I just finished reading the stories from the first six weeks of the year on all the online venues that I plan to frequent. I haven’t finished reading Asimov’s and Interzone yet, but that’ll have to wait a bit.

I looked at 38 stories from Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Clarkesworld, Giganotosaurus, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Subterranean, and Tor.com.

MY FAVORITE:

“Aftermath” by Joy Kennedy-O’Neill (Strange Horizons) – This extremely affecting story features zombies–which you’re probably sick of (I am)–but it looks at them through the lends of reconciliation. How do people move on after a civil war, an apartheid, a genocide, a zombie attack–where neighbors kill each other and subsequently have to live side by side? The emotional and character work here is very skillful. I found it hard to read; it made me cry.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

“Calibrated Allies” by Marissa Lingen (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) – An intricately plotted story about what happens when a free man from an enslaved culture (equivalent to our Carribean) goes to the Fatherland to study automata and encounters a rebellion instead. This one didn’t get me emotionally, although the character work is done well enough and I did like him, but it’s intellectually engaging and an interesting story qua story.

“All the Flavors” by Ken Liu (Giganotosaurus) – Ken Liu’s novella follows the story of a little girl in post-civil-war Idaho City as she encounters a group of Chinese gold miners and learns their stories. The story starts flipping perspective midway through. Honestly, this story is a total mess. It’s not a novella; it’s notes for a novel. The beginning is structurally sound; as it progresses, it fails to sustain itself, and eventually sort of decays into little bits, ends abruptly, and then has an author’s note. But that does’t really matter–it’s notes for a *really cool* novel. The scenes that are fully realized are done extremely well, balancing character and plot perfectly. This could be a really good historical lit novel (it reminds me a bit of Geling Yan’s The Lost Daughter of Happiness) and/or a really good science fictional novel that’s heavier on the characterization than the genre elements (Maureen McHugh’s China Mountain Zhang, Will McIntosh’s Soft Apocalypse).

“Swift, Brutal Retaliation” by Meghan McCarron (Tor.com) – Two little girls must figure out how to cope with their brother’s recent death when he begins to haunt them as they embark on a prank war. This story is exquisitely well-written in terms of prose and character detail with the kind of really intensely well-described, mundane detail about how people (especially children) think that I’ve come to associate with Meghan McCarron’s work. The characters are keenly observed and tenderly treated. The haunting at the story’s center throws everything into high emotional relief.

“Bear in Contradicting Landscape” by David J. Schwartz (Apex Magazine) – A writer encounters one of his creations and tries to understand the newly mutable nature of his reality. I was very resistant to the premise of this story because it’s been treated so poorly in the past, but this was a treatment I found thoughtful. The metafictional elements are clever in the way they weave with the character’s confusion (is his girlfriend real or another invention?) and provide an interesting, analytical level to the story.* I was very taken by the imagery about rabbits and about tattoos. (There were three stories about intense tattoos this month and I thought this one had the most surprising and lovely imagery.) The ending didn’t really work, but it was still a satisfying story.

RECOMMENDED:

“Her Words Like Hunting Vixens Spring” by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed) – In the newly settled West, Santa Muerte leads a girl through the desert so that she can avenge her fiance’s murder victims, girls who have come back as spirit foxes. The language is tight and lilting and makes the story a pleasure to read. The imagery is very strange and the story is very unpredictable in a good way–it feels fresh.

“What Everyone Remembers” by Rahul Kanakia (Clarkesworld) – In a post-apocalyptic world, a sentient cockroach-like entity that’s been genetically engineered by humans to survive in the new environment, learns about and adapts to the world. The cockroach character is written in a curious, empathetic, but not overly human way, and the story does an excellent job of rendering the world from its perspective, both in the way we see glimpses of what’s happening outside the story’s scope and in the way that the story engages the senses.

“The Five Elements of the Heart Mind” by Ken Liu (Lightspeed)** – When a woman’s spaceship is destroyed, she launches an escape pod and lands on a planet that practices some elements of traditional Chinese medicine. By dint of a science fictional device, the medicine works. The science fiction idea is interesting and the story has a plot that’s interesting to read. Although there are no real surprises here (the plotline is predictable and while the biology of the science fictional element is neat, it’s not surprising in a way that makes the story unusual–someone else might have written the story exactly the same way, just with a different science fictional conceit), it’s an entertaining trad-sci-fi read.

“Recognizing Gabe: un cuento de hadas” by Alberto Yanez (Strange Horizons) – A story about a trans boy growing up in a family that initially accepts his gender identity because of the intervention of his fairy godmother. This story is engaging and well-written, but what won me over was the handling of the ending.

OF NOTE:

“The Chastisement of Your Peace” by Tracy Canfield (Strange Horizons)
“All the Painted Stars” by Gwendolyn Clare (Clarkesworld)
“In the Cold” by Kelly Jennings (Strange Horizons)
“The Last Gorgon” by Rajan Khanna (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
“Seerauber” by Maria Dahvana Headley (Subterranean Online)
“Mother Doesn’t Trust Us Anymore” by Patricia Russo (Giganotosaurus)

–

*If I were being snarky, I’d say this story manages to do in many fewer words what Helen Oyoyemi’s Mister Fox only achieved (albeit with gorgeous prose and some really beautiful moments) with massive amounts of redundancy and repetition. Well, okay, I guess I’m being snarky.

**Ken Liu, will you stop dominating every list with your awesome for like thirty seconds? Come on, dude, you’re making the rest of us look bad.

My name is Rachel Swirsky and I write short fiction. I have an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. I’ve been nominated for the Hugo, the Locus, the Sturgeon, the Million Writers Award, and the World Fantasy Award, and last year, I won the Nebula in the novella category. I’ve also edited some short fiction: I was the founding editor of the audio reprint magazine, PodCastle, and I recently co-edited (with Sean Wallace) an anthology of the decade’s best Jewish science fiction and fantasy, The People of the Book.

For the last three years, I’ve been trying to read as widely as I can so that I can participate as an informed nominator in the Nebulas and the Hugos. Also, it makes me feel much better as a writer when I have an understanding of what’s going on in the field. When I was editing the reprint market, this happened kind of naturally: stuff would come over the transom, or I’d seek out various magazines and anthologies, so that I could find what fantasy I wanted to reprint. These days, I don’t have that excuse so sometimes I lag behind and then have to play catch-up.

My goal for 2012 is to keep up with eight online markets:

Apex Magazine
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Clarkesworld
Giganotosaurus
Lightspeed
Subterranean Online
Strange Horizons
Tor.com

And three print:

Asimov’s
Interzone
Unstuck

As well as various anthologies, and short stories that come to my attention either because I’m a fangirl of the author’s or because they’re highly rated.

There are a few other markets I’m interested in–such as (but not limited to!) Redstone SF and Bull Spec–but I want to start with these before I bite off anymore. For all I know, I may not be able to chew this much.

• Black Static (including the December 2011 / January 2012 edition);
• Interzone (though the first issue hasn’t arrived at my doorstep yet – possibly because it hasn’t actually been published);
• Fantasy and Science Fiction;
• Asimovs;
• Cemetery Dance (if I ever get hold of an issue);
• Strange Horizons;
• Subterranean Online (which I intend to read quarterly);
• Apex Magazine;
• Lightspeed Magazine; and
• Clarkesworld**

It comes to ten publications, and while they make up maybe 2% of the actual stories published in a given year, they are the source of most of the nominated and award winning stuff that doesn’t come from original anthologies (which I generally won’t be reading in full, but might cherry pick the odd story if time allows).

Anyway, enough justifications and explanations.  Here’s my recommended reading for January:

Asimov’s Magazine (which includes stories in the January, February and March issues)

• Robert Reed, Murder Born (published in the February edition);
• Leah Cypess, Nanny’s Day (published in the March edition)

Fantasy and Science Fiction (January / February edition)

• Ken Liu, Maxwell’s Demons

Lightspeed

• Megan Arkenberg, How Many Miles to Babylon
• Ken Liu, The Five Elements of the Heart Mind (yes, story number for two for Ken).

Strange Horizons

• Alberto Yanez, Recognizing Gabe: un cuento de hadas
  

So there’s six stories for you to enjoy.  Have a read and tell me what you think.***  Have I lost the plot?  Am I possibly the greatest recommendation person ever?  Or something possibly in between?

Also, is there something in January that I missed?  Feel free to send through recommendations in the comments.  As I said, I’m not going to read everything, but I’d like to be pointed in the direction of great writing, no matter where it’s published.

* And thanks for Peter Ball for suggesting that I hashtag the recs #mondy so people actually knew they were coming from me.

** Oh, and every Monday I’m also reading Rob Shearman’s One Hundred Stories blog – maybe not a magazine, but trust me this is some of the best fiction being published anywhere.  The Nik Perring published in the first week of January is especially brilliant.

*** For those with a Kindle, it’s reasonably cheap (relative to your income) to subscribe to both Asimov’s and F&SF.

This year I did not do as well as I had hoped, in the reading stakes. I only managed 134, even though I said I was going to concentrate on anthologies rather than magazines (which you’ll see from my list I didn’t entirely manage to do). Partly because of this, and partly from wanting to go easy on myself, I’ve decided to pull out of LSS for next year. Which I’m sure will make everyone very sad.

Anyway: herewith, my absolute favourite stories for the year:

Christopher Barzak, “Smoke City,” Asimov’s April/May

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, “Watching the Music Dance,” Engineering Infinity

Hannu Rajaniemi, “The Server and the Dragon,” Engineering Infinity

Ken Liu, “The Paper Menagerie,” F&SF March/April

Cory Doctorow, “The Martian Chronicles,” Life on Mars

Libba Bray, “The Last Ride of the Glory Girls,” Steampunk!

Kelly Link, “The Summer People,” Steampunk!

Dylan Horrocks, “Steam Girl,” Steampunk!

Karen Joy Fowler, “Younger Women,” Subterranean (Summer)

Ben Peek and Stephanie Campisi, Below/Above (novella double)

Sue Isle, “Nation of the Night,” Nightsiders

Tansy Rayner Roberts, “Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary,” “The Patrician,” and “Last of the Romanpunks,” Love and Romanpunk

Terri Windling and Ellen Kushner, “Welcome to Bordertown,” Welcome to Bordertown

Catherynne M Valente, “Voice like a Hole,” Welcome to Bordertown

Jeff Carlson, “Damned when you do,” Welcome to the Greenhouse

“A Hundred Hundred Daisies” by Nancy Kress  (Asimov’s Oct/Nov)

“The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book)” by Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld Mar)

“The Man in Gray” by Michael Swanwick (Eclipse Four)

“The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (F&SF Mar/Apr)

“Younger Women”  by Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean Magazine Summer)

“Valley of the Girls” by Kelly Link (Subterranean Magazine Summer)

And here are the stories that I also enjoyed:

Lyn Battersby “Daughters of the Deluge” (After the Rain)

Kim Westwood “By Any Other Name” (Anywhere But Earth)

An  Owomoyela “God In The Sky (Asimov’s  Mar)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch “Dunyon” (Asimov’s Jul)

Bruce McAllister “The Messenger” (Asimov’s Jul)

Lisa L  Hannett “Carousel” (Bluegrass Symphony)

Thoraiya Dyer “Breaking the Ice” (Cosmos Feb/March)

Nina Kiriki Hoffman “Test Drive” (Daily Science Fiction)

Kij Johnson “Story Kit” (Eclipse Four)

Nalo Hopkinson “Old Habits” (Eclipse Four)

Stephen Baxter “The Invasion of Venus” (Engineering Infinity)

Damien Broderick and Barbara Lamarr  “Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone” (Engineering Infinity)

Robert Reed “Stock Photos” (F&SF May/Jun)

Peter Beagle “The Way It Works Out and All” (F&SF Jul/Aug)

Kirstyn McDermott “Frostbitten” (More Scary Kisses)

Nisi Shawl “Pataki” (Strange Horizons)

Genevieve Valentine “Things to Know About Being Dead” (Teeth)

Karen Joy Fowler, “Younger Women” (Subterranean)
Mary Robinette Kowal, “Kiss Me Twice,” (Asimov’s)
Margo Lanagan, “The Catastrophic Disruption of the Head,” (The Wilful Eye – Tales from the Tower, Vol. 1)
Kelly Link, “Valley of the Girls,” (Subterranean)
Catherynne M Valente, “White Lines on a Green Field,” (Subterranean)

I also really, really, really liked:

Stephen Baxter, “The Invasion of Venus,” (Engineering Infinity)
Deborah Biancotti, “Bad Power,” (Bad Power)
Deborah Biancotti, “Cross That Bridge,” (Bad Power)
Sarah Rees Brennan, “Queen of Atlantis,” (Subterranean)
Isobelle Carmody, “Moth’s Tale,” (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower Vol. 1)
Suzy McKee Charnas, “Late Bloomer,” (Teeth)
Thoraiya Dyer, “Breaking the Ice (Cosmos)
Shaenon Garrity, “The All Night Truck Stop Polka Band,” (Strange Horizons)
Nalo Hopkinson, “Old Habits,” (Eclipse 4)
Sue Isle, “Nation of the Night,” (Nightsiders)
Kij Johnson, “Story Kit,” (Eclipse 4)
Caitlin R Kiernan, “Tidal Forces,” (Eclipse 4)
Mary Robinette Kowal, “Water to Wine,” (Subterranean Magazine)
Richard Larson, “The Ghost Party,” (Subterranean)
Ken Liu, “Staying Behind,” (Clarkesworld)
Nnedi Okorafor, “The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book),” (Clarkesworld)
Kate Orman, “Head Case,” (Cosmos)
An Owomoyela, “Frozen Voice,” (Clarkesworld)
An Owomoyela, “God in the Sky,” (Asimov’s)
Sarah Monette, “The Devil in Gaylord’s Creek,” (Fantasy)
Ben Peek, “Below,” (Above/Below)
Tamora Pierce, “Nawat,” (Tortall and Other Lands)
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, “Show Trial,” (Subterranean)
Nisi Shawl, “Pataki,” (Strange Horizons)
Robert Shearman, “Restoration,” (Everyone’s Just So So Special)
Delia Sherman, “Flying,” (Teeth)
Genevieve Valentine, “Demons, Your Body, And You,” (Subterranean)
Genevieve Valentine, “Things to Know About Being Dead,” (Teeth)
Jo Walton, “The Panda Coin,” (Eclipse 4)

Of the 7,000 or so short stories written and published in any one year, I read 185 of them.  Considering one of my aims this year was to read as much short fiction as possible, as part of the LSS crew, I haven’t exactly covered myself with glory.  In fact I wasn’t able to finish the full years output of a single magazine… though I got close with Clarkesworld.

Still, I’ve learnt from my rookie errors and have changed how I’ll approach short fiction for 2012.  (For one, I’m only going to read from a handful of physical and online magazines.  I’ll also try and read those stories recommended by other members of the LSS crew).

Of the 185 stories I did read, I heartily recommend the following.

An Owomoyela,   Frozen Voice,   Clarkesworld

Caitlin R Kiernan,   Tidal Forces,   Eclipse Four

Christopher Barzack,   Smoke City,   Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

E. Lily Yu,   The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees,   Clarkesworld

Ellen Klages,   Goodnight Moons,   Life on Mars

Jeremiah Tolbert,   Work, with Occasional Molemen,   Giganotosaurus.org

Jerry Oltion,   Taboo,   Analog

Kate Wilhelm,   Music Makers,   Fantasy & Science Fiction

Ken Liu,   The Paper Menagerie,   Fantasy & Science Fiction

Ken Liu,  Tying Knots,   Clarkesworld

Ken Liu,   Altogether Elsewhere,   Fantasy & Science Fiction

Ken Liu,   Simulacrum,   LightSpeed Magazine #9

Lisa L Hannett,   Fur and Feathers,   Bluegrass Symphony

Lisa L Hannett To Snuff a Flame Bluegrass Symphony

Lisa L Hannett,   Forever, Miss Tapekwa County,   Bluegrass Symphony

Lisa L Hannett,   Carousel,   Bluegrass Symphony

Lisa L Hannett,   The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds,   Bluegrass Symphony

Nalo Hopkinson,   Old Habits,   Eclipse Four

Nancy Fulda,   Movement,   Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

Nnedi Okorafor,   Wahala,   Life on Mars

Paul McAuley,   The Choice,   Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

Rachel Swirsky,   Diving After The Moon,   Clarkesworld

Rachel Swirsky,   Fields of Gold,   Eclipse Four

Rachel Swirsky,   The Taste of Promises,   Life on Mars

Robert Shearman,   Restoration,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   Times Table,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   Cold Snap,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   Endangered Species,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   Patches,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   The Big Boy’s Big Box of Tricks,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   A History of Broken Things,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Shearman,   History Becomes You,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Reed,   Purple,   Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

Robert Shearman,   Acronyms,   everyone’s just so so special

Robert Reed,   Woman Leaves Room,   LightSpeed Magazine #10

Robert Shearman,   Granny’s Grinning,   everyone’s just so so special

Yoon Ha Lee,   Ghostweight,   Clarkesworld

K J Parker,  A Small Price for Birdsong,  Subterranean Magazine

Marc Laidlaw, The Boy Who Followed Lovecraft,  Subterranean Magazine

Karen Joy Fowler,  Younger Women, Subterranean Magazine

My favourite of the year is Ken Liu’s ‘The Paper Menagerie’. I hope very one else enjoyed last year as much as we did! Now, onwards into 2012.

Umbrella Men by John G. McDaid was a fun, intricate read. An umbrella that could change the world is a great idea to play with and the story was well told. I also liked the hints of a dark part of the story, perhaps there’s more material in this idea than the author may have realised.

The Color Least Used By Nature by Ted Kosmatka was another touching story. It felt like a window into another time and another place, part magic and part every day. Really enchanted by this, we follow the life of a boat builder.

In short, I enjoyed all of Jan/Feb, and look forward to more.

I already talked about Thoraiya Dyer’s story “Breaking the Ice” back in the Feb/March issue.

I’m not sure it’s true to say I enjoyed reading Steve Singleman’s “Honour Those Who Serve,” in the June/July issue, but it was a very effective piece of body horror which looks at near-future society revolving around the military, and the use of skin art tattoos to honour the fallen. Deep, dark and dystopian to the core, this one made me shudder.

The highlight for me, though, was Kate Orman’s creepy “Head Case” in the current (Oct/Nov) issue. She tells the story of Viv, who was kept alive as a computer program after a near-fatal accident, and is allowed to borrow her twin sister’s body for one week out of every four. Which works okay until the lack of communication from her living sister starts pointing towards a terrible truth. Nothing I like better than the combination of smooth prose, hard science and crunchy human feelings, and I’m so glad to see Orman in print again – through her Doctor Who media tie-in work, she was one of my favourite SF writers of the 90′s and early 00′s, and I hope this is a sign we will be seeing more of her work soon.