Fantasy & Science Fiction's September 2007

As I mentioned earlier I was one of the lucky ones to receive a review copy of Fantasy & Science Fiction's September 2007 issue. My copy arrived over vacation so it had been waiting for me for a few weeks. You can follow the reaction to this promotion and read other reviewers comments on this message board.

I was very pleased to see, after glancing at the front cover, that it included a story by Ted Chiang who is an amazing writer. He has only published ten stories to this date of which the first eight are collected in Stories of Your Life, and Others. That collection will blow your mind.

The tenth story contained within this issue is called, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate and it is the true gem in this issue. Basically an Alchemist in ancient Baghdad discovers wormholes and how to use them to allow his customers to travel through time.

Also noteworthy was John Langan's Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers. Which left me wishing there were parts one through six. Robert Reed's If We Can Save Just One Child... which is an allegorical look at some of the top issues of today. I just loved how he portrays the all consuming fear of bootleg cloning even though the actual occurrence of such a crime is exceedingly rare.

Overall, I really enjoyed this issue of F&SF. Not enough to sign up for a yearly subscription but I will certainly be looking for it at my local books stores. Whenever one of my favourite authors has a story in that issue I will not hesitate to pick it up.