Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2011 Edition. edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden & Liz Gorinsky

This collection features 7 short stories and a novella that are considered the best published during 2011 on Tor.com. Tor.com has become one of the dominant online magazines for short Science Fiction and, since 2014, become a publisher of novels as well.

This is an interesting collection to review because it starts spectacularly strong and then fades significantly. The first four stories are worth the price of the book. They are confident, complex, sophisticated SciFi that absolutely crackles with excitement and speculation.

Then the collection fades. The final long story by Harry Turtledove is good, but doesn’t rise to the level of the opening. If you are pressed for time, make sure you read the first four stories.

Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2011 Edition is rated 75%.

5 good / 2 average / 1 poor.

How do I arrive at a rating?

1. Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders

   Great. A masterpiece. To quote the first line of the story… “The man who can see the future has a date with the woman who can see many possible futures.”

   This story won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novelette

2. The Data Horse by Michael Swanwick

   Good. What begins as a future Swedish science-fiction retelling of little red riding hood, becomes an incredible vehicle for speculation about the future of humanity, technology, governments, and AI. Excellent and highly recommended.

3. A Clean Sweep All the Trimmings by James Alan Gardner

   Good. Sci-Fi “film noir” with bulletproof dolls and fedora-clad spacemen.

4. Beauty Belongs to the Flowers by Matthew Sanborn Smith

   Good. A young girl - whose father is dying from a nanotechnology accident - deals with love, loss, friendship, technology, and more. All taking place in a wonderfully written, glossy cyberpunk portrayal of Nagasaki.

5. A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee

   Average. Not really a story, but a series of entries about different civilizations space travel.

6. Ragnarok by Paul Park

   Poor. DNF - lack of interest

7. Hello, Moto by Nnedi Okorafor

   Average. In a future Africa, one women writes a computer virus to stop the horrible impact of three ‘wigs’ that she created.

8. Shtetl Days by Harry Turtledove

   Good. Actors recreate a small Jewish town in a future where the Nazis were victorious.