Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2012 Edition
Liz Gorinsky, David G. Hartwell, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editors
Tor
Fiction, Anthology/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Themes: Aliens, Alternate Earths, Creative Power, Cross-Genre, Diversity, Dystopias, Games, Girl Power, Magic Workers, Time Travel
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Description
A painter of magic renders her embittered mentor's final portrait, an expectant mother uses breakthrough technology to visit her own unhappy childhood, alien bounty hunters seek a human criminal hiding among primitives, Doc Holliday escorts an unusual group to an otherworldly derelict outside of Tombstone... this anthology features these and more stories written by some of Tor's top names.
Review
This freebie download is clearly intended as an enticement to explore the authors' works. Unfortunately, novelists don't always write the best short stories. Many of these tales ramble on (and on), focusing on unpleasant characters in depressing situations who often do unlikeable things. I liked a few of the ideas, but only one or two of these short stories worked for me. The rest were quickly forgotten.