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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024
"The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 is a fantastic collection and a sign pointing to where the science fiction and fantasy genres are going. Most of the stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 hit home runs, and you’ll have a whale (if not a Kraken) of a time reading this. This is excellent stuff." - Zachary Houle, via Medium "The Life You've Given Me, Rusty" This is a rare example of second person narration used in an appropriate manner. Even though this is the shortest piece in the magazine, at just over seven hundred words, it has enough of an interesting premise with the potential of being developed that one wishes it were longer. - Victoria Silverwolf for Tangent "Face the Music" "It’s always a joy to read P.A. Cornell’s fiction. Always speculative, yet speaking volumes about the philosophy of human emotions. “Face the Music” is no exception." - Meghan Smith, Fiction to Features "Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont" "P. A. Cornell’s unusual time-travel story, “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” about a woman from the present day who falls in love with a serviceman from the American outbreak of World War II, is touching, bittersweet and sad." - Zachary Houle, via Medium "Wondrously spellbinding and touching." - Sue Burke "When a reader sees, “Once upon a time” in a title they are going to expect some fairy tale elements. In this story the omniscient narration dovetails first person narration invoking a fairy tale atmosphere. You can imagine a kindly grandmother with a big book of fairy tales in her lap, telling you the story of The Oakmont, but you also get an eyewitness account of one character’s time as a tenant." - Frivolous Comma "A gentle and slightly bittersweet story of community and love in a most unusual apartment building. ...there’s a lovely gentleness and warmth to this story, and particularly in its depiction of community. Any time travel story—or a story like this one, which plays with time—has a twist, and the twist here is also most satisfying." - Vanessa Fogg "A clever, cozy tale about an apartment building built on a time vortex." - Ephiny Gale "...the paradoxical elements of time travel are mostly a backdrop to a touching interpersonal story and a shockingly rich portrait of a place that isn't really in a time. Throw in a satisfying ending, and this one is truly excellent." - Tar Vol's 2023 Recommended Reading List “Oh how beautiful this story was! Grounded in reality but still having a whimsical and speculative sensibility… It is a classic story of two star-crossed lovers, with its setting adding true individuality and a unique twist on this trope.” - Meghan Smith, Fiction to Features "...a bitter-sweet, beautifully written story with a gentle, dreamy quality. A gentle tolerance permeates this tale, and an acceptance of the things you cannot change, without ever straying into fatalism." - Mina for Tangent "This is a beautiful love story and I thoroughly enjoyed it." - Sam Tomaino for SFRevu Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 1 "Story quality ranged from “solid” to “outstanding” with the overall weighting tipped heavily towards the “excellent” end. If I’m honest, I think this collection is better than the one I co-edited, a reflection of how Canadian speculative fiction has expanded and matured in the decades since. Overall, it is a great collection, a great reflection on what Canadian speculative fiction has to offer, and a great first entry in which one can only hope will continue as an annual series." - Robert Runté, Ottawa Review of Books "In my opinion this volume of The Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science fiction belongs on every Canadian reader’s bookshelf." - Amazing Stories Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures "...one of those rare anthologies that deliver great story after great story...wonderfully diverse, Monstrous Futures walks a fine line between science fiction and horror, and every writer who interpreted the theme brought something different to the table." - Gabino Iglesias for Locus "The Body Remembers" "Haunting, gripping, and the body horror description, specifically, transported me to this world. I especially adored the commentary on trauma and the intersection of physical and emotional pain. The use of the same first and last line of the piece also highlighted the cyclical nature of trauma in a powerful way. I also particularly loved Orlovschi’s voice as our narrator — hardened, with an underlying bite of dark humor. - Meghan Smith, Fiction to Features "The novum...in a sense, is familiar territory; but the way it's applied to the story makes it new, especially in its various implications and dark possibilities. Altogether a well-structured, well-told piece with a distinctive vibe." - Arley Sorg for Lightspeed "We could have picked several stories from this book, but The Body Remembers was so powerful that it refused to be ignored." - PseudoPod "P.A. Cornell understands how a grave may also be a body; come feel the horrors of endless decay in "The Body Remembers." - K.C. Mead-Brewer 
Photo by P.A. Cornell
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"A World Unto Myself"
"A quiet, beautifully crafted science fiction story that has a wistful, thoughtful vibe I love." - Maria Haskins "...this is a quiet, gentle mood piece.... Beautifully written, it leaves the reader wanting to spend more time with the narrator." - Victoria Silverwolf for Tangent "'A World Unto Myself' epitomizes mindfulness and oneness with nature; it offers a lovely tad of optimism, a shot of positive energy in a world that sorely needs it." - Short Story Reader "This was such a lovely and moving tale of nature and tech together." - Lyndsey Croal for Literally Lyndsey "Things Most Meaningful" "I loved this little flash. I loved the heart it has and the soothing and sweet feeling it gave me when I finished it. Perfect comfort reading!" - Eugenia Triantafyllou "...this story may seem too short to carry much weight, but it’s overflowing with emotions big and small." - Alex Brown for Reactor Darkness Blooms "If the stunning design of Darkness Blooms isn't enough for you to check it out, know that the works within it are just as exquisite. It is rare to encounter an anthology where every piece leaves you just as breathless as the last, but Walker and Louzon have curated an impressive collection of speculative fiction that feels compelling and fresh." - Daphne Fauber for Haunted MTL "A Fall Backward Through the Hourglass" "The premise of the story wavers on the edge between fun/light-hearted and deeply, deeply sad. I thought it balanced on that line beautifully." - Sara L. Uckelman for SFF Reviews “A heartfelt fantasy by the author who also wrote ‘Nine Lives.’ I enjoyed that story and loved this even more. If I had to use just one word, it would be poignant. The story was tight, with strong prose and emotional resonance. Loved it!” - Oh Just Books Lost Cargo (Novella) "Good characters, good plot, good setting. If you want something pleasant to help fill up your eReader, this will fit the bill." - Abyss & Apex "The SciFi aspect is interesting, but it's the different characters and the interactions between them that make the story shine. Each has their own flaws and issues, and their reactions feel real and believable - an impressive feat in a novella with six different characters." - Nils Odlund (Team JamReads) for #SFINCS "Cornell has written an interesting story about dealing with an adverse situation...we have a relatively big group of passengers, each one different and that are reacting in different ways to the traumas..." - Jamedi (Team JamReads) for #SFINCS "You have all the ingredients coming together for a lot of tension in this particular setup. It really makes for a good story that held my interest throughout. This is my first novella by P.A. Cornell and it definitely won’t be my last." - Skeleanor for Dark Dispatch "Nine Lives" “A very endearing bit of flash fiction. Beautiful.” – Oh Just Books "Splits" “This piece is immediately compelling to read, its mystery slowly opening up to the reader. It’s a unique science-fictional concept told with the perfect amount of distance. It suggests a larger message about family, self-parenting, and the multitudinous nature of identity without coming across as overly preachy or being too over-the-top with its theme.” – Juror Lynne Sargent ("Splits" won the 2022 Short Works Prize) "'Splits' by P.A. Cornell has a striking, original idea: certain people have “split” into multiple incarnations of themselves, at different ages." - Rich Horton for Locus magazine "Shiny Things" "‘Shiny Things’ by P.A. Cornell has first-person narration by a magpie about an alien invasion, which is certainly original. A different approach and the story fits in with the theme. Even we humans are not completely hopeless." - Eamonn Murphy for SFcrowsnest "Tabula Rasa" "Thought this was going to be another story about a couple having to fall in love with each other all over again...it's not." - Vanessa Jae (via Twitter) "Kiss it Better" "P.A. Cornell takes the familiar practice of a mother kissing a child’s injury to make it feel better and transforms it into something magical. [This] portrait of motherly love is likely to touch the reader’s emotions." - Victoria Silverwolf for Tangent "Vinyl Wisdom" "...a beautiful story about family and all the complications that come with it, the gap between generations, and people trying to do what’s best for those you love without hurting them in the process." - A.C. Wise A Punk Rock Future "...a good short story is already like a punk song—fast, effective, and brutally DIY, with a fistful of meaning that explodes in your face with pure undistilled emotion. It only made sense to slam the two together." - BoingBoing |
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