Worlds Seen in Passing by Irene Gallo

Worlds Seen in Passing

by Irene Gallo

Since it began in 2008 Tor.com has explored countless new worlds of fiction, delving into possible and impossible futures, alternate and intriguing pasts, and realms of fantasy previously unexplored. Its hundreds of remarkable stories span from science fiction to fantasy to horror, and everything in between. Now Tor.com is making some of those worlds available for the first time in print.

This volume collects some of the best short stories Tor.com has to offer, with Hugo and Nebula Award-winning short stories and novelettes chosen from all ten years of the program.

Including stories by: Charlie Jane Anders, N. K. Jemisin, Leigh Bardugo, Jeff VanderMeer, Yoon Ha Lee, Carrie Vaughn, Ken Liu, Kai Ashante Wilson, Kameron Hurley, Seth Dickinson, Rachel Swirsky, Laurie Penny, Alyssa Wong, Kij Johnson, David D. Levine, Genevieve Valentine, Max Gladstone, and many others.

Reviewed by nannah on

3 of 5 stars

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(3.5)

This is a massive anthology by Tor (obviously), a publisher I've recently come to appreciate, which feels incredibly belated, because Tor has been fantastic for a very long time now. Anyway, there are a whopping 40 short works in this collection, ranging from light fantasy to the hardest of sci-fi.

As always with anthologies, some stories are excellent and/or spoke to me, while others miss the mark. I might go and review some of the shorts that I especially love — or that I have on my to-read list, but trying to review them all would be ulcer-inducing.

Very few authors have more than one story, so it was wonderful finding new talent to later check out in more depth. I have one complaint, though: all the big-name authors that they advertise on the cover have stories in the first half ... and the second half drags a bit. Did they just want to make sure people read the more well-known or award-winning stories first in case they DNF'd it?

Highlights for me from this collection:
- The Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee
- Elephants and Corpses by Kameron Hurley
- Reborn by Ken Liu
- The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 20 January, 2023: Finished reading
  • 20 January, 2023: Reviewed