Arvies, by Adam-Troy Castro

Adam-Troy Castro likes a big dollop of political relevancy in his work.  Arvies takes on the abortion debate, or so most of us assume, along with questions about what makes people human.  If you can experience everything in a fully virtual way, what would be the advantage in coming out of the womb?  All you're good for at that point is hosting a fetus.  A chicken is an egg's way of making another egg.  And it's not subtle at all, pretty much a slap upside the head.  Castro is fun, though, he has a unique way of telling a story that can make you laugh at it enough to forgive the heavy hand.  I give it 3 stars for fun.

The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara, by Christopher Kastensmidt

I left off reading for listening to pick up this Nebula nominee, The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara.  Audio is not normally my thing, but I'll do it for a good story and StarShipSofa is a fun podcast site.  It's a funny sort of story, because it reminds me of my kids' playtimes--the whole thing is about getting ready to have an adventure.  Gerard van Oost finds an ideal companion for his Brazilian adventure plan, but has to get him out of slavery.  He deals with obstacles human and semi-divine just to get his wish to risk death.  It was nice and relaxing to listen to--I could give it a higher rating if it went somewhere, but it is a novelette, after all.  No doubt Mr. Kastensmidt has a world in mind here, so we'll see what else he does with this.  3 stars.

Stone Wall Truth, by Caroline Yoachim

There's a genre of stories out there that are mostly about the author working through some gruesome nightmare and what it would mean if it were true.  Some authors make a living on it.  Stone Wall Truth is one of those stories.  What would it mean if the shadows in our hearts were real ones, and could be seen if only we were opened up properly?  This story does it literally, told from the point of view of a surgeon that does it.  The Crystal Wall that such an "opened" person is hung on is some remnant of a more advanced technology.  Advanced at what, one wonders.  But it's told well, so worthwhile to read and ponder.  3 stars

Plus or Minus, by James Patrick Kelly

Stories about the routine of interplanetary space defy the relatively low likelihood of seeing such things in the next generation or so.  Plus or Minus is another kind of throwback story that got a Nebula nomination this year, much like another Asimov's story, Sultan of the Clouds.  We see people born and bred for space travel slogging through the routine of cleaning mold off the spaceship and overseeing robots doing cargo work.  Spaceships can be ugly and purely functional.  The crew are not the highly trained and selected astronauts of today, but teenage interns.  And they face the classic will-we-make-it-before-the-air-runs-out danger when an accident happens during a run.

It's fun to read, too.  Kelly uses the story to tell of teen dangers of today, like creepy people creating animated photomanips of girls they are stalking, or getting deeply involved in a realistic dream-scape (OK, that one is mildly ahead of today).  All the things SF is supposed to do.  No new ground, more like nostalgia, but I still liked it.  3 stars.

The Jaguar House, In Shadow, by Aliette de Bodard

Aliette de Bodard, according to her website, sets many of her stories in Mesoamerica.  This one is, I think, part of the Xuya series, where China got to the New World first.  I'm setting a lot of context here, because the story seems to need it.  On its own, The Jaguar House, In Shadow is OK, but hard to see as a Nebula nominee.  The system of Houses, which seem to be sort of Mesoamerican ninjas/CIA folks, is central but not real clear here.  This is an episode out of context, where a commander sells out in order to stay in favor with a mad dictator.  Two stars, on its own.

Map of Seventeen, by Christopher Barzak

When we are small children, we believe that we are the center of the world.  We start to learn about empathy and others as we get older--then get sucked right back into the center of the world during adolescence.  Barzak captures this very well, and in a sympathetic way, in Map of Seventeen.  It's a Nebula Award nominee for 2010, and a reasonable contender, most likely.  The protagonist is a young girl, angry with her older brother, her town, her culture, in different ways.  Her brother brings home a boyfriend, who seems pretty normal but has a big speculative-fiction kind of secret.  Exactly what doesn't matter so much.  She gets perspective on her life from what they are facing.

My favorite part of the story is how she controls others with her very strong will.  She refers to it in a sort of paranormal way, exerting it on others as though their thoughts were visible.  This is SF, so it MIGHT be so--but again, it doesn't matter, what's really interesting and genuine is how she THINKS she has that kind of control.  Center of the world.

It is worth a read, do take the time.  3 stars

The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window by Rachel Swirsky

The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window is another Nebula-nominated story linked from my personal favorite website, Free SF Online.  The main trope is familiar, a soul bound in magic, this time for all eternity, summoned back occasionally for her knowledge of magic.  But this story is powerfully unique in its treatment of how magic interacts with ambition. 

The protagonist is bound early in the story, a result of treachery.  She has her revenge on the one who bound her, but the story is only getting started there.  She continues to get called back through time, to advise future societies.  They study and develop magic almost as a science, getting better and better at it but still needing the old versions.  Our subject grows reluctantly fond of several of those she has called. 

The protagonist is an unrelieved bigot, of the fashionable sort--no men allowed to have magic.  And she is called on it as well, by the most sympathetic characters in the story.  She does not change, but she does evolve over time and at least sometimes judge people as individuals.  Fully drawn characters interacting with interesting ideas are the true heart of speculative fiction, and Swirsky has done it well here.  A rare 4 stars.