Shadow hills by anastasia hopcus

I read this one a bit ago, and it's sort of lingering with me, which is great. I could't find any definitive answer about whether it was the start of a series, but it defy itely could be, and I wouldn't even have to relegate it to the category of "guilty pleasure" to justify buying it. It's not perfect, but some of the most noticeable problems I had with it would be fixed if it were the start of a series-- like the fact that the most interesting ideas it brought up in my mind were not even touched upon, like whether there was a connection between Phe's parents and the exiles. And it's better than Twilight, while fitting firmly in the same genre: Phe manages to be in love without losing her identity, she has one to begin with, adults aren't two-dimensional idiots, she stays in school, the love affair isn't abusive, the metaphysical elements are rooted in so ethnic closer to actual lore, the quality of the writing is solid and realistic... I could go on.

The review should be up on NYJB soon. I'm looking forward to her next book!

Second thought: ain't she sweet

You k ow, I enjoyed reading this book, but after the fact, it kind of annoyed me-- to many romance conventions, too many broad strokes, too many southern cliches... And when we studied it in class, that kind of made me not ever want to read it again. J couldn't get over the horrible Geography, but what bothered me most was the end-- how after she reached that required point, what got her to the happy ending was manipulation. And we won't even get into the magical baby.

But I did like the metafictional feel of that end, even if it did feel a little like little women.

gradschool: ain't she sweet?

This semester's required reading was Aint She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

I don't usually read romance novels any more (the first adult books I read were Victoria Holt's historical romances, but I transitioned very quickly to scifi, which I started at the same time), though I know the names of the main authors from my mom and from looking through my gramma's here-take-some-books bags. Oh, and A always had a huge selection of those twenty-something-working-girl-who-likes-to-shop books, but I've only read Bridget Jones and maybe one other. Did I read Devil Wears Prada, or just watch the movie eighty times? I don't remember.

Anyway, I meant to take a little time reading this book and post my reactions as I went, maybe every few chapters, but that sort of didn't happen. I read the whole thing in under twelve hours. That was my reaction.

A more official review:

Romance as a genre seems to have a sort of redheaded-stepchild opinion of it in the mainstream view, but this book proves that even a genre that contains things like the new-book-every-month Harlequin series can produce something fresh and strong that exists on it's own merit even if you take out the required love scenes. The romance, while the center of the story, is not the point of the narrative, but the result of it: Sugar Beth was not a nice person when she left home and now she's coming back to deal with all the heartache and ruin she left behind, and that's the point of the story. It's about how the past damages the future and how we get through that to where we need to be.

The characters are solid and distinct, for the most part (though the SeaWillows kind of blend together or come out a little one-note when they're all in the same room), and fit together the way real people do, in shifting hierarchies informed by everything that's come before and supported by mutual friendship and love, hindered by mutual grudges, changed by time but not rewritten. Fifteen years is a long time, and this book captures the distance covered in that time really well.

Additionally, as the story moves on, it becomes a little metafictional, which I always love: having a writer as a main character makes it easy, and even if the end had a little bit of a Little Women feel to it, it was the happy ending the genre requires, and it was suitable.

My only quibble is that the last third of the book went faster than the previous two-thirds, and it would have been nice to have as much time as the rest of the book got to react and ponder and guess outcomes... although that also would have meant wallowing in Sugar Beth's personal anguish, when a lot of the charm of the rest was that she doesn't really do that-- she's strong and stubborn and desperate and still manages to be principled and daring and responsible for her past actions. She's the sort of woman we kind of hope all horrible high school rich bitches can become, and she earns her happy ending.

I especially liked the characters of Sugar Beth and Colin-- even in the beginning when they don't even like each other, they fit together and draw together in a way that seems honest and organic, and the fact that they fall for each other makes perfect sense because of it.

The structure is the classic trial-of-the-heroine story, but it's handled in such a way that it seems like it's all free will-- you don't see the framework of the plot showing through and you believe the characters when they make their decisions and choose their paths. The inevitability of romance means they had to eventually wind up together, but nothing says it had to go this well or make this much sense. Nothing says it had to heal the whole town as it patched up the battered psyches of the two mains, either-- and that's what makes it above the rest of the genre and lets it cross over into something that could be labeled 'epic' almost, the fact that it's not just the story of these two people, but the story of the whole town and a little bit of the generation before them. It's aware of it's own context and it lets all that play out, while keeping it personal and realistic and intimate.

Good choice of a representative, Romance Division!

book : snot stew by bill wallace

This is a very-young-reader sort of a book; took me about 45 minutes. But it's surprisingly sweet, and not really preachy at all.

It's a book about two kittens who are taken in by a family after they've been abandoned by their mother when she leaves them to start another family. At first, they're scared, and then as they settle in, it shows the life of the family from the point of view of these little cats-- and the family doesn't seem all that great from that view. The brother, Toby, misinterprets the way the kids behave as a game, and when he tries to play like them, he becomes a horrible bully, and he doesn't stop until a dog nearly eats him and he has to be saved by his sister, Kikki.

And that's about it. Short, sweet, telling kids not to be a bully, and pretty darn charming along the way.

book 14: city of ashes, cassandra clare

Wow. I read this one so fast I didn't even take time to do any In-Reading Notes-- so fast that I started yesterday from chapter, like, three and finished it about three this morning.

It's another great one, and this is quickly becoming one of my favorite series. It makes me sad that there's only the one after it; I don't know if she's planning more, but it has the feel of a trilogy. Even so, this one mostly manages to hold up as it's own story, and manages to mitigate Middle Book Syndrome, where there's not beginning and no end-- this one starts a little after book one and ends with them prepping for book three, but everything in between is it's own storyline-- there are parts where you can see the foreshadowing leaking through (the silver-haired lady and Maia mostly), but they foreshadow while fitting into the overall arc, and that makes it okay.

My only complaint is that the book seems to think it's still Clary's story when it's really Jace's and Simon's; alot of the time, they're fighting or plotting or dealing with their issues, and Clary's just sort of standing there, gaping. There isn't alot for her to do in certain parts of the book, but she tags along anyway like a little sister (which I guess is fine, since she's Jace's little sister), and then, again, doesn't have much to do. But that doesn't mean she's ignored: she's dealing with her conflicting and conflicted feelings for both boys, and the surfacing of some unusual abilities that shouldn't be possible and are probably the result of tampering, and even though it isn't given time to sink in, she's starting to act more like a Shadowhunter, and hopefully that will go somewhere. Clary's too cool to constantly be needing boys to protect her.

The ending was... a little convenient. It's the middle of the story, about to go into the big showdown that will be the last book, so it's understandable, but the answer to her mom's problem is sort of just handed to her, which annoys me (and means it isn't what I thought, which both entertains me and annoys me, because the way I thought it would go, it could have been a really great little moment of fairytale perfection in this amazingly complicated and flawed world).

If you don't want spoilers, stop here, because I'm extrapolating.

Here's what I think will happen:

- Simon and Maia will try to be the Romeo and Juliet that stop the vampire-werewolf war; it'll be more interesting if they don't work as a couple, but do work as a diplomatic team, because there's really no solid reason why they can't get along except that weres are like dogs and vamps are like cats, and it's tradition that you don't share your hunting grounds with another predator. Issues of choice and free will keep coming up, and it would be nice to see both sides choose to be sentient beings.

- It looks like Jace is going to be shown to not actually be her brother, but that that's yet another of Valentine's mindgames. The romantic in me thinks this is great, but the plot-diva in me thinks it's needlessly complicated unless there's a really great payoff for it in the end. Also, I like Simon better, even though he's already fallen into Duckie Pergatory, and it seems he'll never win Clary's heart the way he wants. I'd be willing to bet that Jace actually is a Wayland, switched out for his actual kid who was "a monster". I'd also be willing to bet that there's something faerie about Clary.

- Clary needs to start kicking ass. Seriously. She needs to get some training, and she already seems to be tapping into her natural instincts, and that's a good thing.

- Valentine will manage to detstroy the Clave, but not the cause. They'll beat him at the last minute in some horrible battle where Clary and Jace's awesomeness combine, and probably the fractured Downworlder alliances come together, and they'll stop him and get back the Instruments-- and then they'll have to rebuild, with most of the older generation gone, and they'll bring the Clave back better and stronger.

- Hopefully hodge will come back in some way that redeems him. Adults in these books are as complex as the kids, and the kids are only just learning that fact, and everyone is so hurt over his betrayal-- and he didn't die; he just disappeared into the crowds, and who knows what he's been doing.

- Alec needs to come out. And he needs to accept Magnus. They're sweet and pretty together.

And if any of these guesses are wrong, then I can just write fanfic.

in-reading notes: green rider, 2

I'm having trouble with this book. It's inconsistent, action is vague, and the structure is kind of basic-- short sentences, odd word choices, poor description and an idea that she didn't research how things work very well. I could have edited this into a really wonderful book, and I think that fact is annoying me. That, and I just can't bring myself to leave a book unfinished, and that the story is actually interesting enough that I don't want to leave it.

I just wish it was better. I can see what it wants to be, and it's bothering me that it isn't there.

There are two other books after this one, and I'll have to read them to get the rest of the story, so here's to hoping they aren't as beginner-y.

in-reading notes: perdito street station

I've only read the intro so far, but it's s striking difference from the last book. I finished Dead Until dark and wasn't ready to be done yet, so I started the next book on the pile, which was this one, and it's like night and day. The sentances are better, the words used are better, the descriptions are more complete and clearer and more interesting, the whole feel of the piece is better. And it's a relief. I like my crap fic, but I like good books more, and after two moderately frustrating vampire romances, it's good to have. And it's already lining up with the way City of Bones was, and I don't know if that even makes sense, but sometimes my brain makes it make sense...

book 9: blood price

Here's the thing about books that become shows that I like: I usually like the show more than the book. It's not really about the translation from one to the other, or the fact that I'm more and more visual as I grow up, but about the fact that it seems these books don't have a very high standard of excellence to live up to. Blood Price is a perfectly passable book, and it's a pretty good mystery, but it's a little frustrating and I just want to edit bits of it and ask Tanya Huff to flesh out parts and trim back other parts and get it in line with the way I know it could have been-- like Norman, the main villain for most of the book, who's flat, two-dimensional, one-note, and all the other ways of saying that he doesn't have any depth or interest. Corrine, too, is kind of dull and unfocused, and I don't really see why Vicky and Mike care about eachother other than the fact that they used to be a couple-- but her and Henry pretty much shine, and that's where the heart of the book is, and where the saving grace of the plot is. This is supposed to be girl-meets-vampire, moderated by the fact that girl is damn stubborn and kind of broken and emotionally unavailable, and that's the way I like her, because Henry's pretty damn seductive, even with the fact that he mostly exists in flashbacks as far as this book is concerned, but this book fights too much to be a proper romance.

It established the characters and it sets the scene and defines the world it happens in, the relationships between the people, and the creeping weirdness that's moving into the ordinary world and why Vicky would care enough to investigate it, and that's really all it needs to do... but i wish it would have had a better villain who does a better job and gets offed in a better way, and I wish Henry had been a bit more active and useful than he actually would up being.

I'm looking forward to the second book, and since I found out that it's there in our bookstore, it'll be pretty easy to get ahold of.

book 11: dead until dark

Book one of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels is kind of sweet and chatty and rambly, and follows the same basic path as the first season, but doesn't quite take the same path to get there. Things are rearranged some, and happen in different ways, and it's entirely inside Sookie's head, whereas the show gets the luxury of being in other peoples' points of view as well. Most of what I thought about the book was in the Notes I posted about it before, but here's a bit more, now that I've reached the end and I've had an hour or two to go over it in my head:

- I don't really understand what Sookie and Bill see in eachother, other than the fact that she wanted to fall for a vampire and they were obviously written to be together. Book!Bill explains much less to her than TV!Bill does, and so we never really know what he's doing, what he means when he says things, what he's thinking-- this last is part of why Sookie likes him, but it makes it a little frustrating in the reading, when we can know everyone else so much deeper, and it makes me wonder why it doesn't bother Sookie more. On top of this, Bill treats her like a doll and an invalid through most of the book, and that doesn't seem to bother her much, either, which annoys me, and when she does complain, she sort of still lets him be like that, so it's a moot point.

- I'm not sure why Vampires would want to be in the South; there's so much sun here. It's like vamps in LA or the Mexican desert. It makes no sense. Vamps in Alaska or Sweden? That makes sense.

- The ending of the show is more effective, I think, but both sort of come out of nowhere. I don't know how long ago this book was written, and how early in her career it was, but there wasn't alot of foreshadowing-- which might have made it feel more like it makes sense.

- I missed all the side characters that were much more fleshed out in the show, which I think benefitted from being visual instead of just trapped inside Sookie. Especially Sam and Hoyt, who are some of my fav characters in the show.

- Okay, if vampires cry blood, does blood replace other fluids in their bodies? Sex with them must be really gross, and the biting is kind of weird even as it's hot-- and Bill's pillow talk better get more tender and less clinical or I'm going to wind up checking out of this series before the end.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I think I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already seen the show-- and maybe if I hadn't already read a book that was much tigher in plotting and pacing than this one. But Sookie is pitch-perfect as a character, even when the plot has no idea what it's doing and even when various motivations are suspect, and she sort of wins me over when I'd otherwise have gotten bored with the book. And I'm actually looking forward to the next book, though who knows when I'll get to buy it.

Locus's latest reading list

SF novels

• Matter, Iain M. Banks (Orbit UK)
• Flood, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz, Roc '09)
• Weaver, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz, Ace)
• City at the End of Time, Greg Bear (Gollancz, Del Rey)
• Incandescence, Greg Egan (Gollancz, Night Shade)
• January Dancer, Michael Flynn (Tor)
• Marsbound, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
• Spirit, Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz)
• Escapement, Jay Lake (Tor)
• Song of Time, Ian R. MacLeod (PS Publishing)
• The Night Sessions, Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
• The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (Gollancz)
• The Company,K. J. Parker (Orbit)
• House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, Ace '09)
• Pirate Sun, Karl Schroeder (Tor)
• Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic UK, Morrow)
• Saturn's Children, Charles Stross (Orbit, Ace)
• Rolling Thunder, John Varley (Ace)
• Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor)
• Implied Spaces, Walter Jon Williams (Night Shade Books)

Fantasy novels

• An Autumn War, Daniel Abraham (Tor)
• The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak (Bantam)
• The Knights of the Cornerstone, James P. Blaylock (Ace)
• The Ghost in Love, Jonathan Carroll (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• The Island of Eternal Love, Daina Chaviano (Riverhead)
• The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
• Shadowbridge/ Lord Tophet, Gregory Frost (Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Memoirs of a Master Forger, William Heaney (Gollancz) ; as How to Make Friends with Demons, Graham Joyce (Night Shade Books '09)
• Varanger, Cecelia Holland (Tor/Forge)
• Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)
• The Bell at Sealey Head, Patricia A. McKillip (Ace)
• The Hidden World, Paul Park (Tor)
• The Engine's Child, Holly Phillips (Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape)
• The Alchemy of Stone, Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books)
• The Dragons of Babel, Michael Swanwick (Tor)
• An Evil Guest, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

First novels

• The Ninth Circle, Alex Bell (Gollancz)
• The Painted Man, Peter V. Brett (HarperVoyager); as The Warded Man(Ballantine Del Rey)
• A Curse as Dark as Gold, Elizabeth C. Bunce (Scholastic)
• Graceling, Kristin Cashore (Harcourt)
• Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst (Riverhead)
• Thunderer, Felix Gilman (Bantam Spectra)
• Black Ships, Jo Graham (Orbit US)
• Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway (William Heinemann, Knopf)
• Last Dragon, J.T. McDermott (Wizards of the Coast/Discoveries)
• Singularity's Ring, Paul Melko (Tor)
• The Long Look, Richard Parks (Five Star)
• The Red Wolf Conspiracy, Robert V. S. Redick (Gollancz, Del Rey '09)
• The Cabinet of Wonders, Marie Rutkoski (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

Young Adult Books

• City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare (Simon & Schuster/McElderry)
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
• Monster Blood Tattoo, Book Two: Lamplighter, D. M. Cornish (Putnam; Omnibus Books Australia)
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, Bloomsbury)
• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, Alison Goodman (Viking); as The Two Pearls of Wisdom (HarperCollins Australia)
• Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Knopf)
• How to Ditch Your Fairy, Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury USA)
• Ink Exchange, Melissa Marr (HarperTeen)
• Chalice, Robin McKinley (Putnam)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness (Candlewick Press)
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt)
• Nation, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK, HarperCollins)
• Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (Tor)
• Flora's Dare, Ysabeau S. Wilce (Harcourt)

Collections

• The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories, Joan Aiken (Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House)
• Pump Six and Other Stories, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books)
• The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives, James P. Blaylock (Subterranean Press)
• Works of Art, James Blish (NESFA Press)
• The Wall of America, Thomas M. Disch (Tachyon Publications)
• Dark Integers and Other Stories, Greg Egan (Subterranean Press)
• The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial)
• The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories, James Patrick Kelly (Golden Gryphon Press)
• The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories, John Kessel (Small Beer Press)
• Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories, Nancy Kress (Golden Gryphon Press)
• Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters, John Langan (Prime Books)
• Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link (Viking)
• H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction, H. P. Lovecraft (Barnes & Noble)
• Binding Energy, Daniel Marcus (Elastic Press)
• Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods, Paul Melko (Fairwood Press)
• The Collected Short Fiction: Where Angels Fear / The Gods Perspire, Ken Rand (Fairwood Press)
• The Ant King and Other Stories, Benjamin Rosenbaum (Small Beer Press)
• Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Strange Journeys, Ken Scholes (Fairwood Press)
• Filter House, Nisi Shawl (Aqueduct Press)
• The Autopsy and Other Tales, Michael Shea (Centipede Press)
• The Best of Lucius Shepard, Lucius Shepard (Subterranean Press)
• The Best of Michael Swanwick, Michael Swanwick (Subterranean Press)
• Other Worlds, Better Lives, Howard Waldrop (Old Earth Books)
• Crazy Love, Leslie What (Wordcraft of Oregon)
• Gateway to Paradise: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Six, Jack Williamson (Haffner Press)

Anthologies - Original

• Clockwork Phoenix, Mike Allen, ed. (Norilana Books)
• Fast Forward 2, Lou Anders, ed. (Pyr)
• Sideways in Crime, Lou Anders, ed. (Solaris)
• Dreaming Again, Jack Dann, ed. (HarperCollins Australia; Eos)
• The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Ballantine Del Rey)
• Galactic Empires, Gardner Dozois, ed. (SFBC)
• Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology, Nick Gevers, ed. (Solaris)
• A Book of Wizards, Marvin Kaye, ed. (SFBC)
• The Solaris Book Of New Science Fiction Volume Two, George Mann, ed. (Solaris)
• Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, William Schafer, ed. (Subterranean Press)
• Eclipse Two, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade Books)
• The Starry Rift, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Viking)
• Fast Ships, Black Sails, Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Night Shade Books)
• Celebration: 50 Years of the British Science Fiction Association, Ian Whates, ed. (NewCon Press)

Anthologies - Reprint

• Wastelands, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Night Shade Books)
• A Science Fiction Omnibus, Brian W. Aldiss, ed. (Penguin Modern Classics)
• The Black Mirror and Other Stories: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Germany and Austria, Franz Rottensteiner, ed. (Wesleyan University Press)
• Poe's Children: The New Horror, Peter Straub, ed. (Doubleday)
• The New Weird, Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)
• Steampunk, Ann Vandermeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)

Anthologies - Best of the Year

• The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-first Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds. (St. Martin's Griffin)
• The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fifth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin's)
• Year's Best Fantasy 8, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)
• Year's Best SF 13, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Eos)
• Fantasy: The Best of the Year: 2008 Edition, Rich Horton, ed. (Prime Books)
• Science Fiction: The Best of the Year: 2008 Edition, Rich Horton, ed. (Prime Books)
• The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Nineteen, Stephen Jones, ed. (Robinson; Running Press)
• The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade Books)

Novellas

• Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press)
• "The Overseer", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
• The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten, Thomas M. Disch (Tachyon Publications)
• “The Political Prisoner", Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF 8/08)
• "Arkfall", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 9/08)
• The Luminous Depths, David Herter (PS Publishing)
• "Mystery Hill", Alex Irvine (F&SF 1/08)
• "The Erdmann Nexus", Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 10-11/08)
• "Pretty Monsters", Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters)
• "The Surfer", Kelly Link (The Starry Rift)
• "The Hob Carpet", Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov’s 6/08)
• "The Tear", Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
• "Tenbrook of Mars", Dean McLaughlin (Analog 7-8/08)
• Once Upon a Time in the North, Philip Pullman (Knopf)
• "The Man with the Golden Balloon", Robert Reed (Galactic Empires)
• "Truth", Robert Reed (Asimov’s 10-11/08)
• "True Names", Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow (Fast Forward 2)
• "Wonjjang and the Madman of Pyongyang", Gord Sellar (Tesseracts Twelve)
• "The Philosopher’s Stone", Brian Stableford (Asimov’s 7/08)

Novelettes

• "The Gambler", Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
• "Pump Six", Paolo Bacigalupi (Pump Six and Other Stories)
• "Tangible Light", J. Timothy Bagwell (Analog 1-2/08)
• "Radio Station St. Jack", Neal Barrett, Jr. (Asimov’s 8/08)
• "The Ice War", Stephen Baxter (Asimov’s 9/08)
• "Turing’s Apples", Stephen Baxter (Eclipse Two)
• "The Rabbi’s Hobby", Peter S. Beagle (Eclipse Two)
• "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri", Peter Beagle (InterGalactic Medicine Show 7/08)
• "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
• "Shoggoths in Bloom", Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s 3/08)
• "The Golden Octopus", Beth Bernobich (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
• "From the Clay of His Heart", John Brown (InterGalactic Medicine Show 4/08)
• "Jimmy", Pat Cadigan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "Catherine Drewe", Paul Cornell (Fast Forward 2)
• Conversation Hearts, John Crowley (Subterranean Press)
• "The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away", Cory Doctorow (Tor.com 8/08)
• "Crystal Nights", Greg Egan (Interzone 4/08)
• "Lost Continent", Greg Egan (The Starry Rift)
• "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story", James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s 2/08)
• "Memory Dog", Kathleen Ann Goonan (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
• "Shining Armor", Dominic Green (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm", Daryl Gregory (Eclipse Two)
• "Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
• "The Art of Alchemy", Ted Kosmatka (F&SF 6/08)
• "Divining Light", Ted Kosmatka (Asimov’s 8/08)
• "Childrun", Marc Laidlaw (F&SF 8/08)
• "Machine Maid", Margo Lanagan (Extraordinary Engines)
• "The Woman", Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix)
• "The Magician’s House", Meghan McCarron (Strange Horizons 7/08)
• "An Eligible Boy", Ian McDonald (Fast Forward 2)
• "The Dust Assassin", Ian McDonald (The Starry Rift)
• "Special Economics", Maureen F. McHugh (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe", Garth Nix (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
• "Infestation", Garth Nix (The Starry Rift)
• "Immortal Snake", Rachel Pollack (F&SF 5/08)
• "The Hour of Babel", Tim Powers (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
• "Five Thrillers", Robert Reed (F&SF 4/08)
• "Fury", Alastair Reynolds (Eclipse Two)
• "The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice", Alastair Reynolds (The Starry Rift)
• "The Egg Man", Mary Rosenblum (Asimov’s 2/08)
• "Sacrifice", Mary Rosenblum (Sideways in Crime)
• "Days of Wonder", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/08)
• "Lester Young and the Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues", Gord Sellar (Asimov’s 7/08)
• "Gift from a Spring", Delia Sherman (Realms of Fantasy 4/08)
• "An Alien Heresy", S.P. Somtow (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
• "Following the Pharmers", Brian Stableford (Asimov’s 3/08)
• "The First Editions", James Stoddard (F&SF 4/08)

Short Stories

• "Don’t Go Fishing on Witches Day", Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden)
• "Goblin Music", Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden)
• "The Occultation", Laird Barron (Clockwork Phoenix)
• "King Pelles the Sure", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
• "Boojum", Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
• "Private Eye", Terry Bisson (F&SF 10-11/08)
• "Offworld Friends Are Best", Neal Blaikie (Greatest Uncommon Denominator Spring ’08)
• "The Man Who Built Heaven", Keith Brooke (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "Balancing Accounts", James L. Cambias (F&SF 2/08)
• "Exhalation", Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
• "The Fooly", Terry Dowling (Dreaming Again)
• "Truth Window: A Tale of the Bedlam Rose", Terry Dowling (Eclipse Two)
• "Awskonomuk", Gregory Feeley (Otherworldly Maine)
• "Daltharee", Jeffrey Ford (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "The Dismantled Invention of Fate", Jeffrey Ford (The Starry Rift)
• "The Dream of Reason", Jeffrey Ford (Extraordinary Engines)
• "The Seventh Expression of the Robot General", Jeffrey Ford (Eclipse Two)
• "Reader’s Guide", Lisa Goldstein (F&SF 7/08)
• “Glass”, Daryl Gregory (Technology Review 11-12/08)
• "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 7/08)
• "The Voyage Out", Gwyneth Jones (Periphery)
• "Evil Robot Monkey", Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "The Kindness of Strangers", Nancy Kress (Fast Forward 2)
• "The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue into the Black", Jay Lake (Clarkesworld 3/08)
• "The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross", Margo Lanagan (Dreaming Again)
• "The Goosle", Margo Lanagan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "The Thought War", Paul McAuley (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "[a ghost samba]", Ian McDonald (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "Midnight Blue", Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 9/08)
• "Fallen Angel", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 12/08)
• "Mars: A Traveler’s Guide", Ruth Nestvold (F&SF 1/08)
• "The Blood of Peter Francisco", Paul Park (Sideways in Crime)
• "The Small Door", Holly Phillips (Fantasy 5/08)
• "His Master’s Voice", Hannu Rajaniemi (Interzone 10/08)
• "The House Left Empty", Robert Reed (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
• "Fifty Dinosaurs", Robert Reed (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "Traitor", M. Rickert (F&SF 5/08)
• "Snatch Me Another", Mercurio D. Rivera (Abyss & Apex 1Q/08)
• "The Film-makers of Mars", Geoff Ryman (Tor.com 12/08)
• "Talk is Cheap", Geoff Ryman (Interzone 6/08)
• "After the Coup", John Scalzi (Tor.com 7/08)
• "Invisible Empire of Ascending Light", Ken Scholes (Eclipse Two)
• "Ardent Clouds", Lucy Sussex (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled", Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s 2/08)
• "The Scarecrow’s Boy", Michael Swanwick (F&SF 10-11/08)
• "Marrying the Sun", Rachel Swirsky (Fantasy 6/08)
• "A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)
• "Fixing Hanover", Jeff VanderMeer (Extraordinary Engines)
• "The Eyes of God", Peter Watts (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "Ass-Hat Magic Spider", Scott Westerfeld (The Starry Rift)