I wanted to call out the work of two writers I met while at Worldcon. First up is Bill Shunn; I had dinner with him and his lovely wife Laura, as well as a host of other folks, one night. I naturally asked where I could find something he’d written; as it happens, Salon was the easiest place. And to my pleasure, “Love in the Age of Spyware” is one of the best SF shorts I’ve read in years.

Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell

The other is Tobias Buckell. I just finished Crystal Rain and it was great fun — an adventure story in an island culture world where enemy aliens have taken on the roles of gods in a fallen human civilization, recreating aspects of the Aztec culture in order to wage war. It’s full of airships, hidden technological secrets, island patois, and derring-do. Toby was a winner of the Writers of the Future contest, and a finalist for the Campbell. If you are looking for something a little different from the usual fantasy or space opera, this should fit the bill nicely without being so completely exotic that you can’t relate — it’s still very much in the straight-up science-fiction adventure story tradition.

So go check them out. 🙂