"Blood Child" by Octavia E. Butler is a science fiction short story based around an alien world run by a race of insect like creatures called the Tlic who use humans as hosts to lay eggs inside them to reproduce. The story focuses on the relationship a young man named Gan, whose family has been “adopted”, has with T’Gatoi a high ranking female with the Tlic government.
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This is a guest post by Katheryn Rivas.

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that began to evolve in the eighties, when computers were just starting to enter into the realm of the personal, when the Internet was in its infancy. Although many early cyberpunk stories seem quaint to us now in our hyper-technological world, I still love re-reading these pioneering narratives to get a sense of how far we’ve come with our ever-faster, ever-smaller gizmos and gadgets.
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“Venice Drowned” is a 1981 science fiction novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is about a tourist guide in a future, underwater Venice.
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“Melville on Iapetus” is a 1983 science fiction short story by Jack McDevitt. It is about a group of astronauts who discover an ancient statue on one of Saturn’s moons.

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“Melancholy Elephants” is a 1983 short story by Spider Robinson. It deals with a legal issue, which is what first attracted me to it. The issue is copyright, and the theme is the mental health of the species. In it a U.S. Senate lobbyist argues against a law which will protect artist’s intellectual property in perpetuity. The hook is (at least the first hook) is that she represents the artists!
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“The Crystal Spheres” is a 1984 science fiction short story by David Brin. It is about a man who travels to a distant star system after learning that the inhabitants there have broken out of their crystal shell.

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“The Giving Plague” is a 1988 science fiction short story by David Brin. It is about a member of a famous research team that discovers a virus with a peculiar method of transmission.

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“Johnny Mnemonic” is a 1981 science fiction short story by William Gibson. It is about a man with some sensitive information implanted in his head, who is running from a Yakuza hit man.

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Stable Strategies for Middle Management

by Eileen Gunn

• Page count: 8

“Stable Strategies for Middle Management” is a 1988 science fiction short story by Eileen Gunn. It is about a woman who has undertaken a drastic form of bioengineering as a way to move up the corporate ladder.

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Kirinyaga

by Mike Resnick

• Page count: 13

“Kirinyaga” is an award winning 1988 science fiction short story by Mike Resnick. It is about a colony of Kikiru living on a utopian world who are investigated for their religious practices.

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Blood Music

by Greg Bear

• Page count: 18

Blood Music is a 1983 award winning science fiction novelette by Greg Bear. It is about a scientist who injects himself with billions of tiny biological computers, and then gets nervous when they start changing his body.

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Salvador

by Lucius Shepard

• Page count: 12

Salvador is an award winning science fiction short story by Lucius Shepard. It is about a group of specially trained US soldiers using drugs to enhance their fighting abilities in Central America.

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A Cabin On The Coast

by Gene Wolfe

• Page count: 9

A Cabin On The Coast is a 1984 science fiction / fantasy short story by Gene Wolfe. It is about a young man who makes a deal with an alien ship in exchange for his girlfriend’s life.

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Raft

by Stephen Baxter

• Word count: 5951
• Page count: 16

Raft is a science fiction short story that first appeared in issue #31 (Sep/Oct 1989) of the British science fiction and fantasy magazine Interzone. The story is about a group of humans that accidentally entered an alternate universe where gravity is much stronger than it is in ours. It follows a young man named Rees who is apprenticed to a scientist after one of his pranks nearly kills a fellow crewmember. It takes place over several years as Rees learns more about their universe and tries to overcome its limitations so he can save his crew.
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