SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases discussion

Currently I relatively actively go through SFF magazines from 2023, trying to select worthy nominations for Hugo. However, I think in this I'm like a student, who tries to learn everything the night before an exam. :)

Therefore, I decided to pay more attention to shorter fiction when it is published. For this, I plan to keep up to date with several publications. Is there anyone wanting to join? I may even offer to share (for personal use only) magazines I'll subscribe for.

I plan to read/listen 2023 stuff until we submit Hugo nominees (deadline March 9th), then a brief hiatus and starting 2024 zines since April.

I plan to follow the following
Clarkesworld
Lightspeed
Analog
Asimov's
Interzone

I may follow Uncanny or other magazines

Just curious for there are no answers here - does it mean no interest or this thread just gone missing?

I just don't think I can keep up with stuff.

I can only speak for myself, but I have no interest. I find that the hit-to-miss ratio in published short fiction is too low, so I stick with only curated best-of-the-year collections, shortlists, etc.

Ok, no problem

I read quite a bit of short fiction, but I’m more interested in trying to get through some of the unread collections, anthologies and magazine back issues on my shelves than keeping up with new stuff. I’ve been subscribing to Analog but I’ve only made it through 2 of the 6 2023 issues so far.

Stephen wrote: "I’ve been subscribing to Analog but I’ve only made it through 2 of the 6 2023 issues so far..."

I have the same problem, I subscribed to several but before this year I read usually one issue per year. I hoped that subscription alone would motivate me but then was the full-scale war, then Chinese WorldCon, so I found more pressing/engaging stuff

I'm in the same boat as Stephen, minus the reading a lot of short fiction. I've been mostly focused on novels and novellas the past two years, because I just can't keep up with the flood of everything. I have a lot of anthologies on my physical shelves I'd like to tackle at some point but that's not focusing on new releases, and lots of issues of Revue Solaris, but no one else here can join me in reading those.

Kalin wrote: "lots of issues of Revue Solaris, but no one else here can join me in reading those.."

Is it a story magazine or more a review one as the name suggests?

I've discovered several good authors following their stories in Asimoc's/Analog, mainly Ray Nayler, Adam-Troy Castro, Marie Vibbert, but I fully agree that most stories are mediocre. At the same time, while preparing for Hugo nominations I've already read 3 Analog, 2 F&SF and 1 Asimov's plus partially UK's Interzone and there were pleasant surprises.

I guess that a more correct way to go though magazines is to DNF what hasn't worked from the start, but I'm a completist :)

Oleksandr wrote: "Is it a story magazine or more a review one as the name suggests?"

"Revue" means "magazine" in French -- Solaris is the leading French language genre magazine in Québec: https://www.revue-solaris.com/ It's a mix of fiction and reviews/essays, mostly fiction.

That's why I said others can't join me on that one, 'cause it's in French...

You aren't the only person on Earth who can read French!

While I can do so, I haven't been doing it much lately. Those last two issues of "Solaris" do look interesting because they both have a story by Dave Côté, and while I can't remember why, I've been wanting to try his work.

I'm currently reading the short-story collection Faites demi-tour dès que possible: Territoires de l'imaginaire because I wanted to read something by Luvan and this book also contains stories by Jacques Barbéri and Sabrina Calvo whom I already like. I don't like Luvan's piece in here, but I'm still curious about her, and I did like the "weird"' horror story "DCDD".

Anyway, I will not join in any attempt to read all the short-stories of the year. There are just too many! When I do find one I like, I tend to look for more from that author rather than more from that magazine.

Haha sorry Ed, I forgot you were also in this group. I did remember that you're a reader of French though.

One of the random short stories I did read recently was "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole" by Isabel J. Kim. In Clarkesworld, Feb 2024. The title really caught my eye. And the story was good, so now I plan to read other stories by her.

Top 5 works in each category for Analog’s 2023 “Analytical Library” reader rating awards:


https://www.analogsf.com/about-analog...

Thanks, Stephen! I've already read 3 of 6 issues and so can comment on several of them
Poison, Jay Werkheiser & Frank Wu, May/June 2023 - mil-SF with interesting twists, but the story a bit flat
The Elephant-Maker, Alec Nevala-Lee, January/February 2023 - a better plot, interesting insights into elephants behavior.
The Tinker and the Timestream, Carolyn Ives Gilman, March/April 2023 - maybe the best of three, with humor and good story

Cornflower, Victoria Navarra, January/February 2023 - growing up story, a boy gets a job he despises, meets a girl to loves it and teaches him to love it too
The Echo of a Will, Marie Vibbert, January/February 2023 - the protagonist's partner is in a coma but there is a chatbot that was taught on his phrases/thoughts

The House on Infinity Street, Allen M. Steele, March/April 2023 - great fandom homage written as a memoir of 1930s SF writers

I haven’t read any of those Analog stories yet, but I think of Werkheiser/Wu, Nevala-Lee, Gilman, and Vibbert as writers who are generally worth reading. I believe Steele has written other stories related to old time SF writers that didn’t do much for me, but I’ll try this one.

Asimov’s readers’ awards finalists:

https://www.asimovs.com/about-asimovs...

Stephen wrote: "I haven’t read any of those Analog stories yet, but I think of Werkheiser/Wu, Nevala-Lee, Gilman, and Vibbert as writers who are generally worth reading. I believe Steele has written other stories ..."

I try to follow Alec Nevala-Lee and Marie Vibbert shorter fiction. The rest weren't striking enough for me to remember. Gilman and Steele I guess can be followed too

I read Octavia Cade's "Ernestine" and Paul McAuley "Gravesend, or, Everyday Life in the Anthropocene" last night. The first was OK, but largely of interest to kiwis (and extra interest to kiwis who know Ōtutahi - if they have any interest in a small, pokey closet). "Gravesend" was a slow, quiet story about... well, life in the Anthropocene, and someone trying to put a life back together. Nothing stunning, but solid, and I liked it.

Oleksandr wrote: "… The rest weren’t striking enough for me to remember.”

Werkheiser wrote the interesting serial Kepler’s Laws that was in Analog a couple of years ago.

Stephen wrote: "Werkheiser wrote the interesting serial Kepler’s Laws that was in Analog a couple of years ago."

The one with alien life actively exchanging their DNA equivalent, so one can be a leg one moment and a tree brunch the next, wasn't it? I liked the idea but not sometimes stupid actions of a human expedition force, But yes, it was interesting

MH wrote: "I read Octavia Cade's "Ernestine" and Paul McAuley "Gravesend, or, Everyday Life in the Anthropocene" last night. "

I got the issue, getting to these stories soon, will report my views :)

MH wrote: "I read Octavia Cade's "Ernestine" and Paul McAuley "Gravesend, or, Everyday Life in the Anthropocene" last night. "

I finished both yesterday. I liked Cade's piece, after all it is about the most famous NZ crocodile (in-joke for people knowing biographies of famous physicists). It was a bit incomplete, like a prequel to a larger story and the gold foil experiment interpretation is interesting even if weird

Gravesend was weaker for me, maybe because I went thru the issue and previous settings were climate post apoc, so I was another post-apoc initially in my mind, which skewed the perception.

The issue also has solid stories by Greg Egan and Ray Nayler