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I
didn’t have a love at the first sight affair with short fiction, I grew into it
over the years. At first the small allocated space seemed to frustrate my desire
of emerging into the stories and creating a bond with the characters. However, I
discovered that done right short stories delivered those with the same efficiency
as longer fiction and even offered their twists and turns, their bangs and
punches at a faster rate. Not to mention that I find myself more often re-reading
a favorite short story than a novel. So I became quite fond of short fiction.
Caught between short stories and novels novellas seem to fare better on the
market than the former and less than the later, but they are certainly another
appealing form of fiction. And since some of the most rewarding reading
experiences I had in the past several years came from novellas I welcomed
without restraint Prime Books’ initiative
of launching an annual series of anthologies dedicated to science fiction and
fantasy novellas. The first edition gathers, as it’s the case lately with all
the year’s best collections, some of the fiction published online, but since I
am not always able to catch up with them “The
Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas: 2015” gives me the chance
to find them in a volume. That without mentioning that being a fan of K.J. Parker the presence of the author’s
name on any table of content is enough to sell me that particular collection.
Therefore, I am looking forward to read Paula
Guran’s “The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas: 2015” and I
am keeping my fingers crossed for this series to run as long as possible.
The
Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas: 2015 inaugurates a new annual series of anthologies
featuring some of the year's best novella-length science fiction and fantasy.
Novellas, longer than short stories but shorter than novels, are a rich and
rewarding literary form that can fully explore tomorrow's technology, the far
reaches of the future, thought-provoking imaginings, fantastic worlds, and
entertaining concepts with the impact of a short story and the detailed breadth
of a novel. Gathering a wide variety of excellent SF and fantasy, this anthology
of "short novels" showcases the talents of both established masters
and new writers.
Contents (alphabetical order
by author last name):
“In Her Eyes” by Seth Chambers (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2014)
“The Churn: An Expanse Novella” by James S. A. Corey (Orbit)
“Where the Trains Turn” by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen (translated by Liisa Rantalaiho) (Tor.com, 15 November 2014)
“Yesterday’s Kin” by Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
“Claudius Rex” by John P. Murphy (Alembical 3: A Distillation of Three Novellas, eds. Schoen & Dorrance)
“The Things We Do For Love” by K. J. Parker (Subterranean Press Magazine, Summer 2014)
“The Mothers of Voorhisville” by Mary Rickert (Tor.com, 30 Apr 2014)
“The Lightning Tree” by Patrick Rothfuss (Rogues, eds. Martin & Dozois)
“Dream Houses” by Genevieve Valentine (Dream Houses WSFA/ Wyrm Publishing)
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