2008 books

43) Paul Melko, Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods, 2008
A good collection of twelve SF stories. I'm pondering the question, is paulmelko more identifiably a YA writer? Certainly most of his stories' protagonists are on the verge of adulthood and they probably resonate with younger readers more readily than adults, but then beyond the subject matter we have the elegance of the 'Ring' stories which seem to carry an extra layer of more 'adult' observation (two stories here were self-contained chapters to his first novel Singularity's Ring, and another was also a chapter that didn't make the novel). Particularly good is 'Walls of the Universe' which was nominated for the Nebula, Sturgeon and Hugo Awards and won the Asimov's Readers' Award, but the one that rang my bells most is 'Dysfunctional Family Cat', a story that exhibits some serious off-beat confidence.