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Jackaroo #1.3 - The Man
Aliens: Recent Encounters
Under the countless billions of stars in the universe, what forms will alien life take? How will they live? And what will happen when we meet them? Aliens: Recent Encounters collects answers to these questions from some of today's best science fiction writers. From first encounters to life alongside aliens - and stories of the aliens' own lives - here are many futures: violent and peaceful, star-spanning and personal. Only one thing is certain: alien life will defy our expectations.
384 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2013
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243 people want to read
About the author
Alex Dally MacFarlane
45Ìýbooks33ÌýfollowersAlex Dally MacFarlane is a writer, editor and historian. When not researching narrative maps in the legendary traditions of Alexander III of Macedon, she writes stories, found in Clarkesworld, Interfictions Online and the anthologies Phantasm Japan, Solaris Rising 3 and The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2014. She is the editor of Aliens: Recent Encounters (2013) and The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women (2014). In 2015, she joined Sofia Samatar as co-editor of non-fiction and poetry for Interfictions Online. For Tor.com, she runs the Post-Binary Gender in SF column. Find her on Twitter: @foxvertebrae.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 24, 2016
Absolute rating: 2.75 / 2.8
Aliens: Recent Encounters is a decent collection of stories, most dealing with the consequences of encounters between humans and aliens [duh]. I picked it off the new-book shelf at one of my libraries because I saw that it contained works from some of my favorites - , , - and from some whose work I've read before and liked - , , , .
As it turned out, only Kress' story made it on to the list of stand outs. UKL and Kiernan were not on their A games with "Seasons of the Ansarac" and "I Am the Abyss, I Am the Light," respectively, but even their B games are better than most other's best efforts. Eekhout wrote one of my favorite short stories, "Wolves Till the World Goes Down," which I made my English students read in the Mythology unit when I was teaching, but I haven't been impressed by anything I've read of his since. And "Native Aliens" was no exception, being a pedestrian effort about colonialism and the children of colonizer & native.
The gems in this collection were (IMO):
I hadn't planned on including Genevieve Valentine's "Carthago Delenda Est" but the more I consider it, the more I'm coming around to thinking this might be the best of the lot. A rather bleak meditation on the intractably self-destructive nature of humans.
Not a full-throated recommendation but you could do worse.
Aliens: Recent Encounters is a decent collection of stories, most dealing with the consequences of encounters between humans and aliens [duh]. I picked it off the new-book shelf at one of my libraries because I saw that it contained works from some of my favorites - , , - and from some whose work I've read before and liked - , , , .
As it turned out, only Kress' story made it on to the list of stand outs. UKL and Kiernan were not on their A games with "Seasons of the Ansarac" and "I Am the Abyss, I Am the Light," respectively, but even their B games are better than most other's best efforts. Eekhout wrote one of my favorite short stories, "Wolves Till the World Goes Down," which I made my English students read in the Mythology unit when I was teaching, but I haven't been impressed by anything I've read of his since. And "Native Aliens" was no exception, being a pedestrian effort about colonialism and the children of colonizer & native.
The gems in this collection were (IMO):
"The Tetrahedron," Vandana Singh. It seems every SF author has to write their enigmatic-object-that-appears-suddenly-one-day story. Norman Spinrad did it in 1964 with "Rules of the Road." Singh's version is one of the better efforts in this subgenre.
"Knapsack Poems," Eleanor Arnason. This is one of the few stories with no human characters, and follows the wanderings of a group-entity alien similar to those in Vernor Vinge's .
Gitte Christensen's "Nullipara" is a parable about a daughter and her father & their relationship after the world they've colonized radically changes one of them. As I write this, it occurs to me that a similar parent-child dynamic is played out in "muo-ka's Child" by Indrapramit Das, though her take is more optimistic (sort of).
"My Mother Dancing," by Nancy Kress, is about recognizing life and the obstacle of human prejudices.
I hadn't planned on including Genevieve Valentine's "Carthago Delenda Est" but the more I consider it, the more I'm coming around to thinking this might be the best of the lot. A rather bleak meditation on the intractably self-destructive nature of humans.
Not a full-throated recommendation but you could do worse.
July 31, 2013
IMPORTANT NOTE: The first edition of this book (ISBN 9781607013914), at least, is missing the second half of "Seasons of the Ansarac" by Ursula Le Guin. You can read the missing part of this story here:
-----
Aliens � realistically developed, biologically plausible, sentient species � are my absolute favourite element of science fiction. My dream anthology would be a hard-SF-only collection of stories about aliens: their biology, culture, and interactions with humans. Aliens: Recent Encounters (2013), edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane, mixes both hard and soft SF with a smattering of magical realism and mythology, so not every story was to my taste. However, it is still an excellent anthology, thematically strong, while providing lots of variety.
This is a reprint anthology containing 32 short stories, all originally published between 2000 and 2012 (hence the book's subtitle). The editor has done a good job of representing a number of nationalities with her author choices, and the gender balance is good too, with 21 stories by women, 10 by men, and one "neutrois" (neutral-gendered) author. There are a few really big names (i.e.: all the ones on the front cover) but a whole bunch of relative unknowns as well.
The selection of stories is mostly exceptional. These stories provide a huge number of approaches to the idea of humans interacting with aliens, and every couple of stories there'd be another great idea that blew my mind. Some of the most noteworthy inclusions, for me, were:
� "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Liu - A short piece in the form of a few explanatory passages about how different alien species store information. Solid with ideas, my only complaint is that Liu didn't think up another ten species to flesh this story out with. (The final story in this collection, "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel" by Yoon Ha Lee, is almost exactly the same idea in the same format, but about various ways and reasons for travelling rather than storing information. It's just as good, and it also could have been longer.)
� "Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy" by Catherynne M Valente - A history of war and planetary colonisation told through a wine tasting session. The wines themselves are alien, despite being made from Earth grapes, and you'll find out why. Sounds delicious, though.
� "Seasons of the Ansarac" by Ursula K Le Guin - A brilliant piece from this master of anthropological SF, about an alien culture whose life cycle has evolved around its mass migrations, and the fragility of the culture when it comes into contact with other races. Touching and bittersweet. I went and ordered her collection Changing Planes as soon as I finished this story.
� "Carthago Delenda Est" by Genevieve Valentine - At first I didn't get the ending, but when I dug back through this layered, complex story I realised how clever it is. Humanity is just one of many species forced to put war aside and coexist in the prolonged wait for an unprecedented galactic event. The story focuses on the turmoil and rivalry between the leaders of several factions, many of whom are clones.
� "The Beekeeper" by Jamie Barras - In a universe where technology, including spaceships, is grown, a scientific team returns to a world that had been previously seeded with a garden to grow such things, as well as homunculi to tend the garden. Of course, the team runs into danger. This story had a killer twist that had me grinning as I read the final pages, then immediately go look Barras up online to find out what else he'd written.
� "Noumenon" by Robert Reed - An episode set in Reed's Great Ship universe (Marrow et al), this story has me wanting to read the novels and other stories in that setting. Reed seems to like playing with the concept of worlds within worlds, and he brings a technological twist to that idea in this story. Keep on going through the seemingly unrelated sections about an alien creature, it all ties together in the end.
� "Honey Bear" by Sofia Samatar - What starts off as a simple enough story about family strife turns creepy and weird when you figure out what's going on. A very dark story which explores ways our lives might be forced to change when aliens take over earth. It incorporates some elements from faerie mythology, but don't expect Tinkerbell. (There are a couple of other great, similarly unsettling stories about cooperation between humans and aliens in this anthology: "muo-ka's Child" by Indrapramit Das, and "Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck.)
� "Knacksack Poems" by Eleanor Arnason - No humans at all in this story! Just an excellent fable-like recount of a poet's adventures in a somewhat medieval setting. The SF twist? These creatures are much like the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, in that they are composed of multiple organisms and share a group mind. This story was funny and engrossing.
� "My Mother, Dancing" by Nancy Kress - This story is set in a far future when Fermi (and his famous paradox about the lack of alien life in the universe) is now the basis of a religion. It tells of the interactions between human missionaries spreading eukaryotic life throughout the universe, and some of their creations, who have a unique problem that might be too much for the humans to comprehend.
There are a number of other stories I really liked (the majority of the remaining 20) but I won't describe every single story in this review. There are, though, some stories I wasn't greatly enthused about.
Sadly, one of them was the contribution by Alastair Reynolds. Reynolds is one of my very favourite SF authors but I felt that his story in this anthology, "For the Ages", was rather lacklustre. He has other short stories that are far more suited to the alien theme, considering that this story doesn't even feature aliens directly, but rather tackles the idea of how to send a message to hypothetical aliens in the future.
I also wasn't captivated by CaitlÃn R Kiernan's "I am the Abyss, I am the Light", which includes a lot of alien biology but whose main character isn't very sympathetic in wanting to eschew her humanity; nor did "The Forgotten Ones" by Karin Lowachee interest me, as it seemed to be rather heavy-handedly trying to Say Something Important about the effects of colonialism. "Shallot" by Samantha Henderson and "Test of Fire" by Pervin Saket both relied pretty heavily on allusions of the literary and mythological variety, respectively, so maybe it's my fault for not really understanding them, but I didn't get much out of them either.
The story that made me roll my eyes and go "so what?" the most was "Honorary Earthling" by Nisi Shawl. Oh yes, I'm sure it's a very important story about race in America and yada yada yada, but the postmodern style (incorporating transcripts, articles, blog posts and one-sided conversations) did absolutely nothing for me and I struggled to find any kind of science fiction aspect to the story at all. It seemed to be much more about ghosts, although there was a throwaway line about aliens, but that just wasn't enough to warrant its inclusion in this collection (in my opinion).
Those few less-than-great stories aside, there is so much here that is worth the anthology's price. For any fan of aliens in science fiction, you can't go wrong.
-----
Aliens � realistically developed, biologically plausible, sentient species � are my absolute favourite element of science fiction. My dream anthology would be a hard-SF-only collection of stories about aliens: their biology, culture, and interactions with humans. Aliens: Recent Encounters (2013), edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane, mixes both hard and soft SF with a smattering of magical realism and mythology, so not every story was to my taste. However, it is still an excellent anthology, thematically strong, while providing lots of variety.
This is a reprint anthology containing 32 short stories, all originally published between 2000 and 2012 (hence the book's subtitle). The editor has done a good job of representing a number of nationalities with her author choices, and the gender balance is good too, with 21 stories by women, 10 by men, and one "neutrois" (neutral-gendered) author. There are a few really big names (i.e.: all the ones on the front cover) but a whole bunch of relative unknowns as well.
The selection of stories is mostly exceptional. These stories provide a huge number of approaches to the idea of humans interacting with aliens, and every couple of stories there'd be another great idea that blew my mind. Some of the most noteworthy inclusions, for me, were:
� "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Liu - A short piece in the form of a few explanatory passages about how different alien species store information. Solid with ideas, my only complaint is that Liu didn't think up another ten species to flesh this story out with. (The final story in this collection, "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel" by Yoon Ha Lee, is almost exactly the same idea in the same format, but about various ways and reasons for travelling rather than storing information. It's just as good, and it also could have been longer.)
� "Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy" by Catherynne M Valente - A history of war and planetary colonisation told through a wine tasting session. The wines themselves are alien, despite being made from Earth grapes, and you'll find out why. Sounds delicious, though.
� "Seasons of the Ansarac" by Ursula K Le Guin - A brilliant piece from this master of anthropological SF, about an alien culture whose life cycle has evolved around its mass migrations, and the fragility of the culture when it comes into contact with other races. Touching and bittersweet. I went and ordered her collection Changing Planes as soon as I finished this story.
� "Carthago Delenda Est" by Genevieve Valentine - At first I didn't get the ending, but when I dug back through this layered, complex story I realised how clever it is. Humanity is just one of many species forced to put war aside and coexist in the prolonged wait for an unprecedented galactic event. The story focuses on the turmoil and rivalry between the leaders of several factions, many of whom are clones.
� "The Beekeeper" by Jamie Barras - In a universe where technology, including spaceships, is grown, a scientific team returns to a world that had been previously seeded with a garden to grow such things, as well as homunculi to tend the garden. Of course, the team runs into danger. This story had a killer twist that had me grinning as I read the final pages, then immediately go look Barras up online to find out what else he'd written.
� "Noumenon" by Robert Reed - An episode set in Reed's Great Ship universe (Marrow et al), this story has me wanting to read the novels and other stories in that setting. Reed seems to like playing with the concept of worlds within worlds, and he brings a technological twist to that idea in this story. Keep on going through the seemingly unrelated sections about an alien creature, it all ties together in the end.
� "Honey Bear" by Sofia Samatar - What starts off as a simple enough story about family strife turns creepy and weird when you figure out what's going on. A very dark story which explores ways our lives might be forced to change when aliens take over earth. It incorporates some elements from faerie mythology, but don't expect Tinkerbell. (There are a couple of other great, similarly unsettling stories about cooperation between humans and aliens in this anthology: "muo-ka's Child" by Indrapramit Das, and "Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck.)
� "Knacksack Poems" by Eleanor Arnason - No humans at all in this story! Just an excellent fable-like recount of a poet's adventures in a somewhat medieval setting. The SF twist? These creatures are much like the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, in that they are composed of multiple organisms and share a group mind. This story was funny and engrossing.
� "My Mother, Dancing" by Nancy Kress - This story is set in a far future when Fermi (and his famous paradox about the lack of alien life in the universe) is now the basis of a religion. It tells of the interactions between human missionaries spreading eukaryotic life throughout the universe, and some of their creations, who have a unique problem that might be too much for the humans to comprehend.
There are a number of other stories I really liked (the majority of the remaining 20) but I won't describe every single story in this review. There are, though, some stories I wasn't greatly enthused about.
Sadly, one of them was the contribution by Alastair Reynolds. Reynolds is one of my very favourite SF authors but I felt that his story in this anthology, "For the Ages", was rather lacklustre. He has other short stories that are far more suited to the alien theme, considering that this story doesn't even feature aliens directly, but rather tackles the idea of how to send a message to hypothetical aliens in the future.
I also wasn't captivated by CaitlÃn R Kiernan's "I am the Abyss, I am the Light", which includes a lot of alien biology but whose main character isn't very sympathetic in wanting to eschew her humanity; nor did "The Forgotten Ones" by Karin Lowachee interest me, as it seemed to be rather heavy-handedly trying to Say Something Important about the effects of colonialism. "Shallot" by Samantha Henderson and "Test of Fire" by Pervin Saket both relied pretty heavily on allusions of the literary and mythological variety, respectively, so maybe it's my fault for not really understanding them, but I didn't get much out of them either.
The story that made me roll my eyes and go "so what?" the most was "Honorary Earthling" by Nisi Shawl. Oh yes, I'm sure it's a very important story about race in America and yada yada yada, but the postmodern style (incorporating transcripts, articles, blog posts and one-sided conversations) did absolutely nothing for me and I struggled to find any kind of science fiction aspect to the story at all. It seemed to be much more about ghosts, although there was a throwaway line about aliens, but that just wasn't enough to warrant its inclusion in this collection (in my opinion).
Those few less-than-great stories aside, there is so much here that is worth the anthology's price. For any fan of aliens in science fiction, you can't go wrong.
August 27, 2013
I wasn't so sure about getting this antho, because - well, it's not exactly that sci-fi's not my thing, there's a lot of sci-fi out there that I've loved, but I'm not typically excited about it like I am about fantasy, you know? But I knew Alex's tastes and my tastes have significant crossover area, and THEN I saw the authors on the TOC, and I was pretty much sold.
Omg, y'all, this antho is amazing. This is everything I forgot I loved about sci-fi - the sense of deep wonder/terror/awe and the pushing of the boundaries of perception and possibility, the longing to know "what's out there?" and getting an answer you completely didn't expect. (And inclusivity? AND HOW.)
Some notes on stories I thought were highlights to be added later.
Omg, y'all, this antho is amazing. This is everything I forgot I loved about sci-fi - the sense of deep wonder/terror/awe and the pushing of the boundaries of perception and possibility, the longing to know "what's out there?" and getting an answer you completely didn't expect. (And inclusivity? AND HOW.)
Some notes on stories I thought were highlights to be added later.
October 4, 2013
Pretty excellent anthology. Interesting premises with a variety of styles and approaches.
A much higher hit rate for good stories than I'm used to expecting in a collected anthology which was a pretty nice surprise. As wicked as the editor is, I wasn't sure how much our taste in stories would match.
Personal favourites in the collection include:
"The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Lui
"The Tetrahedon" by Vandana Singh
"Knapsack Poems" by Eleanor Arnason
"Nullipara" by Gitte Christensen
"Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck
"A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel" by Yoon Ha Lee
BUT THERE ARE MANY MANY OTHER AWESOME ONES.
A much higher hit rate for good stories than I'm used to expecting in a collected anthology which was a pretty nice surprise. As wicked as the editor is, I wasn't sure how much our taste in stories would match.
Personal favourites in the collection include:
"The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Lui
"The Tetrahedon" by Vandana Singh
"Knapsack Poems" by Eleanor Arnason
"Nullipara" by Gitte Christensen
"Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck
"A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel" by Yoon Ha Lee
BUT THERE ARE MANY MANY OTHER AWESOME ONES.
April 17, 2016
And another collection of sci-fi shorts has hit the market. Thirty-two in total with many having appeared in different collections. There must be some free to use short story website out there where these editors put their collections together from.
A quick glance at the average online review had my hopes up, but after reading I put this collection as one of the worst so far. With an average rating of only 3 stars per story and five that I had to rate at 1 star, there is not much reason for anyone to pick up this book. I had my favorites, GOLUBASH, OR WINE-BLOOD-WAR-ELEGY by Catherynne M. Valente at the top of the list, and NOUMENON by Robert Ree running second.
Here's a quick breakdown on them all.
FROZEN VOICE by An Owomoyela. The Earth gets conquered by giant spiders that keep the humans as pets. Books are taboo. Not much else to the story. 3 stars
THE BOOKMAKING HABITS OF SELECT SPECIES by Ken Liu. More like an encyclopedia posting than a story. In fact, there is no story. 1 star
GOLUBASH, OR WINE-BLOOD-WAR-ELEGY by Catherynne M. Valente. I've read this one before. Still a favorite. Unique method of telling a tale of galactic war where wine is the number one contraband. 5 stars
THE FOUR GENERATIONS OF CHANG E by Zen Cho. A girl goes through numerous physical and mental changes to become a moon person. 2 stars
THE TETRAHEDON by Vandana Singh. A tetrahedon appears out of nowhere in the middle of New Dehli. Intrigue, a young girl named Maya is constantly drawn to the thing while her own life and relationships spiral out of control. 4 stars
THE MAN by Paul McAuley. A woman living alone on a foreign planet where huge ruined machines lay everywhere is visited by a man. Is he human or something else? 5 stars
SEASONS OF THE ANSARAC by Ursula K. Le Guin. A human on vacation visits a world where the people are birdlike and their lives are migration driven. 3 stars
LAMBING SEASON by Molly Gloss. Second story I have seen before. Are there really that few good sci-fi shorts out there? Especially as this one bored me once more with the alien dog looking creature's constant visits to sniff the ground then crash on his last without explanation. 2 stars
CELADON by Desirina Boskovich. The implications of xenocide when colonizing new worlds. Lacked drama. 3 stars
CARTHAGO DELENDA EST by Genevieve Valentine. And another I've seen before. A better grasp of the story third time around but still lacking depth. Waiting forever for an altruistic alien means no war while the wait is on. 3 stars
I AM THE ABYSS AND I AM THE LIGHT by Caitlin R. Kiernan. A human going through with a merger (physically and mentally) with an alien. Lack of details made this boring. 2 stars.
THE BEEKEEPER by Jamie Barras. Humans land in this crater where humanoid life evolves from some seeding program. It felt like part of a novel. 3 stars
NOUMENON by Robert Reed. Not for the science theory challenged which is why I loved it. A host of theories are explored in this short. 5 stars
THE DEATH OF TERRESTRIAL RADIO by Elizabeth Bear. The boring life of a SETI scientist is boring. 2 stars
HONEY BEAR by Sofia Samatar. Okay, I like stories to make some semblance of being understandable. Tall aliens won't harm families with vampire babies. Seriously? 1 star
THE FORGOTTEN ONES by Karin Lowachee. A human colony long forgotten on an alien world at war. Nicely done. 5 stars
THE GODFALL'S CHEMSONG by Jeremiah Tolbert. Squid people with a hint of biogenetic engineering to be there. 4 stars
FOR THE AGES by Alastair Reynolds. How does mankind tell the future universe about all that was? Carve into onto a neutron star. 5 stars
SUN DOGS by Brooke Bolander. Cruel experiments on a dog lead to a transcendence. Could have used a few more details. 2 stars
HONORARY EARTHLING by Nisi Shawl. Not sure if this is science fiction or a political rant against racism. 1 star
SHALLOT by Samantha Henderson. A horror story with a hint of sci-fi. You need to guess the antagonist is an alien. If it were not in this book titled "Aliens: Recent Encounters" I would never have guessed. 2 stars
THE BOY WHO LEARNED HOW TO SHUDDER by Sonya Taaffe. Nothing disappoints me more than awriter trying to prove her command of the English language by writing in such florid ways you can't understand what is going on. 1 star
KNACKSACK POEMS by Eleanor Arnason. A unique alien life form with many bodies and minds. A very enjoyable story that normally would earn five stars. Only problem, no alien encounter. 4 stars
NULLIPARA by Gitte Christensen. When a planet changes your children to aliens, how do you cope? 5 stars
MUO-KA'S CHILD by Indrapamit Das. A human crash victim adopted by an alien mother. 3 stars
THE DISMANTLED INVENTION OF FATE by Jeffrey Ford. Convoluted, the story of a spacer and his alien wife takes many twists and turns. 5 stars
JAGANNATH by Karin Tidbeck. A unique alien with a symbiosis relationship to humans. 5 stars
TEST OF FIRE by Pervin Saket. Alien gives up on delivering important message to mankind. 3 stars
MY MOTHER DANCING by Nancy Kress. One segment of mankind visiting another when years and biological changes make them different. 3 stars
NATIVE ALIENS by Greg Van Eekhout. A parallel examination between 1945 and 2367 examining reaction to alien settling. 4 stars
COVENANT by Lavie Tidhar. Ancient civilizations, where did they go? Odd symbiosis aspect to this one. 4 stars
A VECTOR ALPHABET OF INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL by Yoon Ha Lee. Sorry. Nothing to this. 1 star
A quick glance at the average online review had my hopes up, but after reading I put this collection as one of the worst so far. With an average rating of only 3 stars per story and five that I had to rate at 1 star, there is not much reason for anyone to pick up this book. I had my favorites, GOLUBASH, OR WINE-BLOOD-WAR-ELEGY by Catherynne M. Valente at the top of the list, and NOUMENON by Robert Ree running second.
Here's a quick breakdown on them all.
FROZEN VOICE by An Owomoyela. The Earth gets conquered by giant spiders that keep the humans as pets. Books are taboo. Not much else to the story. 3 stars
THE BOOKMAKING HABITS OF SELECT SPECIES by Ken Liu. More like an encyclopedia posting than a story. In fact, there is no story. 1 star
GOLUBASH, OR WINE-BLOOD-WAR-ELEGY by Catherynne M. Valente. I've read this one before. Still a favorite. Unique method of telling a tale of galactic war where wine is the number one contraband. 5 stars
THE FOUR GENERATIONS OF CHANG E by Zen Cho. A girl goes through numerous physical and mental changes to become a moon person. 2 stars
THE TETRAHEDON by Vandana Singh. A tetrahedon appears out of nowhere in the middle of New Dehli. Intrigue, a young girl named Maya is constantly drawn to the thing while her own life and relationships spiral out of control. 4 stars
THE MAN by Paul McAuley. A woman living alone on a foreign planet where huge ruined machines lay everywhere is visited by a man. Is he human or something else? 5 stars
SEASONS OF THE ANSARAC by Ursula K. Le Guin. A human on vacation visits a world where the people are birdlike and their lives are migration driven. 3 stars
LAMBING SEASON by Molly Gloss. Second story I have seen before. Are there really that few good sci-fi shorts out there? Especially as this one bored me once more with the alien dog looking creature's constant visits to sniff the ground then crash on his last without explanation. 2 stars
CELADON by Desirina Boskovich. The implications of xenocide when colonizing new worlds. Lacked drama. 3 stars
CARTHAGO DELENDA EST by Genevieve Valentine. And another I've seen before. A better grasp of the story third time around but still lacking depth. Waiting forever for an altruistic alien means no war while the wait is on. 3 stars
I AM THE ABYSS AND I AM THE LIGHT by Caitlin R. Kiernan. A human going through with a merger (physically and mentally) with an alien. Lack of details made this boring. 2 stars.
THE BEEKEEPER by Jamie Barras. Humans land in this crater where humanoid life evolves from some seeding program. It felt like part of a novel. 3 stars
NOUMENON by Robert Reed. Not for the science theory challenged which is why I loved it. A host of theories are explored in this short. 5 stars
THE DEATH OF TERRESTRIAL RADIO by Elizabeth Bear. The boring life of a SETI scientist is boring. 2 stars
HONEY BEAR by Sofia Samatar. Okay, I like stories to make some semblance of being understandable. Tall aliens won't harm families with vampire babies. Seriously? 1 star
THE FORGOTTEN ONES by Karin Lowachee. A human colony long forgotten on an alien world at war. Nicely done. 5 stars
THE GODFALL'S CHEMSONG by Jeremiah Tolbert. Squid people with a hint of biogenetic engineering to be there. 4 stars
FOR THE AGES by Alastair Reynolds. How does mankind tell the future universe about all that was? Carve into onto a neutron star. 5 stars
SUN DOGS by Brooke Bolander. Cruel experiments on a dog lead to a transcendence. Could have used a few more details. 2 stars
HONORARY EARTHLING by Nisi Shawl. Not sure if this is science fiction or a political rant against racism. 1 star
SHALLOT by Samantha Henderson. A horror story with a hint of sci-fi. You need to guess the antagonist is an alien. If it were not in this book titled "Aliens: Recent Encounters" I would never have guessed. 2 stars
THE BOY WHO LEARNED HOW TO SHUDDER by Sonya Taaffe. Nothing disappoints me more than awriter trying to prove her command of the English language by writing in such florid ways you can't understand what is going on. 1 star
KNACKSACK POEMS by Eleanor Arnason. A unique alien life form with many bodies and minds. A very enjoyable story that normally would earn five stars. Only problem, no alien encounter. 4 stars
NULLIPARA by Gitte Christensen. When a planet changes your children to aliens, how do you cope? 5 stars
MUO-KA'S CHILD by Indrapamit Das. A human crash victim adopted by an alien mother. 3 stars
THE DISMANTLED INVENTION OF FATE by Jeffrey Ford. Convoluted, the story of a spacer and his alien wife takes many twists and turns. 5 stars
JAGANNATH by Karin Tidbeck. A unique alien with a symbiosis relationship to humans. 5 stars
TEST OF FIRE by Pervin Saket. Alien gives up on delivering important message to mankind. 3 stars
MY MOTHER DANCING by Nancy Kress. One segment of mankind visiting another when years and biological changes make them different. 3 stars
NATIVE ALIENS by Greg Van Eekhout. A parallel examination between 1945 and 2367 examining reaction to alien settling. 4 stars
COVENANT by Lavie Tidhar. Ancient civilizations, where did they go? Odd symbiosis aspect to this one. 4 stars
A VECTOR ALPHABET OF INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL by Yoon Ha Lee. Sorry. Nothing to this. 1 star
January 20, 2016
Now this is more like it.
Recently, I read an anthology, , and found myself somewhat disappointed... while there were a couple good stories, not only were a lot of the contacts not first contacts, but also, many of the aliens seemed to either go to extremes of "even if ridiculous things happen that's just because aliens are completely incomprehensible, so why bother trying" to "humans in funny suits with a few cultural differences". I found it hard to understand how an anthology pulling the best first contact stories from all of SF history could wind up so uninspiring.
But I still had that itch that needed to be scratched, stories of the alien, but with a sense that there was a real something behind them, something that may be hard for the the human mind to grasp, but not impossible to at least approach. So I tried again, with Aliens: Recent Encounters. The Recent is because these stories were all pulled from the year 2000 or later, which should make it less likely to get great stories, but somehow the opposite happened.
I didn't like every story in it, of course (including, oddly enough, the one story that both anthologies shared). And a few stretched the definitions of "alien" and "encounter" (in one, the alien interaction seemed to consist solely of hypothetical aliens who might one day find a record left behind for them). But on the whole, I liked them a lot more, and even many of the ones I couldn't get into, I could easily see other enjoying a lot more than I.
My favorites of the collection were "Honey Bear" by Sofia Samatar, "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Liu, "The Tetrahedron" by Vandana Singh, "The Beekeeper" by Jamie Barrass, "My Mother, Dancing," by Nancy Kress, and "The Godfall's Chemsong" by Jeremiah Tolbert, though many of the ones I didn't list also were quite enjoyable in one way or another, giving an intriguing look at an alien life cycle and culture, or telling an important emotional story, or both. Only a few were a chore to get through for me.
Most importantly, it successfully scratched that particular itch, for stories of the alien... for a while, at least.
Recently, I read an anthology, , and found myself somewhat disappointed... while there were a couple good stories, not only were a lot of the contacts not first contacts, but also, many of the aliens seemed to either go to extremes of "even if ridiculous things happen that's just because aliens are completely incomprehensible, so why bother trying" to "humans in funny suits with a few cultural differences". I found it hard to understand how an anthology pulling the best first contact stories from all of SF history could wind up so uninspiring.
But I still had that itch that needed to be scratched, stories of the alien, but with a sense that there was a real something behind them, something that may be hard for the the human mind to grasp, but not impossible to at least approach. So I tried again, with Aliens: Recent Encounters. The Recent is because these stories were all pulled from the year 2000 or later, which should make it less likely to get great stories, but somehow the opposite happened.
I didn't like every story in it, of course (including, oddly enough, the one story that both anthologies shared). And a few stretched the definitions of "alien" and "encounter" (in one, the alien interaction seemed to consist solely of hypothetical aliens who might one day find a record left behind for them). But on the whole, I liked them a lot more, and even many of the ones I couldn't get into, I could easily see other enjoying a lot more than I.
My favorites of the collection were "Honey Bear" by Sofia Samatar, "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" by Ken Liu, "The Tetrahedron" by Vandana Singh, "The Beekeeper" by Jamie Barrass, "My Mother, Dancing," by Nancy Kress, and "The Godfall's Chemsong" by Jeremiah Tolbert, though many of the ones I didn't list also were quite enjoyable in one way or another, giving an intriguing look at an alien life cycle and culture, or telling an important emotional story, or both. Only a few were a chore to get through for me.
Most importantly, it successfully scratched that particular itch, for stories of the alien... for a while, at least.
August 12, 2020
I think it’s unfair to hold a book accountable to your expectations. So, in reading this book, I tried to adjust my expectations. What I had expected was a collection of imaginative short stories about human encounters with alien life � something I think is incredibly interesting, both for its straight-forward speculations about what alien life might be like, and for the reflections it affords about ourselves.
It’s not really that book.
There are 32 stories collected here, some from well-known authors like Ursula Le Guin, Elizabeth Bear, or Alastair Reynolds, and others from less known authors. The quality is a bit uneven. There are some really great stories here � I think Jeffrey Ford’s The Dismantled Invention of Fate is brilliant. Its gentle attack on the flow of time and realism is ingenious, something that will have me thinking for a long while. And Greg Van Eekhout’s Native Aliens may not be as philosophically probing, but it is equally effective in its alternating stories of earthly colonization and rebellion with unearthly exploration, colonization, adaptation, and its resolution. Those stories were as good as it gets, while some others were forgettable, coming and going quickly.
For the most part, the stories tend toward more fantasy than hard science fiction. Some, like Jeremiah Tolbert’s The Godfall’s Chemsong, drop you into the middle of an alien “culture�. The best stories, and Tolbert’s is probably one of them, are able to both divulge the aliens� worlds and ways of life, and play out a poignant story at the same time. When they don’t work well, by the time you’ve found your way around, you’re done, out, and on to the next story. Most of the stories are less than 20 pages, typically more on the order of 10 to 12 pages.
It’s probably inappropriate to complain about disorientation � these are stories of alien life, after all. If anything I suspect alien life would be far more disorienting, far less understandable than the stories (or the great great majority of science fiction stories) present it.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book, granting the ups and downs with the stories. Not at the top of my list, but certainly not at the bottom of my list of recommendations.
It’s not really that book.
There are 32 stories collected here, some from well-known authors like Ursula Le Guin, Elizabeth Bear, or Alastair Reynolds, and others from less known authors. The quality is a bit uneven. There are some really great stories here � I think Jeffrey Ford’s The Dismantled Invention of Fate is brilliant. Its gentle attack on the flow of time and realism is ingenious, something that will have me thinking for a long while. And Greg Van Eekhout’s Native Aliens may not be as philosophically probing, but it is equally effective in its alternating stories of earthly colonization and rebellion with unearthly exploration, colonization, adaptation, and its resolution. Those stories were as good as it gets, while some others were forgettable, coming and going quickly.
For the most part, the stories tend toward more fantasy than hard science fiction. Some, like Jeremiah Tolbert’s The Godfall’s Chemsong, drop you into the middle of an alien “culture�. The best stories, and Tolbert’s is probably one of them, are able to both divulge the aliens� worlds and ways of life, and play out a poignant story at the same time. When they don’t work well, by the time you’ve found your way around, you’re done, out, and on to the next story. Most of the stories are less than 20 pages, typically more on the order of 10 to 12 pages.
It’s probably inappropriate to complain about disorientation � these are stories of alien life, after all. If anything I suspect alien life would be far more disorienting, far less understandable than the stories (or the great great majority of science fiction stories) present it.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book, granting the ups and downs with the stories. Not at the top of my list, but certainly not at the bottom of my list of recommendations.
December 18, 2018
This is a collection of 31 short stories. I read the first one in the summer of 2015, and finished in December 2018 with Alastair Reynolds "For The Ages".
I enjoyed the selection. Lots of new writers (at least for me). These were my favorite stories:
Vandana Singh, "The Tetrahedon" (July 18, 2017)
Paul McAuley, "The Man" (July 18, 2017)
Jamie Barras, "The Beekeeper" (July 27, 2015)
Elizabeth Bear, "The Death Of Terrestrial Radio" (Aug 11, 2015)
Jeremiah Tolbert, "The Godfall's Chemsong" (Aug 23, 2017)
Eleanor Arnason, "Knacksack Poems" (Dec 15, 2018)
Indrapramit Das, Muo-Ka's Child (July 19, 2017)
The last two were probably my very favorite.
I enjoyed the selection. Lots of new writers (at least for me). These were my favorite stories:
Vandana Singh, "The Tetrahedon" (July 18, 2017)
Paul McAuley, "The Man" (July 18, 2017)
Jamie Barras, "The Beekeeper" (July 27, 2015)
Elizabeth Bear, "The Death Of Terrestrial Radio" (Aug 11, 2015)
Jeremiah Tolbert, "The Godfall's Chemsong" (Aug 23, 2017)
Eleanor Arnason, "Knacksack Poems" (Dec 15, 2018)
Indrapramit Das, Muo-Ka's Child (July 19, 2017)
The last two were probably my very favorite.
Read
June 27, 2023DNFd @ 26%
I normally wouldn’t leave a review for something I’ve read so little of since I wouldn’t feel like I’ve got an adequate taste of what it’s like, but I am this time because it taught me something about my reading preferences that I didn’t know before: that if I’m going to read sci-fi with aliens in it, I want it to be at least novella length to allow for adequate world building and civilization development. There’s nothing wrong with the short stories in this collection (and in fact I even enjoyed a few of them from what I’ve read), but the format limits world building to where I just couldn’t get invested in any of the stories adequately enough to want to continue reading. I was going to try to push on to at least 50% but I found myself actively avoiding picking this up and picking up other books instead, which I think is a pretty decent sign that it’s time to move on.
I normally wouldn’t leave a review for something I’ve read so little of since I wouldn’t feel like I’ve got an adequate taste of what it’s like, but I am this time because it taught me something about my reading preferences that I didn’t know before: that if I’m going to read sci-fi with aliens in it, I want it to be at least novella length to allow for adequate world building and civilization development. There’s nothing wrong with the short stories in this collection (and in fact I even enjoyed a few of them from what I’ve read), but the format limits world building to where I just couldn’t get invested in any of the stories adequately enough to want to continue reading. I was going to try to push on to at least 50% but I found myself actively avoiding picking this up and picking up other books instead, which I think is a pretty decent sign that it’s time to move on.
October 26, 2021
A good collection of stories, with a mix of household names to attract your attention and authors I'd not heard of before, but can now try and find out more about them and their work. The stories are varied; some of them make an immediate impact while others need thinking time and slower digestion.
I don't tend to find anthologies like this very often - especially not sci-fi ones, so it's nice to have come across this book and been able to explore some newer authors alongside the favourites.
I don't tend to find anthologies like this very often - especially not sci-fi ones, so it's nice to have come across this book and been able to explore some newer authors alongside the favourites.
September 10, 2024
Beautifully edited and carefully selected set of stories. The writing is across the board high quality, thoughtful, and richly layered. I don't love all the stories the same, but there's one that absolutely tore my heart out and left it in dripping shreds against the uncaring stars. RIP, Laika.
December 19, 2021
I liked "The Godfall's Chemsong" by Jeremiah Tolbert, "Sun Dogs" by Brooke Bolander, and "Knacksack Poems" by Elanor Arnason
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