Rolling on with Locus

The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daugther by Lucius Shephard
Shepard is one of the most respected short story writers in the genre, but this is my first encounter with his writing. This was the longest entry in the collection - a very interesting take on the ever-popular Fantasy Dragon. Here, the Dragon is over a mile long and is actually a large town. Sounds a bit odd, but then again, the story is a bit odd. Interesting, but not my favorite in the book.

Rachel in Love by Pat Murphy
I liked this story very much, a very touching story of one girl's adjustment to a world without her father. This story moved me the most out of the ones I've read so far, and it stands wonderfully on its own.

The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Tiptree, Jr.
Another moving story. Actually an excellent story of first contact and sacrifice. It took me a bit to warm up to it completely, but I was won over by the end of the story.

Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis/Lillith's Brood trilogy is one of the strongest science fiction sagas of the future of humanity I've ever read. I read Dawn over 10 years ago, and the book still haunts me and enters my thoughts. The story here picks up some of the vibe of that saga but is its own story. This story unsettled me in some ways and really made me think.

Out of the four I touched upon in this post, Shepard's was probably the most difficult for me and Murphy's was probably the most touching and powerful.