Hu.man and Best by Nancy SM Waldman

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: June, 2016 in Futuristica: Volume 1

Genre: science fiction

Setting: a near-future Namibia

Summary: Short version: Betts finds a girl where she shouldn’t be

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The Hungers of Refugees by Michael Glyde

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: September, 2016 at Escape Pod (you can either listen to or read the story for free at that link)

Genre: science fiction

Setting: a generation ship, far future

Summary: Short version: It’s hard to break tradition

Genetic Changelings by Keyan Bowes

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: 2016 in Science Fiction Short Stories (Gothic Fantasy)

Genre: science fiction

Length: 8 pages

Setting: a generic city, near future

Summary: Short version: Are genetic enhancements and designer babies really that bad?

Gags, Bits, and Business by T. J. Berry

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: 2016 in Clowns: The Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix

Genre: clown fantasy/horror

Setting: generic city, present day

Summary: Short version: Clown autopsies are different from normal people’s

Painted Grassy Mire by Nicasio Andres Reed

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: 2016 in Shimmer Magazine (you can read it free online at that link – check it out. It has some lovely illustrations to go along with the story)

Genre: fantasy short story

Setting: near Lake Borgne, Louisiana, present day

Summary: Short version: A girl finds her alligator selkie family

Murder or a Duck by Beth Goder

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: October, 2016 at EscapePod (you can either read or listen to the story at that link if you’re interested)

Genre: time travel

Setting: Victorian England

Summary: Short version: Mrs. Whitman is looking for her husband across timelines

The Smoke Job by Aaron Canton

This is the next short story in the Event Horizon 2017 collection of short stories highlighting authors who are eligible for the 2017 Campbell award for best new writer.

Published: May, 2016 in Mothership Zeta

Genre: urban fantasy

Setting: Manhattan, present day

Summary: Short version: Dragons are best at exploiting greed

Long version: Charisma is a dragon posing as a young woman so she can slip through life in Manhattan, but still steal all the gold and jewels that she deserves. She’s caught by Abby, who blackmails Charisma into giving her an interview. Charisma figures she can work on Abby’s greed to get what she wants, so she goes along with it. Turns out, Abby was just bait for Brooke, a vampire who wants Char’s hoard and to turn her into a thrall. There’s a big fight in the vault that Brooke ultimately loses. Abby is able to convince Char to work with her stealing from magical creatures doing bad things.

Final thoughts: This was a really fun story. I loved the tone of the whole story. In fact, I had to read a couple of quotes to my kids. For example, Char says, “I knew I was good, and with my entire hoard at stake, there was no way I was going to lose to a witch paparazzi and a vampire boxer.” Or the fact that she baits Brooke into biting her, but dragon blood is hot so Brooke burns her mouth.

I will admit I’m a sucker for a dragon story. In this case, Charisma has a few skills I’m not used to seeing in dragons. She can use a smoke cloud to focus the greed of those around her and distract them from her stealing. Too bad a vampire doesn’t have to breathe. She can also track all of her hoard, and uses that skill to disarm Brooke’s thralls when the lights go out in her vault. The fighting is clever and Abby is able to win over Charisma by appealing to her greedy side. Overall, very high quality.

Title comes from: Charisma uses a puff of smoke as a weapon. It makes anyone who breathes focus solely on the acquisition of shiny things.