written by Laurie Tom

Samurai Flamenco is a send-up/meta-commentary of the Japanese superhero genre, particularly the various Super Sentai series, which Americans have mostly been exposed to in the form of Power Rangers.

Twenty-year-old Masayoshi Hazama grew up idolizing the televised superheroes of his childhood, so much so that even into adulthood he never gave up his dream of becoming a hero. He lives in a world much like ours, where criminals are handled by the police; a world that doesn't have or need superheroes. But Masayoshi isn't like normal people.

He has an uncompromising sense of morality and in his homemade costume as Samurai Flamenco, he decides to make the world a better place, even if it's just as simple as getting someone to stop littering.

His first attempt at being a hero is downright miserable (Batman he is not), but fortunately he soon meets Hidenori Goto, a jaded policeman a few years older than him. At first all they have in common is a fondness for childhood superhero shows, but as time passes, Goto starts to help out Masayoshi as he gets in over his head. As a vigilante, it helps to have a friend on the police force, and for the audience Goto serves as the straight man to antics that only Masayoshi could possibly take seriously.

Eventually Masayoshi makes allies, rivals, and even enemies. During episode 7 the show takes a huge right turn that is completely crazy and runs against everything that had been set up about how the world works, but it's just so damn good and completely in the spirit of the show that it's hard not to just roll with it. Episode 7 is really what sets the tone of the rest to follow.

Once the real spirit of the show reveals itself Samurai Flamenco runs fast and furious, barely stopping to take a breath. Like in a TV series, the hero defeats one enemy only for another to appear, but it does what would be 5-6 seasons in another show in just two (and it works!). There was one point where I wondered just how the hell the series could possibly wrap up in the wake of ever escalating adversaries, but wrap up it does, and it does it in the unexpected and completely off-beat manner that the show has been displaying its entire run.

Samurai Flamenco manages a neat balancing act between the laughs and the drama, sometimes even juggling both in the exact same scene, with a couple teary-eyed moments I just wasn't expecting.

That said though, this is a series I find difficult to recommend, since so much of the humor hinges around Japanese superheroes. If you watched Power Rangers as a kid and know a little bit about its Super Sentai origins, or if you happen to be a fan of the American comic Kick-Ass, I'd say this is worth giving a shot, but it's probably too bizarre to be someone's intro to anime.

Otherwise, if you're an anime fan looking for something new, there really isn't anything else like Samurai Flamenco.

Lasting 22 episodes, Samurai Flamenco recently finished its run with the end of the winter 2014 anime season.

Pluses: commentary on the staples of Japanese superheroes is hilarious, story never loses sight of itself, clear that the creative staff loved what they were doing

Minuses: takes a few episodes to get to the real plot, most of the villains don't last long enough to make an impact, very niche appeal

Samurai Flamenco is currently streaming at CrunchyRoll and is available subtitled. Aniplex of America has licensed this for eventual retail distribution in the US.

laurietom

Laurie Tom is a fantasy and science fiction writer based in southern California. Since she was a kid she has considered books, video games, and anime in roughly equal portions to be her primary source of entertainment. Laurie is a previous grand prize winner of Writers of the Future and since then her work has been published inGalaxy's Edge, Penumbra, and Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction.

So I've reached an unexpected writing milestone this week: being banned from submitting to a publication after pointing out some questionable business practices. I've posted this elsewhere but I decided I'm going to post the email transcript of my conversation with Collidor's Ray Taylor which ended with me being banned from his publication. I have never done this kind of thing before, but I haven't said anything in the email conversation I'm ashamed of and I'd rather that people make their own decisions with the words in front of them rather than taking my word for it.

Neither half of the conversation has been edited from it's original format except when I quoted some text within my emails and responded to them in the next line I added the label "Me: " to make it clear where the quote ended and the response began.

Also note that their guidelines say that reprints are acceptable.

Share if you like.

(After submitting a story)
RAY TAYLOR:
Dear David,

Thank you again for sending us your work, Marley and Cratchit. While it is still in the queue, I'd like to ask you if you can lend a hand while we get our Appzine off the ground.

Collidor is a community project. We believe that authors and other creative people should be able to earn a living doing just that – creating.

While we are financed for the first couple of issues, we need to demonstrate market potential in order to get to a second round of financing. That means as many advanced subscribers as we can muster through our crowdfunding initiative.

While we are not in any way suggesting that you must donate or purchase a subscription (there are no strings attached to a submission acceptance), authors such as yourself will utimately benefit the more subscribers we have. Your show of support would be greatly appreciated.

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/0hqF6/ab/32lk04

If you are not in the position to subscribe or donate yourself, you could perhaps help out by promoting Collidor to your own network of friends and acquaintances. With your help we can get the word out, build momentum, and make Collidor the best science fiction market as we lead the new wave in publishing.

If you have not already done so, please follow us on Twitter (@collidormag) and like our page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/collidormag)… and if you can, retweet and share posts to your own friends and followers.

Thanks again for your submission, and keep writing!

Ray Taylor, publisher
COLLIDOR: A Science Fiction appzine for mobile

DAVID STEFFEN:

Ray,
Mass-sending solicitations is an abuse of your submission system, and likely a violation of anti-spam laws in some countries. You might want to check your terms of service with Submittable as well.
In any case, it seems like soliciting your slushpile is barking up the wrong tree. To be successful, you need to get the attention of fans to kick in, not your submitters. Presumably there will be overlap between the two groups, but a submitted story is not an open license for solicitation.
Please do not send more.
,David

RAY TAYLOR:

Thanks for your email. Actually Submittable has a bulk email option on enterprise accounts, however these emails were sent out one at a time. The idea actually came from another author and a number of our submitters already contributed and promoted us on social media without solicitation.

We have also not violated any anti spam laws as you as well as other submitters established the relationship and as a result allows us to communicate with you on any topic we feel might benefit our mutual investment.

And not only is solicitation OK, it is actually possible to set up a Submittable account to charge a fee for each submission. I have elected not to do so as I do not believe in a pay to play model in publishing. I have decided to eat the cost of having stories read where maybe 1 in 10 or even 50 might actually make it to publication.

In that regard I suggest you do your research and get your facts straight before making accusations.

Now of course you are under no obligation as I had clearly stated, but it is in your interest, as in every aspiring professional author, to help promote paying venues for content. The trend in publishing has been a steady erosion of content licensing fees, and this is largely because authors have not done their fair share to support the economy that pays them. Support is as simple as following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook page and asking your own community to take a look at a venue that is not only author friendly but pays the highest rates in the industry (and the plan is go even higher as we gain subscribers and sponsors). Gone are the days that solitary writers can sit in their rooms and write and expect enough cheques will come in to pay the rent. That might still be true for the less than one per cent of professional authors out there, but trust me, you are a very long way from that, my friend.

So you can slog away for exposure and self publish and self promote and hope that by giving away your work you can gain momentum and followers if that is your goal (I suggest Wattpad), or you can help a startup that has as its goal the creation of a high paying market for quality writing. One that also dedicates resources to editorial development and your success and skill as an author. We expect many of our authors will go on to become successful in other well paid publishing venues with our help, and not be forced to work for free or next to nothing.

Basically if you like the idea of getting paid $0.25 a word, benefit from our editorial expertise and the exposure we can bring you, it should not be a problem to consider lending a hand. Many have done so already.

Regards,

Ray Taylor, publisher

DAVID STEFFEN:

Ray,
I'm going to drop Submittable a line, to ask them what their policy is about solicitation.

I think we have fundamental ideological differences here that we won't agree on, but I wanted to respond to a few of the points:. You can respond or not as you like–I'm not demanding a response.

>>Actually Submittable has a bulk email option on enterprise accounts
Sending emails individually rather than a bulk email doesn't really change things. Me: The email being tagged as having been sent through "mailgun" doesn't encourage a non-spam interpretation.

>>We have also not violated any anti spam laws as you as well as other submitters established the relationship and as a result allows us to communicate with you on any topic we feel might benefit our mutual investment.
Me: Asking to receive call for donations was not a part of our communication. It is not only NOT a part of the communication necessary for the submission process, it is a blatant advertisement. Establishing a relationship does not give a free pass for advertising.

>>And not only is solicitation OK, it is actually possible to set up a Submittable account to charge a fee for each submission.
Me: That's very generous of you to not charge me for sending you content. How exactly does this justify solicitation?

>>I have decided to eat the cost of having stories read where maybe 1 in 10 or even 50 might actually make it to publication.
Me: That's how starting a business works, yes. It's an investment of money and in time. If the business plan is sound and you find a market, then your initial investment may become profit when you have enough customers. Making money selling fiction is haaaaard. A lot of magazines out there aren't making money. There are many reasons for it, including an abundance of free fiction to be had, but I'm sure you know about all that.

>>The trend in publishing has been a steady erosion of content licensing fees, and this is largely because authors have not done their fair share to support the economy that pays them.
Me: So the reason that writers aren't getting paid enough is that writers aren't paying enough to the publishers that publish them? A publishing system in which the primary money comes from the writers is flawed. Where is the money coming from? You need to find content from writers. You need to find readers who will pay for the content. There is overlap between these groupsbut you can't treat them the same and expect to succeed.

RAY TAYLOR:

Mailgun? These were sent through Submittable's messaging system. You might want to take that up with them in your request. I can look into that on my end.

Actually if you go back to what I wrote, I was not suggesting pay to play at all, even though it's an accepted model, but that authors do not do enough to promote the idea that good writing is worth paying for. Publishing is an ecosystem, and it does not flourish because creators are typically the ones having to accept whatever crumbs are thrown their way, we are in a model where content is cheap but low quality as a result because the best writers do not have the financial incentive to further hone their craft.

If you take the music or book publishing business, publishers no longer invest in new or mid listers until it can be proven they can self promote. This is perhaps unfortunate that people are reluctant to pay for content, but indeed one can't expect to be paid If you do nothing to change that environment and expect other people to do the work for you. And I have solid data to back that up.

DAVID STEFFEN:
>>Actually if you go back to what I wrote, I was not suggesting pay to play at all, even though it's an accepted model, but that authors do not do enough to promote the idea that good writing is worth paying for.
Me: You must be hanging out with different writers than I hang out with. That is often the topic in various contexts with those that I interact with.
It's hard to do much to promote an entity that hasn't produced anything yet. If I read what you published and I thought you made good choices, I'd promote at the slightest opportunity. I heard about your magazine because another writer posted a link to your guidelines in a writing forum. I have shared that link in other venues as well. It's not the promotion that bothers me, but the format it takes of unsolicited email advertisement. For all I know, you don't have interest in the kinds of stories I like to read–I can't know that until some of it is available for me to read.

>>we are in a model where content is cheap but low quality as a result because the best writers do not have the financial incentive to further hone their craft.
Me: Content being cheap per unit doesn't necessarily mean that no money is being made. I know some writers who have made some steady income from epub sales, which are cheap but if you can get enough quantity the bulk can make up for it.
And I certainly don't agree that stories on the market are of low quality if you look in the right places.

>>one can't expect to be paid If you do nothing to change that environment and expect other people to do the work for you.
Me: I'm not even sure what exactly you're saying. What work is being done for me? I happily promote fiction magazines that publish fiction I like. I happily contribute financially to fiction magazines that publish fiction I like. At this point I don't know if you publish fiction I like because you haven't published any yet (as far as I can tell). I've contributed to startups, but generally it will be if the mission statement sounds especially exciting or if the editor is an entity who has picked stories I like in other venues.

What I am taking issue with is not the suggestion of promotion, or the suggestion of contribution. You can suggest those all you want, and I will continue to choose what I want to promote and what I want to contribute to based primarily on the merit of the content produced. It is the medium of the communication that I take issue with, the unsolicited advertisement in email.

RAY TAYLOR:
Well precisely, you are free to choose, I asked without any obligation on your part, and you have chosen not to participate. Fair enough.

As someone who has followed science fiction for over 40 years, I can safely say that the current decline in literacy has coincided with a decline in the quality of writing. While you can state that money is being made and there are indeed good writers out there eking out a living, the harsh reality is that it ain't like it used to be.

There is an urgent need for curation, and the better paying markets such as Tor (backed by a huge multinational) are unfortunately few and far between. Most paying gigs for fiction pay abysmal rates, as I'm sure you already know. The only winner in this commodity approach to content is in fact Google and to a lesser extent, Amazon.

So there is a way out of this mess. But it does mean fighting the system as it stands, and it takes a community to build it, as the traditional publishers don't have a clue how to make money any more . Taking an adversarial or what I might call a consumer approach (you claim that not being able to evaluate our content is your reason) is a bit odd when we are essentially both on the same side of the fence when it comes to monetizing content. You would like to make good money and I'm interested in developing a market for that.

I regret you withdrew your submission, even though it was really not what we are looking for in terms of reprints. In general a story should not be freely accessible on the web or at least have some claim for fame such as an award or serious critical acclaim. I question your motives for submitting a story that anyone could read on Escape Pod, and I would have obviously rejected it on those grounds alone. We have a different venue for archival material but it will be on a shared revenue model. At the moment we are only offering that opportunity to a very select group of well known authors with a long track record.

Good luck with your writing career.

Ray Taylor, publisher

DAVID STEFFEN:
I say your strategy is deeply flawed. You say I don't know what I'm talking about when I don't want to support your market. Time will tell.

But, that completely bypasses the core question: why spam?
a professional would not stoop to that, whether or not it's illegal. Which it is illegal.

I submitted a story that's already available to test the waters. And I learned what I needed to know–I don't want to work with you, because you spam your contributors, it's clear to me that you don't know how to run a publishing company, and you also can't take criticism. Prove my wrong by succeeding if you like.

From my end, I don't see any point in continuing the conversation further as I'm definitely not getting anything out of it, and it's equally clear that you're not interested in hearing what I am saying.

RAY TAYLOR:
David,

I have sought a legal opinion, and in the United States (and with similar legislation in Canada), the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 defines unsolicited email (which in my case it was not unsolicited) as legally permissible as long as certain header information is not forged (e.g. false sender email addresses, false subject lines) and naturally anything fraudulent. By withdrawing your story you have effectively opted out the relationship with us and there will be no further communications through Submittable.

Just because you received an unwanted email does not make it spam. The reality is you solicited us by submitting a story and by divulging your email address. You had established a relationship with Collidor by doing so and as a result could expect communications that may be to the benefit of our relationship.

http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

As I had stated in my first reply to your email, you should do your homework before making accusations.

Adversarial approaches with publishers are not terribly good strategies for establishing constructive relationships. Furthermore, I take a very dim view of time wasters who are ‘testing the waters'. This is borderline abuse of the goodwill of publishers who dedicate resources to open and unsolicited submissions.

You will receive no further communication from me and any future emails or submissions from you will be automatically and summarily deleted.

Ray Taylor

written by David Steffen

My last Best of Dunesteef article was in October 24, 2011. For most of the podcasts I listen to, I try to do an updated list on a yearly basis, but I also like to make sure that I get batch of stories big enough that a best of list is meaningful. Dunesteef has an often irregular publication schedule, so it's taken a little longer to get the minimum 30 episodes I like to work with. So this list covers all 33 of their stories published between then and now.

Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich put together good productions from their team of volunteers, and have quite interesting though long after-episode chatter. Their episodes have been even more irregular due to Big moving to a new house, but what they lack in frequency they more than make up for in entertainment.

The List

1. Saying Goodbye by Christopher Munroe
One of the winners of their Broken Mirror Story event in which writers submitted a story that meets the following description: "A phone rings in the middle of the night. The voice on the line says only one word†�but it is enough." While the story at first seems to be one that we've all heard before, about the ghost of a man trying to send a message of love to his widow, I appreciate the novel direction taken by the end of it.

2. The Dead of Tetra Manna by Mark L.S. Stone
Cool world building here, and multiple cultures with varying kinds of magic. Erik of Ciohar heads out on a quest to find out what happened to his last body that died.

3. Todd Elrin and the Forever Reset by Jonathan C. Gillespie
I've seen this premise a few times recently, where a single person relives the same year over and over again, but each one was different and told well.

4. The Question by Robert Lowell Russell
"It's the question on everybody's minds, as soon as they hear about fully-functional, human-like robots." That's all well and good, people say, but can you f*** it?

5. Wedded Bliss by Rish Outfield
A conversation between married men goes from the mundane to a ludicrous game of one-upmanship.

interviewed by Carl Slaughter


priestbannerThe Prestige, a box office hit directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johannson, was based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Nolan. I seldom watch a movie more than once. The Prestige is an exception. Every time I watch it, I discover something new. Another science fiction movie hit was Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio and also directed by Christopher Nolan. Christopher Priest put the premise of Inception in print 3 decades earlier with his novel A Dream of Wessex. His latest novel, published in 2013, is The Adjacent. Christopher Priest talks to Diabolical Plots about the themes and elements of his novels, his definition of science fiction, and the influence H.G. Wells had on him.

CARL SLAUGHTER: Why magicians?

CHRISTOPHER PRIEST: Because when you know what they're really like, they are co-o-ol.

CS: Why war?

CP: Because it's a constant force, even if you don't happen to witness it every day. Since 1945, more than one hundred full-scale wars have been fought, many of them still ongoing now.

CS: Why WW1 and WW2?

CP: WW1 because of the poetry. WW2 because it isn't over yet.

CS: Why airplanes?

CP: I'm still struggling to come to terms with the theory of flight, which as far as I am concerned remains only a theory.

CS: Why doppelgangers?

CP: Don't you have an inner life? A shadow identity no one sees?

CS: Why the theme of what's reality?

CP: When you discover what reality is, let me know. That search is largely what the books are about.

CS: What is the Dream Archipelago, what role does it play in your stories, and how often have you included it?

CP: The Dream Archipelago is a world with two continental masses, north and south. The north is complex, modern and industrialized, full of technologically advanced countries who have formed alliances and are at war. The south is a barren, frozen, uninhabited wilderness, where the armies of the north try to resolve their issues by violent means. Between the two continents is a vast ocean girdling the world. The ocean is crammed with uncountable islands. Culturally and racially their peoples are peacefully mixed, politically they are neutral, ideologically they are dreamers.

CS: Several reviewers have said that although they admired your stories and were impressed with your skills, they had to reread and re-reread your stories to put all the pieces together. Why not a more pedestrian approach?

CP: You want a pedestrian approach? Look elsewhere. (Plenty of it about.) I'm pleased to hear reviewers are re-reading my books. That's music to my ears. After all, reviewers get paid to read books, which most people don't.

CS: The characters in your books are victims or cogs. Why no heroes?

CP: How many genuine heroes have you ever met? Or even heard about? Most people do the best they can in the circumstances in which they find themselves, and some do better than others. The majority of people in the world are in one way or another victims: of financial greed, despotic governments, prejudice, cruelty, autocratic corporations, ignorance. Do you want every novel to be about Superman? I prefer to write about the world as I perceive it.

Adjacent_DJ.indd CS: The Prestige has a device that copies and transports people. Your latest novel, The Adjacent, has a device that transfers people to an alternate universe(?). You don't delve into the science of these devices. No effort to make them seem plausible. They're just invented and they just do what they do. Why no hard science in your stories?

CP: On the contrary, my novels always have hard science in them. What you and I call science is not the same thing. You're thinking of the exact sciences, excluding others.

I have a broad, inclusive approach to the scientific method. There's a science of society. A science of politics. Of demographics. Of interpersonal relationships. Of surveillance. Of criminology. A science of sex, fear, influence, people, culture, history, thinking. These are the sciences I write about, I research them thoroughly and consider that my approach to them, if not exactly hard, is certainly firm. "Science" means "Knowledge".

As for what you call "not delving into the science" — when you use a photocopier do you tell everyone in the room how fascinating it is that inside the cabinet there is an electrostatically charged drum, which uses negatively charged paper exposed to a light source …? When you make a call on a mobile phone, do you tell the person you are talking to that all this is possible because your voice has been converted into an electrical signal which has been relayed through a series of hexagonal cells at a variety of radio frequencies …? When you drive a car …? Get the idea? That's how my characters use matter transmitters.

CS: What's the best way to describe your chosen genre? Science fiction? Speculative fiction? Defies categorization?

CP: The only exact definition I have ever come up with is: "Books by Christopher Priest." However, I confess that isn't much help to someone who hasn't read any of them.

CS: The theme of "what is reality" was also in Philip K. Dick's books. Were you influenced by him?

CP: I read Phil Dick's stuff when I was a teenager, and really liked it. However, at that time I was reading and liking a lot of science fiction writers, so I can't say Phil Dick's work was a special influence.

As for the "what is reality" riff … As I recall much of that in Dick's books was related to chemical substances, or some kind of physical interference with the mind. My own take on inner reality is much more to do with perception, with memory, with muddle, with forgetting, with imagining, with being mistaken.

CS: How did H.G. Wells influence you?

CP: He wrote "The War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine," and in particular a large number of wonderful short stories. He was the first writer I came across who made me feel he was speaking directly to me, on my wavelength, away from the world of teachers and parents and critics.

CS: What's your role in the H.G. Wells Society?

CP: My role is a more or less honorary one of Vice President. I don't have any official duties, but I do what I can, whenever I can, to "promote a widespread interest in the life, work and thought of Herbert George Wells." He was a great man and a great writer.

Here's an example of something I did last year.

Carl_eagle Carl Slaughter is a man of the world. For the last decade, he has traveled the globe as an ESL teacher in 17 countries on 3 continents, collecting souvenir paintings from China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Egypt, as well as dresses from Egypt, and masks from Kenya, along the way. He spends a ridiculous amount of time and an alarming amount of money in bookstores. He has a large ESL book review website, an exhaustive FAQ about teaching English in China, and a collection of 75 English language newspapers from 15 countries.

written by David Steffen

Clarkesworld has expanded since I did the last list! Now they provide two reprint stories per month on top of the three originals that they were already publishing. And they're in the middle of a subscription drive and if they meet their goal they'll add another original to the mix. All of their stories are podcasted (most read by the very talented and extremely personable Kate Baker). It continues to be edited by Neil Clarke, and Neil recently announced that Clarkesworld is no longer eligible for the Best Semi-prozine Hugo Award because they made too much money. This is great news because it signals that the magazine is growing and doing well. You can still nominate the stories, and can nominate Neil himself for Best Editor, Short Form.

So, with this increase in publication rate, they put out a whopping 55 stories in the year of 2013.

The List

1. The Promise of Space by James Patrick Kelly
One of my favorite stories in recent memory, about a brain-damaged former astronaut and the artificial intelligence augment which tries to restore him to himself, and trying to re-establish a relationship with his wife. Unlike most stories on the podcast, which are read by Kate Baker alone, this was read by Kate Baker with the author James Patrick Kelly as the two main characters. I think I would've liked the story without that reading, but that reading really made it above and beyond IMO. Easily one of my Hugo picks for the year.

2. A Night at the Tarn House by George R. R. Martin
A story about a confrontation at an inn between several super-powered sorcerous types with different motivations and different abilities. It keeps you guessing until the end who will come out on top.

3. Mar Pacifico by Greg Mellor
Nanomachines have run so rampant that they have subsumed the ocean itself and many of the lifeforms on the planet. This is the story about one family's fight against the all-consuming machines.

4. The Urashima Effect by E. Lily Yu
A space travel SF story with a fairy tale analog all wrapped up inside it. Well told, heartfelt.

5. The Wanderers by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Aliens visit Earth who know us only by our entertainments, and are especially fans of the more gruesome ones that convince them that we will not treat them as monsters. But where is everybody?

6. 1016 to 1 by James Patrick Kelly
Another story by Mr. Kelly, of a time traveler visiting the past to try to prevent World War III.

Honorable Mentions

Melt With You by Emily C. Skaftun

Spar (The Bacon Remix) by Kij Johnson
(note, this is a silly version of a much more serious and adult story Spar previously published in Clarkesworld)

Out of Copyright by Charles Sheffield

written by Kate Heartfield

Attending a convention with a four-year-old is a surreal experience.

One moment you're just hoping to make it to the sweets table at the TARDIS tea party before the next meltdown; the next (after you've put the toddler to bed) you're watching a podcast panel discuss the underrated charms of The Temple of Doom in X-rated language.

Ad Astra, held in Toronto, is one of Canada's major annual conventions, with a literary bent. It has been around since 1980. This was my second time there, and like last year, I went with my partner and our son.

adastra4 One moment you're grabbing a few quiet moments in the Lego room, checking your email under the baleful gaze of the Unikitty; the next you're drinking unusual beer at a launch of haunting and political speculative fiction.

The guests of honour at this year's Ad Astra, April 4-6, were David Mark Weber, Steven Erikson, Anne Lesley Groell, Patricia Briggs and Donato Giancola.

adastra3 Mark Townsend was a special guest this year. He's an aircraft designer and manufacturer who began building Daleks as a father/son project. His presentation on building a Dalek was a highlight for my family.

The aforementioned Lego room was the work of ToroLUG, the Toronto LEGO Users Group.

From what I've seen, Ad Astra doesn't tend to have many cosplayers out and about until Saturday night, when the masquerade prep begins. Of course, that didn't keep my son from his Batman costume.

One of my favourite panels was Myth-Information in Modern Fantasy, with Chadwick Ginther, Jen Frankel, Stephen B. Pearl, Katrina Guy and my friend, novelist Marie Bilodeau, who as usual managed to have everyone in stitches while she tried to stir up controversy among the mild-mannered panelists. This panel resulted in my first book purchase of the con: Ginther's Thunder Road, a mythological thriller set in my home province of Manitoba, where one might very well expect some Norse gods and other creatures to turn up. I'm partway through that novel now and enjoying it.

adastra1 Another highlight was Podcasting After Dark, with Adam Shaftoe, Matt Moore, Madeline Ashby, Candice Lepage and Nick Montgomery. Here's one illustrative quotation, from Montgomery: "People should just give Michael Bay the Bible and say, ‘here, go nuts'."

The panel on Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor included Chris Kelworth, Andre Lieven, James Bambury and me. (And my , I mean, uh, my kid's , Eleventh Doctor action figure.) We had a packed room and a great discussion. There was a lot of squee, sure, but also some thought-provoking tangents.

My panel on The Magician's Land, Lev Grossman's next book, was smaller, but my co-panelist Sam Burmudzija and I found plenty to talk about with some die-hard Grossman fans. And we made at least one innocent bystander into a Grossman fan in the process.

adastra2 I was able to read two of my own stories, to a lovely audience, and checked out my friend Hayden Trenholm's reading too. Hayden was also launching his anthology Strange Bedfellows, in his capacity as the publisher of Bundoran Press. Strange Bedfellows shared the launch with Ottawa writer Robin Riopelle, whose haunting and gorgeous novel Deadroads is out now, and with Bundoran author Alison Sinclair, who launched Breakpoint: Nereis. So I parted with more money.

On Sunday, my family left early, victims of con crud. But it was a memorable convention nonetheless; it felt like a reunion of the Canadian fan/writer community, even if I often had to make do with a quick wave to a friend as I chased Batman down the hall.

???????????????????????????????Kate Heartfield is an Ottawa newspaper journalist and fiction writer. Her short stories have appeared recently in places such as Daily Science Fiction and Lackington's. Her website is heartfieldfiction.wordpress.com and she's on Twitter as @kateheartfield.

written by David Steffen

Drabblecast is as good as ever, still one of my favorite fiction sources. Still edited by Norm Sherman. Still has a stellar Lovecraft month in August when they publish one Lovecraft stories and three unpublished stories by contemporary authors in the cosmic horror subgenre. They published 48 stories in 2013.

The List

1. The Electric Ant by Phillip K. Dick
Of course the classic tales by big authors whose stories last the ages have an advantage on such a list. I love PKD, and I'd never come across this story about an android whose entire experience is dictated by the data stored on the paper tape fed into his system and what happens when he starts messing with the data. As with much of PKD, it is more than just straight up SF, it blurs the boundaries between genres and makes for a very surreal experience. This might be my favorite of PKD's work, and his work is so often stellar.

2. Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
Another big story by big name. In this world, humans are not the dominant species and are mostly kept around as birthing vessels for an alien race who have babies like maggots that need to live in flesh to incubate. This story is about a boy raised to be such a birthing vessel, and his relationship with his owner.

3. Hollow as the World by Ferrett Steinmetz
One of the stories in the Lovecraft month, all based around a cosmic horror version of Lovecraft, questioning the very nature of reality.

4. Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain by Cat Rambo
This was one of my Hugo nominations for last year, out of Cat's Near+Far short story collection. It takes place on a planet where the inhabitants are all made of sentient clay and is told from the POV of one of the cruder class clays who has taken a rare class-skipping occupation as a tourism writer. The story is written from her POV in a tourism-style writing of making lists of five.

5. The Revelation of Morgan Stern by Christie Yant
A post-end-of-the-world romance story as two lovers try to reunite after the collapse of civilization based on their pre-collapse plan for such a circumstance. If you like the story, be sure you listen to the comments afterward to hear about the origin–it casts everything in a whole new (and totally awesome) light.

Honorable Mentions

Flying on My Hatred of My Neighbor's Dog by Shaenon Garrity

The Breadcrumbs Man by Frank Key

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

The Wrong Foot by Stephanie Burgis (debut 11/1 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a fun and lively twist on the Cinderella tale. The initial premise exploring why the prince would need a shoe to fit instead of looking into the eyes of the woman he danced with, is quite clever (and true!)

Initially, "The Wrong Foot" follows Cinderella somewhat closely with too much humor, but as the tale continues this story begins to distinguish itself as its own tale – which is to be expected given where Cinderella ends. But what if the prince found the wrong girl (based solely on the slipper)? Would she even want to get married? Read for yourself to find out.

Wolf, or Faith in the Future by Michelle Ann King (debut 11/4 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) reminds me of a condensed version of The Bicentennial Man by Asimov. This story isn't a typical story but more of a focus on two items that change over a long, undefined period of time: a dog and the weather.

The author notes, in this case, may be worth reading prior to the story as they could give a better appreciation for the meaning of the tale. The story is good but I feel it suffers from being too short. Then again the premise is worthy of a novel so anything less than 300 pages would likely feel too short.

The Girl with Flowers for Hair by Elizabeth Shack (debut 11/5 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

Gina paused at Adam's doorway and took in the room, particularly the crude drawings of a girl with flowers poking out of her head. It had been five years since he disappeared. The police had taken pictures but with no clues the trail had grown cold. She had bought him a new set of colored pencils for his thirteenth birthday just a couple of weeks ago. A silly gesture that Charles had told her to stop; they were both grieving in their own way. A door slammed shut and a voice she could never forget echoed through the empty hallway. "Mom, I'm home."

This is a nicely told tale of loss and redemption but with a twist. The author does a good job of letting us into the world of Gina and Charles, two parents grieving for a missing child. A sense of loss soon replaced with joy as the missing child returns as if nothing had happened. The fabric of the story is woven well and the ending has a nice little twist. Give this one a read, it's worth the effort.

Just the Facts: A Zombie Story by Cat Rambo (debut 11/6 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)
1. There are Zombies
2. Zombies are not particularly fast. There is even a comic called Late Zombie, where the hero zombie keeps showing up too late to eat the brain.
3. Readership has been declining lately.
4. The author of the comic has decided to visit the zombies, so she has constructed a Plexiglas zombie cage and had it placed in with the zombies.
5. Zombies are really boring.

This is another of the stories that uses a novel approach to presenting the material. I found it interesting and enjoyed the story, but I can see it may not be for everyone either because of format or subject matter. I thought the author did a very good job of building to the surprise conclusion, even though I could see it coming. Read the story and see if you can too.

Like Son Like Father by Jed Cole (debut 11/7 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

I knew Felix was going to be a genius. When he was three he was playing with some garbage. Before the year was out he had built a prototype shelter, a tower that stretched above the oily clouds and debris left behind in the world. Those few of us left could now survive. Using twine, wood and scrap metal he built a bridge across the L.A. rift that nomad tradesmen still use today, five years later. Every day his huge form rises before dawn and he comes home late every night. But today he has shown me his latest work, one that brought a tear to my eye.

This was a really good story with a major twist at the end. Set in a time of post-apocalyptic Earth among a people trying to survive. One man's child proves to be the savior of mankind, but is he one of us or something else? One of the best of the year, give it a try.

Recommended.

A long distant infatuation becomes an obsession for a reclusive woman in Breva by Nicky Drayden (debut 11/8 and reviewed by Frank D). Dr Gianna Nero is the foremost expert on the sSuryn language. The aliens, survivors of a decimated world, have asked for refuge on Earth in exchange for advanced technology. Their arrival was still forty years away when they first contacted Earth. An awkward young student, Gianna quickly picked up on the sSuryn emissary's (named Breva) inflections and complicated speech until she alone understood all his nuances. The close attachment with Breva turns into an attraction. Anticipation and anxiety grows in Gianna as the sSuryn ships arrival nears, then disaster strikes. The alien ship is adrift and they need help.

"Breva" is a tale of fixation. Gianna is a girl who is an introvert. Breva serves as her online dream man, an ultimate outsider and loner. She is truly the only person in the world that understands him, leading to an odd fantasy she concocts in her imagination. As the day of Breva's arrival nears, anxiety on her aging appearance and uncertain reception of their first meeting consumes her. All of that goes out the window when the alien ship suddenly goes silent with only a brief call for help as a last message.

"Breva" is told in staggered flashbacks at different points of Gianna's life. They show a young Gianna as an odd bird trying to fit in at the university when the sSuryn are first discovered, to an early thirties scholar who has surpassed her boss as Breva's interpreter, to the older expert who is threatened by a younger aide who is exceeding her understanding of sSuryn. The tale is rolled out like a mini epic. Gianna is a mirrored opposite of Ulysses, the monsters she battles are internal and the longing she experiences is not for home but for the adventurous beyond with a man who can never really be compatible. The story's arc is a twist and its finale is an unexpected conclusion.

I found "Breva" to be an entertaining read. It read quicker than its long short story designation. It is a good work of sci-fi of an odd woman who falls into an odd relationship cultivating into an odd finale. How oddly natural.

An instructional guide on how to handle first contact with unknown aliens is the premise of Guidelines for First Contact in Simplified Technical English by Jetse de Vries (debut 11/11 and reviewed by Frank D). This detailed directive covers all eventualities, from the benign to the malevolent. If it doesn't help, you never had a shot anyway.

This tongue-in-cheek offering is clever and thorough, a very well done work of humor.

A fallen god plies a new trade in The Book of Love by Michael Haynes (debut 11/12 and reviewed by Frank D). Angus is a drifter, frequenting bars and taverns as he travels. He carries around a magical book. In it, words about love become true. Pete, Angus's latest customer is suspicious but agrees to pay the former god's asking price.

Mike Haynes is a writer who never fails to impress me. Angus's magic is real but he still comes off as a charlatan. He hesitates with Pete but the man agreed to his double-the-price offer immediately. The tale has a sweet twist at the end. Worth the read.

A queen is focused and determined to complete The Machine by Sean Robinson (debut 11/13 and reviewed by Frank D). She is the Mistress of Science and her machine is the pinnacle of her achievement. Nothing will stand in her way to complete it. She can't be bothered by minor matters like a collapse of the environment. Nor will she let anyone stop her, not even her husband. He will help her, one way or another.

"The Machine" is a disturbing look on obsession. It is the only thing that matters to her. My only objection to this piece is I had no idea what the purpose of the machine was.

Life goes on, even when a part of you has died. Die for You by Alex Gorman (debut 11/14 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of a married couple after an alien invasion. Much has changed, including their relationship.

"Die for You" is the aftermath of a cowardly man. He had let his wife down, and can never regain her respect again. A hard but good tale.

The stories Kirk tells during bath time take on a life of their own. From Tuesday to Tuesday by Peter M Ball (debut 11/15 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of two people existing in their own bubble of a relationship. Every Tuesday, Deanna takes a bath and begs for a story from her boyfriend. Kirk's stories have an unintended consequence of altering reality. His life changes the next morning – a new profession, a change in scenery, and a different Deanna , for the entire week.

"From Tuesday" is a tale of regret. Kirk tires of the Tuesday changes, and has vowed to never tell another tale again, but Deanna has a way of pulling a new one out of him. The relationship the two have is a dysfunctional one. They are two dysfunctional people caught in a dysfunctional, yet changing, reality. I am frankly puzzled why the two remained together. Kirk frequently reminds himself that he does not love her. Deanna's own words make it clear she has little respect for him. Much of the tale is less about the different reality that faces Kirk after the Tuesday's, but of the odd dynamic about the two.

The underlying message in this piece of two people who are caught in a relationship stuck in an endless loop regret. I believe the tale serves as a metaphor for relationships that are bounded by familiarity rather than compatibility. I have a simple solution for their dilemma: seek counseling.

The protagonist reflects on When The World was Full of People by Patricia Russo (debut 11/18 and reviewed by Frank D). A familiar face is seen across the street. A man who looks like the protagonist's brother is loading large bottles of water. He plans to plant a flower the protagonists knows doesn't exist. But plant he does, and grow they do.

"When The World" is tale of reflection. I confess, the point of the piece was lost on me.

The old Omega meets the new Alpha in The First Stone by Wren Wallis (debut 11/19 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist's ex, hands him an unassuming stone, the first stone of creation, just as time comes to a stop. Creation is ending and the old creator is passing off the job of a new creation to him. The protagonist is overwhelmed and knows he is underqualified for the task, but knows who is qualified to fill it.

"The First Stone" is a religious themed tale. The protagonist is cast as character who is the wrong person at the right time. I found the ending of this tale predictable.

A loyal employee underestimates his worth in Final Inspection by Afalstein JD Kloosterman (debut 11/20 and reviewed by Frank D). Wilfrid is an inspector on an assembly line in an automated factory. He has done the job for decades and seeks retirement. His life has been within the plant for years , company policy on contamination making it impossible for him to leave. He has repeatedly requested a leave but the company has said that they are unable to fill his position. The changing products the line produces makes him wonder , the hospital beds and farming equipment that used to be assembled have given way to advanced weaponry. Just what is going on outside anyway?

"Final Inspection" is a tale of complacency. The unseen management is content with Wilfrid and has no intention of making a change, despite the fact his presence inhibits the functionality of the plant. There is a hint of a ‘Terminator' type of world out there, but the enclosed environment of the plant keeps Wilfrid in the dark.

Inventive tale. I rather enjoyed it.

The devil barters to end a man's pain in Screwtape by Helen E. Davis (debut 11/21 and reviewed by Frank D). All he offers the man is a favor, vowing to leave his soul untouched. An individual soul is valuable to the devil, but with this one customer, he can accomplish a lot more without his.

Timing matters a lot, and the debut of this tale hinges much on its timing. The story has a nice twist for a finale. Very cleverly done.

A girl, a kiss, and an invitation to follow is all it takes for a young man to seek The Patient Stars by Ryan Simko (debut 11/22 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist has a chance meeting with the girl of his dreams. She teases him to find her in the emerging settlements of space. Thus begins a desperate game of hide-and-seek.

"The Patient Stars" is a chase. The protagonist is in pursuit, searching entire worlds to find the girl he met in a chance encounter on one lonely night. He travels across the stars, aging slowly as he jumps from world to world. Human civilization grows around him and leaves him behind; an old relic of a long gone age.

"The Patient Stars" is more of future history of the rise of galactic man than it is about one man's search for a woman. Although I did appreciate the view of our future us, the story never had a destination for the reader.

A gladiator is near his freedom in Three is a Sacred Number by Carrie L. Cadwallader (debut 11/23 and reviewed by Frank D). Kloth is a blue skinned alien, champion of 99 bouts. One more and he'll win his freedom. Only one other has accomplished that feat, and that champion doesn't want to see his record matched.

"Three" is an alien tale. The hero is a slave forced to fight. He doesn't savor in the glory but the exercise has made him a hard individual. Interesting tale. It left me intrigued.

Your right to exist will be allowed once you can claim that I Have Read the Terms of Use by Kenneth Schneyer (debut 11/26 and reviewed by Frank D).

"I Have Read" is a legal document for those about to be born. A very clinical (and humorous) look if birth was a legal agreement.

An endless winter grips two lovers in The World Will End in Fire by K. C. Norton (debut 11/27 and reviewed by Frank D). The world is freezing, and for the protagonist and his wife, staving off the inevitable becomes a pointless exercise. Viva does not want it to end this way and prefers to choose a brilliant way to leave the world.

"The World" is a tale of two people faced with the end of the world. The sun has gone out and whatever warmth is left is quickly evaporating. The story is a small slice of two people's life in the final act of a greater tragedy.

Remembrance in Stone by Amanda C. Davis (debut 11/28 and reviewed by James Hanzelka).

Fire is pain and air does not quench it. If Gera had lived to teach her air, she'd be prepared. Instead the runes fell on her shoulders. Gera had taught her water, but even when she enters the sea she is swept away by it. Rolled and tumbled until she is nearly dead, then the sea spits her out as if tired of her presence. She starts a fire that does not warm her, calls a wind that does little to dry her. Finally she wanders back to the house and stares at the rectangle where Gera lays. She wasn't even able to cut the lines straight. If only Gera had lived to teach her.

I found this one a little jumbled and confusing. The writing was so vague that I never did really identify with the character. Then, at the end of the story, the main character makes an abrupt change in demeanor and thought process. It's almost as if the author said, "OK time to end the story and make the character change her perception." It simply didn't work for me. The author spent so much time setting up the conflict that the ending was disappointing.

Tell Me How All This (And Love too) Will Ruin Us by Sunny Moraine (debut 11/29 and reviewed by James Hanzelka).

You were screaming when I pulled you from the boat. I'd bound your legs with steel poles and doused you with whiskey. I thought you might die in peace, and I made myself ready for my own death. By the time we reached the island it was sunset, and I pulled the boat ashore. I made a fire from driftwood and wrapped you in blankets. How much of this will you remember? Enough to care? I'll show you in the most vicious way possible. You may be lucid, but that's another thing I've given up caring about.

We seem to be in a month for strange surreal stories. This is another one I never really understood. The author chose to weave a disjointed tale about two people, at least I think the other being is a person because it is told in a somewhat rambling soliloquy and I was never sure who or what he was prattling on about. About two paragraphs in I wished I'd never started it. So maybe there is a good story in there you can find, I certainly couldn't.

A Year of Outstanding Work

Although we have yet to publish our December's reviews, I would like to give you my top ten choices for the year. Give them a look. If you like any of them enough, consider nominating one for the upcoming Million Writers Award. I have my pick for the year.

Love's Footsteps by Cat Rambo

"A Phone, My Heart, and Maybe My Last Shred of Dignity" by Luc Reid

"Five Minutes" by Conor Powers-Smith

"The Bargain" by Henry Szabranski

"Holy Diver" by Gra Linnaea

"Such Days Deserved" by Lee Hallison

Sparg by Brian Trent

The Perfect Coordinates to Raise a Child by Barbara A. Barnett

Highest Possible Setting by Em Dupre

And†�

Melancholia in Bloom by Damien Walters Grintalis

In my June review, I compared Ms Grintalis's story to some of the best Twilight Zone episodes ever to debut on TV. "Melancholia" is sad, beautiful, and special. It had an ending that was bitter, but as I pointed out in my review†�

"†�(the) Twilight Zone proved that the very best tales don't have to have a happy ending for them to be enjoyable. In fact, the bitterest endings in that show are where it achieved its greatest accolades, and like those memorable but bitter episodes this story deserves praise reserved for a true classic."

If there ever was a published Daily SF story that deserved an award, "Melancholia in Bloom" would be it. I will be nominating it for the Million Writer's Award. It has earned it.

On The PremisesFrank Dutkiewicz has put his snooty and pretentious opinions to good work as a full time finalist judge for On The Premises. A guest judge in the past, he will now help decide the winners of the tri-annual online magazine every issue.

On The Premises is a contest publication. Each contest challenges writers to produce a great story based on a broad premise supplied by our editors. Here is their mission statement.

Our Purpose
On The Premises aims to promote newer and/or relatively unknown writers who can write what we feel are creative, compelling stories told in effective, uncluttered, and evocative prose. Entrants pay no fees, and winners receive cash prizes in addition to exposure through publication.

For writers eager for a fair shot in the publishing world, On The Premises is a blind read contest , all entrants are instructed to submit their work without their name on their script. From the award winning authors to first time writers, all have an equal shot.

written by David Steffen

This was originally going to be a review of the Nebula-nominated novellas of 2013. But my time ran out while I was still reading Wakulla Springs, the first of the novellas I grabbed, so instead this is a review of just that one story.

The Nebulas are one of the two big awards in the SF community, this one voted by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You can find the list of all this years Nebula nominees here.

Wakulla springs is the story, or perhaps the stories, that spans more than half a century from (I think) the 1940s to the present day. Most of it centers around Wakulla Springs in Florida, the largest and deepest freshwater spring located near Tallahassee, and the Wakulla Springs Lodge, a real life hotel.

The first section's protagonist is Mayola Jackson, a fifteen year old colored girl who gets a job working as a maid at the segregated lodge, in a hiring rush when a Hollywood film crew visits the area for taping the water scenes for a Tarzan movie in and around the springs. The other stories follow along with her family members as the decades pass, and as the American society changes around them from the era where segregation was the norm up to today.

The characters in this story were very believable. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this was based on a true family because they felt so real, especially since the location and at least some of the characters were real people of the time, such as Johnny Weissmuller who played Tarzan, and Edward Ball the owner of the lodge.

The story certainly had a lot going for in the way of theme, with the recurring incidents of Hollywood affecting this family's lives.

It had plenty of conflict. Any story written empathetically in the time of segregation is going to have conflict, of course. The conflict here wasn't violent, but was ever present nonetheless.

What it really lacked, though, was a cohesive plot arc or character arc. It doesn't help that it's split up into four separate stories that are sequential and each person's story relates to the last, but it makes the story overall come off quite uneven. Even within each individual chapter that follows a single person, I didn't feel like each one even had a real character arc or plot arc that would take the events or the person from one place to another fully rounded place in the way that I expect a story to take me. Things happened. There was conflict, but it wasn't that the characters were really major actors in these events, things happened, and then the chapter ended. The parts never felt like a cohesive whole, and each part never felt complete on its own either.

It also really lacked a speculative element at any point in the story that I could discern. There were a couple hints at it, but one was likely a fatigue and stress induced hallucination, and the other was pure imagination on the part of the character. For a story published on Tor.com, and a story that's nominated for the Nebula, I really am looking for a speculative element.

I enjoyed reading the story. The story was well-written, the characters were very strong, and it had a lot going for it, but I didn't feel like it really held together as a unit the way I expect a story to hold together. It was good, but not as good as I thought it could be.

w ritten by David Steffen

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation is not technically a Nebula award, but it is announced with, nominated with, and voted with the Nebula awards by the same group of people. These last few years I haven't made it to a lot of movies in theaters, and I feel sad when I hear about a great SF movie that I never got around to seeing. So this year I've used the Ray Bradbury award as a brief guide to what SF movies I really should catch up on from the previous year.

Note that there are two entries in the list that I have not watched. They are:

  • Doctor Who: ‘‘The Day of the Doctor" (Nick Hurran, director; Steven Moffat, writer) (BBC Wales)
    (I have never seen Doctor Who, I don't know how to find Doctor Who, and I doubt I'd be able to fully appreciate it by watching just this episode in any case)
  • Her (Spike Jonze, director; Spike Jonze, writer) (Warner Bros.)
    (I fully intend to see this but have had trouble finding it. It appears to be in just indie movie theaters around where I live, and I haven't had time to drive to those theaters and watch, and I don't think it's out on DVD yet. Once I find it, I will watch it, and I expect that I will review it separately at that time)

OK, then, on to the list!

1. Europa Report (Sebasti�' �n Cordero, director; Philip Gelatt, writer) (Start Motion Pictures)
In 2011, new scientific data suggested that there was a liquid ocean beneath the ice crust of Jupiter's moon Europa. This movie,formatted as a documentary, tells the story of the five-person manned expedition to visit Europa, and to look for signs that life has existed there now or in the past. En route, a crew member dies, but the other five continue on.

I had not heard of this movie at all before the award nominations came out. It must not have gotten much media attention, and even my SF geek friends hadn't heard of it. I'm very glad that I sought it out. It is so incredibly good. The writing is solid. The special effects serve their purpose without BEING the purpose. And I can't say enough good things about the acting. There are some peripheral characters in the documentary, but most of the film is on these 6 characters spending more than two years in tight quarters with each other. There are some major and tense scenes that had me on the edge of my seat with anticipation, wanting to find out how everything turned out. But just as important were the small moments, small inconsequential conversations, a frown or a stare or a cast of the eye that made me feel like I understood on some small level the relationships these characters had with each other over the two year voyage. By showing us just a few of these unimportant moments, the moviemakers did a really good job giving an impression of the millions of moments that we didn't see.

I can't recommend this movie enough.

2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuar�' �n, director; Alfonso Cuar�' �n & Jon�' �s Cuar�' �n, writers) (Warner Bros.)

Bio-medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (a woman, despite the name) is on an orbital mission with NASA to insert a processing board in a satellite. After a collision with debris from a destroyed Russian satellite, she's left tethered to astronaut Matt Kowalski with the rest of the crew dead and no contact with Mission Control. Kowalski had been testing a thruster pack at the time of the accident, so they use the pack to head toward the International Space Station with the aim to use their escape pod to return to Earth.

This movie got a lot of Oscar nominations, and won seven awards this year. I can see why, it's exciting, well written, well acted. And I admit it's good to see a space movie take such mainstream honors, maybe it's a sign that the general public is showing some interest in space travel again. This could easily have made #1 on my list, the main reason it didn't top Europa Report was that the exploration of the farther reaches of the solar system was even more exciting.

3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, director; Simon Beaufoy & Michael deBruyn, writers) (Lionsgate)
This is the second movie in the trilogy, based on the trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins.

The first story (spoiler alert), The Hunger Games, was about Katniss Everdeen taking her sister's place in The Hunger Games, a brutal Coliseum kind of fight in which a young man and young woman picked from each of the twelve districts under the rule of the dictatorial capitol are placed in a ring to fight until only one survivor remains. Katniss and Peeta broke the rules in a very public way, when they were the only two contenders remaining, by threatening to commit mutual suicide rather than kill each other.

This movie continues where the last one left off. This show of resistance against the Capitol's rules has caused rebellions to break out in the districts. The media played this out as being due to their hopeless love for one another, but many people aren't buying it. Katniss and Peeta must tour the districts and show their supposedly undying love for each other, and read the scripts they're given. Anything they do might cause more rebellion. And then the drawing for this year's Hunger Games occurs, but only after an announcement that this year the rules are different to mark the 75th anniversary of the games: only previous champions will be drawn. Katniss is the only female champion of District Twelve, so she knows immediately that she will be going back in the games.

This was my favorite book in the trilogy of books, and I thought the movie did a great job of backing it up. Still great casting all around, great writing, great acting, great special effects, good everything. No complaints whatsoever. I would happily have put this at the top of the list, but it was just stiff competition in this group.

4. Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, director; Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, writers) (Warner Bros.)
In the near future, giant monsters start appearing from the depths of the Pacific Ocean and destroying coastal cities. The first few are killed by local military forces but when more and more of the monsters (Kaiju as they're called) appear it becomes increasingly clear that this strategy won't work for long. The nations of the world band together to face this threat, and invent the Jaeger project. Jaegers are mechsuits as tall as skyscrapers which are controlled by two pilots whose minds are intertwined to distribute the neural strain of the piloting. These are very effective for a time, but the Kaiju are getting bigger, getting smarter, and now the Jaegers have been discontinued in favor of a coastal wall. There are only a few of the Jaegers left, and the project is in its dying gasps, but when the wall turns out to be ineffective the Jaegers are the only option.

Most of the information in the last paragraph is conveyed in the first few minutes of the movie. It seemed like this movie was kind of a sequel to a movie that had never been written–that opening sequence was clumsy, but I guess it served its purpose. The movie as a whole was exactly what is said on the tin. Giant human-controlled mechsuits fighting giant monsters. I heard a lot of hype about this movie when it came out but I admit that seeing it now I don't understand what all the fuss was about. The special effects were good, but only SyFy makes bad special effects anymore, so that's not remarkable. The acting was good. The writing was pretty good, though some of the action sequences made little sense (why not pull out the badass weaponry at the start of a fight instead of at the end). But none of it really stands out from all the other effects-heavy SF movies of the last few years.

I did have some plausibility issues, mostly regarding the need for two pilots to distribute the neural load. What neural load? The suits are shaped like humans and move like humans, with the exception of the add-on weaponry. You should be able to pilot them by basic motion capture like the motion capture used to make this movie. It shouldn't even require a neural interface.

"Wait, wait," I said as I watched the movie and the computer voice narrating the technical actions spoke, "Is the voice of the computer the voice of GLaDOS? From Portal?" And sure enough, it turns out that moviemaker Guillermo del Toro is a fan of Portal and he sought out Ellen McLain who voiced GLaDOS for a cameo appearance. Of course in this case she really is just a computer voice not a mad scientist superpowerful mainframe AI voice.