Truth, Misinformation, and Home
Analog Science Fiction & Fact May/June 2022, BSFS winners
Issue Overview – Analog Science Fiction & Fact May/June 2022
Issue statistics: One novella, three novelettes, eight short stories, two flash pieces plus a (now rare) Probability Zero), two articles, two poems. Plus the regular columns.
Issue thoughts. An interesting selection of stories which appeared to revolve around the conflict between travel and home as well as some interesting explorations of inter-species relationships.
My guess as to the hidden theme this issue is: Truth
Poison by Frank Wu and Jay Werkheiser (novella). Powerful and is probably going to end up on my list of best novellas of the year. It’s one of those stories where humans fight monsters, but guess who the real monsters are. I have a weakness for those, being a long-term Doctor Who fan. No seams in the collaboration.
Aleyara’s Descent by Christopher L. Bennett (novelette). A young alien who lives in the rainforest canopy discovers that her world has more to it than she thought. Mostly notable for worldbuilding and a fine touch on humanizing the aliens, who appear to be somewhere between lizards and frogs.
The Last Romantic on the Belliponte by M.L. Clark (novelette). Superstition in space and angels of creation and destruction. Mostly about space exploration, but also about the relationships between a bunch of really screwed up people.
If Evening Found Us Young by Mark W. Tiedermann (novelette). A not, in my mind, very memorable post-apocalypse story. The author tries to find a balance between utopia and dystopia and there’s some stuff about the power of singalongs.
One For Sorrow by Richard Gregson (short story). All silicon is destroyed. Civilization collapses. The original part is that it’s silicon not plastic, but I’ve read enough “ill thought out bioremediation destroys civilization” stories not to find this one adds a huge amount. But everyone’s title games are strong.
Hail and Farewell by Joel Richards (short story). Aliens make first contact. With cetaceans. They could care less about us. Shades of Star Trek IV, but more serious. So long, thanks for all the fish, etc.
Collateral Damage by Jen Downes (short story). A cute story about kids and robotics on Mars. Enjoyable.
Of Laboratories and Love Songs by Kelly Lagor (short story). You don’t often see experimental formats in Analog. This story is only lightly experimental, asking us to consider figures, but it’s certainly not a traditional narrative. It’s about unbreakable hearts.
Kuiper Pancake by Michele Laframboise (short story). Uploaded minds. They’re still family. This one is very much about love, but might have actually been stronger without the twist at the end.
Forlorn Hopes by John Markley (short story). This one is even more a story about humans as monsters, about colonialism and what it does. I did, however, find it a little too…noble savage in its treatment of the aliens.
Saving Galileo by Sean McMullen (short story). Would humans actually be happy to explore entirely through giant telescopes? I don’t think we would…and I think Sean might well agree.
Been Riding With a Ghost by Brian Hugenbruch (short story). A guy discusses the origins of an interstellar tall tale, one not unlike other tall tales.
A Place For Pax by Colin F. Mattson (short story). Quiet, meditative, and about building a home in a post-climate future.
Argument From Consequences by Mary Soon Lee (flash). I always like seeing Lee’s name attached to a flash piece, she’s excellent at the art. It’s about the AI takeover.
Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth by Jo Miles (flash). Eat the rich. Seriously, just eat the rich.
Rare, No Box, Fair Condition by Allen M. Steele (Probability Zero). Quachri doesn’t do as many probability zeroes, which are essentially SFnal shaggy dog stories, but this is a fine example that I can’t discuss without ruining it.
The two fact articles in this piece are an article from Duncan Lunan speculating that ‘Oumuamua was alien after all…he definitely isn’t unbiased here. The other, by Edward M. Wysocki, is about science fiction and information theory. John W. Cramer goes esoteric in his column with something about information parity that, as always, gave me a headache.
Poems from David C. Kopaska-Merkel and Robert Frazier.
Timely theme, if I got the scavenger hunt right. Poison was by far the best work here, but I also enjoyed the quiet but moving (cozy?) A Place For Pax.
Short Fiction
Blanks by Suzie Echl – The Commuter. Subscribe to this mailing list, you won’t regret it. Blanks is a chilling, creepy horror flash about the way we take things from the people we love.
Grounded by Jeff Dunne – First Place, BSFS 2021 Amateur Writing Contest. Plot wise, this is a fairly standard trope…the people living in a generation ship for so long they’ve forgotten they’re on a ship. The ship’s computer needs help to do something that its little drones (disguised as birds) can’t. It’s basically “Help, opposable thumb people,” and I wonder if Dunne owns a cat. I’d like to see more from this author, it’s better than many things I’ve seen in professional publications.
Dispatch from a Dying Solar System by Gwendolyn Taylor – First place, BSFS Jack L. Chalker 2022 Young Writers’ Contest. This isn’t quite a believable story, because it posits that humanity will still be around in more or less our current form when the sun turns into a red giant. This seems hugely unlikely. We’ll either be extinct, evolved into something else, spread outside the solar system or…well…some combination of the above. That said, it’s an intriguing meditation on death, loss, and the ultimate inevitability of extinction. Taylor is a fine young writer to watch for, but I also want to give her some hopepunk to read to cheer her up.
Hamilton: Bronze Pioneer by Roshan Rao – Second place, BSFS Jack L. Chalker 2022 Young Writers’ Contest. A fun little alternate reality about a steampunk world where the Victorians invent prosthetics. Very cute.
“Just A Test” by Jason Shattuck – Third place, BSFS Jack L. Chalker 2022 Young Writers’ Contest. A young man is doing some kind of test in a virtual environment. We don’t find out why until the end, but it turns out to be just a little bit romantic. Promising.
Coming soon:
Tuesday, I discuss the proposed new law of nature.
Thursday, I review episodes of SurrealEstate, The Swarm, and Quantum Leap.
Friday, you get to see the cover of Tyranis! It’s done.