Discover Up And Coming: Stories By The 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors Designed By S.L. Huang Offered As EPub

is by far and wide the best cancer story out there, I mean, if you like speculative fiction and your cancer stories to be truthful to the real experience of getting, fighting and moving on from the experience of having cancer.
When I began reading this book I did something I virtually never do: I gave myself permission to skim and even skip works almost entirely if I felt they offered little or nothing to me in terms of art and/or pleasure.
I had to do this a bit more often than I would have liked there are some seriously unimaginative and clumsy writers out there that somehow manage to get published but, overall, the weeks I spent reading this massive anthology were well worth it.


I'm not going to call out the bad writers or poor stories here, I believe most of the truly substandard writers in this collection will likely never publish again or their reach will be limited confined to tiny, obscure, mostly online genre sites almost nobody reads anyway I believe most of these folks are probably writing in the genre because they love it, they are primarily hobbyists, and that criticism in this case makes little difference and just causes unnecessary pain and embarrassment.
But I do want to note the really good authors, writers who likely have a real career ahead of them if they keep writing, and also list the five that would have made up my nominations had I actually planned to vote for the Campbell Award this year.
All are in alphabetical order,

The very good I will be happy to read anything new any of these talented writers release in the future:
Charlotte Ashley
David Bruns
Curtis C.
Chen
Liz Colter
Daniel J, Davis
S. B. Divya
Margaret Dunlap
Harlow C, Fallon
Rafaela F. Ferraz
Auston Habershaw
Nin Harris
S, L. Huang
Kurt Hunt
Rachel K, Jones
Jason Kimble
Carrie Patel
Laura Pearlman
Rhiannon Rasmussen
Ethan Reid
Kelly Robson
Steve Ruskin
Effie Seiberg
Tahmeed Shafiq
William Squirrell
Naru Dames Sundar
Joseph Tomaras
Tamara Vardomskaya
Nancy SM Waldman
Thomas M.
Waldroon
Jo Lindsay Walton
Alison Wilgus


Nominees Gifted writers who surely have brilliant careers ahead, Just the sight of their names on a submission envelope or email must make discerning editors hearts beat a little faster:
L, S. Johnson
Sunil Patel
Natalia Theodoridou
Alyssa Wong
JY Yang
Isabel Yap

Yes, I know that technically one can only choose five nominees for the Campbell award but all of these writers are so damn good and so worthy of an award that I just couldn't drop one.




sitelinkCurrently reading through and reviewing this ten authors at a time over at SF Bluestocking,

sitelinkPart: Charlotte Ashley, John Ayliff, Lucas Bale, Nicolette Barischoff, Sofie Bird, Derrick Boden, Stefan Bolz, David Bruns, Martin Cahill, Aaron Canton

sitelinkPart: D.
K. Cassidy, Zach Chapman, Curtis C, Chen, Z. Z. Claybourne, Liz Colter, Nik Constantine, Daniel J, Davis, S. B. Divya, Margaret Dunlap, S. K. Dunstall

sitelinkPart: Jonathan Edelstein, Harlow C, Fallon, Rafaela F. Ferraz, Sam Fleming, Annalee Flower Horne, Ron S, Friedman, David Jón Fuller, Sarah Gailey, Patricia Gilliam, Jaymee Goh

sitelinkPart: Elad Haber, Auston Habershaw, Philip Brian Hall, John Gregory Hancock, Nin Harris, C.
A. Hawksmoor, Sean Patrick Hazlett, Holly Heisey, Michael Patrick Hicks, S, L. Huang

sitelinkPart: Kurt Hunt, L, S. Johnson, Cameron Johnston, Rachael K, Jones, Jason Kimble, Paul B, Kohler, Jeanne KramerSmyth, Jamie Gilman Kress, Jason LaPier, Fonda Lee

sitelinkPart: S, Lynn, Jack Hollis Marr, Arkady Martine, Kim May, Alison McBain, Rati Mehrota, Lia Swope Mitchell, Allison Mulder, Ian Muneshwar, Brian Niemeier

sitelinkPart: Wendy Nikel, George Nikolopoulos, Megan O'Keefe, Malka Older, Emma Osborne, Chris Ovenden, Steve Pantazis, Carrie Patel, Sunil Patel, Laura Pearlman

sitelinkPart: Samuel Peralta, Andrea Phillips, Mark Robert Philps, Monica Enderle Pierce, Ivan Popov, Bill Powell, Stephen S.
Power, Rhiannon Rasmussen, Chris Reher, Ethan Reid

sitelinkPart: Kelly Robson, Andy Rogers, Lauren M, Roy, Steve Ruskin, K. B. Rylander, Hope Erica Schultz, Effie Seiberg, Tahmeed Shafiq, Iona Sharma, Anthea Sharp

sitelinkPart: Elsa SjunnesonHenry, Daniel Arthur Smith, Lesley Smith, William Squirrell, Dan Stout, Naru Dames Sundar, Will Swardstrom, Jeremy Szal, Lauren C.
Teffeau, Natalia Theodoridou

sitelinkPart: Joseph Tomaras, Vincent Trigili, P, K. Tyler, Tamara Vardomskaya, Leo Vladimirsky, Nancy SM Waldman, Thomas M, Waldroon, Jo Lindsay Walton, Kim Wells, Alison Wilgus

sitelinkPart: Nicolas Wilson, Alyssa Wong, Eleanor R, Wood, Frank Wu, Jeff Xilon, JY Yang, Isabel Yap, Jo Zebedee, Jon F, Zeigler, Anna Zumbro

Links to all parts will be added as they are posted, Oh dear god this took forever and ever and ever to finish reading, There were some great short stories, ones that I keep thinking about, and some really really awful ones which I also think about, Is it worth reading If you really like shortstories and you already have a copy because this was only available for a short time, probably.
Don't put up with the mediocrity though, just go to the next story if you're not enjoying the story you're reading, I'm not even sure how you rate something like thisunlike most collections, it's not based around a common subgenre like vampires or steampunk, an editor's personal taste, or even a quality bar like all the award winners of a particular year.
It's simply all or almost all the authors who managed to break into the field in the last couple of years, and because of how online markets have shifted what eligibility means, there's a massive range of quality and style here.
But several of these authors were impressive enough that I'm taking note of their names so I can see what else they write going forward.
The ones that particularly stood out for me tended to be the ones that took a cliché and turned it inside out in some way.


Nicolette Barischoff's "Pirate Songs" threw a disability curveball into the usual trope of a princess captured by space pirates.
"Follow Me Down" was also interesting, even if the ending felt a little too easy,

David Bruns's "I, Caroline" seemed to be doing a typical "robot becomes selfaware" story and then questioned whether anything could make such a robot reprogram themselves.


Nik Constantine's "Last Transaction" was a breathless cyberpunk thrillride told entirely in receipts and computer error messages,

Margaret Dunlap's "Jane" used an EMT and a strange contagion to turn a zombie story into something chilling and heartbreaking and actually innovative.


Auston Habershaw blew my mind with two brilliant and completely different stories, "Adaption and Predation" is a nailbiting heist/assassination story with various fascinating aliens and not a human in sight, "A Revolutionary's Guide to Practical Conjuration" would have been an okay story with just the snarky spellbook insulting the desperate apprentice, but the ending elevated it by several orders of magnitude.


Holly Heisley's "Care Package" was a pretty obvious metaphor, but that didn't make it any less touching,

SL Huang was another author with a gift for writing powerful stories that are nothing like each other: "Hunting Monsters" is a powerful take on Little Red Riding Hood while "By Degrees and Dilatory Time" plays with ideas of technology, disability, and identity.


LS Johnson's "Little Men With Knives," an update of the shoemaker's elves, was not only gorgeous prose, I didn't want to turn the lights out after reading it.


KB Rylander's "We Fly" actually found an interesting twist on the idea of uploaded consciousness, What does it mean when your digital self goes through a massive gender identity crisis, but your organic original isn't remotely trans

Hope Erika Schultz had two lovely stories.
"Mr. Reilly's Tattoo" takes an aspect of Bradbury's "Illustrated Man" and asks whether there is any escaping such a fate, "The Princess in the Basement" was less surprising, but I liked the feminist take on a standard fairy tale rescue scenario,

Anthea Sharp's "The Sun Never Sets" is a timely story of a female scientist fighting the coopting of her work during an alien invasion of Victorian England.
Not amazing, but still a fun read,

William Squirrell's "I Am ProblemSolving Astronaut" was a gleeful sendup of tired SF tropes,

Leo Vladimisrsky's "Dandelion" asks what happens if we discover the key to immortality and only some people have the right gene for it What happens to the people who can't be saved, who

are no longer seen as worth saving

Nancy SM Waldman's "ReMemories" gave me feels.
Lots and lots of feels,

Alyssa Wong had two very different and wonderfully disturbing stories I liked: "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" and "The Fisher Queen, " She has an amazing ability to convey both human and inhuman creepiness,
I've had this for two years or what and didn't once have a look inside, . . It was free when I got it and, well, should there ever be a time when I don't have enough SFF short stories to read, I guess I will remember that I shelved this somewhere sitelinkThe anthology has been taken offline with nearly,downloads.
. . making it the most popular book in which I have a hand :, If you still want to read it, drop me a note,

Cynical. Cold. Confused. Cringeworthy.

This is not the future of my favorite genre,

I'm getting nauseous of postapocalyptica and paranoia and psychopathologies, This is not the future I'm going to live, to make, to take part in,

I'd like to thank S, L. Huang and Kurt Hunt for their tremendous effort in compiling this anthology, I'd also like to thank the authors I've mentioned below and the editors who have recognized their work and passed it forward, Most of all, I'd like to have them as part of my future,

Here come my individual impressions,

I may try more of:

Kurt Hunt, because of the minimalist yet effective sense of connection in "Tigerskin"

Laura Pearlman, for her delightfully quirky sense of humor, with just a tad of poetic justice

Curtis C.
Chen, for bringing together a likable child and a likable emergent intelligence in "Laddie Come Home"

Brian Niemeier for infusing "Strange Matter", a gamelike, triedandtired time travel scenario, with hope and warmthalthough the ending let my hope down

Isabel Yap, for showing poignant gentleness amidst the cruelty of war and warriors in "The Oiran's Song" although her other stories gutted me.
. . they gave no gentleness and no quarter :

Effie Seiberg, for making me laugh, wryly in "Re: Little Miss Apocalypse Playset" and wholeheartedly in "Thundergod in Therapy", and for making me smile, wistfully, in "Rocket Surgery"

Sarah Gailey, for matching the Devourer of Miscreants, Archduke of Nightmares and Usurper of Souls with a Very Good Dog in "Bargain," and for granting houses the powers of forgiveness and absolutionregardless of whether humans choose to wield themin "Haunted"

Tahmeed Shafiq, for kindling an old tale with a new spark

Auston Habershaw, for writing one mean hoodlum with a heart of jelly in "Adaptation and Predation" though I wish he knew what he wanted to do with Krim in "A Revolutionary's Guide to Practical Conjuration"

Andrea Phillips's Revision, for speaking in a voice that I can't get enough of

Thomas M.
Waldroon, for weaving a strange yarn out of the coziest threads or vice versa

William Squirrell, because of his Problem Solving Astronaut and his hard SF future where whatever solution you pursue, coitus inevitably follows

Daniel Arthur Smith, for making me hold my breath in "Tower"

Anthea Sharp, because of her heroines: heroic as only human beings can be and because of the triumph of harmony in "Ice in D Minor"

Iona Sharma, for making space marriages both relatable and memorable in "Archana and Chandni"

Steven S.
Power, because of his chivalrous SearchBot in "Wire Paladin"

Samuel Peralta, for bringing the Hereafter to the here and now

Michael Patrick Hicks, for taking the war between humans and animals to its proper battlefield in "Preservation" the story strongly parallels the excerpt from David Brin's sitelinkEarth that we included in our environmental anthology sitelinkЗелени разкази ама наистина

David Jón Fuller, because I loved listening to the cadenzas of his characters, especially Horst in "Caged"

Sofie Bird, for reminding me there's no future in space without facing our downtoearth fears in the present, in "'A' is for Alacrity, Astronauts and Grief"

I'll be watching for:

sitelinkEleanor R.
Wood, because of her faith in humanity and its ongoing humanity and for showing Andy Weir how to write a multifaceted, sympathetic protagonist struggling on Mars

sitelinkMargaret Dunlap, for gifting her heroines with raw energy and subtle sensibilities: a smash hit combo

sitelinkSunil Patel, for making me sad in "The Robot Who Couldn't Lie" and shake with laughter in "The Merger", in nontrivial ways

sitelinkHope Erica Schultz, for riots like sitelinkthis one and reminders like sitelinkthat one

sitelinkNicolette Barischoff, for writing children who can take on adults any time and because I want to see how a finished story of her will look like

sitelinkJon F.
Zeigler, for turning almost every trope in "Galen and the GoldenCoat Hare" on its headand still making his characters likable

sitelinkJo Zebedee and her sitelinkInish Carraig, for demonstrating how to introduce your readers to your world, for making that world interesting, and for making me care what will happen to her characters, teens and adults alike and, oh yes, for giving me a glimpse of what it means to be Irish

sitelinkNicolas Wilson, for coming up in "Multiply" with the most convincing AIs I've seen in a while: ones that have feelingsand a sitelinksense of humor

sitelinkRhiannon RasmussenSilverstein, especially for creating lovable teen nerds in "Charge! Love Heart!": Ernest Kline, please read this before you dig into Ready Player Two :P

sitelinkBill Powell, because of the most goodnatured, goodhumored fun I've had in a long while: sitelinkhearken



The final verdict:

Initially, after reading or giving up on about one third of the stories in this anthology, I liked it much less than sitelinkitspredecessor.
That's when I wrote the fierce intro,

However, this must have been a fluke of my notquiterandom algorithm for determining the reading order, because afterwards my satisfaction and the general diversity of themes and tones picked up.
And here I am now, with three times more writers to keep an eye on than two years ago,

I'm never gonna reach the finish line of my To Read list, :/

Once again, thank you to everyone who contributed to Up and Comingand to my faith that we deserve to have a future.


Also, we're unlikely to submit any more stories to Clarkesworld Magazine, Judging by the samples here, sitelinkour ethics and aesthetics seem completely incompatible with theirs,

In contrast, Sci Phi Journal and Fireside match my needs and tastes so closely that I subscribed to their respective Patreon campaigns.
.