Giveaway! Uncle John’s Flush Fiction Anthology

written by David Steffen

The day has finally arrived, the publication date of Uncle John’s Flush Fiction anthology. As I mentioned a few months back, I sold a story titled “Mysterious Ways” to the anthology. I am particularly excited about this sale, because I know many more people who are familiar with Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader books than who are familiar with my favorite speculative fiction magazines.

The Bathroom Readers are a series of books with widely varying content, but what they all have in common is that each one is made up of very short segments which can be easily read during a trip to the toilet (not that you have to read them on the toilet if that’s not your thing). In case you haven’t heard of them, you can check out the Uncle John’s website to find out more, or you can find them at your favorite online retailers or brick-and-mortar stores (in the humor section). I think you’ll enjoy them.

So, to celebrate the release of Flush Fiction, and to help get the word out about the anthology, I’m hosting a giveaway of a copy of the book, which contains 88 stories of flash fiction, each one a perfect length to read in a few minutes of spare time. Â There are two ways you can enter (and you can do both to double your odds of winning!):

1. Post a comment here on Diabolical Plots in response to this announcement. It doesn’t matter what the comment is, just make it PG, and try not to sound like a spambot (or your comment might be filtered)
2. “Like” the Diabolical Plots Facebook page link I’ll post there.

Now, go ahead! Your deadline is the end of the day on Wednesday April 11, 2012 Central Time USA. After the deadline, I’ll do a random drawing of all the entrants follow the directions (and two for the people who do both). At that point I’ll announce the winner, and get in touch with them to get a mailing address to mail the book. Good luck!

The Best of Variant Frequencies

written by David Steffen

Variant Frequencies was a fiction podcast that ran from 2006-2010. It was run by Rick Stringer, Ann Stringer, and Matt Wallace, and was originally created as a way to help promote Ann’s and Matt’s writing. Their archives are still up on their website for all to download.

First some thoughts on the podcast as a whole. The production is very good quality, often with full cast recordings, and a good group of voice actors. Because of the fact that its original focus was promote the work of the founders, its not too surprising that the quality is sometimes… uneven. One advantage of having an impartial third party for an editor is that their purpose is to select stories of the highest quality. In self-published collections (which this kind of is) you get everything as judged by the author, which isn’t quite the same thing.

One major feature that Variant Frequencies is well known for is their Failed Cities Monologues series of episodes. Each episode is a monologue of a single character, of a cast of about 10, taking place in a dystopic pair of fictional cities. Taken all together, these episodes form a single narrative plot arc from beginning to end. This is a really neat idea. It does have its flaws, foremost being that some of the episodes contribute too little to the overall plot, but overall it’s reasonably good. The characters are pretty archetypal, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing–it can be enjoyed as an adventure story if you don’t expect anything profound and life-changing, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Because of the way its structured, none of the individual episodes are compelling enough to make it on my list of favorites overall, and the work taken as a whole is a bit too sprawling to be one of my favorites. But I did enjoy it well enough that I thought it bore mentioning outside of the list. For those who want more, there is also a somewhat shorter FCM Christmas series, though I felt it didn’t add anything to the first series.

Variant Frequencies published a total of 115 episodes, but some of those are metacasts talking about the show, and others are multi-part stories (including the many-part Failed Cities Monologues). In total, I count something around 64 stories that I’ve picked out my favorites from.

On to the list!

1. Noah’s Temple by Matthew Warner
The leader and last member of a religion is soon to executed, but a cataclysm interrupts before the sentence can be carried out. Can she have what it takes to save the world that doesn’t want her anymore?

2. The Destruction of Sennacherib by Bryn Sparks
At the beginning this reminded me a great deal of Wells’ The Time Machine, but took its own twists and turns along the way. Trying to change the past can have many unintended effects.

3. Heart of Clay: A Saint Darwin’s Spiritual by D.K. Thompson
A sequel to “Saint Darwin’s Spirituals” that ran earlier on the cast. A world where Darwin discovered the spirit world that overlays ours and this finding has spurred on many developments in a world now filled with golems and ghosts.

4. The Dead Man and the Berserk by Matt Wallace
Transhumanism has lead to various enhancements to the body and the mind, but two men with those enhancements will be hard-pressed to combat the machine singularity

5. Best in Class by Jonathan C. Gillespie
This was a lot of fun. It’s told from the point of view of an intelligent car who’s been sitting idle in a garage after a nuclear war has wiped out most of the population. Someone finds it in its garage and the car sees to its owner’s needs as best it can.

6. The Mason’s Son by Dennis Egan
A Poe-esque tale of revenge.

Honorable Mentions:

The Spoils of War by DJ Burnham
This one was very interesting, though not emotionally compelling. It tells of an arms race between two sides of a conflict, but the arms race takes directions not taken in our world.

Delve by Matt Wallace

Survivor Guilt by David Tallerman

 

Announcement: Canny Valley Comics

Hey folks! Remember me? Anthony Sullivan? You know… the other guy who supposedly contributes to this site?

Ahh well, I can understand if you don’t remember me. I’ve been AWOL for quite some time working on my visual art. Well that work has finally borne a little fruit in a new comic project that myself and the very funny Scott Wolf have started.

Canny Valley is a thrice weekly web comic with a focus on gaming and internet culture. with my art and Scott’s cleverness we hope you’ll give us a chance to entertain you.

Please take a moment to jump over to the site and check us out. Then come back here an let us know what you think! Also, I’d like to see if there is interest in seeing a making of post that walks through our process from inception to final comic.

Thanks to everyone for your time and support. This has been a long time in the works and I’m so excited to see it finally released.

The Best of Escape Pod 2011

 

written by David Steffen

And here is the final of my “Best of” lists covering the year 2011. Escape Pod published steadily over the year, publishing 59 short stories. Among their usual fare, they also published winners and runners-up from their 2010 Flash Contest, whose winners were decided by forumite polling.

Recently they’ve announced that Nathaniel Lee (of Mirrorshards fame) has been given the position of Assistant Editor. I am very happy to hear this. He has already whipped the Drabblecast slushpile into shape, and he has done an admirable job with the Escape Pod slush as well. So if anyone had been frustrated at slow response times or lack of response to queries when trying to contact Escape Pod, you should give them another try.

And on to the list!

 

1. Rejiggering the Thingamajig by Eric James Stone
read by Kij Johnson
An intelligent spacefaring vegetarian Buddhist Tyrannosaurus Rex, a trigger-happy smartgun that talks like Yosemite Sam, and an ill-defined quest with an incomprehensible talisman at the end of it. Awesome.

2. For Want of a Nail by Mary Robinette Kowal
read by Mur Lafferty
Social and maintenance problems on a generation ship. The title doesn’t tie into the story all that well, but very good stuff.

3. Movement by Nancy Fulda
read by Marguerite Kenner
The protagonist in this story has what her society has labeled as temporal autism (which as even she points out may not have much relation to autism but such are public buzzwords). A very compelling story in a world not quite like our own and told by a very interesting POV.

4. Honor Killing by Ray Tabler
read by Mur Lafferty
This rather reminded my of Tobias Buckell’s Anakoinosis, with fuzzy little aliens demanding to be oppressed. In that case, it was slavery, in this case, murder.

5. Captain Max Stone Versus DESTRUCTOBOT by Angela Lee
read by Josh McNichols
One of the great entries to the flash fiction contest, overall this has a great feel of old-timey radio fiction, pulpy and fun and worth some great laughs.

6. London Iron by William R. Halliar
read by Andrew Richardson
Another entry from the flash contest. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s an action-packed flash story.

 

Honorable Mentions

Wheels of Blue Stilton by Nicholas J. Carter
read by Christian Brady

Marking Time on the Far Side of Forever by DK Latta
read by Josh Roseman
A robot protagonist who is an incarnation of temporal culture clash.

Many Mistakes, All Out of Order by M.C. Wagner
read by Wilson Fowlie

Daily Science Fiction: November 2011 Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

Month # 14. If you ever took the time to browse through DSF’s library and checked out the authors who have contributed, you’d see many of the same people who have had stories published at Daily SF are published in the same publications Locus and Tangent Online deem worthy to promote and review on a regular basis. I have pointed this out before but it is clear those two big boys could care less what I think. I can’t let that stand.

I could continue to hammer away at Locus for their snub, but only one person reviews short material there (how Lois Tilton does it baffles me) and at least they did take the time to read one week’s worth last year (even recommended a few). Still, Locus can’t be taken completely off the hook – more on them later. The real injustice is Tangent Online‘s insistence that Daily SF is still not worth their attention, and this will not do.

In Tangent‘s own mission statement they have made a promiseâ€

“â€of reviewing as much of the professional short fiction venues in the fields of science-fiction and fantasy as possible.”

It is a promise they almost keep. The editor, Dave Truesdale, has consistently maintained a fine staff of reviewers. Together, they have been able to review every SFWA magazine still in publication save Daily Science Fiction. To add insult to injury, Tangent has expanded beyond its mission statement to include semi-pro, non-SFWA publications and anthologies. Yet, you will not see a single mention of Daily SF anywhere in their pages. Not in their online publication or in Tangent‘s SFF.net news feed. As far as Mr Truesdale and Tangent is concerned, Daily Science Fiction really doesn’t exist.

I am not going to guess on Mr Truesdale’s motives, and he isn’t interested in sharing his opinion with me, but the time has come for Tangent Online to either review something of Daily SF or change their pledge to accurately reflect what their true intentions in the field of speculative fiction are, because it can’t be about “reviewing as much of the professional short fiction venuesâ€as possible” if they won’t even acknowledge the existence of the fastest growing publication in the field today.

But alas, this hasn’t been the first time I have sung this song. All of my bitching hasn’t even raised an eyebrow of one of the “leading” reviewers of speculative fiction yet. But if can’t beat them down, then I’ll get them to join me.

I would like to invite our newest reviewer to Diabolical Plots, Carl Slaughter.ÂCarl has reviewed for Tangent Online for the pastÂtwo years. He was one of its leading writers, reviewing most of the material Tangent routinely covers. He is known for his hard hitting and in-depth reviews. He is a long time member of the Critters Writers Workshop and has seen (and predicted) the rise of many of its novice writers into the professional stalwarts authors of today.

Carl’s separation from Tangent has granted him spare time to focus on his own writing, but reviewing is in his blood. So I begged him asked if he would like to join our team. Surprisingly, he never heard of Daily SF until I introduced it to him. So will Mr Slaughter think highly (as I do) of DSF? Or will he prove that Tangent‘s policy of ignoring the publication is justified because of inferior content? I was eager to find out, so I had Carl lead off with this month’s reviews so we could all see for ourselves.

 

The Stories

“Dark Swans” by Terra LeMay (debut 11/1 and reviewed by Carl Slaughter) is about a girl who goes trick-or-treating. But she’s no ordinary girl, so her parents know she can’t do ordinary trick-or-treating or go to an ordinary Halloween party. So they make special arrangements. And this is no ordinary Halloween night for this girl zombie. It is a joyous occasion for her, but a bittersweet ritual for them. This is billed as fantasy, but it’s better described as tragic horror. “Dark Swans” is a moving story with a creative premise. Highly recommended.

 

“Call Center Blues” by Carrie Cuinn (debut 11/2 and reviewed by Carl Slaughter) is a not very original service robot story with not very much content and a very predictable ending. Pass.

Time for a grandmother to depart this reality. She doesn’t want to leave yet. She wants to continue contributing to the family. Her granddaughter has devised a way, though not to the grandmother’s liking.

 

“Time to Go” by Erin Hartshorn (debut 11/3 and reviewed by Carl Slaughter) strikes me as amateurish. This science fiction story is definitely the runt of the litter. But it’s only a few paragraphs, so taste for yourself.

 

“And The” by Alyc Helms (debut 11/4 and reviewed by Carl Slaughter) is a Dragon sacrifice story with a twist. The chosen girl spends a year in the dragon’s lair learning her way around, then the two play a deadly game of hide and seek. The year includes many conversations full of intriguing banter. The first thing she discovers is that he’s a dragon but not a dragon. Meanwhile, she spends a lot of time in his library. Then there is the mysterious amber orb and the rhythmic humming, both of which, of course, are the key to the game. The premise and the conclusion are so obvious, yet so elusive. If you’re a description lover, the first scene is a feast. If not, you may want to skip to the dialog. The story is a bit too long but enjoyable and the ending is very satisfying. Don’t miss this one.

 

A man questions a professor on his speech in “Geniuses” by Christopher Kastensmidt (debut 11/7). A man who attended the protagonist’s lecture on geniuses interrupts the professor, while enjoying a beer at the local bar. The man makes a wager with the professor that he can’t name 10 geniuses of this century.

The story is of lost geniuses. Most of the geniuses, in the man’s wager, are people who were lost to tragic events before their brilliance can ever be realized. Frustrated with the futility of the strange man’s bet, the professor leaves.

I found “Geniuses” to be a frustrating story. The identity of the wage-maker ended up being a mystery. He could have been an angel, time-traveler, or alien , we never found out. What I found particularly puzzling was what could the professor possibly do with the information? If mystery man knew these people were to be saviors of mankind, why didn’t he do something to make sure they lived to their full potential? For a guy who knew an awful lot about geniuses, he didn’t appear to be very bright.

 

A fallen king seeks revenge on the prophet who misled him in “A Great Destiny” by Eric James Stone (debut 11/8). Groshen, now a deformed commoner, finds the man who prophesized his victory over the Emperor, when he was still a king. The prophet’s two predictions ended disastrously for Groshen, believed to be dead (and lucky to be alive), he corners the prophet in alley. Just as his about to exact his revenge the prophet has one last prediction for him.

“A Great Destiny” is short, yet is well-constructed story with an intriguing premise. Not his best, but Mr Stone again demonstrates why he is one of the top writers in speculative fiction today.

 

Ned the Neanderthal pays a visit to the doctor in “Ned Thrall” by Amalia Dillin (debut 11/9). Ned is the first viable Neanderthal to walk the Earth in a very long time. Dr Habber, his creator, is checking on his progress.

“Ned Thrall” is a tongue-and-cheek story set in a future where genetic altering is a common practice. I found the tale cute and funny but incomplete. It read like a first scene to something much larger.

 

 

“Trading the Days” by M. E. Castle (debut 11/10) is a person’s contemplation of a day’s worth. The protagonist describes a bad day, and wonders if he/she should discard it, but some days are the days you wait for, and any given day lost, cheapens any day worth saving.

If my assessment of “Trading the Days” confuses you, than I did my job of explaining what I got out of this piece. I am not sure if this was a metaphorical exercise, or if trading one’s days in is a possibility in this difficult to grasp premise.

 

A teacher must determine how far a pair of apples have fallen from their tree in “Fields of Ice” by Jay Caselberg (debut 11/11). Marsius has the task of determining if the fallen Tyrant’s children share his dark talents in magic. Prince Sten has his father’s looks, and his cocky attitude as well, while Princess Antalya is withdrawn. It is Marsius’s job to determine if these two are spoiled offspring of the privileged, or a dangerous threat.

The formerly royal children of the fallen tyrant are prisoners. Marsius instructs the children on the basics of magic. Prince Sten is eager to show off his limited talents while Antalya sits quietly and watches, cautious as a young girl locked in a prison would be. Their future depends on how they perform in these tests. And Marsius’s future depends on how well he does on his test.

“Fields of Ice” is told from the perspective of a man who must decide if two children are innocent or potential monsters. The Tyrant had power that must never be unleashed again. If an inclining of his talents has been inherited, than drastic means will become necessary. Marsius must be sure. He is the judge and executioner, and such a task is not easy when it involves children.

“Fields of Ice” is a very good stand-alone tale that looks as if it was pulled from a much larger story. Not the grandest of tales from DSF but well worth the read.

 

Celeste has a chance to explore the stars in “Silver Sixpence” by Craig Pay (debut 11/15). She will be gone for years while her husband and daughter remain behind. The relativity time difference will mean she will age slower than her family, but it is only one trip and just a few years. How much could she miss?

“Silver Sixpence” is a story of a woman’s ambitions in conflict with her family responsibilities. Celeste’s husband and daughter are forced to take a backseat to her drive and desire to see new worlds. The story is a new twist on an old premise; a family divided because of a workaholic’s inability to recognize what is important.

 

“Everyone Loves A Hero” by Fran Wilde (debut 11/16 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) covers a lot of ground in this short story about a hero – and his heroic live-in. She cooks, she cleans… she pays the bills. The hero is too heroic to receive payment of any kind – from anyone.

But what is credit card debt compared to saving the world? The answer may surprise you. I know I was, pleasantly so.

This story – very well written and great for a grin. I rated it 6 of 7 rocket dragons.

 

In “The Last Necromancer” by Thomas F Jolly (debut 11/14 and reviewed by Anonymous), a wannabe necromancer has located all the ingredients required to complete a complex spell to raise the dead. Who better to try it on than the spell’s inventor, a long dead famous necromancer. The find the crypt housing the dead necromancer and cast the spell to bring the dead back to life, and the corpse reanimates. The old (and recently dead) necromancer has a question for the two who brought him back to life–a question about the specifics of the spell.

I thought this story was the exploration of a concept (an interesting one), but I wondered if more could have been done with it. It was nicely written, but didn’t wow me. I would give it 5 out of 7 dragons.

 

“Everyone Gets Scared Sometimes” by Ari B Goelman (debut 11/17 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a story about a girl, exact age unknown, who has reintegrated into society after living many years in the “Dead Zone”. The dead zone being where the zombies are.

An interesting twist on the zombie genre, because life has returned to normal, or at least as normal as it can be for those living in the city – but still living with fear.

The girl, known only as She, seems helpless, and able to be taken advantage of. Though not as clearly drawn as I would have liked, we find out this isn’t at all the case.

I rated this story 5 out of 7 Rocket Dragons.

 

To completely review “Meet Archive” by Mary E. Lowd (debut 11/18 and reviewed by Dustin Adams), would be to give away plot points that reveal themselves as expertly and flawlessly as the rings of an onion. So I will merely hint, and urge you to read this wonderful story for yourself.

Archive is a story teller. He spends his time in the All Alien Cafe, regaling those who listen with “stories about his world… Though he never knew it.” We hear bits and pieces, enough to leave us wanting more, but the true tale lies in who – or what – Archive really is, and what he means to the one who loves him.

This is the epitome of a short story. Brilliant. I gave this story 7 out of 7 Rocket Dragons.

Recommended

 

In “Safe Empathy” by Ken Liu (debut 11/21 and reviewed by Anonymous) a young woman is leaving a party with her partner. He hasn’t had a great time and he wants to ‘share’ his negative feelings with her as a way of unburdening himself. In the story, the mechanism of sharing is kept vague, but appears to be a more direct experience than simply talking about problems.

The girl ruminates that in the past he would share his triumphs and happiness as well as his sorrows, but nowadays he only seems to want to share his sorrows. She doesn’t appreciate such a negative diet and consequently uses ‘protection’–a kind of condom for the heart. It isn’t clear how this works either.

The story talks about classes at school where these condoms for the heart were shown to the kids and their use explained.

This story didn’t really work for me. It was well written with nice clear prose, but the main elements–the sharing of emotions and the ‘protection’–were left vague. The plot was pretty thin and can be summed up as follows; she was unhappy with her partner–reasons were given–and so she left.

 

As the title to “The Bicycle Rebellion” by Laura E. Goodin (debut 11/22 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) implies this is a modern day fable about the day bicycles rebel and attempt to overthrow humans as the dominant species on earth. Set in Australia it follows the growth of the rebellion and the determination of one bicycle repairwoman to set it right. Can she accomplish her task in the face of the determination of the mechanical mobs and the interference of humans looking to their own interests?

I think someone has been spending too much time with their bicycle. This tale is well written and drew me in despite the fact that it’s not exactly my cup of tea. The author did a good job of taking a premise that is silly on the surface and making it sound believable. It’s worth a read, even though it might not sound like your thing.

 

“Daddy’s Girl” by Leigh Kimmel (debut 11/23) is the tale of a daughter who clings to her father’s love. The protagonist lives a harsh as punishment to her father’s sins. She has held true to her promise to always remember that he loved her. She endures the injustice of guilt by association so she would one day join him in heave.

“Daddy’s Girl” is a long set up for a final scene in the afterlife. The author successfully makes her protagonist a sympathetic girl forced to live a life of torment. Her father is known for his cruelty and is remembered as one of the most evil in history but to her, he was always the apple in her eye.

The ending becomes an indictment, one that made me uncomfortable. It turned a sweet tale into an awkward moment.

 

A goddess is on the prowl in “Venus at the Streetlight Lounge” by Cheryl Wood Ruggiero (debut 11/24). Venus stalks an unfaithful man nuzzling with a young lady in a bar. She gets him alone, where she learns all is not as it seems.

“Venus” is a modern day telling of a Roman Goddess. It is short and has a twist. Not grand but worth a read.

 

“Sand-Child” by Marie Croke (debut 11/25 and reviewed by Carl Slaughter) is a coming of age story. A barren woman, at her husband’s insistence, creates a child from sand. But she gives him only positive emotions. There is much agonizing by all 3 about who blames who for what. A recurring theme is the mother’s nagging doubts. She is concerned that her child has a crucial flaw.

“He has all he needs to be happy,” she said, more confidently than she feltâ€despite all her labor, she worried. Useless misgivings, she told herself, but that did nothing to ebb her feelingsâ€She bit her lip, not wanting to admit how badly she felt something was amissâ€She wished she had his steadfast belief. She wished her insecurities could be smoothed as easilyâ€Abi cringed inside at Akelbi’s faith, her mind reeling in her worry that perhaps she had not created him as strong as she thought she hadâ€She wanted to scream the answer at him, but it hid in the recesses of her mind, burying itself somewhere she could not reach so that Kel would not know, leaving only a tendril of dread that refused to be pacified by words, no matter how smooth they sounded.

Through tragedy she discovers that her fears were justified. Through pain, she mends the flaw. A well written story containing many lessons about life, relationships, and humanness.

 

A desperate girl searches an online dating service for a knight in “Looking for a Knight in Shining Armor” by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley (debut 11/28). The protagonist takes note of silky webs growing in the snow-covered pines. “Wyrms,” is what the old crazy guy claims and hands her a can of spray to take of them. But as in an infestation, you never get them all, and there are only two ways to take care of a dragon.

This story was quite cute. Very amusing and well written.

 

An old boyfriend appears at Mia’s door in “A Puddle of Dead” by Grayson Bray Morris (debut 11/29). It has been 15 years since Henry left Mia for drugs. Mia went on with her life but Henry’s reappearance has rekindled old emotions. Henry is clean, looking better than Mia remembers. He has come to spend one last evening with Mia, a goodbye he didn’t give her before.

The story dives us right into the middle of an older Mia’s next chapter of her life. She has married and has children, but tosses them aside the second she sees Henry again. It isn’t until after dinner, and a bit of romance, the subject of their split up is brought out into the open. And just as he appears out of the blue, Henry leaves, but Mia has no intentions of just letting him go and tails her long lost love. She discovers that people don’t change as easily as a they appear on the surface, and finds out what lengths of sacrifice the people we love will make to make us happy again.

“A Puddle of Dead” is meant to be a moving story of love and sacrifice, but anger is the emotion it spurred from me. The two characters in this piece do indeed love each other but their actions are of selfish and needy people who have no regard of the people who have given everything they have to them, unconditionally. It made me furious that Mia would fall into a man who took her love for granted 15 years prior, at the risk of ruining her loving family. Worse, Henry’s loving final goodbye is nothing more than a passive aggressive gambit. How dare he drop in like that to disrupt her life, one last time. If he truly loved her, he would have just left well enough alone and allow the love of his life to live hers without additional complications.

 

A new breed of hog drops in London in “The Butcher’s First” by Seth DeHann (debut 11/30). Strange ships from the sky crash into a pre-20th century England. The cargo they carry are of animals similar to pigs. The local butcher takes advantage of the new beasts, crafting cuts of the latest delicacy to hit London.

The story is an impressive take of a dedicated butcher presented with a new product. Not sure if the animals were extraterrestrial livestock, or something more. I felt the ending of this piece left the story incomplete.

 

â€And about the other guyâ€

Locus has posted their award poll for 2011. It has asked its readers to vote for the favorites in a variety of categories. You’ll find few of the authors listed as contributors to Daily SF, but sadly, none of the stories printed in DSF made their list. A bummer, but the real injustice is their category for favorite magazines. Locus has compiled a list of 34 publications of short fiction to choose from. Daily Science Fiction did not make it. The next category for their awards is for best editor. 40 people have made that list but you won’t find a Jonathan Laden or Michele Barasso anywhere on it. So what gives? How can this be? I used to complain with a tongue planted firmly in my cheek that a conspiracy was afoot when it came to embarrassing absence of Daily SF. Could this be a simple oversight? I can’t fathom how, but this will not stand.

If you are reading this, you likely find something special about Daily Science Fiction. Locus has allowed write in votes for all categories. For the sake of fair play, I am asking all to please visit Locus’s voting page http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/2012/PollAndSurvey.html and write in Daily Science Fiction for favorite magazine and Jonathan Laden and Michele Barasso (separately) for Best Editor. And if there was a story you thought was extra special, by all means write that in as well.

A common premise in speculative fiction is of individuals making a difference in their world. This is a time when your simple action would make a big difference. Jon and Michele have bent over backwards for providing us all a venue to read fresh material from our favorite genres. It is time we all show them a little of that love back.

 

Carl Slaughter is a man of the world. For the last decade, he has traveled the globe as an ESL teacher in 17 countries on 3 continents, collecting souvenir paintings from China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Egypt, as well as dresses from Egypt, and masks from Kenya, along the way. He spends a ridiculous amount of time and an alarming amount of money in bookstores. He has a large ESL book review website, an exhaustive FAQ about teaching English in China, and a collection of 75 English language newspapers from 15 countries.

His training is in journalism, and he has an essay on culture printed in the Korea Times and Beijing Review. He has two science fiction novels in the works and is deep into research for an environmental short story project.

Carl currently teaches in China where electricityÂis anÂinconsistent commodity.

Welcome aboard, Carl.

The Best of StarShipSofa 2011

written by David Steffen

Well, StarShipSofa is still StarShipSofa. I said what I thought last year, and nothing much has changed, so I’ll just say “ditto”.Â

Forty-nine episodes this year, with (by my count) 58 stories.ÂÂ On to the list!

1. That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone
This story is great, starring a Mormon missionary in space, interacting with aliens who live in the heart of suns. So many great ideas, very well written, great stuff.

2. The Gurnard by Neal Asher
A very strange world with strange, altered evolution. Lots of good SF ideas and philosophy on a very bizarre alien world.

3. A Clown Escapes From Circus Town by Will McIntosh
Will has a knack for coming up with strange and compelling worlds. This one starts off with the event mentioned in the title, a clown escaping from Circus Town, but this is no ordinary circus, no ordinary world, and he soons discovers this as he explores and finds the other super-specialized villages through the land, and finds the nature of their shared existence.

4. Her Acres of Pastoral Playground? by Mike Allen
A very enjoyable cosmic horror story. Everything seems normal at first, but it soon becomes clear that there’s something wrong with this reality.

5. Frankenstein, Frankenstein by Will McIntosh
Hey, look, Will McIntosh again! Apparently I like Mr. McIntosh’s writing. this is very enjoyable, taking place around the turn of the 20th century including the World Fair where Nicola Tesla put on his great electric light display. An ordinary man with a bolt through his head has been passing himself off as Frankenstein’s monster in a roadside freak show. On his way to the World’s Fair, he runs into another freak show also claiming to have Frankenstein’s monster.

6. Raft of the Titanic by James Morrow
The first part of this story is really great. It starts off true to history, with the Titanic clashing with the iceberg and beginning the tragic sinking of the great cruise ship. From that point, it diverges greatly from history, and actually proposes a way in which most of the passengers could have survived. The plan actually seems plausible, though I don’t know the science well enough to confirm it. What starts out as a amazing alt-history beginning gradually stretches out and out and out and gets less and less plausible until it has morphed from a serious and compelling alt-hist to something more like a farce. If it had started as a farce, that would have been one thing, but the shift from one style of story to another made the whole thing much weaker than either part would’ve been. Still, this story is worth listening to even just for the first part.


The Best of Drabblecast 2011

written by David Steffen

And, here’s the list for one of my favorite publications–the Drabblecast. It’s great for my weekly fix of weird. They’ve been of consistently high quality, and I look forward especially to Lovecraft Month in which they solicit original cosmic horror from recent popular authors.

I’ve gotten more involved in the Drabblecast in this last year as well. A few months ago Norm asked me if I’d be interested in reading slush for the Drabblecast (due to the time spent commenting on their story forum, I suppose). Also, their art director Bo Kaier organized the Drabble Art Reclamation Project (DARP) in which fans could volunteer to produce art for past episodes before Drabblecast had art. If you want to hear more, check out the link to this page, where I showed each artwork that I finished, step by step. And check out Drabblecast’s new website.

Okay, on to the list. This covers all the episodes published in 2011. This covers episodes 194-229. Many of those were Trifects and Doubleheaders, so the total number of stories is about 47.

Without further ado, the list:

1. The Wish of the Demon Achtromagk by Eugie Foster
This was one of Drabblecast’s commissioned stories for what is now the traditional Lovecraft month. The demon Achtromagk crosses over into our world from its own dimension and takes the fearsome form of… a little girl’s teddy bear.

2. Death Comes But Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal
A classic style of writing reiminiscent of H.G. Wells. A classically told yarn, masterfully narrated by Larry Santoro, in which a scientist discovers an elixir of immortality, but there’s a catch.

3. In the Octopus’s Garden by James S. Dorr
This one bothers me a bit in that I had already written a story with a very similar premise (though it went in a very different direction). You are what you eat, or in this case, what eats you is you.

4. The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
Classic science fiction story that has aged surprisingly well. Which is especially surprising, since it contains humor, and it’s very hard to write humor that works across decades. In the tradition of golden age SF, it is built much more around the science fictional idea than around characters, but that’s okay–the idea is enough to carry it.

5. The Heroics of Interior Design by Elise R. Hopkins
Have you noticed that all of the “empowered” beings in superhero comic books, those powers are always useful in some way? This is incredibly improbable, considering most of them got their abilities by freak mutations, caused by radiation or other causes. Where are the people with the less useful abilities? Well, here is one such, a “super” who can turn blue things yellow, and what they choose to do with their power. I found this one fun for the things it pointed out, and found it very relatable.

Honorable Mentions:

At the End of the Hall by Nick Mamatas

Broken by Steven Saus
This one was particularly exciting for me in a unique way. Since I’ve been taken on as a slushreader, I’ve voted up a few stories for Norm to take a look at. This is the first one that ended up being published, so I was very excited to see it appear.

ÂKillipedes by Jens Rushing

 

The Best of Podcastle 2011

written by David Steffen

Podcastle’s going strong under the continued editorship of Dave Thompson and Anna Schwind. In 2011, they published 52 feature length episodes (from episodes 138-189), and 9 flash episodes (flash episodes 58-66), as well as 4 special feature stories from the Alphabet Quartet.

Generally, it was a pretty strong year, I think. I had plenty of material to fill the list with. There was one episode that got under my skin in a bad way, that I had trouble shaking, but I want to keep these lists about the positive, so that’s all that I’ll say about it here.

1. As Below, So Above by Ferrett Steinmetz
I’m surprised this one didn’t appear on the Drabblecast. Bloodthirsty giant squid point of view character, mad scientists, all with a nice mix of theology.

2. The Parable of the Shower by Leah Bobet
Modern Biblical story that begins with an angel visit… in the shower. Fun stuff.

3. The Ghost of Christmas Possible by Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw
I’ve seen so many adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that I’d thought I’d never see another one that really seemed original. But this one pulled it off. It’s a mashup of the original and William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki the Ghost Hunter who is called in by Ebenezer to investigate the strange visitations.

4. The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
Fair warning: this is a very sad one. A son’s story about growing up with an immigrant mother. The characters in this one seemed especially genuine.

5. Abandonware by An Owomoyela
A boy finds an apparently prophetic computer program in his dead sister’s belongings.

6. Stereogram of the Gray Fort, In the Days of Her Glory by Paul M. Berger
Two perspectives on a set of events taking place after the humans have lost the war with the Fae.

7. Hart and Boot by Tim Pratt
This story is based on the known life of Wild West outlaw Pearl Hart and her mysterious partner in crime, Joe Boot. This takes the known events of her life and fills in the gaps.

Honorable Mentions

A Hunter’s Ode to His Bait by Carrie Vaughn

Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor’s Vengeance by Daniel Abraham

Beyond the Sea Gates of the Pirates of Sarskoe by Garth Nix

 

 

Award Eligibility 2011

written by David Steffen

Hey everybody, just a quick post to talk about voting eligibility for my work for the Hugo (and John W. Campbell). Now, I am not crazy enough to think I have any real chance at either, but I figure there’s even less chance if I don’t tell people what I’m eligible for. So, here’s a quick breakdown of everything that I might be eligible for. If anyone feels inclined to nominate me, you are my personal hero!

If you don’t know what the Hugo or Campbell awards are, or if you just want to know more details about how you can vote and so on, go here to find out more.

John W. Campbell Award

This is my last year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell new writer award. This year I had four stories that make me eligible, the same four short stories eligible for the Hugo.

Best Fanzine Hugo

Diabolical Plots itself for the Best Fanzine Hugo.

 

Best Short Story Hugo

Fruitful at Digital Science Fiction

The Infinite Onion at AE

Helpers at One Buck Horror

The Quest Unusual at Daily Science Fiction

Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

written by David Steffen

Overview

The original Deus Ex game was one of my favorite games of all time. That one came out in 1999, and was a first person shooter (FPS). At least, the basic format was FPS; really it allows a much more versatile gameplay experience. In that game you played nano-augmented anti-terrorist agent JC Denton. Each mission of the game involves specific objectives, but those can be reached in a variety of ways, whether by playing the usual FPS blast-through-the-front-door strategy, or shutting down the security system by hacking, or bribing a guard, or through stealth. You can read an article I wrote about it here.

Then, in 2003, a sequel was published under the name “Invisible War.” I’d rather not talk about that one. It was a huge disappointment after the great first one. If you see a cheap copy, save it for something else instead.

Then “Human Revolution” came out in 2011. This story takes place in 2027, 25 years before the first game in the series, before nano-augmentation is available, in the age of mechanical augmentations (think hydraulics and dermal plating instead of nanites in your bloodstream). Your character is Adam Jensen, head of security for augmentation designer Sarif Industries. In the opening scenes, Sarif industries is attacked by a team of supersoldiers. Adam is severely injured in the attack, losing several limbs. The only way to save his life is through augmentation. Six months later, while he’s still recovering, Sarif calls him back into duty. The company has been attacked again, and they want to make use of his new augmented abilities to handle it.

The overall gameplay is similar to the original Deus Ex, with the versatility of gameplay allowed, and with augmentation upgrades.

I’ll have one section with a general spoiler-free review, followed by one that has spoilers (including help with the boss battles).

Spoiler-free Review

Human Revolution is much better than Invisible War. It sticks much more to the gameplay and style that made the first game so popular. As is often the case, it doesn’t quite recapture the novelty of the original. For one thing, part of the appeal of Deus Ex was a plot full of conspiracy theories, involving every popular theory from Area 51 to the Illuminati to the Knights Templar, and so on. I don’t know if they just used them all up for Deus Ex, or what, but I felt like it lost a little bit.

The augmentations are still fun, and they’re a completely different set. Some are cooler than the original game, some less so, so there’s plenty of new room to explore in that area. Some abilities are definitely improved–especially auto-regenerating health as a default augmentation. In Deus Ex, if you got injured, you’d have to just search for med kits, and there would not be much you could do if you couldn’t find any–you could easily get stuck in an area with only certain death awaiting you.

One thing that’s quite a bit different is the hacking abilities. In Deus Ex, improving your hacking skill just gave you a time limit while in a hacked system. Improving your skill was choice, but it took no real strategy or skill. In this game, every time you hack, you have a layout of network nodes. To break into the system, you have to break into the node of the computer that holds the passwords. To get into that node, you have to break into other nodes to get to it. With each node, there is a chance that the security system will catch on, and will start tracking you, at which point you have only a short period of time to finish your hack. So that adds some extra challenge and strategy. And there are plenty of opportunities for hacking, from doorways to PCs to security hubs, and so on.

Really, there’s only one thing that’s wrong with the game: the boss battles. Apparently they outsourced the programming work, and you can tell, because the boss battles are almost entirely unlike the rest of the game. I get the impression that they gave the game engine and set of weapons to the third party and told them nothing about the rest of the game. Tough boss battles in a standard FPS are expected. In most of those games, you are expected to play as a killing machine and the bosses are built to be a challenge for that kind of tough character. But in this game, it is completely valid to play a nonviolent stealthy style of gameplay. So it is a very unpleasant surprise when you hit that first boss battle and you have an inventory full of non-lethal slow-loading weapons, and a set of augmentations that only help you be sneaky. In Deus Ex, there were fights that were like boss battles, but there were always other ways to resolve them without an actual firefight. I did manage to beat all the bosses in Human Revolution, so read the next spoiler section if you want to know how I beat each of the bosses.

Spoiler Section

I took the nonlethal approach through most of the game, though I did slip into violence in 2 or 3 places where I was cornered by large amounts of armed enemies. Non-lethal, slow-loading weapons (some of which are short range) aren’t so good in such situations, so I tried to keep a shotgun in my inventory.

Through most of the game, I kept the following in my inventory (I upgraded my inventory size to the max very early on):
–stun gun (short range non-lethal)
–PEPS (cone of effect non-lethal)
–Tranquilizer rifle (long range non-lethal)
–shotgun (lethal, very effective at short range)
–revolver (lethal, upgradable to exploding bullets, compact with explosive power)
–gas grenades
–EMP grenades
–ammo for all those weapons, as much as I can carry

And I usually use the non-lethal takedown augmentation which is pretty much free to use, whenever I can get close enough to use it without being seen.

There are a couple big experience bonuses you can get if you play the way that I do:
Ghost–No hostile sees you on your way to the objective
Smooth Operator–You don’t set off any alarm on your way to the objective

Boss Walkthroughs

Barrett–This first boss fight really caught me off guard. I admit, I went to look online for some times. None of which I found particularly helpful. This boss fight starts in a particularly irritating way–with a cut scene that leaves you standing in plain sight in front of the boss. Barrett is a tank of a man, slow moving but with an automatic weapon grafted onto his arm and packing a heavy arsenal of grenades. Don’t bother trying a takedown on him, he will pick you up and take a big chunk out of your health in the process. The room is medium size, with plenty of pillars to hide behind, and a couple offshoot rooms. Since you start the fight in plain sight of Barrett, hiding behind the pillars doesn’t make him forget where he last saw you. Just because he’s built like a tank doesn’t mean he’s that stupid.

So, after dying about 50 times in an hour of gameplay, I finally found a strategy that I could make work. It helps that the room is well-stocked with equipment, but first, you have to get Barrett off your tail so you can get a second to put something together. Keep in mind, too, that after you kill Barrett you will still be in the room until you choose to leave, so if you want to drop some of your inventory to make room for other equipment, feel free to do so (this is true for any of the boss battles).

Okay, so here are the steps that I took. For this to work, all you need to take into the room is a stun gun with a few darts:
–As the fight starts, duck behind the pillar to the right to get out of Barret’s line of fire.
–In that corner you’ll find gas barrel. Pick it up, wait for a gap in Barrett’s firing pattern, and throw it at him, hitting him directly if possible.
–The gas will throw him for a loop, while he’s disoriented duck into the corner room that was on the far right side (from where you started). If you’re quick he won’t see you go back there and he’ll just wander around the main room shouting at you.
–Back in that room is a weapons locker with a shotgun (thank goodness!) and some shotgun ammo. Pick those up.
–Outside the room is an explosive barrel. Peek around the pillars, wait until Barret is nearby and facing away and hit him straight on the back with the explosive barrel.
–From here, the stun gun is your friend. Don’t get too close–he will throw you down. Just get close enough that your targeting reticle turns red, then zap him. He’ll be disoriented for a few seconds.
–Quickly use the quick-inventory button to switch to the shotgun. Fire off 3 or 4 shotgun blasts to his head.
–Switch back to the stun gun and zap him again, repeat with a zap and several shotgun shells. Three or four zaps with shotgun blasts to follow should finish him off.

Federova–I learned my lesson from the first fight, and started toting the shotgun and revolver. Also, it’s a very good idea to get the dermal plating augmentation that gives you electricity resistance.
Federova is the stealthy one of the group. She has a cloaking augmentation, she has some hard hitting attacks, and she loves hit-and-run attacks. But, the stungun-shotgun combo works well on her too. The fight takes place in a server room with a thin layer of coolant on the floor, which is handy because when she cloaks and runs away from you you can follow her rippling footsteps. She tends to attack, and then try to avoid you, to recharge her batteries, so if you can catch her, that’s the best time to attack. Or, you will usually get a voice warning from Eliza (another character in the room) when Federova is going to charge you. Either way, zap her with the stun gun, fire a few shotgun headshots, run and regroup.

Oh, and that electricity augmentation is useful because she can zap you through the coolant.

Lather , rinse, repeat, and you should have no problem.

Nammir–This one is BY FAR the hardest boss fight. Especially if you make the same mistake that I did in an earlier quest. As the game goes on, your augmentation glitches get worse, with your head’s-up display keeps twitching. You were given the mission to go to the LIMB clinic to update your biochip. You better hope you avoided that mission or this fight will be much, much harder. That biochip has a backdoor in it that lets the bad guys shut off your augmentation. And that’s ALL your augmentations, even the ones that you started the game with. That means no health meter, no ammo display, no takedowns, no radar. And it happens when you’re fighting the character that is easily the most augmented person in the game.

It took a while to get the hang of this, but I found a strategy that seemed to work pretty consistently. One little extra bit of help is that you can carry a turret into the fight area to help you a little bit. In the main area of the level, there’s a turret in the middle of one of the streets. Behind is a security terminal. If you hack the terminal, you can turn the turret against enemies, and if you have the strength augmentation you can carry it to the fight area.

Before you leave the area, get your biggest gun ready, and frag grenades if you have them. I used my revolver (with exploding bullet upgrade), and I had two frag grenades. You have a moment at the start to get off a few attacks. I tossed a frag grenade, and fired off a couple shots, then I got out of the center of the room. The center of the room is the most dangerous, that’s where you’re most vulnerable. Get to the outside wall and just start doing laps. Luckily, his strategy is pretty easy to counter. He doesn’t fire while he’s giving chase; he chases, fires off some shots, but not while he’s chasing. If you see him ahead of you, fire off a few shots, then turn and run. If you hear explosions or sounds behind you, turn, find him, fire off a few shots, then turn and run. Repeat, you might want to keep a few saves if you can get the occasional breather. I think that your health regeneration aug still works, but it is a little hard to tell since your health display is faulty.

If you can make it through this fight without augs, you have made it through the hardest part of this game, by far.

Hyron–And the game finishes on the easiest boss fight. Which is at the end of the easiest level of the game. The only enemies in the final level are dumb zombie-like humans that rely only on melee attacks and only charge directly at you.

The real target that you want to kill in this boss fight is behind a wall of bullet-proof glass, so you first have to take out the security system. The security system consists of three human drones that are in pods around the central pillar. The pillar is protected by three turrets that are on a rotating track that runs around the pillar. Everything becomes significantly easier if you take out the turrets. I did so with the revolver which has an exploding bullet upgrade. Each turret took maybe 4 or 5 hits. Now the room’s unprotected for the moment. There are three computers in the room which you can hack to open each of the pods. You might have found the login passwords in the level, in which case you can use those, otherwise you can hack them like normal, then blast the drones as they are revealed. When each one is opened, some zombies will come out and attack you, but they’re easy pickins. Once all those are out, then the floor will electrify in intervals (which you can ignore if you have the electricity immunity upgrade). A few security bots will come out, so if you have some EMP grenades or explosives you’ll probably want to take those out. Eventually some explosions will shatter the bulletproof glass, and then your target is unprotected.