Stories:

**** "The Magikkers" by Terry Dowling
*** "The Sea of Dreams" by William Barton
**** "From the Sea" by Brent Knowles
*** "Hope for the Dawn" by Catherine Soto
*** "Scam Artistry" by Mercedes Lackey and Elisabeth Waters
** "Every Witch Way" by Joanna M. Weston
*** "Favourite" by Dave Cherniak
**** "The Magic Animal" by Gene Wolfe
*** "Aconite and Rue" by Amanda Downum
***** "Julia" by Erin Thomas


Quick Takes:

"The Magic Animal" by Gene Wolfe (Wizards): a clever and intriguing take on the Matter of Britain

"Julia" by Erin Thomas (On Spec): poignantly disturbing story of a future world will children are produced in multiples, with the duplicates destined to serve as organ donors for the primary child.


My ratings:

***** excellent: memorable, satisfying, a pleasure to read
**** very good: well written, good read
*** good: readable, engaging, but not very memorable or exciting for me
** sub-par: a rough read, I found it flawed or just uninteresting to me
* huh? someone published this?

My ratings are part objective appraisal of the writing, part unapologetic personal preference (certain subjects and subgenres just don't appeal to me as much as others)