2010 books
36) SFX, Pulp Idol, 2008
37) Focus, Future Visions, 1997
A couple of freebie short story collections that have been taking up shelf space. Pulp Idol features ten stories submitted to SFX's 2008 short story competition, all being between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Most stories don't feel particularly 'pulp' at all but the two most outstanding are the winner, James McGraw's 'Charlie's Angel', and a rather nasty vision of the hardware of future wars in Gareth Shore's 'Weapon of Mass Consternation', which really should have been runner-up. But in comparison the all-Brit collection Future Visions, compiled by Gollancz for the BBC science magazine Focus, is an overall step up in quality. Not surprising at all as it has two BSFA award-winning short stories - Michael Marshall Smith's 'More Tomorrow' and Ian McDonald's excellent 'Innocents' - although my pick for favourite in this small collection is probably Peter Hamilton's 'Starlight Dreamer', which I feel has a very memorable and elegantly futuristic West Country setting. Good stuff.