In Xanadu, by Lavie Tidhar

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Nice Beginning

(SF Thriller) Nila’s life guarding the AIs on Titan is dull, dull, dull. She’s got all kinds of training, but nothing ever happens. Until it does. (5,954 words; Time: 19m)

New Atlantis, by Lavie Tidhar

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Post-Apocalypse Adventure) In her old age, Mai tells the story of how she travelled across the Mediterranean to New Atlantis to see a working “Vault of the Ancients,” centuries after the collapse of civilization. (24,135 words; Time: 1h:20m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Dem Bones, by Lavie Tidhar

[Strange Horizons]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Surreal) Ezra was hooked on apples before he went to prison, but now that he’s out he’s willing to kill for them, and he thinks he knows where to find an apple tree. (2,216 words; Time: 07m)

The Planet Woman By M.V. Crawford, by Lavie Tidhar

[Anthology]

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(SF Adventure) Tidar has an imaginary author (M.V. Crawford) tell a series of short stories about a world where all the men were turned into women. (3,682 words; Time: 12m)

The Buried Giant, by Lavie Tidhar

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Post-Apocalypse) The narrator tells how he learned the story of Oli, who discovered he was the only human in a town of robots and decided to leave so he could learn to be “a real boy.” (7,133 words; Time: 23m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+2 (Q&A)

Venus in Bloom, by Lavie Tidhar

[Clarkesworld]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Colony) A vignette about what happens on a Venerean cloud colony when an old man dies in his sleep and those who love him come to bid him farewell. (2,524 words; Time: 08m)

The Great Train Robbery, by Lavie Tidhar

[Apex]

★★★☆☆ Good Start

(Portal Fantasy) In a world we can only reach in our dreams, the Stranger rides a train through a dangerous mountain pass while a troupe of bandits plans to attack it. (9,253 words; Time: 30m)

Neom, by Lavie Tidhar

[Asimov's]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Vignette) Toward the end of the 21st Century, a cleaning woman in a sprawling experimental city in Saudi Arabia struggles to make ends meet. (3,225 words; Time: 10m)

Widow Maker, by Lavie Tidhar

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Fantasy Adventure; Gorel of Goliris) Gorel takes a job escorting an expedition to the top of a mountain in search of the legendary “Widow Maker” weapon, which destroyed two advanced civilizations thousands of years ago. (10,442 words; Time: 34m)

Although this is part of a long-running series, there’s no need to read earlier ones first, but if you want to avoid spoilers for the series, you might want to start with “Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God.”

Talking to Ghosts at the Edge of the World, by Lavie Tidhar

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Adventure) Rania flies to a remote rural town on Titan to recover the brain implant from a man who has died. (2,382 words; Time: 07m)

Gubbinal, by Lavie Tidhar

[Clarkesworld]

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Adventure) Sahar makes a living in Titan gathering the products “Boppers” leave, but she joins a Titan-adapted person to hunt for a very special artifact, despite the danger from pirates. (4,224 words; Time: 14m)

Yiwu, by Lavie Tidhar

[Tor.com]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Science Fantasy) In the future, lottery winners will get their hearts’ desire, whether it’s turning into a bird, going to Mars, or vanishing into thin air. (5,305 words; Time: 17m)

Waterfalling, by Lavie Tidhar

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Fantasy Adventure; Gorel of Goliris) Searching for his lost homeland, addicted to a drug excreted by gods, and suffering withdrawal, Gorel gets an invitation to an adventure—to kill a god. (10,803 words; Time: 36m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+1 (Q&A)

Although this story does stand alone, readers interested in the series should probably start with the novel “Gorel and the Pot Bellied God.”

My Struggle, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Alternate History) Adolph Hitler, a failing private investigator in London, tries to locate a relic alleged to be the spear that pierced the side of Christ. (7,786 words; Time: 25m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

The Banffs, by Lavie Tidhar

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(SF Conspiracy) Suffering from writer’s block, the author agrees to house sit for some rich friends of his agent. (2,623 words; Time: 08m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

The Old Dispensation, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Space Opera) Shemesh returns from his mission on planet Kadesh to face inquisition by the Exiliarch. What really happened when he met the heretic there? (6,642 words; Time: 22m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

Red Christmas, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Alternate History Hardboiled Detective) A movie star facing blackmail comes to Adolph Hitler's private detective agency in 1937 London. (5,700 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Heroes, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Historical Fantasy) In 1987 Berlin, Spit and Whirlwind stake out a man Spit should have killed 41 years ago. (2,714 words; Time: 09m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

If you haven't read the author's novel, The Violent Century, it is impossible to make any sense out of this story.

Drowned, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Post Apocalypse) Little Mai listens as her father tells the tale of Flora and Deuteronomy, who founded their settlement when the old world was ending. (6,100 words; Time: 20m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

The Vanishing Kind, by Lavie Tidhar

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(Alternate History) In 1950s London after the Nazi's won WWII, a German man tries to find a girl he used to love in response to her call for help. (18,093 words; Time: 1h:00m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Recommended By: GDozois:5 RHorton:5 JStrahan