What Happened to the Girl? By Wade Bell - Short Story Review

I liked this one.

It was a one-sided transcript of a police interrogation.  I enjoyed the back and forth between the suspect and the investigator 

The only thing that made this SF was the points system.  Which gave the setting a darkness that could have been right at home in the Blade Runner movie. 

Well crafted and fun. 

Frosty by Jason Kapalka - Short Story Review

A fun twist on an “origin” story of Frosty the Snowman.

Dark and funny. 

It would make an interesting story to tell around Christmas. 

On-Spec Magazine is still around:  https://onspecmag.wordpress.com/

Sommelier by Catherine MacLeod

This was a warm and delightful story about a shopkeeper who provides speciality wines for those who need to remember, to feel a lost emotion, to experience a missed opportunity or to find release.

To say much more would take away from the joy of reading this story for the first time. 

It left me feeling pretty good about the world. 

I read it months ago and it has stayed with me for that entire time.  I don't know why it took me so long to post a review of it.

Hopscotch by Karl Schroeder

47/150/2016

Linda is a researcher who had discovered how to predict the unpredictable.  She tracks down freak storms, UFO sightings and strange disappearances.

Alan is her boyfriend who accompanies her on her quests.

The trouble is that he tries to keep Linda safe but she is a force to be reckoned with.  Poor Alan is in over his head but he does try his best.

The story worked for me because of just how hard Alan was trying to contribute and keep up.

Karl Schroeder - http://www.kschroeder.com/

Just Like Old Times by Robert J. Sawyer

44/150/2016

This is the strangest method to control the population that I've run across.

Chronotransference is a technology that can send a person's mind back in time to live out the life of a person long dead.  The person's mind cannot control the body he or she is in, only view the life until its conclusion.

The present day body dies and is no longer a burden on society.

Yikes!

In this story, a man convicted of multiple murders, convinces the authorities to transfer his mind into a tyrannosaurus rex.

It was an odd story but imaginative, well written and just plain fun to read.

Robert J. Sawyer - http://sfwriter.com/

Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large by James Alan Gardner - A Short Story Review

40/150/2016

I really liked this story.

An odd little girl, Muffin, has knowledge of the future and strangers come to the house to get her guidance.

Meanwhile her uncle and brother try to make sense of her.

She is a good girl and has plans for the future.

I was very interested in knowing more about Muffin which kept me reading.

There was also a gentleness to the story that made me feel like everything was going to be all right in the end.

It's not Science Fiction.  Perhaps speculative fiction?  I really don't know what that means.

Urban Fantasy seems to fit.  Let's call it that.  But there's no magic or supernatural elements.

I know, let's just call it a good story.

James Alan Gardner's website - http://www.jamesalangardner.com/Welcome.html

Carpe Diem by Eileen Kernaghan - A Short Story Review

39/150/2016

I am Canadian.

Why am I not reading more stories from Canada?

I dug out this collection from On-Spec magazine.  You know, I've purchased many issues of the magazine and I am sure I haven't read even one.  They are all in a shoe box in my basement.  I think I will have to take a run at them.

This story was an odd one, with a twist ending that left me scratching my head.

We follow a group of senior women who are being monitored for something.  Blood tests, and all kinds of medical checkups are being performed regularly.

We are never told why.

But if you don't make the cut....

Eileen Kernaghan's website - http://www.eileenkernaghan.ca/index.html