Reviews

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September/October 2020 by Leah Cypess, Gregory Frost, Ian Tregillis, Y. M. Pang, Robert Reed, M. Bennardo, Sheila Williams, Michael Libling, R. Garcia y Robertson, Cadwell Turnbull, Jason Sanford, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Gray Rinehart, Rich Larson

nataliya_x's review

4.0

This review is for the Nebula Award-nominated short story “The Eight-Thousanders” by Jason Sanford:
————

It was around 2019 that there was a sudden explosion of stories about the huge lines of (sometimes in sufficiently skilled) climbers waiting for hours and hours to get to that coveted Mount Everest summit. The crowded mountain, the lines — and the deaths. See this article in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/26/i-wont-be-joining-queue-everest-overcrowding-summit?CMP=share_btn_fb

“He spoke once, the words whispered by frozen lips on a face so frostbitten he looked like a porcelain doll. I found him below the summit as our expedition bottlenecked before the Hillary Step on our final ascent of Mount Everest.

And above the bottleneck, more climbers. Dozens of people snaking to the top in their insulated red and orange and bright-color parkas and boots and backpacks.

As if the mountain bled a trickle of rainbow-neon blood.”

But hey, at least you get a cool picture and self-satisfaction. While the sherpas keep making that climb over and over and over and over again and don’t make a huge deal about it.

So what I’m saying is — there may be just enough casualties to sustain a vampire, right?

“Don’t let me die,” the man whispered.

No one else had noticed the man. Or they’d ignored him like all the dead bodies we passed on Everest.”

And sometimes a vampire is not the worst thing to happen to you on Everest.

4 stars.

“You’re going to lose your nose. And half your fingers and toes. But you climbed Everest. Was it worth it?”

————
Read it free here, on Apex Magazine website: https://apex-magazine.com/the-eight-thousanders/

————

My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299

villyidol's review

3.0

Review only for The Eight-Thousanders by Jason Sanford.

Two men get caught in the jet stream on their descent from Mount Everest. One of them, in all his arrogance, thinks that everyone and everything has to bend to his will, apparently even nature. The other is more concerned with the vampire that is following them.

Good story, with some nice imagery.

3 – 3.5 stars

Can be read for free here: https://apex-magazine.com/the-eight-thousanders/

Nebula 2020 finalist for Best Short Story.

_________________
2020 Nebula Award Finalists

Best Novel
• [b:Piranesi|50202953|Piranesi|Susanna Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609095173l/50202953._SY75_.jpg|73586702] by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• [b:The City We Became|42074525|The City We Became (Great Cities #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585327950l/42074525._SY75_.jpg|54760675] by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
• [b:Mexican Gothic|53152636|Mexican Gothic|Silvia Moreno-Garcia|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607462569l/53152636._SY75_.jpg|73647361] by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• [b:The Midnight Bargain|49151031|The Midnight Bargain|C.L. Polk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587158919l/49151031._SY75_.jpg|74297088] by C.L. Polk (Erewhon)
• [b:Black Sun|50892360|Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)|Rebecca Roanhorse|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601212809l/50892360._SY75_.jpg|61321587] by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
• Network Effect by Martha Wells (Tordotcom Publishing)

Best Novella
• [b:Tower of Mud and Straw|55236234|Tower of Mud and Straw|Yaroslav Barsukov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599295493l/55236234._SX50_.jpg|86121622] by Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis)
• [b:Finna|44081573|Finna (LitenVerse #1)|Nino Cipri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563304090l/44081573._SY75_.jpg|68548236] by Nino Cipri (Tordotcom Publishing)
• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing)
• [b:Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon|57370124|Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon|Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|89792116] by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Aurelia Leo)
• [b:The Four Profound Weaves|51600161|The Four Profound Weaves|R.B. Lemberg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575992755l/51600161._SY75_.jpg|73397963] by R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)
• [b:Riot Baby|43719523|Riot Baby|Tochi Onyebuchi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556633991l/43719523._SY75_.jpg|68038597] by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom Publishing)

Best Novelette
• [b:Stepsister|56671617|Stepsister|Leah Cypess|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|88573911] by Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20)
• [b:The Pill|53052208|Big Girl|Meg Elison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575492744l/53052208._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73371095] by Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)
• Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20)
• Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20)
• Where You Linger by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Shadow Prisons by Caroline M. Yoachim (serialized in the Dystopia Triptych series as The Shadow Prison Experiment, Shadow Prisons of the Mind and The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma, Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press)

Best Short Story
• Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math by Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20)
• A Guide For Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
• The Eight-Thousanders by Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20) (Asimov’s 9-10/20)
• My Country Is a Ghost by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)

The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
• [b:Raybearer|50158128|Raybearer (Raybearer, #1)|Jordan Ifueko|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567330635l/50158128._SX50_SY75_.jpg|70180082] by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)
• [b:Elatsoe|49089632|Elatsoe|Darcie Little Badger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581002562l/49089632._SX50_.jpg|71388826] by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• [b:A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking|54369251|A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking|T. Kingfisher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593743861l/54369251._SX50_.jpg|84842875] by T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• [b:A Game of Fox and Squirrels|44280976|A Game of Fox & Squirrels|Jenn Reese|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567292584l/44280976._SY75_.jpg|68794492] by Jenn Reese (Holt)
• [b:Star Daughter|52781202|Star Daughter|Shveta Thakrar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1596350537l/52781202._SY75_.jpg|66825697] by Shveta Thakrar (HarperTeen)

oleksandr's review

3.0

This is the “spooky” September-October 2020 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. A majority of stories in the issue are more horror than SFF and I am not a fan of that genre, I found them quite solid reads.

The contents

Thirty-Fourth Annual Readers' Awards Results [Asimov's Editorials] essay by Sheila Williams and Readers' Award Winners (Asimov's Science Fiction, September-October 2020) [Annual Readers' Award (Asimov's)] essay by uncredited list winners of last year best works, with comments of readers/voters. I’ve read none, so cannot judge.
The Road Not Taken [Reflections] essay by Robert Silverberg a story about young Robert, who bought his first Galaxy magazine in 1950 and preferred buying SF to cigarette packs
Meet Your Subliminal Self [On the Net] essay by James Patrick Kelly a quasi psychological essay
Gretel's Bone poem by Jane Yolen
Maelstrom [Diving Universe] novella by Kristine Kathryn Rusch there is a crater on a local moon, where supposedly untold riches are ready for exploiting, but a severe ice storms destroy most expeditions as if they are alive. It is a mockumentary and as such a novel ‘true story’ approach. 3.5*
Photograph #51 poem by Robert Frazier
A Sideways Slant of Light short story by Leah Cypess a women, estranged from her family visits her house to tell farewell to her dying mother. She has a secret – a ghost, whom only she sees, who helped her live as a teen. 4*
The Ossuary's Passenger short story by Robert Reed far future SF, uplifted hyena and a beetle meet ships filled with people to returned to die on Earth. 2.5*
Incomplete Adaptation poem by Bruce Boston
When God Sits in Your Lap novelette by Ian Tregillis a story heavy on homage to hard boiled detectives about an angel sleuth/charmer hired to break a union of a woman and her lover by her son. A bit too heavy on allusions. 3*
Shock of Birth short story by Cadwell Turnbull a male narrator thinks that he is now not in his body, but in another in the bast, ends up in mental hospital, meets there other ‘travellers’. 3*
The Eight-Thousanders short story by Jason Sanford a narrator follows his boss on a mountain climb, sees a vampire there, who decided that killing is bad, but on Everest there are fresh dead (true!) and almost dead are common. 4*
A Rare and Wondrous Thing poem by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
A Vengeful Revenant short story by M. Bennardo a new road it made and the narrator uses it to visit his friend grave, which attracts (?) dead animals/moths supposedly killed by that road. 2.5*
In Horror Movies, Whenever Someone Gets Their Sucked Out poem by Michael Meyerhofer
Escaping Real Time [Amanda James / Cole the Younger 6] novelette by R. Garcia y Robertson I haven’t read earlier installments. A (space) marine on an outskirts of Sol system is ordered to deliver a rebel girl, the order he dislikes but follows. A parallel thread – a Bradley paradox – when something is predicted in advance like Jules Verne predicting that the Moon will be visited by three Earthmen, launchin from the US and landing in ocean. 3.5*
Robyn in Her Shiny Blue Coffin short story by Michael Libling a boy narrator visits a burying of his girlfriend who was ill for quite long and learnt magic trick as her was in the hospital. She searched to do a magic to evade death. 3.5*
Next Issue (Asimov's Science Fiction, September-October 2020) essay by uncredited
Mangy White Dog short story by Y. M. Pang a narrator cat works tricks at a market for her human master, while a mangy white dog comes to her master, who pushed it away… 3.5*
Traveling On [Rapture (Gregory Frost)] short story by Gregory Frost most people lefdt Earth in a Rapture like event and remaining (about 1/3) wander why they were left. 3*
The Conceptual Shark short story by Rich Larson a man sees a shark and feels himself in an ocean when deals with water (e.g. while cleaning teeth), visits a psychiatrist… 2.5*
Self-Assembly Required poem by Josh Pearce
Flare Shack [Stormie Pastorelli] novelette by Gray Rinehart a people on Moon colony hide from a Solar flare and find new info about each other. 2*
Dawn Fiddler poem by Fred D. White
On Books (Asimov's Science Fiction, September-October 2020) [On Books] essay by Peter Heck
Cavall poem by Mary Soon Lee
SF Conventional Calendar (Asimov's Science Fiction, September-October 2020) essay by Erwin S. Strauss

bailym's review

Placeholder for "The Eight-Thousanders," by Jason Sanford. 4 stars.

b_mcg's review

3.0

Maelstrom 3/5
A Sideways Slant of Light 2/5
The Ossuary's Passenger 2/5
When God Sits in Your Lap 3/5
Shock of Birth 2/5
The Eight-Thousanders 3/5
A Vengeful Revenant 3/5
Escaping Real Time 3/5
Robyn in Her Shiny Blue Coffin 3/5
Mangy White Dog 3/5
Traveling On 4/5
The Conceptual Shark 3/5
Flare Shack 3/5