Analog Magazine April 2016

Seven Ways of Looking at the Sun-Worshippers of Yul-Katan by Maggie Clark - 020/150/2016 - I really don't know what to make of this opening story.  At first, I felt as if I might be missing something, as if this might be a recent installment in a series of stories.  It was very much in the Space Opera genre in that there were multiple cultures, religions and points of view.  Much like Star Wars there was one overarching governmental power, the Allegiance.

A small scientific crew hears an old distress call from the small moon they are surveying.  They discover it is coming from a pod, containing a sun-worshiping cleric, who is many star systems removed from where he should be.  Trying to solve the mystery of how he got to where he is proves dangerous and complex.

My Star Wars reference was intentional; just like that movie, the reader is given a bit of background and then dropped in the middle of a story.  It's a small story that takes place in a large universe filled with societies, religions, politics and danger.

After chasing the author down to her website I discovered this was her intention from the start, to make the reader feel that the story takes place in a vast and complicated world.  The only only aspect of the story that I struggled with is that I am attracted to science rather than theology.  Although there was a lot in the story that I did like; small exploration ships, a space-based military establishment, large space cruise ships, long-duration stasis pods, large economies and rules of law.  The religious framing of the story made me impatient.

In my case, the story may benefit from being reread.

Maggie Clark - https://respace.wordpress.com/

Soap Opera by Edward M. Lerner - 021/150/2016 - Set in a Manhattan radio station in the 1920's the engineer is asked to help a lovely young actress stop the unwanted advances of a sponsor.  It was a charming story and I loved the nostalgia of the period.  It came complete with a high-tech solution too.

Edward M. Lerner - http://www.edwardmlerner.com/

Alloprene by Stephen R. Wilk - 022/150/2016 - Hmm.  It's an interesting story about a man who is recounting his experience in a lab experiment which included social interaction with a robot.

I'm not sure I really get this one, other than what is presented. Perhaps it's trying to answer the question of how to best integrate machines into our lives.  I liked it.

Stephen R. Wilk -  http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?192332

Early Warning by Martin L. Shoemaker - 023/150/2016 - A man goes back in time where he feels his life pivoted by making the wrong decision.  He warns himself to change his decision.  I loved how the advice was followed.  Wonderful and unexpected.

Martin L. Shoemaker -  http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?159203

Sleep Factory by Rich Larson - 024/150/2016 - A beautiful, dark and sad story.  Two co-workers are in love and planning for the future.  This was a fully-realized world that grabbed me in seconds, was over in just a few minutes and stayed in my mind for days. The best one so far.

Rich Larson -  http://richwlarson.tumblr.com/

Most Valuable Player by Eric Choi - 025/150/2016 - This was another heart-warming, human story.  Being a baseball fan, I enjoyed it very much.  I am not entirely sure it's science fiction but I am happy it has seen print.  It can easily be submitted to other fiction publications.  

Choi has a gentle way of telling this story. Well done.

 Eric Choi - http://www.aerospacewriter.ca/

Diamond Jim and the Dinosaurs by Rosemary Claire Smith - 026/150/2016 - With a title like that I was expecting an irreverent action story, why I got was Jurassic Park coupled with time travel.  For some reason this story simply did not work for me.

Rosemary Claire Smith -  https://rosemaryclairesmith.wordpress.com/

Playthings by Stephen L. Burns - 027/150/2016 - This is my favourite genere: SF Detective fiction.  In a rigid, class-based society we follow Officer Blank as he is assigned to uncover the recent murders of local "regulators" those individuals who offer services from lower classes to upper classes.

The mystery Blank is assigned to solve is intersting in and of itself, but it is the uncovering of the world Officer Blank lives in.  Navigating this strict society was fasinating to me.

I would love to think that this short story will serve as an introduction to a novel.  I woukd love to dig into that.  I envisioned the Los Angeles of the movie Blade Runner for the look and feel in this story.

An excellent read.

http://www.hillwoman.com/stephenl.htm

Analog Magazine March 2016

013/150/2016 - The Coward's Option by Adam-Troy Castro - Wow!  I was first hooked when this looked like a SF court room thriller then the story takes a sinister twist right in the middle, just when I was getting to like the main character too!  The story was exciting, terrifying and so, so satisfying.

I was happy to learn there are more stories with Andrea Cort plus two novels.  I've got to dig into these stories for sure.

http://www.adamtroycastro.com/

014/150/2016 - Unlinkage by Eric Del Carlo - Part military SF part underground sports.  I like the way this story played with the tele-operated/augmented soldier trope and how it turned into something completely unexpected.

 http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?14471

015/150/2016 - The Perfect Bracket by Howard Hendrix and Art Holcomb - This was a fun nearly comical story of scamming the NCAA basketball brackets.  Once the nature of the scam showed itself my head began to swim. But it was lighthearted enough to be mearly an interesting twist and I found myself smiling at the end of it.

Howard Hendrix - http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1691
Art Holcomb - http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?224628

016/150/2016 - Elderjoy by Gregory Benford - A quick and strange read. How do you keep a health care system funded?  By taxing behavior, of course.  Interesting, even though it's a bit creepy.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?109

017/150/2016 - Snowbird by Joe M McDermott - I kept feeling like this would be the kind of thing Steven Spielberg would tackle.  The setting is a rural orchard where RVs, driven by AIs, start arriving en mass.  Why?  Why here?

It was very well done.  It provided the sense of there being a much bigger world, just around the other side of the mountain.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?201397

018/150/2016 - Drummer by Thomas R Dulski - At first this story of a traveling salesman caught my attention for how unique it was.  I'm always a sucker for a mundane SF tale.  The day-in-the-life kind of thing grabs me.

Here our narrator meets a younger fellow "Drummer", what those in the business are called, in a bar and he engages him in conversation.  After a bit if time he gives the younger man the advice that he might be happier in some other kind of work. 

We then follow our man through the years and to other meetings with with the younger one.  

The story sort if lost cohesion for me as the younger guy kept making more radical moves as our narrator kept progressing in a more natural, tried-and-true career path.  Perhaps that was the point of the story.  Maybe you never know how a conversation, or a chance meeting will pivot a person's life trajectory.

Hmm, just by writing this entry I think I'm coming to understand it more.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Thomas_R._Dulski

Analog Magazine, January/February 2016 - Part Three

Theories of the Mind by Conor Powers-Smith

006/150/2016 - A common subject in SF is exploring communication.  Its plausible even likely, that first contact will not come with a handshake and a "How do you do?"

In this story the direct method is not the only aspect explored.  There is the question of logic and individuality to be answered too.

I enjoyed this one, it had the feel of a 1950's classic science fiction, especially in the description of the aliens.  That 50's sensibilities won out when it came to good-old human ingenuity to win the day.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?133997

Nature's Eldest Law by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

007/150/2016 - This was another first contact story.  A team of scientists are exploring a planet when they suddenly discover a grove of plant life that wasn't there before.  These plants have an ability to enhance mental acuity.

It was a good story with believable characters and an ominous ending.

http://myaineko.blogspot.ca/p/home-page.html

The Heat of Passion by Grey Rollins

008/150/2016 - One of my favourite genres the SF Mystery.  Murder and cops in the future are a potent mix.  This one also involved the implications of genetic modification which made for a fresh approach to solving a crime.

Well written with excellent dialog. Rollins is an author to watch.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?11629

Woundings by George Zebrowski

009/150/2016 - I think it's a post-apocalyptic story but, I really didn't get it.  No.  I couldn't even understand it.  I'm pretty sure it was in English.  I mean all the words were English ...

Wow!

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?George_Zebrowski

The Shores of Being by Dave Creek

010/150/2016 - Part X-files part first contact, but not really.  There are alien artifacts in the woods, that's the X-files part. 

Two alien races are at war and Earth is caught in the crossfire.

 http://davecreek.net/Explore_Dave_Creeks_fictional_worlds/Home.html

An Industrial Growth by David L Clements

011/150/2016 - Post-apocalyptic with nanotechnology run amok.  A small team must confront a large concentration  nano-machines hidden away in an abandoned industrial plant.

This was a well-realized story that I enjoyed it very much.

https://davecl.wordpress.com/

# # #

As a whole this issue was a solid read and a good start to 2016.

Onward.

Analog Magazine, January/February 2016 - Part Two

We Will Wake Among the Gods, Among the Stars by Caroline M. Yoachim and Tina Connolly

002/15012016 - Remember how the big reveal of Planet of the Apes was that it was not the distant past but the distant future?  This is that same kind of thing.

Seven ships land in different parts of a habitable planet.  One is never heard from again and becomes a thing of legend, like Atlantis.  We are generations past the initial landings and find the descendants have reverted back to kingdoms and blind religious faith.  In this story we are following an expedition to find the lost Seventh City.

The story was well written and interesting enough but this kind of dystopian future is not my rusty tin cup of muddy tea.  These tales are best set right here on Earth, for the simple truth that we understand implicitly how tings were, we are invested in the past of the story.  For this very reason I found the story fell flat.  It may have worked better had it been a novel, making the end of the story even more powerful.

Caroline M. Yoachim -  http://carolineyoachim.com/

Tina Connolly - http://www.tinaconnolly.com/

Farmer by Joe M. McDermott

003/150/2016 - Another dystopian story, this time set on Earth.  A New York brownstone is converted into an urban farm.  Not because it's trendy but necessary for survival.  Things are not good in this future.  We are never told exactly what happened to cause the infrastructure to collapse as it has, only that this type of urban farming is not unique.  People live in squalor and are ever-fearful of superbugs, drug resistant infections.

It is such an infection of one of the farm's customers that threatens the livelihood of the two men who own and operate it.  The government still functions and now the men are under threat of an inspection to see if they are the cause of the infection.  Were they doing something illegally?

I liked this one.  It was very vivid in my mind's eye.

Joe M. McDermott -  http://jmmcdermott.blogspot.ca/

Rocket Surgery by Effie Seiberg

004/150/2016 - What happens when you give a guided missile artificial intelligence? 

This was a cool story.  I enjoyed how the AI evolves.

 http://www.effieseiberg.com/

Saving the World by James Gunn

005/150/2016 - An exploration about genre fiction.  How does reading Science Fiction affect the brain.  Can reading science fiction save the world?

This is a well argued story.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1162

The Persistence Of Memory by Rachel L. Bowden

006/150/2016 - A quick story about a memory of a time and place that changed the direction of the narrators' life. 

I could picture it as a short film. Well done. 

Analog Magazine, January/February 2016 - Part One

Wyatt Earp 2.0 by Wil McCarthy.

001/150/2016 - In Dawes Crater City, Mars, a facsimile of Wyatt Earp is printed. The head of security needs a bit of help to control the miners and convinces his superiors that a lawman from Earth's history is the correct choice to bring about a bit of order.

Earp wakes up complete with his memories and personality intact. At first we get a fish-out-of-water story but it doesn't take long before he gets his footing and starts asserting himself.  At first he struggles with whether he is a real person since he is a manufactured copy of a man long dead.

There is a fair bit of exploration of the meaning of life when you are the 2.0.  The old saying, The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same came to mind in the final action sequence.  The last scene made me happy for its cleverness and made me wish the story was longer.

An excellent start to the issue.

Wil McCarthy's website is here:  http://www.wilmccarthy.com/

Wil McCarthy

Analog Magazine The 1,000th Issue!

You may have noticed that my previous post included the first story of this issue.  I was toying with the idea of writing a separate post for each individual story.  This was simply because I've been randomly reading from the magazine, a collection of Alberta based mysteries and a non-fiction book about the food industry.  With three things on the go I haven't been posting here at all and I was beginning to feel that I should upload something.

Part of me wants to give proper credit to each author without making a post too long with pictures and website links.  Then, if I post for each short story like I do for novels, it seems I'm just trying too hard to add content.  It's a first-world problem to be sure.

It seems likely that my goal of reading 100 short stories in 2015 will not be met but I will come close, enough to be happy that I've challenged myself to it.  I tend to follow my nose when it comes to reading and that can lead to neglecting challenges that I've set for myslef.

But what about the June 2015 issue?

I read every page and found it to be wonderful.  This is the kind of SF I love and I feel lucky to have a copy in my sweaty hands.

I've subscribed to the magazine for years and only manage to read one or two issues a year.  Part of the reason I resubscribe every year is simply to support the magazine.  The other is that I love the cover art.  The stories become a bonus whenever I decide to read an issue.  Besides, paper lasts a long time, if taken care of.

One of the things I do not like about the physical issues is how fragile the covers are; they smudge, tear and fade while I read them.  Starting with issue 1000 I've doubled my subscription to include a digital copy that I read on my iPad.

Below are my thoughts about the offering of this installment to Analog's long history.

The Wormhole Wars -  by Richard A. Lovett - 42/100 - my god the science went right over my head. Thank goodness there was a scene at a bar with coins to explain things. It was a very good first contact story with crisp believable dialog and a good dose of wit.

 http://richardalovett.com/drupe/

The Very Long Conversation - by Gwendolyn Clare - 43/100 - Language.  What an interesting twist on our understanding of it.  This was a warm, gentle piece that takes its time to reveal itself. 

It reminded me how unprepared we are to encounter something truly alien.

 http://www.gwendolynclare.com/

The Kroc War by Ted Reynolds and William F Wu - 44/100 - If you liked World War Z, the book, not the movie, then you'll be happy to read a space opera done in thensame style.  

Like WWZ I liked how this story was able to capture so many stories in so few pages. 

Well crafted and left me thinking that this world they created could be just as big as Star Wars.

Reynolds -  http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?232
Wu -  http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1183

Strategies for Optimizing Your Mobile Advertising by Brenta Blevins - 45/100 Taking wearable technology and advertising to the next logical level.

Well thought out and seemingly inevitable.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?120346

The Odds  by Ron Collins - 46/100 - Ooh.  What a wondeful couple of pages!  This opens the door to en enormous epic. This could be the very beggining of a new novel. I don't know. I must look the author up on the internet. 

Hugely cinematic. 

http://typosphere.com/

The Empathy Vaccine by C C Finlay - 47/100 - Genetic modification through an IV treatment. What if you could change your personality traits with a visit to the doctor?  Would you try to become more assertive or compassionate?

It's an interesting question in a story that has an interesting answer.

http://www.ccfinlay.com/

Three Bodies at Mitanni  by Seth Dickinson - 48/100 - Picture humanity sending out seedships to colonize the galaxy.  Now imagine a trio of people sent out to check on and judge the results.  Their mission is to decide which colonies are a threat to the very society that sent them out.

A heavy subject, to be sure, and the author worked the story with the gravitas it deserves.  It had all the elements of a good science fiction story without it being about that.  No, it was an exploration of what it meas to be human and how we adapt to survive.

The story takes place late in the mission, having already visited and pasing judgment on two other worlds, we see how deeply the crew has been affected by their previous decisions. I came away from this story wishing I could have witnessed those previous decisions. 

"Always leave them wanting more," is the saying; I think seeking out the author's other works is recommended.

http://www.sethdickinson.com/

Ships In The Night by Jay Werkheiser - 49/100 - A spacer walks into a bar and begins to tell the patrons a story about one of his trips. 

I just love stories where people are people and space travel is as common as driving a car.  This makes way for human centric adventures.  I belive an author gets it right when the story can take place in the past, present or future because people are people, you know?

http://jaywerkheiser.blogspot.ca/

The Audience by Sean McMullen - 50/100 - A fasinating take on a first contact senario.  It takes the classic question of "how much information do we share with an alien race?" and boils it down to one person's decision.

http://seanmcmullen.net.au/

Sentience Signified by J. L. Forrest from Analog Magazine, May 2015

29/100

Another first professional sale!  At least according to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.

This was a well-realized First Contact scenario.

What I loved best was the ease the author wrote this story.  It felt like Forrest has been writing, and publishing for years; there was nary an info dump or needless exposition anywhere.  The story was paramount and details were revealed as needed an in the context of the story.  This is an author to keep an eye on.

I loved the interaction of the main character with the AI of the orbiting ship.  There was structure and protocols in every aspect of the mission that I found reassuring.  I found that I just slipped into the story without having to spend much effort getting my head around the rules and ways of the world the author created.

Lovely.

J.L. Forrest's website is here:

http://jlforrest.com/

J. L. Forrest

No Gain by Aubry Kae Andersen from Analog Magazine, May 2015

28/100

Another sports related story, this one made more intense in that it is at the Olympic level.

With all the testing that goes on to discover cheating how does a coach find an edge? 

An intriguing story, well written and well worth reading.   

According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database this is Andersen's first professional published work.  Congratulations!

Aubry Kae Andersen's website is here:

http://www.akarchy.com/

Arnheim's World by Therese Arkenberg from Analog Magazine, May 2015

27/100

FTL and terraforming are the principal SF elements in this quite story of personal desire, professional expertise and responsibility to the greater good .

Josua Arnheim has terraformed a world for his own personal use.  He is intensely proud of his accomplishment an shares it with a close friend.  Outside circumstances put the friendship and the notion of personal freedoms to the test.  To quote Star Trek; what do you do when "the needs of the many" imposes itself on your plans?

It was a lovely story of human desire, compassion, responsibility and loyalty.  That's a lot to pack in to a short story but this one works very well.  This was a very satisfying read.

Therese Arkenberg's blog can be found here:

http://www.theresearkenberg.com/

Therese Arkenberg

Cetacean Dreams by Robert R. Chase from Analog Magazine, May 2015

26/100

Sense of wonder abounds in this story of undersea exploration on Europa.

We join a scientist and his team of dolphins who were sent to the Jovian moon to track down an elusive life form.  The story is set in and around an operational science station under the ice.  The setting feels plausible with the outside cold and pressure threatening everything.

To me, the best qualities of hard science fiction is how it takes known science and technology to the next logical step.  There is nothing in this story that you can't already see right now; best of all the author took exoskeleton technology in a new and exciting direction. 

It was a well realized story that I enjoyed very much.

For more on his other writings go here:

 http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?371

Slider by Bud Sparhawk from Analog Magazine, May 2015

26/100

It seems some situations are universal and may never change.

A man, now in midlife, transfers his desires to his son and pushes him in directions he may not want.

I slowly realized this story was bigger than its word count.  There were some profound questions raised by it that I found myself wondering; how much have I tried to transfer to my own daughters?

Does the urge to reproduce not end with the birth of a child?  Or is the impulse a bit more sinister than that, even if it's unintentional?  Are we, as individuals, compelled to create surrogates for ourselves?  Do we implant our underachieved goals and desires into our offspring in the hopes that we can see them realized in our lifetime, even if by someone else?  Is that even fair?

A wonderful story.

Bus Sparhawk's website is here:  http://www.budsparhawk.com/

His personal blog is here:   http://budsparhawk.blogspot.ca/

Bud Sparhawk

Zen Angel by Rajnar Vajra from Analog Magazine May 2015

25/100

I recently read a book about the Voyager missions, specifically about the messages that are attached to the space crafts.

In this story a similar device is found, this one is from another universe.  The outer message has been decoded and states that there are artifacts inside from the previous universe.  These items can be retrieved but only by species deemed worthy.

Big topic, one that would need the space only a novel can provide.

I liked the story, even though it is not my cup of tea, too many aliens, too many "magical" technologies and the premise of a competition to determine who gets to look inside the probe, well it was a bit much to swallow.  What I enjoyed most from this novella was the narrator, he was refreshingly irreverent and likable.

Even though I did not like the story itself I did enjoy how Vajra wrote.  I would like to find more of his stuff, I think he could be an author to look for.

Rajnar Vajra's website is here although it is not dedicated to his writings:   http://www.rajlessons.com/

To find out a bit more about his bibliography try going here:  http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?15728

Rajnar Vajra

Dancing in the Dark by Ramona Louise Wheeler

April 2015

18/100

The ship Roaring Candle is much like a whaling ship of old; in deep space looking for comets to bring back to the home world of Tarse. The comets are then carefully landed onto the surface where water and atmosphere are extracted in a process of terraforming that has been going on for 700 years.

The story opens with them finding the biggest one yet recorded. What follows is the discovery of a cluster of such comets. This would constitute the discovery of the Mother Lode. But there is a complication when a unique form of life is discovered there.  

These lifeforms are like nothing yet imagined; and they can herald a new epoch for the planet Tarse and the humans who live there.

A bold a beautiful story.  To call it Space Opera is to diminish the scope and hope of the story.

Wonder-full.

Ramona Louise Wheeler's website is here:
http://www.ramonalouisewheeler.com/home.html

Ramona Louise Wheeler

The Last Days of Dogger City by Mjke Wood

April 2015

17/100

Global warming?  What global warming?  In the future it's a freaking ice age.

Deep in the North Sea is a conglomeration of oil derricks tied together to form a city.  The city no longer produces oil, that's all gone.  Here they produce wind generated electricity and ship it to mainland Europe.

The trouble is; the ice is shifting putting Dogger City in danger.

This was a good, straight forward action piece that I found compelling.  When I read it I envisioned the same types of settings as Aliens 2.  Lots of steel and dim lighting, no monsters though.

I found the story very fun and kept me turning pages.

Well done.

According to the ISFDB this is Wood's third published story.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?192409

Astounding Armstrong by Jeffery D. Kooistra

April 2015

This was a very interesting bit of history.

Sadly there are legions of people who are forgotten in the popular consciousness.  People whose work is still felt and used today.

If you say "radio" you'll think Marconi.  

If you say "FM radio" you'll probably come up with a blank, I know I did.  

Edwin Armstrong is not a household name but it should be.  In our home and cars, we benefit from Armstrong's work.

Like so many folks, Armstrong's story does not end well.  He was defeated by patent trolls and greedy corporations.  And yet we benefit where he did not.

Take the time to read Kooistra's article.  Then perhaps read a bit more from Wikipedia. As mentioned in the article, there is not a whole bunch written about Armstrong but it is worth knowing a bit more about a man who has impacted all of our lives.

Edwin H. Armstrong Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong

Jeffery D. Kooistra:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?6763

Jeffery D. Kooistra

Down Please: The Only Recorded Adventure of Lars Fouton, Captain's Lift Operator on the Starship MAGNIFICENT by Adam-Troy Castro

April 2015

17/100

I just love the title.

Yes, indeed, a starship that has a lift operator. 

All the questions that pop into your mind are asked in this irreverent and clever story. 

It left me with a smirk on my face for the rest of the day. 

Excellent.

Adam-Troy Castro's website:
http://sff.net/people/adam-troy/index2.html

Adam-Troy Cast

Partible by K.J. Zimring

April 2015

16/100

This was a surprising delight.  It was touching, sad and hopeful throughout.

The science in it is so subtle that is melts into the background and what you are left with is a moving story about love, missed opportunities and chances taken. 

I wasn't expecting to find such a humane story in this magazine. The author has excellent skills. I found myself thinking about it for many days. 

Recommended. 

According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Zimring has not been publishing for very long.  Here is hoping for more.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?50421

Hiding the Info Dump by Stanley Schmidt

April 2015

I must say that I agreed with the writing advice Schmidt shares in this article.

In it he lays down some rules and suggestions on how to incorporate exposition without boring the reader or interrupting the narrative. 

As a reader, exposition and description can easily take me out of a story.  A good example of poor exposition, in my opinion, comes in movies that open with a blank screen and a long winded explanation of the setting in text form.  (Of course, now that I think of it, Star Wars made the text-based opening iconic. Let's call that the exception that proves the point.)  In books, I'd much rather start right in with the story by focusing on an opening piece of action or a character that will see us into the adventure.

Too much explanation (telling) takes away from the narrative (showing).  It is a difficult balance to make but Schmidt does a good job of explaining how to work non-narrative information into stories. 

I'm not a writer but I'm always interested in finding out about the art of it.   I am happy it was included here. 

Learn more about Stanley Schmidt:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Schmidt

Stanley Schmidt

Transfer Point by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini

April 2015

15/100

This was s cool story. 

Think what immigration and border control would be like in a situation like Star Trek, with many different alien species, flying back and forth to and from Earth. 

What I like best was how it gives an appreciation to current border protection services. Plus, there is also a mystery to solve. That part of the story suffered a bit from the confines of a short story.  Had this been a novella the authors would have had the space needed to flesh it out. The way it stands the resolution came a bit suddenly.

There is a certain ease and confidence in the work, you can feel it in the humour that is just below the surface.  In many ways it has a tone that reminded me of the movie Men in Black.  It is a bit irreverent without being overly so.

A joyful, entertaining work.

Here is something I've discovered from reading these short story magazines: some of the contributors have careers spanning decades and are so accomplished that I am shocked I've never heard of them before.  These guys have been collaborating since at least the early 70's and this is my fist look at them.  What an educational experience reading Analog can be.

Barry N. Malzberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_N._Malzberg
and
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Barry_N._Malzberg

Bill Pronzini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Pronzini
and
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1417

Barry N Malzberg

Bill Pronzini

Daily Teds by Ron Collins

April 2015

14/100

This is a fun time travel/cloning mash up. 

What if you can travel forward in time? 

What if you can only travel a short distance forward?

What happens when you catch up with yourself?

Human nature and math is what. 

An entertaining and thought provoking story.

Gather your best geek friends and have each of them read the story.  Then sit down at a table together, pour your selves some drinks and start talking about it.  You'll be discussing it for hours. 

Ron Collins web site:  http://typosphere.com/

Analog Magazine:  http://www.analogsf.com/

Ron Collins