Analog Science Fiction and Fact has just posted the cover to their November/December 2025 issue on their website, and here it is (sorry, it’s not very large):

I don’t know who the cover artist is yet, but it’s another striking image, and I’m amazed and honored to get two cover paintings in a row. I’m also flattered to see the Analog page call “Aleyara’s Descent” (and its cover) a “reader-favorite.”

As for the story inside — my fourteenth Analog story in 27 years, and my first published novella-length work outside of Star Trek fiction — you can read the first two chapters online here: https://analogsf.com/current-issue/story-excerpt1/ (Note to future readers: Once the next issue comes out in January 2026 or so, this link will presumably no longer go to the “Aleyara’s Flight” excerpt.) Here on Written Worlds, I have a description and non-spoiler discussion here. I’ll put up spoiler annotations before long. Info about the Biauru and their world is available on my Aliens page, and I’ll have an essay relating to the novella appearing on The Astounding Analog Companion blog soon, which I’ll post about when it comes out.

But there’s more Biauru news! One week ago, I signed the contract for the third Aleyara story, “Skin in the Game,” which is also novella-length. In fact, “Aleyara’s Flight” and “Skin in the Game” were initially conceived as a single novella with a time jump in the middle, but they turned out way too long for that and became two novellas written back-to-back, and they definitely work better that way. I expect it’ll probably be about another year before “Skin in the Game” sees print. And yes, it’s quite a change in my approach to the story titles, and I hesitated at first when the title occurred to me late in the writing process, but I realized it was just too perfect not to use.

And yes, I am working on a fourth installment, a climax for what I hope to collect into a fix-up novel afterward. Just this morning, though, I had an idea for what I thought was just a bit of character texture, but as its ramifications unfolded in my mind, I realized it was the key to making the whole story deeper and more emotionally potent, tying it together more and resolving a couple of big problems, except now I have to go back and redo at least half of what I’ve already written, and to rework my outline for the rest. One of those moments in a writer’s life that’s both exciting and intimidating, like getting an unexpected present that’s exactly what you needed, except there’s a lot of assembly required.