A sushi-loving werewolf must help two merfolk siblings recovered their embezzled money.

Gail Carriger takes a break from her Steampunk series with a slightly different take on the werewolf curse in 'Marine Biology.'

Alec never really expected to make it to 24. Born into a pack of werewolves, he was always considered a bit too...weak to make the change. In a family that looks like it just walked out of a biker bar, he swam instead of playing a more full-contact sport in high school, and is more likely to be spotted in a lab coat than a leather one. But family is family, and pack is pack, so when there's a get-together he shows up.

Even if he's more likely to bring a salad than a slab of beef.

This time, though, he's actually being given responsibility within the pack. There's been some funny business with the merpeople's finances, and a large chunk of money has gone missing. There's reason to believe that the selkies are in on it, and that's brought a brother-sister pair of mers to town. 

Giselle and Marvin used to be from around here, so they're the ones that were sent from the West Coast to figure out where the money's gone. Since they're not local anymore it's the pack's responsibility to keep them safe while they're investigating, and that's where Alec gets involved.

Nevermind that Marvin used to show up at Alec's swim practices to watch.

'Marine Biology' has an interesting premise and doesn't take itself too seriously. There's a ghost who lives at Butch's house and seems to take great pleasure in teasing the pack when it meets. Alec gets by in the aggressive pack politics by keeping his head down, but still gets made fun of for his sushi platters and job as a researcher. Even the merfolks seen a bit surprised with how badly he fits into this family. Nevertheless, this story has all the humor and clever dialog that readers of Carriger have come to expect, and is a welcome diversion.

Highs: Of course the Irish selkies would be the mafia of the water-weres.

Lows: I kept expecting the werewolf Biff to somehow tie into the character in the Parasol Protectorate with the same name.

Verdict: A quick, easy read that doesn't make itself out to be more than it is.

Further Reading: 'My Sister's Song', Soulless, Attachments

Not every princess gets a Fairy Godmother

It's not the young fairy's fault that she was born with an honor debt. Her mother was rescued by a human prince long before she was born, and when she died before fulfilling the debt, it was passed on to her. And if she ever wants to grow her wings and develop her adult magic, she'll have to make good on what's owed in Gail Carriger's 'Fairy Debt.'

Princess Anastasia Clementina Lanagoob is a rather unfortunate girl, for a princess. Despite her father's best efforts to gain an honor debt for his daughter's christening, not a single Fairy Godmother showed up. With no bonuses in grace, beauty or any other princessly attributes, she's seen by most as a downright ordinary.

Bella Fugglecups (as the princess knows her) is on a mission. Disguised as a jester, it is her mission to fulfill her mother's debt. But with only her Child Wishes at her disposal, it will be a difficult task indeed.

And when an earth dragon crashes High Tea, things get interesting indeed.

Gail Carriger has moved away from short stories in recent years, favoring the more lucrative novel format. She's hardly lost the knack of endearing the reader to a group of characters in a few short pages, though, and 'Fairy Debt' is a confection perfectly prepared for fans of her most humorous writing.

Highs: If a princess can't be beautiful or graceful, at least she can be humble and good to her subjects.

Lows: Household-related magic seems like it ought to be more of a Brownie talent than a Naiad talent to me.

Verdict: 'Fairy Debt' is a short, sweet story reminiscent of some of the goofiest scenes of the Parasol Protectorate books.

Further Reading: 'My Sister's Song', Soulless, 'Judge Sn Goes Golfing' 

A short tale of ancient Greece

It's as if Gail Carriger has studied all her life to write her amazing stories, and in some ways she has. A master's in anthropology certainly helps when writing in historical settings, and her time at Nottingham University must help with her works set in the United Kingdom. But never has her focus in archaeology ben more apparent than in her first professional sale 'My Sister's Song.'

 

Mithra is one of the warrior women of the Melissai. Born to it, she's one of the fastest scouts her army has. This day, however, she's taking advantage of a dry day during a wet Springtime and is out in the forest mushrooming. It's a good thing she is too, since she saed her sister Arite from making a fatal mistake while charming a hive of bees.

Only a few days later, the Romans start marching towards their village. 100 men strong, there's little hope that their fighting force a fourth the size will be able to defend their village from a head-on attack.

Unless mother nature gives them a hand.

Carriger even credits an anthropology article for giving her the idea for this story. Authors find inspiration for their tales in all sorts of places, and Gail Carriger pulls many from the depths of history. 'My Sister's Song' is a wonderful debut story that takes a moment in history and runs with it.

Highs: It's amazing how a tactician's mind can pull from seemingly random experiences to create a wholly new strategy

Lows: As with most of Carriger's work, I wish there was more story to be had

Verdict: A sweet story set in a time not too often mind for fiction

Further Reading: 'Marine Biology', Soulless, 'Clockwork Chickadee

A photographer's camera shows a bit more

A shadowy presence, and a string of deaths, may doom a young lady's portrait studio in Cindy Spencer Pape's second 'Gaslight Chronicles' story, 'Photographs and Phantoms.'

Note: 'Photographs and Phantoms' is the second story of the Gaslight Chronicles series. While the stories work well as stand-alones, there are inherent spoilers, especially where the romances are involved.

One of the space program's pioneers gets one last chance to fly

“Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.”

L Frank Baum used this line to start his most famous work, The Wizard of Oz. Now, Mary Robinette Kowal uses this same line to start a whole new story, 'The Lady Astronaut of Mars.'

Here, the space program played out a little bit differently. Instead of simply being content with reaching the Moon, humanity kept pushing out into space. While computers were still in the punch-card phase, man reached Mars and eventually colonized it, beneath bio-domes to keep in the air.

Elma York was the face of the Mars program. With the mind of a scientist, the heart of an explorer and the looks of a starlet, she was the perfect choice to be the face of the colonization program, along with her computer-science husband.

Fast-forward several decades and their lives have become the same as any couple in their later years. Elma keeps in shape for her NASA-compliance physicals, and also to help take care of her husband. While his mind is as sharp as ever, his body has begun to betray him. The tremors have gotten so bad, and his muscle mass has gotten so low, that he is transitioning into 'it's a matter of time' territory.

But how much time? Because NASA has a new project in the works. They need a person to make a one-way trip to the nearest star system, to set up an array to facilitate travel. Does Elma live out her marriage with her slowly dying husband, or take her last chance to fly among the stars?

Mary Robinette Kowal's talent lies in finding the humanity in her characters. Whether they be a clockwork toy, an IT girl on a generational ship, or a woman living on Mars, Kowal makes the reader wonder what they'd do in their place. This is the real joy of Kowal's stories, and what keeps readers coming back time and again.

Highs: It's a amazing what a little girl from the Kansas countryside remembers years later.

Lows: I might resent the narrator using her looks in this way, but then again it was the 1960s.

Verdict: Very much worth the read, for free, on Mary Robinette Kowal's site here.

Further Reading: 'Paper Tiger', Shades ofMilk and Honey

A mother's love transcends all

The child of a first-generation immigrant finds himself in a unique situation. Raised in a culture separate  from that of his parent, it can be difficult to find a common ground between home life and life outside the home. This dichotomy is explored in Ken Liu's Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning 'Paper Menagerie.'

As a young child, our narrator Jack was very close to his Chinese mother. He saw nothing strange about speaking Chinese to his mother and English to his father. When his mother made him an origami tiger from the leftover wrapping paper that she had saved, he was delighted to watch it scamper about like a kitten. She made him a collection of animals, and they would play together on the table and go up to Jake for pets.

but all children eventually compare their own home life to that of their friends. It's hard to compare toys folded of used wrapping paper, no matter how lovingly made, to the flashy plastic action figures of his friends. It's difficult to watch his mother attempt her broken English with the people in the neighborhood. And in the end, these difficulties drive a wedge between mother and son that is nearly impossible to bridge.

Then again magic, especially the small magics of the home and of a mother's love, are hard to quash. Somehow, these magics escape and sometimes even the most world-weary of hearts is touched by them once more.

Ken Liu is an amazing voice in the field of short stories. Whether seamlessly blending a bit of the fantastic into the current-day or shedding light on a budding problem by showing a possible future, his short stories transport the reader in to a world other than the mundane one we're stuck in, and helps us to see our own lives a bit differently.

Highs: Jake's sense of loss at never really knowing his mother's heart is something that most people can identify with.

Lows: Watching him turn away from his family is as heartbreaking as it is inevitable.

Verdicit: Available for free at io9.com, there's no excuse not to read this amazing, award-winning story.

Further Reading: 'The Perfect Match', Moscow but Dreaming

Even alien judges can be found on the golf course

When last we saw Judge Nugan Bufan Sn, he was perhaps the happiest Judge in the Common Confederation. In a universe thousands of years old, most case law has been hashed out centuries ago. All judges get to do, especially in a backwater such as Earth, is apply the same statutes over and over again. Simply put, there's not much new under the suns. 

But as backwater is humans are, we can still be surprising. And by a strange twist of circumstance, Judge Sn actually got to create new law in The Android's Dream.

Here, in 'Judge Sn Goes Golfing,' we get to see the person behind the robe.

It turns out, Judge Sn isn't the nicest person off the bench, either. After his landmark case, he's still stuck on the provincial planet of Earth. In fact, now that his ruling has been accepted case law, he will forever be tied to the planet. 

Well, at least Earth has some decent golf courses on it. He'd know; he's been permanently banned from almost all of them. All he has left in the vicinity is a course that's so terribly planned, so badly maintained, and so badly managed that even the outcasts of the golf circuit can still get on the course. Poor golfing skills, combined with a bad temper has gotten him exiled to this disaster of a course.

But even the worst golfers occasionally get an amazing round. And he'll be damned if he lets a few assassins get in the way of the game of his life.

'Judge Sn Goes Golfing' doesn't add all that much to the universe of The Android's Dream. Rather, it feels like an unnecessary scene cut from an already full book. That doesn't make it any less fun to read, though, and fans of Scalzi's other works should enjoy this foray into the universe as well.

Highs: Such introspection in one simple round of golf...

Lows: I've seen what the rich and powerful can get away with, and it's a bit hard to believe that EVERY course has kicked Sn out, especially after the ruling.

Verdict: A perfect ebook purchase

Further Reading: Divine Misfortune, The High Castle

Callie's first mission for the War Office hits close to home

Callie and Jasper get called in by the War Office in JK Coi's 'Broken Promises.'

Note:  'Broken Promises' is the second story in the 'Seasons of Invention' series. The review of the first story, 'Far From Broken', is here. Otherwise, read on! 

Sometimes it's best not to be so special after all

A room full of mechanical toys can become quite devious in Mary Robinette Kowal's short story 'Clockwork Chickadee.'

Somewhere, somewhen there's a magical room full of clockwork toys.  There's Clockwork Sparrow, flying around the ceiling on a string.  There's Clockwork Scarab, sitting with his lotus. And there's the Clockwork Chickadee, who flaps her wings and pecks at the shelf.


Clockwork Sparrow tends to think a lot of himself.  He is, of course, the only clockwork creature in the room who can actually fly.  It may not be the sparrow who is clockwork, though, only the device on the ceiling that makes the bird fly when the boy winds it.  Nevertheless, Clockwork Sparrow feels that he is special.


Being special can cause envy, though.


Clockwork Chickadee can't fly.  Her wings flap, her head moves, but she sits solidly on the shelf where she is kept.  Clockwork Chickadee does know a few things that Clockwork Sparrow doesn't, though.


Clockwork Chickadee knows Live Mouse.


Clockwork Chickadee knows that Live Mouse has the wind-up key.


And Clockwork Chickadee is very, very clever indeed.


Highs:  The story starts out seeming like a simple retelling of a parable, but by the end turns into something completely different.


Lows:  It's a very tight story, but it leaves me wanting more tales from this room.


Verdict:  A tale unlike the others I've read from this author, available for free here on her website.


Further Reading:  'For Want of a Nail', 'Tanglefoot'

As people slowly disappear, does anyone else notice?

Standalone short stories can be difficult to read.  Oftentimes, just as a story begins to pick up and engage the reader, the story comes to a quick, and sometimes abrupt conclusion.

'The Day They Came' by Kali Wallace does an admirable job at avoiding this downfall, and nearly succeeds.  The story begins after an occupation by some group of extraterrestrials.  They appear the same day that his father dies of old age and a protracted illness.  Beyond this, the day was perfectly normal.  He went to work at the grocery store, just a bit late in arriving.  He eats his lunch.  A family with many children came in and they misplaced one of the younger children.

After they came, life seems to be put on hold.  The man on the TV admonishes everyone to stay in their five mile radius, tells of the ration distribution centers, reminds them of the new rules.

But people keep disappearing.  First the narrator's closest neighbor.  Each week, another child from the large family at the grocery store fails to show up for rations.  Eventually, the last house light visible from his porch fails to come on at dusk.

The kids who come to the ration distribution talk of things that are different now.  The creeks have near-invisible snakes that are impossible to catch.  Patches of the forest are dying out.  There are shadows, slinking along the ground, just out of view.  The water tastes slimy and off.  The other adults don't mention this, though, if they even notice it.

The stoy is told in the 2nd person, which at times makes the story awkward to read.  The characters, including the narrator, never do quite what would make sense in the situation.  Enough of the occupation is left out that the story flirts with the line between mysterious and being frustrating.

But all that aside, Wallace does an admirable job setting up the town and its inhabitants for the story.  Enough care is put into the descriptions of their lives and the town that I truly want to know what kind of invasion they're facing and what has been happening to the people as they vanish.

Available for free on the Lightspeed Magazine website, 'The Day They Came' is a well-crafted story that simply leaves the reader with too many unanswered questions.

Highs:  The imagery of waiting for that last light to turn on

Lows:  An ending that meant for the reader to wonder what happened, but just frustrates instead

Verdict:  More of a setup than a story, but a well crafted piece of work besides that

Further Reading:  For Want of a Nail, Spirit in the Wires

A broken port turns into so much more

A hardware failure shows a deeper web of deception in Mary Robinette Kowal's 'For Want of a Nail.'

Of course Rava would be excited.  Appointed the wrangler for her generational ship's AI, and at such a young age, she's in charge of the ship's most valuable passenger.  Cordelia does more than just run communications and inventory and the like.  Contained in her memory banks is the entire history of the family.  Every birth, death, marriage and other event in the history of each passenger has been documented by Cordelia, through the VR glasses that every family wears.

So when Rava brings Cordelia's case to a party being held on the ship, and the case that Cordelia inhabits is dropped, a rather important port ends up being broken.  This port is what allows Cordelia to access her long-term storage, both for retrieval and storage of data.  She has about two weeks worth of storage onboard, before she would have to start deleting bits of herself.  So Rava, and her brother Ludoviko set off to find a new i/o port, or at least a new cable to hardwire her into ship's systems with.

In the process, though, Rava goes to her uncle Georgo for guidance.  Uncle Georgo was Cordelia's wrangler before Rava took over the job.  He's mostly been keeping in touch by commlink recently, and he seems very out-of-sorts now.  He demands to know where Cordelia is, and doesn't seem to remember that Rava took over his job months ago.  

Members of the family who are no longer productive members to the whole are recycled.  How as prominent a member of the community as Georgo could hide this for so long calls all sorts of people - and AIs - into question.  

While the main storyline revolves around Cordelia, Rava and Georgo, plenty of other ideas are hinted at as well.  Rava's brother Ludoviko is on the waiting list to be allowed to have a child, because in an enclosed environment such as this ship, resources for things such as child rearing would be limited.  This privilege would be reserved for the most worthy.  The idea that family members would be 'recycled' as soon as they are no longer productive is a plan that certainly wouldn't work in today's society either.  But both of these concessions would be necessary on a ship with limited resources and space such as this.

This, like many of Kowal's short stories is available from her website here.  It's quite a nice story, with more depth than might be expected from an AI housed in a Victorian writing desk.

Highs:  Every character acts as one would expect, from the jealous older sibling to the old man losing his faculties.

Lows:  Some of the lack of redundancies within Cordelia, as well as in the ship as a whole, are frustrating.

Verdict:  A masterfully crafted work in a small package.

Further Reading:  Shades of Milk and Honey, The Risen Empire

A wandering spirit finds a new kind of vessel to inhabit

Poor Edwin could never have imagined the consequences building himself a clockwork friend would bring when he created one in Cherie Priest's first Clockwork Century story 'Tanglefoot.'  Edwin is an orphan in the year 1880, who lives in the basement of an asylum with the brilliant but addled Doctor Smeeks.  His parents died a year ago, and while the doctor may not always remember who he is, living in the laboratory is much better than living upstairs with the other children.


One of the biggest perks of living in the basement is that he can use the pieces of machinery that Dr. Smeeks doesn't need for his own attempts at invention.  After a few childish yet successful creations, he's finally completing his most ambitious project yet.  Named Ted for his younger brother who died in infancy, he's created a mechanical friend.  When wound, his jaw moves a bit and he walks forward with a stiff, soldier-like gait.


As time goes on though, Ted seems to be...advancing.  He moves when Edwin is certain that he turned him off.  His jaw moves as if to answer the questions asked of him.  He learns to turn around obstacles instead of walking into them until he topples.


The residents of the asylum don't trust him, either.  After initial delight at Edwin creating a automaton, Dr. Smeeks threatens to dismantle Ted if he gets near him again.  Edwin and Ted also come across a patient named Madeline.  She takes a close look at Ted, and before the orderlies can haul her back to her room warns Edwin that Ted has no soul of his own, and that Edwin needs to dismantle him before someone else takes up residence.


Everyone has read stories about malevolent spirits.  Oftentimes, these spirits will take over a body, evicting the rightful owner.  In the burgeoning world of Steampunk, these spirits are being introduced to a while new type of vessel.  While many authors eschew the fantastic, perhaps there will be other forays combining the mystical with the scientific.  'Tanglefoot' is a nice first taste of the genre, and is available for free on the Subterranean Press website.


Highs:  Edwin's a very likable boy who is easy to emphasize with



Lows:  Not the most realistic 19th century insane asylum



Verdict:  A nice foray into the genre, and a great beginning to the Clockwork Century universe



Further Reading:  Boneshaker, Soulless