These are the short stories that are either about to come out, are out now, or have
come and gone—at least on paper. Some are available for purchase in
electronic form, and others are free for the reading on this site. Click the
bookmark to see details below.
Message from the Bubblegum Factory (in the anthology With Great Power,
forthcoming in 2010).
What We Take When We Take What We Need (Subterranean Magazine, forthcoming).
Glass (Technology Review Magazine, November/December 2008;
Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009 Edition, ed. by Rich Horton; Year's
Best SF 14, ed. by Hartwell & Cramer)
The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm (Eclipse 2,
October 2008; Year’s Best Science Fiction, 26th Annual Collection, ed. by
Gardner Dozois; Year's Best Fantasy 9, ed. by Hartwell & Cramer)
Unpossible (F&SF, 10/07; Year's Best Fantasy 8;
Fantasy: Year's Best, 2008 Edition)
Dead Horse Point (Asimov's, 8/07; The Best Science
Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 2)
Damascus (F&SF, 12/06; Year's Best
SF 24th Annual Collection; Year's Best SF 12)
Gardening at Night (F&SF, 4/06)
Second Person, Present Tense (Asimov's,
9/05; Year's Best SF 11; Year's Best SF 23rd Annual Collection;
and translations)—winner
of the Asimov's Readers' Choice Award, and finalist for the Fountain Award and the
Sturgeon Award.
The Continuing Adventures of Rocket Boy (F&SF,
7/04)
Free, and Clear (F&SF, 2/04)
An Equitable Distribution (Hitchcock's,
10/97)
The Sound of Glass Breaking (Antietam
Review, Spring '92)
Taking the High Road (Amazing, 9/91)
In the Wheels (F&SF, 8/90)
An ordinary man in a superpowered world, and he isn't going to take it anymore.
This is for the original anthology "With Great Power," edited by Lou Anders,
featuring stories by comics writers, fiction writers, and those multi-talented
jerks who do both so well. Chris Roberson and Bill Willingham, are you listening
to me? Anyway, I've never had so much fun writing a story, and I can't wait to
read the other stories in the book.
Tentative plans are for this book to launch at ComicCon in 2010.
An alternate take on some of the themes and characters from my novel The
Devil's Alphabet, and my longest title ever. This will appear from
Subterranean Magazine,
available online this fall.
Technology Review Magazine">Technology Review Magazine
(November/December issue, 2008). Will also appear in Science Fiction: The Best
of the Year, 2009 Edition, ed. by Rich Horton, and
Year's Best SF 14, edited by David Hartwell and
Kathryn Cramer.
A brief tale of psychopaths, experimental drugs, and mirror neurons, set in a
prison medical wing.
Technology Review Magazine, available in print and on the web, doesn't
usually publish fiction, but every so often they run a science fiction story.
Read it
Read for free on the Technology Review site.
Eclipse 2 (October, 2008). Will also appear in
The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 26th Annual
Collection, ed. by Gardner Dozois, and Year's Best Fantasy 9, ed. by
Hartwell & Cramer.
When superheroes invade a supervillain's island nation, what happens to the
minions? Any similarities to the current debacle in Iraq are entirely
intentional.
Eclipse is an annual anthology of new, original science fiction and fantasy
edited by Jonathan Strahan. There's no theme—only Mr. Strahan's excellent taste.
(I'd say that even if I wasn't in the book.) (No, really.)
Reviews
Rich Horton of Locus Magazine selected it as one of the Recommended Stories for the month.
After discusssion first the science fiction stories, then the fantasy stories,
he says this: "Finally a borderline case is also among the best stories here… the political overtones are obvious here, and well expressed." (Full excerpt)
Buy It
Nightshade Books Online Store ($14.95)
The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction, (10/07). The story will also appear in
Year’s Best Fantasy #8, edited by David Hartwell
and Kathryn Cramer, and
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition,
edited by Rich Horton. A French translation will appear soon.
This is a story about all those children who had fantastic adventures in the
"lands beyond"—and what happens when they hit 50, realize that life
hasn't lived up to the storybook ending, and try to go back.
Reviews
The story made the Locus Magazine
Recommended Reading List for 2007.
Rich Horton of Locus Magazine selected it as one of the Recommended Stories for the month. (Full Review)
Tangent Online called it "A bittersweet tale that evokes the nostalgia of middle age and the
endless promise of childhood at the same time." (Full
Review)
Nick Gevers of Locus Magazine also used the "bittersweet" word. In reviewing the trio of "solid, worthwhile"
short stories in the issue, he said of "Unpossible": "Nothing exceptionally original here, but a bittersweet mood is
skillfully evoked." (Full
Review)
Buy it
An electronic version of the (double-size!) issue of F&SF is on
Fictionwise.com ($5.99).
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
(8/07),
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol.2 (Jonathan Strahan,
ed.)
A story about quantum mechanics, the demands of friendship and kinship,
and whether the universe permits any such thing as free will—set in my
favorite state park.
Reviews
The story made the Locus Magazine
Recommended Reading List for 2007.
Niall Harrison, editor of Vector, called it "marvelous and economical" and
puts it in context with other stories in Strahan's Year's Best collection. Full Review.
SF Signal gave it 5 out of 5 stars and called it "emotional stuff".
Full Review.
Locus Magazine's two short-fiction reviewers weighed in. Nick
Gevers thought the Rucker/Sterling
story made the other fiction in the issue feel tired, except for
"Dead Horse" and Jack Skillingstead's "Thank You, Mr. Whiskers." Gevers on DHP:
"Fortunately, 'Dead Horse Point' by Daryl Gregory has a shocking surprise at its
close, suggesting both the emptiness of notions of free will and the merciless logic
that must follow."
Gevers' colleague at Locus, Rich Horton, called DHP the most interesting story in
the issue (really? more interesting than Rucker and Sterling's transdimensional
ants?) but said that it doesn't quite work. Full
review from both Gevers and Horton.
Kimberly Lundstrom of Tangent Online said, "Gregory draws affecting characters and employs an apt
metaphor of trapped animals in this poignant tale of love and desperation."
Full review.
BestSF.net called it "Top Quality."
Full review.
And Sam Tomaino of SFRevu was pleased with the issue, rating all of the stories
as "very good." So, that's kind of a review.
Full review of the issue on SFRevu.
Buy it
An electronic version of the issue of Asimov's is on
Fictionwise.com ($3.99).
Side Notes
Gabriel McKee has an interesting
discussion of the story in SF Gospel, his blog focused on "explorations
of religion in science ficiton and popular culture."
He raises the point that concept of space-time in the story is similar
to Augustinian
eternalism. I would have mentioned eternalism in the story, except I didn't know
about it until I read McKee's blog. I should really read the reviews before I write—that
would save time and make me look smarter.
The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction, (12/06). The story will also appear in Gardner Dozois' The Year's
Best Science Fiction, 24th Annual Collection (2007) and Hartwell and Cramer's Year's Best SF 12 (2007).
A woman on the edge is
saved by the intervention of her own personal Jesus. It's a story about religious
conversion, the neuroscience of spiritual belief, and biochemical evangelism.
Reviews
Locus Magazine's Gary Wolfe
called it "Terrific",
and his colleague Nick Gevers
picked it as a recommended story for the month and said, "'Damascus' is
a potent addition to SF's literature about matters spiritual, and
surely, for its courage and sympathy, deserves an award or two."
Full review.
The story also made the Locus Magazine
Recommended Reading List for 2006.
Janice Clark of
Tangent Online said of the story, "Chillingly realistic,
it presents a glimpse of what could happen if even one ambitious,
efficient medical professional were convinced that bio-terrorism was the
road to salvation… You may find parts of this story offensive or
shocking, but you definitely won’t find it dull."
Full review.
Mark Watson of BestSF.net had
this to say: "Gregory's stories have pretty much fallen into two
categories for me - those which impressed, and those which did little if
anything for me. This story joings [sic] 'Second Person, First Tense'
[well, close] and 'The Continuing Adventures of Rocket Boy' in the
former of these categories." Here's to one in the former and not the
latter! Full
review.
The story was also an Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror
(2007, 20th annual, ed. by Datlow, Link,
and Grant).
Buy it
An electronic version of the F&SF issue is at
fictionwise.com (~$4)
Purchase
Best SF 12 on Amazon ($7.99)
Purchase
Year's Best 24th on Amazon ($14.93)
The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction, (4/06).
This is a near-future hard-ish SF story about complex systems: artificial
life, rapidly mutating diseases, and ordinary human families. All this and the
secret meaning of the Garden of Eden story.
Reviews
Tangent Online's Elizabeth Allen said that the story "sneaks up on you
in the best of all possible ways."
Full review.
Epinions.com called
it "an interesting story with intriguing allusions to the meaning of our
existence... All in all, this is a great story."
SFRevu also had a
brief review of the issue.
Last but not least, Rich Horton of
Locus
called it the best story in an issue that was "a bit lackluster": "…a thoughtful, interesting, well-done story—but it isn't a 'wow'
story." Run out and get your copy today!
Buy it
FictionWise
has an electronic version for $2.99.
Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
September 2005. It also appeared in Gardner Dozois' The Year's
Best Science Fiction, 23rd Annual Collection (2006), Year's Best SF 11
(2006),
edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and in a few translations (below).
For a limited time, you can
read
the story (for free, natch) on The Asimov's website.
It's a story about a new person in an inherited body, plus Buddhism vs Christianity,
strange but true neurological
oddities, and
the lessons of Margaret Wise Brown's "The Runaway
Bunny."
Translations
Bli-Panika, the
Israeli SF web magazine (whose title translates as "Don't Panic"), in Hebrew.
Read it here.
Pandora #1. German print magazine, in German, natch.
See cover.
Aqua-Cerro. Columbian SF anthology, in Spanish.
See cover.
Kroki w Nieznane
2007. Polish anthology of fantastic fiction (possibly translates as "Voyages
to the Unknown"). See cover.
Sci-Fi magazin #9 (June
2008). Romanian science fiction magazine.
See cover.
Award (singular) and some near misses
Asimov's
Reader's Award for Best Novelette of 2005 (click to see horrible
picture). Thanks, Asimovians. You know who you are.
Theodore
Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalist. The Sturgeon is the award for
the best
short SF.
Fountain Award Honorable Mention. The Fountain Award is sponsored by the
Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF)
and is given to "a speculative short story of exceptional literary quality,
chosen from work nominated by magazine and anthology editors." My thanks to
Sheila Williams for nominating my story, and to the jurors for putting it on
their short list.
Nebula Preliminary Ballot. The Nebulas are the awards given by SFWA, the
Science Fiction Writers of America. Alas, I was voted off Nebula Island before
the final ballot.
Reviews
Locus put the story on their
2005
Recommended List. In his review of the year's best-of annuals,
Gary K. Wolfe called it "a powerful and masterfully controlled tale... not
only one of the best drug stories of the year (without being too didactic
about it) but also one of the most acute portrayals of adolescent
alienation."
And when the story came out, both short fiction reviewers listed this as a recommended story for the
month. Rich Horton said the story "offers a fascinating look at the nature
of our identity and consciousness." Nick Gevers added, "Gregory ends the story
surprisingly but with eminent good sense, shrewdly underlining the broader
human equation involved."
Internet Review of Science Fiction Their
short-fiction reviewer BlueJack said, "Reviewers all have favorite kinds of
fiction, I am sure, and Gregory delivers a story that hits all my buttons:
the science is good, up-to-date, intriguing, and central to the story. The
story, however, is about real, believable people. It has a very powerful
emotional arc that is moving without being manipulative."
Tangent Online called it "the real star in this issue, succeeding both
as mind-popping SF and as a moving look at a teenager’s troubled
relationship with her parents... [the story] also works as a reminder of one
of science fiction’s greatest aspects: the ability to highlight classic
themes with magnesium-flare intensity, thanks to the author’s innovation."
Strange Horizons' Dan Hartland, in a review of the Hartwell/Cramer
collection, that the story "lights up this collection with wit and
intelligence…. Smoothly but discomfortingly written, the story's
concept—that consciousness isn't the controller but the controlled—is
intelligently explored and then, crucially, spun out in thoroughly human
directions."
Buy it
An electronic version of the Asimov's issue is at
fictionwise.com ($4)
Or you can order
Year's Best SF #11 or Year's
Best SF 23.
Novelette in The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction, July 2004.
This is not so much a science fiction story as a story about
science fiction, and the magical thinking
that is so attractive when you're a bored kid in Bumblefuck, Iowa. I'll be
forever grateful to Gordon van Gelder for buying a story on the crumbling edge of his target
demographic.
Read it
On this site
Reviews
Honorable Mention in Year's Best Science Fiction #21 (Dozois, ed.)
and Year's Best Fantasy & Horror #17 (Datlow, Link, and Grant, eds.).
Locus:
Nick Gevers called it "a
masterful study of SF's original escapist roots."
The Internet Review of Science Fiction
said, "Daryl Gregory offers a challenging and haunting story of
adolescence, imagination, and abuse."
mumpsimus: On the 2004 list for "Some Good Stories." (Matthew
Cheney
refuses to call them "the best of the year" because "I haven't read all the
stories of the year, and haven't even read all the major publications, never
mind the minor ones." You gotta admire honesty.)
www.bestsf.net:
"A very human, very powerful story…"
Buy it
Pick up an e-book copy of the entire issue for about $4 at
FictionWise
and PalmOne.
Short story in The Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 2004.
A desperate man with Olympic-level allergies, and a new-age masseuse
who'll go to extremes to clear the blockage. It was my goal to write the
first graphic sinus story, and by God, I still have the genre to myself. Not
for the squeamish.
Read it
On this site for free (and clear)
Reviews
The Commonplace
Review said, "Daryl Gregory elegantly spins a surreal and metaphorical
tale of Edward's quest to be free from his allergies."
The Internet Review of Science Fiction
called it a story about "an allergy treatment that's out of this world" in
"a standout issue of F&SF."
Short-short in
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery
Magazine,October 1997.
My friend, lawyer, and fellow writer Gary Delafield handed me a great—and
true—premise for a short-short about an old woman and the unusual advice she
gets from her lawyer. Hijinks ensue.
Never reviewed, so you'll have to make up your own mind.
Read it
On this site for free (how equitable is
that?)
Short story in
Antietam
Review, Spring 1992.
A mainstream story about that moment when you realize the walls are thin,
the streets are dark, and there's no way you can protect what you love.
Never reviewed. (Not surprising, considering this was an issue of a literary
magazine read by perhaps 50 people, 10 of whom were on-staff. )
Read it
On this site
Short story in Amazing
Stories. September 1991.
A story about two childhood friends, a war, and the time-dilation
effects that send them on different roads—but it's really about coming home
from college and finding all your friends gone.
Never reviewed by anyone I could find, but my mother liked it. (Not
actually true.)
Buy it
Get a paper copy of the issue
Novelette in The Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction. August 1990.
My first sale, a rollicking post-apocalyptic tale of drag racing and
demons. You heard me.
Read it
On this site
Reviews
A
Locus recommended novelette for the year.