The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web.

Over at REDDIT, the r/WeirdLit Short Story Discussion group has been discussing THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN, one story/week for the past two months. This week’s story is “Galapagos,” the 11th story in the collection.

This is a weekly discussion focusing on short stories within the Weird Fiction genre. For those who do not know, Weird Fiction is a subgenre of horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction is which is infamously hard to quantify.

Each week I will be posting a new thread on a story from the current collection, moving from front-to-back. We are currently following through a single collection as a pilot, and when we’re done with it, we will set a broader schedule.

Eileen Gunn participated in the 2020 Virtual Clarion West Summer Reading Series: Summer of Science Fiction & Fantasy on Tuesday, June 30.

In a Paul Semel interview with co-editor Joe M. McDermott about their anthology The Way of the Laser, editor Eric Bosarge recommends Kameron Hurley’s MEET ME IN THE FUTURE.

It’s unfortunate that scheduling didn’t quite work out so that Kameron Hurley could be included in this collection, because her collection MEET ME IN THE FUTURE. absolutely blew my mind. It sorts of mingles and juxtaposes some ideas about technology and biological fusion, quietly contemplating what that might mean for the soul, both for humans and machines, in a way I thought was truly beautiful.

North Georgia Technical College Library suggests checking out Hannu Rajaniemi and Jacob Weisman‘s THE NEW VOICES OF SCIENCE FICTION.

A must-read for anyone interested in the latest and most exciting science fiction writing out there.

CLARKESWORLD (Issue 166, July 2020) published the Michael Swanwick story “Artificial People.”

My first moment of consciousness pleased me so much that I wanted it to last forever. An insect hanging upon invisible wings, a dust mote jittering in a sunbeam, the flash of motion that was a vanished tetra in the fish tank, the smell of coffee from the break room . . . My brain was sparking. Everything filled me with joy and made me grateful to be alive.

I drew a breath. Bliss! I took a step. Ecstasy!

It was only later that I realized I had just been born. At the time, I was too entranced by the wonder of existence to notice.

Subroutines booted up vocal and musical abilities and I began to sing.

All but lost among the many wonders crowding about me was Dr. Ellen Lange. I saw her delighted smile and liked it no less than everything else I beheld.

“Stop that noise and tell me how you feel,” Dr. Leonidas Erdmann said. “Please focus. How are your cognitive functions? Can you see my hand? How many fingers am I holding up? What is the capital of Kyrgyzstan?”

“You have a lovely voice,” said Dr. Lange. “Do you feel as happy as you sound?”

“Oh, yes!”

“Ellen, please. Don’t muddle the data.” To me: “That’s enough for a start. I’m going to put you down now.”

Blackness.