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Daily Science Fiction: December 2011 Review

This marks the end of Daily Science Fiction’s first full year of publication. Speculative fiction’s first email service magazine has done well for itself. Although it has lacked the fanfare it deserves, its grass roots ascension in the market has not gone completely unnoticed. Two respectful award organizations (Million Writer’s awards and the Micro awards) have nominated several stories that debuted on DSF. Congratulations to Daily SF and its authors.

Daily Science Fiction: November 2011 Review

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.

The Best of StarShipSofa 2011

Well, StarShipSofa is still StarShipSofa. I said what I thought last year, and nothing much has changed, so I’ll just say “ditto”. I do have one thing to add: they’re not great at taking criticism.

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

Independent Science Fiction

“Thief of Futures” by D. Thomas Minton demonstrates value in terms of wealth and talent; the story is only concerned with characters who are either rich or possess a very certain innate skill. Everyone else is consigned to the background. “Antiquities and Tangibles” by Tim Pratt examines value through connections and luck; the more social-oriented tools of achieving success and accruing value. Those without connections and luck have no chance of exploring happiness to the extent the main characters do.

The Best of Clarkesworld Podcast

Clarkesworld has published some amazing stories. Like all markets, I don’t like every one of their stories, but when they do publish a story that I like, the story’s not just good, it’s great. It was not hard to fill this list. It was so hard that the entire top 5 are equally worthy of 1st place in my opinion. But ranking them a 5-way tie for first place would be rather wishy-washy and would sort of undermine the point of having a list. So I thought about it long and hard to decide on particular aspects of each story that I liked more than the others to come up with this final ranking.

Daily Science Fiction: November Review

Last month’s review started a bit of controversy. I am delighted Daily Science Fiction received extra attention because of it. They deserve it. Here’s hoping the editors and magazine get recognition in the form of nominations and awards. As one who has read and reviewed an issue of almost every major publication, I can say after reading the first three months, they consistently produce the strongest material in the market today.

Review: Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse

Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse is the brainchild of Michael Hanson. He enlisted the help of ten other authors to bring his idea to life. The Sha’Daa is a forty-eight hour window in which the barriers between our world and the Hell dimensions become thin. The event happens once in ten thousand years. Old myths and superstitious have made a few wary of the hidden portal openings spread over our world. One mysterious man, Johnny the Salesman, is the only one aware of the oncoming doom. Eleven authors have written stories on a few of the collapsing portals and of the lone man selling salvation to an unsuspecting human race.

Review: Cardboard Universe by Christopher Miller

Curious, I pick it up. Thick—a generous number of pages. Interesting cover—a stack of paperbacks. Its promising title is displayed more prominently than our name—another positive. No Kirkus “review”—always a huge plus. Some accolades of course, but no industry blurbs—ever since Nelson DeMille described Dan Brown’s “Digital Fortress” as “intelligent” I’ve been leery of these.