish.

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Ass-Hat Magic Spider ~Scott Westerfield (5/5 stars)

–2008, The Starry Rift anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan
–10 pages

My first, but not last, experience with Scott Westerfield.

I can say, without fear of reprisal, that this is a story that any lover of reading would enjoy, regardless of their feelings about science fiction.

Westerfield has crafted, within the framework of a science fiction story, a true love letter to the pleasure derived from reading. Highly Recommended!

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Elevator ~Nancy Kress (4.25/5 stars)

–2008, Eclipse Two anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan
–11 pages

One look at the name and you can pretty much guess what is going to happen. But that doesn’t matter. It isn’t really the point. The elevator doors close, the players in this little drama are in position, and the inevitable happens. It is at this point that Nancy Kress takes a well worn setting and adds suspense, mystery, and a woman who may just be able to see into the private lives of those stranded together in the elevator.

Kress’ narrative voice and pacing had me locked into the story, and though the ending contains a slightly vague exchange between two characters, I still really enjoyed this story.

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The Game of Rat and Dragon ~Cordwainer Smith (4.25/5 stars)

–1955, Galaxy Science Fiction magazine
–9 pages

Can be read online here.

Recently I said all I needed to say about how great Cordwainer Smith was as a writer. He is a must-read author in my opinion. Thus I was excited to see this story in Rusty’s recommendations on Best Science Fiction Stories for choices for this weekend’s challenge.

My brief experience with Cordwainer Smith is that he tells accessible stories with ideas that I have not seen elsewhere in my reading. He does the same with The Game of Rat and Dragon, which tells the tale of an unconventional method of protecting ships during interstellar travel–a method called ‘pin-lighting’. Pin-lighting is a combination of technology and telepathy in which humans work together with “Partners”. Who the Partners are and how this experience works is the essence of this short story and so I won’t spoil the fun!

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Out of This World Mini-Challenge, Sunday January 18th:

Cheats ~Anne Halam (aka Gwyneth Jones) (4/5 stars)

–2008, The Starry Rift anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan
–23 pages

Syl and her brother Dev have an unusual relationship, they buck stereotypes and actually enjoy spending time with one another. Both have the kind of minds for adventure and imagination that remind the reader of just how precious childhood is and how important it is to remain child-like in some aspects as we grow older. Their adventures will make you wish you could drop everything and go outside to play, they will make you wish our advanced gaming technology was even more advanced, and ultimately writer Anne Halam will poignantly remind you of the emotional ebb and flow of the human experience.

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The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm ~Daryl Gregory (5/5 stars)

–2008, Eclipse Two anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan
–19 pages

A fantastic working man’s…in this case working woman’s…view of the catastrophic results of living on a planet with Marvel-comics-like superheroes and supervillians. This could be read as a thinly veiled commentary on war, but as such it does not feel overly one-sided or judgmental. Instead the story reveals a fascinating world with the kind of interesting characters that could make for several short stories and/or novels. The protagonist, Elena Pendareva, is a relatable character who shows her strength and humanity as the story progresses. Not every short story feels like a complete story. This one does and for that reason also it deserves its 5 out of 5 star rating.

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Exhalation ~Ted Chiang (5/5 stars)

–2008, Eclipse Two anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan
–15 pages

“It has long been said that air (which others call argon) is the source of life. This is not in fact the case, and I engrave these words to describe how I came to understand the true source of life and, as a corollary, the means by which life will one day end”.

So begins the account of our narrator as he matter-of-factly describes life and his discovery about the source of life. A fascinating tale as this universe, this ‘life’, appears to be that of mechanized creations. Of robots. I couldn’t help but picture this image created by Brian Despain as I read this excellent story.

No more needs to be said except that I had visions of steampunk and clockworks and felt a nice emotional tug at the end of the story.

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The Only Thing We Learn ~C.M. Kornbluth (3.75/5 stars)

–1949, Startling Stories (July ’49)
–read from The World Turned Upside Down anthology
–10 pages

Can be read online here.

“What experience and history teach is this: that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history.” ~Hegel

In his preface to this story, David Drake mentions that this was the story that taught him, at age thirteen, that unlike comic book heroes and villians, “the definition of ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ depended upon your frame of reference”.

The lecture that frames this story is a bit odd, but it sets up a great story-within-a-story that could be both a commentary on those in history who set out to conquer new frontiers as well as the plot summary for many of the stories and films that have been popular over the decades since this story was first published.

Fantastic description of a battle that is every bit as entertaining to read as all those space battles in science fiction films that we all love to see.

One of the greatest things about delving into science fiction short stories is the opportunity to discover arguably great science fiction authors that one has never heard of. I was not alive during the Golden Age of Science Fiction and it is a real joy to experience these authors.

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Dilation Sleep ~Alastair Reynolds (3.5/5 stars)

–1990, Interzone 39 (September 1990)
–read from Galactic North anthology
–15 pages

I picked up this collection, and the novel Chasm City, from the library after John Denardo (from SF Signal) listed them on his Best of the Year 2008 list. In his review of the anthology, Galactic North, John mentions that this “is the earliest story written in the Revelation Space universe and correspondingly shows the some initial unsteadiness of universe and perhaps the writer as well.”

All I can say is that if this is an example of his lesser abilities, I am really going to enjoy reading Alastair Reynolds.

I agree with John’s assessment of the story, one in which the protagonist is awoken from the deep sleep required for space travel, by the ships’ computer. The reason that Uri is awoken is not immediately known, and he begins to get very suspicious when he starts seeing a shadowy figure in more remote, dark areas of the ship. Reynolds creates a great atmosphere of solitude and suspicion, and builds the paranoia and potential menace slowly as the events in the story progress. Where the story breaks down slightly is in the execution of the great revelation at the climax. It is a little clunky and not nearly as crisp as the rest of the story.

That said this was a good read and makes me anxious to get deeper into this collection.

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Falling Onto Mars ~Geoffrey A. Landis (4/5 stars)

–2002, Analog Science Fiction and Fact (July/August)
–2003 Hugo Award for Best Short Story
–4 pages

Can be read online here.

A brutal, well-realized, punch-in-the-gut history of the populating of the planet Mars. This is not a feel good story in any sense of the word, but it is intense and interesting and, as an examination of the nature of government and the animal urge to survive, it is not at all far-fetched.

Interestingly enough, according to the review on Best Science Fiction Stories, Landis “was a member of the Sojourner Rover team on the successful Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997.”

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The Nine Billion Names of God ~Arthur C. Clarke (4.25/5 stars)

–1953, Star Science Fiction Stories
–2004 winner of a retro Hugo for Best Short Story
–8 pages

Can be read online here.

Everyone…and I do mean everyone…seemed to be reading this one for the mini-challenge and I decided enough was enough and I needed to do so as well. This is only my second Clarke story ever and I have thoroughly enjoyed them both.

A group of Tibetan monks hire a computer and a couple of programmers to help them complete a 300 year long project that would be destined to take much longer without technological help–to map out all the names of God. A short story like this is all set up, it is all about the end. And the end was quite fun. At the same time, if you think about it, the end could be considered quite horrifying!

Definitely worth a read, and this is so short it will take you no time at all. Check out Rusty’s review for more information.

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Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359 ~Ken MacLeod (3/5 stars)

–2007, The New Space Opera, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
–Nominated for 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story
–12 pages

Can be read online here.

The story starts with a couple of very interesting lines:

“When you’re as old as I am, you’ll find your memory’s not what it was. It’s not that you lose memories…My trouble is that I’ve gained memories, and I don’t know which of them are real.”

The narrator goes on to tell the story of how he accepts the assignment to clean up planet Wolf 359 after legal trouble leaves him with no other options.

It is apparent as you read that MacLeod can write. The story is interesting and engaging for the most part. When it ended, however, I found myself disappointed with the final act of the story. It could have been much more interesting had the author taken some more time to more clearly lay out all that he was trying to say at the end. My other complaint is that I just didn’t see how the memory quotes, which I really liked, were relevant at all to the story.

Not a bad story, just not great either.

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Orange ~Neil Gaiman (3.5/5 stars)

–2008, The Starry Rift anthology, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
–10 pages

Orange is a fun little story and was an entertaining way for me to wrap up my own participation in the Out of This World Mini-Challenge. One thing that is true about Gaiman is that he is an experimental writer, always willing to try something new, and in that fashion many of his stories feel unique. Orange is no exception. Oddly enough in this day of blogs and online journals this story feels an awful lot like a meme. It is a story told only in answers…answers to questions that the reader cannot hear. This makes for an intriguing one-way conversation that allows you to piece the majority of the story together. To be sure, there are some answers that leave you wondering just what the question was, but that is intentional and part of the charm.

No where close to my favorite Neil Gaiman short story, but that doesn’t diminish the entertainment value. I believe Gaiman is a master of the medium and I have rarely read a short story of his that didn’t confirm that belief.

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I want to thank you all so very much for your enthusiastic participation in the Out of This World Mini-Challenge. I hope it managed to put a smile on your face and I have no doubt that it did so for Dewey. I plan on linking up with Robin and Chris again during the Once Upon a Time III Challenge and also the R.I.P. IV Challenge to host weekend short story mini-challenges as well and I hope you’ll join us again for those events.

Okay! So there were three great books up for giveaway for this challenge. I put a name in the hat for each story that you read and an extra one for each one you read on the Best Science Fiction Stories site if you left a comment over there. Needless to say, some of you had your names in many, many times!

First up, the winner of the hardback copy of Dava Sobel’s book, The Planets is:

Chris!!! Who coincidentally enough mentioned wanting to get a copy of this. Fate played fair by him as his was the first name I drew out of the large vat of entries, and multiple entries!!!

The winner of the highly touted Fast Forward 2 anthology is:

Lynda!!! Who read at least 23 short stories over the weekend. Way to go Lynda!

And finally, the winner of The New Space Opera anthology is:

Kailana!!! Who enjoyed herself and the stories she chose even though the short story medium and sci fi genre are not necessarily her thing!

I believe I have your addresses Chris and Kailana. Lynda, please send an email to cvincent68 (at) comcast (dot) net with your address.

Once again everyone, thanks a million for participating. I hope you all consider yourselves winners because of the great stories you discovered over the weekend.

I want to say a special thanks to Rusty over at Best Science Fiction Stories for allowing me to bombard his site with visitors for this sci fi shorts weekend. Don’t be a stranger over there, Rusty posts several new short stories every week!

Happy Monday everyone!