Steve’s reading note summarizes a 2014 F&SF novelet in which a masked vigilante-turned-agriculturist wakes from cryosleep decades late to find a colony failing; the story trades a conventional revenge arc for a practical fight against crop collapse.
Protagonist Luc Deverux (Palm Strike) is both a masked vigilante and a trained food agriculturist whose day job becomes central to the story’s conflict.
Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (July 2014) and reprinted in The Year’s Best Military SF & Space Opera (edited by David Afsharirad).
If you want a story that inverts a revenge-driven vigilante setup by making technical expertise the decisive factor, this piece is worth reading. Expect focused prose, short-aside flourishes, and a conclusion that favors atmosphere and momentum over exhaustive closure. The story's publication history is explicit: F&SF, July 2014, then reprint in a Year's Best military/space-opera anthology edited by David Afsharirad.
We're starting off spooky season with dark fairy tales, cannibalism, and revenge... The post Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: August 2026 appeared first on Reactor .
GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION – February 1968. Editor: Frederik Pohl, Cover artist: Vaughn Bodé. Overall rating: *** POUL ANDERSON “A Tragedy of Errors.” Novelette. What initially strikes the reader as another tale of derring-do in the Dark Ages of a space empire gradually becomes the description of the effects at rcommunicat
“Exit Party” is an elegant crime story with sci-fi shadings.
BILL PRONZINI “Hooch,” First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 2014. Quite possibly collected but the whereabouts at present are not known. Time: Prohibition Era in the US. Place: Somewhere along the Northern California coastline. Players: Three hoodlums in one truck are helping bring in a shipment of
ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE – January 1968. Overall rating: ***½. JOE GORES “File #2: Stakeout on Page Street.” (Dan Kearney Associates) Involving a delinquent car,, narcotics, and racial prejudice in Hashbury. (4) EDGAR WALLACE “The Father Christmas Job.” (Felix Jenks) First published in The Grand Magazine, Januar
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.