The Short: I attended at least one gathering and several panels relating to science fiction in the Czech Republic at the 2025 Seattle Worldcon. I obtained and read FROM THE LAND OF ROBOTS AND GOLEMS: Chronicle of Czech Science Fiction, vol. 5, 21st century Czech speculative fiction, Julie Nováková editor, 2025 Nová vlna. It includes [ ]
The Short: I just read Fold Catastrophes, a Peter Watts collection, September 2026 Tachyon, which will be available in print and ebook editions. In addition to the eleven works of short fiction (one original), there is an Introduction by Richard K. Morgan and story notes by Peter Watts. My favorites are The Twenty-One Second God , [ ]
The short: I finally read the most recent collection by Theodora Goss, Letters from an Imaginary Country , 2025 Tachyon Publications. It includes a great Introduction by Jo Walton, sixteen works of short speculative fiction (it leans more to fantasy and horror but with a bit of SF), and Story Notes by Goss. My favorites are [ ]
The Short: I finally read The Best of Kage Baker, 2012 Subterranean Press, no editor listed. It s twenty stories, and comes in at 501 pages. This is a great collection by an author we lost way too soon, and a great way to get more familiar with her short fiction. My favorite story included is [ ]
The Short: I just read The Big Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow editor, 2025 Open Road Integrated Media (a re-issue of the 2008 Del Rey/Ballantine The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy). It s an original anthology. The title is somewhat of a misnomer, as I believe it includes horror and [ ]
The Short: I love the Lydia Duluth stories by Eleanor Arnason, although they have not been collected yet. Lydia Duluth is a location scout for an interstellar movie company; interesting things happen to her. My favorite is the first, the superlative Hugo Award runner-up and Nebula Award nomination Stellar Harvest , a novelette, Asimov s, April 1999. [ ]
The Short: In my non-expert but also non-lay opinion, the MyShake app and its underlying ShakeAlert system are useful to me. It is useful and even essential for improving my personal safety in earthquakes, including the recommended Drop, Cover, and Hold On . Although it is less direct, it can help me stop doing dangerous activities during [ ]
The Short: A fix-up novel is a book made up of previously published, related stories, often including one or more new stories, bridging material, or revisions to make it more coherent. This is an after the fact term based on how they were produced, perhaps first used by A. E. van Vogt in 1975. I [ ]
The Short: After reading five pastiches of Jane Austen s novel Pride and Prejudice including several works of speculative fiction, I ended up rereading Pride and Prejudice as well for the first time in 50 years. I recommend several works, including the superlative 2018 novel Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel, the very good 2011 mystery [ ]
The Short: The Best of Ian McDonald, 2016 PS Publishing, came out in two different editions of SF/fantasy/horror, a deluxe edition with twenty-one stories and one with ten stories. My e-book version of the deluxe edition also has a Story Notes essay by McDonald. My favorite story is Unfinished Portrait of the King of Pain [ ]