The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 26 (Mammoth Books)

by Gardner Dozois

  That other Cultural Phenomenon, Doctor Who (which has won so many Hugo Awards by now that fans joke that the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category should be renamed the Doctor Who category), is, of course, also returning in 2013 for its fiftieth year.

  The two big debut SF shows of the last couple of seasons were Terra Nova and Falling Skies, both boasting unusually high budgets for television, and both produced by movie director Steve Spielberg. Falling Skies, in which embattled guerilla militiamen battle alien invaders, has survived and become moderately successful, but Terra Nova, in which refuges flee through time to the dinosaur era, never really did catch on, and has died. Another Spielberg-produced show, the horror series The River, also died. One big-budget TV show upon which a lot of hopes were pinned, Alcatraz, by Lost creator J. J. Abrahms, died as well, after a disappointingly short run, as did Last Resort, supernatural show 666 Park Avenue, A Gifted Man, The Secret Circle, The Event, and Ringer, which had excited some fans by bringing Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar back to the small screen. Long-running supernatural shows Medium and Ghost Whisperer died, as did Legend of the Seeker, Merlin, and Camelot, as well as the SF comedy Eureka. Cult favorite SF show Fringe will run its last few episodes in 2013, and then die, too, after five seasons.

  Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Teen Wolf, Being Human, the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and American Horror Story are all coming back, as are the dueling fairy-tale series, Grimm and Once Upon a Time. SF comedies Warehouse 13 and Futurama are returning, as is semi-SF (a straight thriller, really, other than the heroes having a super-advanced computer that helps them spot crimes before they happen) show, Person of Interest. Touch is returning, but is said to be “on the bubble,” and may not last much longer. Coming up sometime in 2013 is a TV movie prequel to Battlestar Galactica, called Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome.

  Of the new shows already on the air, the most buzz so far seems to be generated by Arrow, a gritty reboot of D.C. Comics' long-running superhero character, Green Arrow. Revolution, set in a world in which electricity no longer works and people are reduced to using horses, swords, and bows (think Hunger Games, set in a post-apocalyptic, no-technology future), has also generated some buzz, but seems a bit shaky in the ratings, as is the new version of Beauty and the Beast.

  New shows coming up include Defiance, an SF/Western described as “Deadwood with aliens,” Orphan Black, a clone drama, Zero Hour, an X-Files-like show that tackles conspiracy theories, Under the Dome, which follows people imprisoned under a dome by mysterious forces, Continuum, about a time-traveling cop, Lost Girl, which explores the problems of fairies exiled in the modern world, supernatural show Da Vinci’s Demons, and a new version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Do No Harm. The most fan anticipation seems to be building for a rumored Avengers spin-off series to be directed by Joss Whedon, S.H.I.E.L.D.

  Miniseries versions of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars, Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, and Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld have been promised for so long now that I begin to wonder if we’ll ever see them at all.

  Chicon 7: The 70th World Science Fiction Convention, was held in Chicago, Illinois, from August 30 to September 3, 2012. The 2012 Hugo Awards, presented at Chicon 7, were: Best Novel, Among Others, by Jo Walton; Best Novella, “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” by Kij Johnson; Best Novelette, “Six Months, Three Days,” by Charlie Jane Anders; Best Short Story, “The Paper Menagerie,” by Ken Liu; Best Related Work, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition, by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight; Best Editor, Long Form, Betsy Wollheim; Best Editor, Short Form, Sheila Williams; Best Professional Artist, John Picacio; Best Dramatic Presentation (short form), Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Wife; Best Dramatic Presentation (long form), Game of Thrones—Season 1; Best Graphic Story, Digger, by Ursula Vernon; Best Semiprozine, Locus; Best Fanzine, SF Signal; Best Fan Writer, Jim C. Hines; Best Fan Artist, Maurine Starkey; plus the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer to E. Lily Yu.

  The 2011 Nebula Awards, presented at a banquet at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City hotel in Arlington, Virginia, on May 19, 2012, were: Best Novel, Among Others, by Jo Walton; Best Novella, “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” by Kij Johnson; Best Novelette, “What We Found,” by Geoff Ryman; Best Short Story, “The Paper Menagerie,” by Ken Liu; Ray Bradbury Award, Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Wife; the Andre Norton Award, The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman; Solstice Awards to Octavia E. Butler and John Clute; the Service to SFWA Award to Clarence Howard “Bud” Webster; and the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award to Connie Willis.

  The 2012 World Fantasy Awards, presented at a banquet on November 4, 2012 in Toronto, Canada, during the Twenty-First Annual World Fantasy Convention, were: Best Novel, Osama, by Lavie Tidhar; Best Novella, “A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong,” by K. J. Parker; Best Short Fiction, “The Paper Menagerie,” by Ken Liu; Best Collection, The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, by Tim Powers; Best Anthology, The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer; Best Artist, John Coulthart; Special Award (Professional), to Eric Lane; Special Award (Non-Professional), to Raymond Russell and Rosalie Parker; plus the Life Achievement Award to George R. R. Martin and Alan Garner.

  The 2011 Bram Stoker Awards, presented by the Horror Writers of America on April 1, 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah, were: Best Novel, Flesh Eaters, by Joe McKinney; Best First Novel, Isis Unbound, by Allyson Bird; Best Young Adult Novel, The Screaming Season, by Nancy Holder, and Dust & Decay, by Jonathan Mayberry (tie); Best Long Fiction, The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine, by Peter Straub; Best Short Fiction, “Herman Wouk Is Still Alive,” by Stephen King; Best Collection, The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares, by Joyce Carol Oates; Best Anthology, Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen Angels and the Possessed, edited by John Skipp; Best Nonfiction, Stephen King: A Literary Companion, by Rocky Wood; Best Poetry Collection, How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend, by Linda Addison; plus Lifetime Achievement Awards to Rick Hautala and Joe R. Lansdale.

  The 2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award was won by The Islanders, by Christopher Priest, and The Highest Frontier, by Joan Slonczewsk (tie).

  The 2012 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for Best Short Story was won by “The Choice,” by Paul McAuley.

  The 2012 Philip K. Dick Memorial Award went to Equations of Life/Samuel Petrovitch, by Simon Morden.

  The 2012 Arthur C. Clarke award was won by The Testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers.

  The 2012 James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award was won by The Drowning Girl, by Caitlin R. Kiernan, and Ancient, Ancient, by Kiini Ibura Salaam (tia).

  The 2011 Sidewise Award went to Wake Up and Dream, by Ian R. MacLeod (Long Form), and “Paradise Is a Walled Garden,” by Lisa Goldstein (Short Form).

  The Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award went to Katherine MacLean.

  Dead in 2012 or early 2013 were:

  RAY BRADBURY, 91, one of the best-known and most iconic of all SF/fantasy writers, winner of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the SFWA Grand Master Award, the Stoker Life Achievement Award, and many other honors, author of such famous books as The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, as well as hundreds of short stories and essays; HARRY HARRISON, 87, another giant of the SF field, author of Make Room, Make Room (filmed as Soylent Green), Deathworld, Bill, the Galactic Hero, the many Stainless Steel Rat books, and dozens of others; GORE VIDAL, 86, prolific author, essayist, political commentator, and media celebrity, whose twenty-five books include SF novels such as A Visit to a Small Planet, Kalki, and Messiah; BORIS STUGATSKY, 79, who, writing with his late brother ARKADY, became perhaps Russia’s best-known SF writer, internationally renowned for the novel Roadside Picnic; CHRISTOPHER SAMUEL YOUD, 89, British SF author who wrote as JOHN CHRISTOPHER, best known for the novel No Blade of Grass, as well as the YA The Tripod Trilogy: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead
, and The Pool of Fire; CARLOS FUENTES, 82, famous Mexican magical realist; JIM YOUNG, 61, SF writer, actor, longtime fan, diplomat, a personal friend; MARK BOURNE, 50, SF writer, creator of planetarium shows and museum exhibitions, longtime fan, a personal friend; STEVEN UTLEY, 65, one of the most acclaimed and prolific authors at short-story length of his generation, someone who sold dozens of brilliant stories to practically every market in existence, best known for his long-running series of Silurian tales, a friend; K. D. WENTWORTH, 61, SF writer and editor, longtime fan, a friend; KEVIN O’DONNELL, JR., 61, SF writer with ten novels and more than fifty short stories to his credit, former SFWA officer; JOSEPHA SHERMAN, 65, SF writer, editor, folklorist, longtime fan, a friend; SIR PATRICK MOORE, 89, astronomer, TV presenter, science popularizer, and author; JANET BERLINER, 73, SF writer, editor, anthologist; ARDATH MAYHAR, 81, SF writer; MICHEAL ALEXANDER, SF writer and Clarion West graduate; SUZANNE ALLÉS BLOM, 64, SF writer; PETER PHILLIPS, 92, SF writer; STUART J. BYRNE, 97, SF writer; GENE DeWEESE, 78, writer of SF and media novels; ROLAND C. WAGNER, 51, French writer, translator, editor; PAUL HAINES, 41, Australian SF writer; CHRISTINE BROOKE-ROSE, 89, novelist and scholar; MARGARET MAHY, 76, children’s book author; NICK WEBB, 63, British publisher and author; JEFF MILLAR, 70, writer of the long-running syndicated comic strip Tank McNamara, as well as the occasional SF story; ADAM NISWANDER, 66, author and bookseller; GRETTA M. ANDERSON, 55, editor and publisher; HILARY RUBINSTEIN, 86, literary agent and editor; JACK SCOVIL, 74, literary agent; WENDY WEIL, 72, literary agent; JACQUES GOIMARD, 78, French critic and editor; LISTER MATHESON, 63, academic who was the former director of the Clarion Workshop; STUART TEITLER, 71, bookseller and collector; JEAN GIRAUD, a.k.a. MOEBIUS, 73, internationally renowned French artist and illustrator, widely influential with his work in comics, books, and films, inducted into The Science Fiction Hall of Fame; RALPH McQUARRIE, 82, artist, conceptual designer and illustrator largely responsible for the look of the Star Wars films; LEO DILLION, 79, artist and illustrator, with his wife and collaborator Diane Dillion part of a Hugo-winning artistic team who illustrated a huge number of children’s books, fantasy novels, and SF novels; MAURICE SENDAK, 83, children’s author and artist, best known for Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen; MICHAEL EMBDEN, 63, British cover artist and illustrator; DAVID GROVE, 72, SF cover artist and illustrator; ALAN HUNTER, 89, British fan artist; CYNTHIA GOLDSTONE, 90, artist, writer, and longtime fan; NEIL ARMSTRONG, 82, astronaut, the first human being to walk on the moon; SALLY RIDE, 61, astronaut, the first American woman to travel into space; JONATHAN FRID, 87, television actor, best known for playing vampire Barnabas Collins on the original TV supernatural soap-opera version of Dark Shadows; ERNEST BORGNINE, 95, television and movie actor, best known to genre audiences for roles in Ice Station Zebra, Small Soldiers, and SpongeBob SquarePants; LARRY HAGMAN, 81, television actor, best known for his role as J.R. on Dallas, but also known to genre audiences for his role on I Dream of Jeannie; JACK KLUGMAN, 90, television actor best known for roles in The Odd Couple and Quincy, who also appeared in The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits; HERBERT LOM, 95, movie actor, best known these days for his role in the Inspector Clouseau movies, but who also played The Phantom of the Opera, Professor Van Helsing, and Captain Nemo; CHARLES DURNING, 89, movie actor, known for his roles in Twilight’s Last Gleaming, The Muppet Movie, and The Last Countdown; MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN, 54, movie actor, star of The Green Mile; MICHAEL O’HARE, 60, television actor, best known for his role on Babylon 5; RICHARD DAWSON, 79, longtime game-show host of Family Feud who also costarred in The Running Man; HARRY CAREY, JR., 91, veteran movie actor mostly known for his roles in many Western movies, who also costarred in Back to the Future Part III; RICHARD ZANUCK, 77, movie producer, producer or coproducer of such genre films as Jaws, Cocoon, and Planet of the Apes; GERRY ANDERSON, 83, creator of British television shows for children such as Supercar, Fireball XLS, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet; JAY KAY KLEIN, 80, photographer, artist, longtime fan; JANE FRANCES GUNN, 87, wife of SF writer and critic James Gunn; RICHARD S. SIMAK, 64, son of SF writer Clifford D. Simak and occasional SF writer himself; HELEN SAPANARA KEARNEY, 92, mother of SF writer Pat Cadigan.

  WEEP FOR DAY

  Indrapramit Das

  Indrapramit Das is a writer and artist from Kolkata, India. His short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, Redstone Science Fiction, The World SF Blog, Flash Fiction Online, and the anthology Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana. He is a grateful graduate of the 2012 Clarion West Writers Workshop, and a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Award. He completed his MFA at the University of British Columbia, and currently lives in Vancouver, working as a freelance writer, artist, editor, game tester, tutor, would-be novelist, and aspirant to adulthood. Follow him on Twitter at @IndrapramitDas.

  Set on a tidally locked planet where the frozen and eternally dark Nightside is slowly being explored—and conquered—by explorers from the Dayside, this is an evocative, sensitively characterized, and lyrically written story that reminds me of something by Gene Wolfe—no faint praise in my book.

  I WAS EIGHT YEARS old the first time I saw a real, living Nightmare. My parents took my brother and I on a trip from the City-of-Long-Shadows to the hills at Evening’s edge, where one of my father’s clients had a manse. Father was a railway contractor. He hired out labor and resources to the privateers extending the frontiers of civilization towards the frozen wilderness of the dark Behind-the-Sun. Aptly, we took a train up to the foothills of the great Penumbral Mountains.

  It was the first time my brother and I had been on a train, though we’d seen them tumble through the city with their cacophonic engines, cumulous tails of smoke and steam billowing like blood over the rooftops when the red light of our sun caught them. It was also the first time we had been anywhere close to Night—Behind-the-Sun—where the Nightmares lived. Just a decade before we took that trip, it would have been impossible to go as far into Evening as we were doing with such casual comfort and ease.

  Father had prodded the new glass of the train windows, pointing to the power-lines crisscrossing the sky in tandem with the gleaming lines of metal railroads silvering the hazy landscape of progress. He sat between my brother Velag and I, our heads propped against the bulk of his belly, which bulged against his rough crimson waistcoat. I clutched that coat and breathed in the sweet smell of chemlis gall that hung over him. Mother watched with a smile as she peeled indigos for us with her fingers, laying them in the lap of her skirt.

  “Look at that. We’ve got no more reason to be afraid of the dark, do we, my tykes?” said Father, his belly humming with the sound of his booming voice.

  Dutifully, Velag and I agreed there wasn’t.

  “Why not?” he asked us, expectant.

  “Because of the Industrialization, which brings the light of Day to the darkness of Night,” we chimed, a line learned both in school and home (inaccurate, as we’d never set foot in Night itself). Father laughed. I always slowed down on the word “industrialization,” which caused Velag and I to say it at different times. He was just over a year older than me, though.

  “And what is your father, children?” Mother asked.

  “A knight of Industry and Technology, bringer of light under Church and Monarchy.”

  I didn’t like reciting that part, because it had more than one long “y” word, and felt like a struggle to say. Father was actually a knight, though not a knight-errant for a while. He had been too big by then to fit into a suit of plate-armor or heft a heavy sword around, and knights had stopped doing that for many years anyway. The Industrialization had swiftly made the pageantry of adventure obsolete.

  Father wheezed as we reminded him of his knighthood, as if ashamed. He put his hammy hands in our hair and rubbed. I winced through it, as usual, because he always forgot about the pins in my long hair, something my brother didn’t have to worry about. Mother gave us
the peeled indigos, her hands perfumed with the citrus. She was the one who taught me how to place the pins in my hair, both of us in front of the mirror looking like different sized versions of each other.

  I looked out the windows of our cabin, fascinated by how everything outside slowly became bluer and darker as we moved away from the City-of-Long-Shadows, which lies between the two hemispheres of Day and Night. Condensation crawled across the corners of the double-glazed panes as the train took us farther east. Being a studious girl even at that age, I deduced from school lessons that the air outside was becoming rapidly colder as we neared Night’s hemisphere, which has never seen a single ray of our sun and is theorized to be entirely frozen. The train, of course, was kept warm by the same steam and machinery that powered its tireless wheels and kept its lamps and twinkling chandeliers aglow.

  “Are you excited to see the Nightmare? It was one of the first to be captured and tamed. The gentleman we’re visiting is very proud to be its captor,” said Father.

  “Yes!” screamed Velag. “Does it still have teeth? And claws?” he asked, his eyes wide.