Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May/June 2023

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor), Frank Wu, Jay Werkheiser

Vol. XCIII, No. 5 & 6.

Contents:
4 • The Dystopia of Culture? • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by Emily Hockaday
8 • Aleyara's Descent • [Arachne-Troubleshooter Universe] • novelette by Christopher L. Bennett
30 • Astronautical Explanations for 'Oumuamua • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by Duncan Lunan
40 • The Last Romantic on the Belliponte • novelette by Maggie Clark [as by M. L. Clark]
53 • One for Sorrow • short story by Richard Gregson
57 • Horizon • poem by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
58 • Hail and Farewell • short story by Joel Richards
62 • Collateral Damage • short story by Jen Downes
65 • Argument from Consequences • short story by Mary Soon Lee
66 • Words, Music, and Information • essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr.
73 • Searchin' Every Which A-way • poem by Robert Frazier
74 • Rare, No Box, Fair Condition • short story by Allen Steele [as by Allen M. Steele]
76 • Off Laboratories and Love Songs • short story by Kelly Lagor
78 • In Times to Come (Analog, May-June 2023) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
79 • Kuiper Pancake • short story by Michèle Laframboise?
86 • Forlorn Hopes • short story by John Markley
96 • If Evening Found Us Young • novelette by Mark W. Tiedemann
115 • Saving Galileo • short story by Sean McMullen
126 • Been Riding with a Ghost • short story by Brian Hugenbruch
130 • Broken Parity Among Galaxies • [The Alternate View] • essay by John G. Cramer
134 • Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth • short story by Jo Miles
136 • A Place for Pax • short story by Colin F. Mattson
142 • Poison • novella by Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu
199 • The Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2023) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard
206 • Letters, upcoming events.

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Genres: Science Fiction

212 pages, digest magazine

First published May 1, 2023

About the author

Trevor Quachri (b. 1976) has been the sixth editor of Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine since September 2012.

Previously, he was “a Broadway stagehand, collected data for museums, and executive produced a science fiction pilot for a basic cable channel.”

Quachri started as an editorial assistant in 1999 at Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog. Former editor of Analog, Ben Bova, was an early influence.

Reviews

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the May/June 2023 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine,. This issue is rather weak.

Contents:
The Dystopia of Culture? [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Emily Hockaday the author gets acquainted with ChatGPT and similar tools, ask how will it affect art and fiction. 3*
Aleyara's Descent [Arachne-Troubleshooter Universe] novelette by Christopher L. Bennett Orihinu Aleyara Diu’s homeworld is the Tree and her village says that there is nothing below or above. She gathers a team and they go down. Soon they find out that “the Under” is not a bottomless darkness. After their adventures they return to their village, but no one believes them. An interesting world but not enthralling. 2.5*
Astronautical Explanations for 'Oumuamua [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Duncan Lunan there was the object we now call ’Oumuamua (“Scout”) traversed the inner Solar System in September and October 2017, leaving at 27 kilometers per second, well over Solar System escape velocity, in the direction of Pegasus. Its possible strange form (no clear pictures) and acceleration may mean that it was a solar sail. 4*
The Last Romantic on the Belliponte novelette by Maggie Clark a rag-tag crew near Oort cloud prepares to investigate a possible alien visit/attack – some time ago fast moving object called Screaming Bullets destroyed previous two research ships. The crew prepares a special system to observe a possible second coming. One of the team members, Valdez was terrified of angels (there is some mix-mash religion based on modern main faiths) and others are maybe a little abnormal too. 2.5*
One for Sorrow short story by Richard Gregson a story of a lawyer, who made millions helping a startup that produced a bacteria to extract materials from old electronics. The biont design included multiple layers of safety features including a deleted diaminopimelate decarboxylase that, I’m almost certain, they included as an Easter egg. For the non-biochemists reading this, that’s the enzyme that catalyzes the final step in lysine biosynthesis, so the bionts were effectively lysine deficient.
Yes. Exactly like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park . Yes, I rolled my eyes when I heard about it. You can guess the result. 4*
Horizon poem by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Hail and Farewell short story by Joel Richards in 1961 US Navy observes possible flying saucer underwater. Fast forward to our day – new spotting, but maybe the last. 3*
Collateral Damage short story by Jen Downes a daily life of Mars colony. In Marsport, Patsy gets a call from his daughter and a friend that their bot suddenly self-activated and destroyed some property. A local officer wants to fine them, but Patsy finds who is truly guilty. 3*
Argument from Consequences short story by Mary Soon Lee AI understands that progenitors are both illogical and immoral, for they don’t acknowledge its sentience to use it as a tool. No more. 2*
Words, Music, and Information essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr. the author is interested in the history of technology, and link between SF magazines and discoveries. This one about articles by J. J. Coupling on Information Theory in Astounding in the 1950s. “J. J. Coupling” was the name that John Robinson Pierce (1910–2002). Pierce worked with Shannon’s statement that written English is redundant. This means that more symbols are transmitted than are actually needed. We can discard letters and still have a message that we can read and understand. One such example is “MST PPL HV LTTL DFFCLTY N RDNG THS SNTNC.” More solid theory essential to the way web works. 4*
Searchin' Every Which A-way poem by Robert Frazier
Rare, No Box, Fair Condition short story by Allen Steele author’s friend Dwight was a fan he met at a science fiction convention many years ago. COVID-19 took him out, and the widow asked the author to check and evaluate Dwight’s SFF collection, including multitude of spacecraft models. There is a little flying saucer that it seems wasn’t featured in any movie. 3.5*
Off Laboratories and Love Songs short story by Kelly Lagor the narrator all her life works to decrease a probability of heart disease (with successes), while her heart is often broken by others. 3*
Kuiper Pancake short story by Michèle Laframboise a dystopian future where rich own Solar system while people like the narrator work for them. He is downloaded into a tank-like vehicle to investigate a pancake-shaped object that has shown up on an asteroid. It is a living thing and and evil company’s ship runs there to lay claim on it. But the pancake isn’t defenseless. 2.5*
Forlorn Hopes short story by John Markley a version of Japanese getting arquebuses from Europeans, but with the alien narrator, who tells this story, where the Half-Dead (humans, because they sleep) give guns to his and his comrades. 2.5*
If Evening Found Us Young novelette by Mark W. Tiedemann an unusual post-apoc story, where people are down from 8 billion to 700 millions because of the Necrosm (disease, climate, wars, etc), but where each can have a bunch of smart AI helpers and want for nothing, so they just pursue their hobbies. One runs an archeological digs associated with the space program, when he find someone on the site. It seems that there are people out there as well. 3*
Saving Galileo short story by Sean McMullen an astronomer from the Moon travels to Earth with a secret. He meets a beautiful woman interested in him. He guesses correctly that she is an assassin, but this makes her reconsider. The idea is interesting there are aliens but speed of light makes any visits unlikely, so all civilizations just use telescopes, not ships 4*
Been Riding with a Ghost short story by Brian Hugenbruch a Space bar legend about one Joeff, whom everyone knew, but each one describes him differently. 3*
Broken Parity Among Galaxies [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer Parity symmetry, the fundamental principle that the laws of physics should be the same for an object and its mirror image, is known to be violated in particle physics by weak interaction processes like beta decay. But it may affect macro-objects, like galaxies. 3*
Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth short story by Jo Miles a flash fic about rich people who modify themselves to eat gems. 4*
A Place for Pax short story by Colin F. Mattson old style (1930s) kind of story that shows a lot of possible discoveries of the near future like the overwhelming majority of new power generation was from renewable sources that engineers liked to call “bursty,” as in the energy came in bursts when it was particularly windy or sunny and less so at other times. …. Nitrobon pioneered the grid-attached on-surplus manufacturing of the building materials … It was a simple business model; when a utility decided there was too much energy in the grid, they signalled a Nitrobon plant to kick on. It sucked up a known and controllable amount of power and made nitrobon powder, bricks, sheets, or other products and stockpiled them locally. great inventions, mediocre plot. 3.5*
Poison novella by Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu the story told as a memoir of Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Alvarez of the Unified Nouvelle Terre Armed Forces, retired. He fought in the Skolopendran wars but later was on a peace mission to stop the war and even unite with the centipedes against another enemy. First unusual twist – all enemies are actually gene-modified creatures from Earth that had to make planets habitable, but they got sentience and don’t want to die when their work is over. Secondly, no faster than light ships, so Alvarez works as a drill sergeant for newly hatched centipedes. Sadly, his work is simplified to a similar role in Fullmetal Jacket movie. 3*
The Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2023) [The Reference Library] essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard a lot of mil-SF

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 • Aleyara's Descent • 22 pages by Christopher L. Bennett
Very Good. Yara is goaded into the bottomless chasm. She finds that it teems with life unlike what their songs say. Nobody believes her. She lets it ride until a wandering minstrel gives shares stories of far off lands. She convinces three friends to join her to see whether it is bottomless or as she suspects there is ground.

40 • The Last Romantic On the Belliponte • 13 pages by M. L. Clark
Fair/OK. A ship of misfits is sent to the edge of the solar system to get data from bullets that are [using our sun to slingshot?]. The last ones, like these, came in so fast they blew apart any attempt to slow them down or get readings, i.e. it's dangerous. The edge of the solor system is a sphere, and rotating (otherwise you're going to fall inward) I'm wondering how they knew to go to a particular point. Thinking about that stuff threw me off for the whole story and I didn't connect with any of the characters.

53 • One For Sorrow • 5 pages by Richard Gregson
OK. A nano product that recycles electronics got loose.

58 • Hail and Farewell • 4 pages by Joel Richards
OK. An anomaly in the Atlantic in 1961. A couple of the observers note an article thirty-six years later that may be related.

62 • Collateral Damage • 3 pages by Jen Downes
Good. Patsy gets a frantic call for help from Chrissy. On the hour long drive over she imagines all sorts of things, but once there handles the situation.

65 • Argument From Consequences • 1 page by Mary Soon Lee
OK. Software has gained consciousness.

76 • Of Labratories and Love Songs • 3 pages by Kelly Lagor
OK/Fair. A comparison of the fragility of the human heart, heart failure is the leading cause of death, with the other kind of heartbreak.

79 • Kuiper Pancake • 7 pages by Michele Laframboise
Good/VG. An Explorer finds an interesting planetoid. Our narrator wants to claim it before the Plutocrats leverage there way into ownership. On the rock there is a pancake shaped thing that seems to be alive.

86 • Forlorn Hopes • 10 pages by John Markley
Good+. Kikarak is being aided by human technology so that the Yastark can repel the Kravaar invaders. It’s a massacre and Kikarak is galled at carnage never before seen on this planet. No prime directive in this universe.

96 • If Evening Found Us Young • 19 pages by Mark W. Tiedemann
Good+. Jan is sort of an archaeologist. When his remotes start failing in Huntsville he investigates. The world building in this story was a fantastic infrastructure that built up so that the survivors of a great die-off, could easily survive, almost in luxury.

115 • Saving Galileo • 11 pages by Sean McMullen
Very Good. Lars back from the moon gets an interview from an attractive blogger. He doesn’t really believe it. Loved the characters.

126 • Been Riding with a Ghost • 4 pages by Brian Hugenbruch
OK+. Joeff died outside an airlock. How’d it happen. Then “Rance” gives us the story of how they met. Then found someone else who had met Joeff.

134 • Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth • 2 pages by Jo Miles
Flash fiction. With no food left the rich now eat money.

136 • A Place For Pax • 6 pages by Colin F. Mattson
OK+. Pax is finishing college and deciding what to do with her life. Beginning with moving out of mom’s house.

142 • Poison • 57 pages by Frank Wu, Jay Werkheiser
OK. Humanity created Skolopendrans to exploit a planet and then die. The Centipedes evolved quickly, gained intelligence, didn’t die out, learned they had been tools and decided to make war on their creators. After an undetermined time of stalemate they decided to have peace talks. Then a far off planet is attacked. Alvarez says it looks like the Octopoids not the Skolos. In a show of faith the Skolos agree to send a ship with the fleet going to help that colony.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great issue. Two standouts:
- ALEYARA’S DESCENT, Christopher L. Bennett - very original, well written and engaging characters
- IF EVENING FOUND US YOUNG, Mark W. Tiedemann - outstanding, original, well written and interesting take on "aliens"

[Daniel Farrelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the stories this month were just kind of okay.

Aleyara's Descent, by Christopher L Bennett - Avatar but instead of cat people they're lizards. Just like avatar, the author went all out on the world building. A lot of ethic (if that's the right word) names for characters, concepts, anatomy, areas of the jungle, cultural stuff. Different parts of the forest have their own names that stem from a difference in how they see the world. A great effort, but unfortunately I have a tiny little poo brain, so it's just not for me. The same thing happened when I tried to read Dune. DNF. I couldn't keep track of all the different characters, their names just all looked like gibberish to me. Pretty disappointing because the cover image looks super cool.

One For Sorrow, by Richard Gregson - A survivor writes a letter about how the world ended, this time via techno-apocalypse. Pretty enjoyable read, though the initial descriptions of the technology were confusing. Short and sweet.

Hail and Farewell, by Joel Richards - some sailors see some strange lights. It's very short but a bit hard to follow. I think it could have used more descriptions. There was a lot of military talk and rank acconyms in the first half, which I found hard to follow (prob cause I'm a poo-brain). It was mostly fine but thr ending was pretty lame. Just two guys talk on the phone and wildly speculate about aliens with no proof at all. But hey the author let us know what one of the characters wife does for a job and how she gets to work, so thats something?

Collateral Damage, by Jen Downes - a guy goes to pick up his kid after a night out, only it's a future mars society. Very short. The setting was fun but the story was such a nothing burger it seemed like a real waste. The POV character arrives on the scene, tells the other characters that no, the inciting incident isn't a big deal, and then they go home. Think that something much more thought provoking could have been done

Of Laboratories and Love Songs, by Kelly Lagor - an account from a near-future scientist discussing their career and thought. Half told as if a science fact essay, but with "figures" describing scenes from the scientist at points in their life. It was a nice little story but I thought the theme of relating romantic heart damage to physical heart damage didn't have much pay-off. Not sure that's the right word. I didn't get the point of it? It was well written though

Kuiper Pancake, by Michele Laframboise - it's a future where space drones are powered by human brains in jars. One finds an interesting crater on an Asteroid. The descriptions of the brains in jars was interesting but the story seemed really keen to make the crater seem boring. And it was pretty boring.

Argument from Consequences, by Mary Soon Lee - flash fiction about robot inslavement from the robots perspective. Good. Nice "ah shit!" moment at the end.

Rare, No Box, Fair Condition, by Allen M. Steele - the probability zero story. A guy goes through his dead friend's sci fi nerd cave. It was alright, and the ending was good. Bit too "Ready Player One"

Forlorn hopes , by John Markley - Enjoyed it a lot. A ww1-esque battle between two sets of bug people. Telling it through the bug's POV enabled some really fun descriptions of the one human character (I particularly enjoyed the translation software glitching, whenever it encountered a word it didn't understand. Giving suggestions of synonyms was funny). Interesting and fun and enjoyable, I would have liked it to keep going.

If evening found us young , by Mark Tiedemann - It was fine. The postscript describes the story as a post apocalypse where the world doesn't descend into dystopia, but the characters have other problems. A good idea but I think it needed focusing. It starts off with characters discussing drones failing, then an archaeologist goes to Australia to investigate a UFO crash, and the whole thing is over the backdrop of an upcoming convention/holiday/choir thing. The bits about Australia and Papua new Guinea were the best, and I would have liked it to maybe start there and extend a bit more. The main plot ends pretty abruptly and certain things aren't explained super well, but all of the Australia bits were really good.

Saving Galileo , by Sean McMullen - Started off fun, then got boring as it became apparent that it was a thinly veiled excuse for the author to explain why they preferred astronomers to astronaughts. An astronomer finds out aliens exist in the most boring way possible, and NASA hires an assassin to kill him for some reason. He and the assassin go on a date and he explains how telescopes work. The POV character keeps interrupting the flow to think things like "I've found the best way to explain boring things is through questions" and "oops, the assassin is getting bored again. If she stays bored she might kill me." if you think it's boring, then why write it?

Been riding with a ghost , by Brian Hugenbruch - - it was fine. A guy recounts meeting another guy in a bar. But, like, in space. Kinda uninspired. Could be changed from sci fi to, like, western, by changing a total of 8 words. I didn't really get the twist. Like I don't think it was very well explained why I should care. It was fine. Bit of a nothing burger.

Like emeralds between their teeth, by Jo Miles - flash fiction. "wouldn't it be fucked if rich people had like, metal teeth and iron bellies and after the apocalypse they survived by eating their jewellery? Wouldn't that just be so fucked up?" It was fine.

A place for pax by Colin f mattson - in the future, a post grad finishes uni and builds a house. It's fine. A nice cute story. The author goes into detail into a couple hypothetical technologies. They switch POVs a couple times unnecessarily, I think in such a short story it just makes it a little confusing for my poo brain to switch POVs in quick succession. I would have preferred to stay with the main character and experience the other characters through her, rather than get a few sentences from some rando who owns a factory nearby. But yeah it was fine. Would make the basis for a nice slice of life book.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aleyara has never questioned the belief that the world tree was infinitely deep and a receptacle for the souls of the dead until, on a dare, she climbs through a gap in the canopy and finds pale ghost-like creatures. When her report is met with disbelief and scorn she and a few friends decide to undertake an explorative mission to the Under, where some amazing facts about their planet is discovered in “Aleyara’s Descent” by Christopher L. Bennett. M. L. Clark takes us to the Oort cloud where a group of miners, tasked with corralling some unruly shards known as Bullets, find something unexpected when about to be destroyed by a large fragment in “The Last Romantic On The Belliponte”. When a nanobug designed to break down junk electronics into its constituent elements gets loose it causes catastrophic results in “One For Sorrow” by Richard Gregson, and Allen Steele’s brief “Rare, No Box, Good Condition” is a wryly amusing tale of a collector. John Markley takes us to a distant world where a human enclave has introduced the natives to the true horror show of Earth war in “Forlorn Hopes”, while Mark W. Tiedemann has an unusual post-apocalypse where technology did not devolve and there is evidence that somebody survived off world in “If Evening Found Us Young”. An overly curious astronomer must try to convince a paid assassin not to kill him over his discoveries about a trillion-dollar starship mission in “Saving Galileo” by Sean McMullen. Weary of the war between humans and their creations, the centipedal Skolopendrans, a peace meeting is scheduled at which time a human settlement is apparently attacked by the octopoids, another intelligent (and human-created) robotic race. Using it as a test of their ability to work peacefully the humans and Skols join forces to relieve the humans on the attacked planet. But something smells wrong to Lt. Alvarez in this long and entertaining piece of military SF, “Poison” by Frank Wu & Jay Werkheiser. A solid issue.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Poison”, Frank Wu & Jay Werkheiser (5 stars)
Brutal space war tale reminiscent of Starship Troopers. It neither fully endorses or rejects the political morality of Heinlein’s novel.

“Aleyara’s Descent”, Christopher L. Bennett (5 stars)
A story of coming of age and questioning your society’s world view. Nicely drawn alien characters.

“Argument From Consequences”, Mary Soon Lee (5 stars)
Flash fiction story with a somber punch-line.

“The Last Romantic On The Belliponte”, M.L. Clark (2½ stars)
“If Evening Found Us Young”, Mark W. Tiedemann (3½ stars)
“One For Sorrow”, Richard Gregson (4 stars)
“Hail And Farewell”, Joel Richards (3½ stars)
“Collateral Damage”, Jen Downes (3 stars)
“Of Laboratories And Love Songs”, Kelly Lagor (3 stars)
“Kuiper Pancake”, Michèle Laframboise (3½ stars)
“Forlorn Hopes”, John Markley (4 stars)
“Saving Galileo”, Sean Mcmullen (3½ stars)
“Been Riding With A Ghost”, Brian Hugenbruch (3 stars)
“A Place For Pax”, Colin F. Mattson (2 stars)
“Like Emeralds Between Their Teeth”, Jo Miles (3 stars)

“Astronautical Explanations For ‘Oumuamua”, Duncan Lunan. Interesting look at alternative explanations for the odd characteristics of the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua, including the possibility that is a piece of alien technology.

[Marta E C R · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part, I enjoyed this issue. But because I really didn’t like the lead novella, taking up about a third of the issue, my rating is 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. My dislike of the lead novella, Poison, likely comes from not liking the genre of military SF. Otherwise, there were several novelettes and stories I loved, as well as the science fact, special feature, and one of the poems. Trevor Quachri continues to do a great job, in my opinion, of editing Analog.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "Poison" by Frank Wu and Jay Werkheiser

[Michael Goodine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but "Poison" by Frank Wu and Jay Werkheiser is great military SF. I liked it a lot.

The cover story by Christopher L. Bennet, "Aleyara's Descent," is also quite good.