What do you think?
Rate this book
Diving Universe #(Encounter on Starbase Kappa)
Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2013
CONTENTS
Novelettes
"The Time Travel Club" by Charlie Jane Anders
"Grounded" by Meg Pontecorvo
"Quantum Orpheus, at the Light Cone's Apex" by Igor Teper
"No Others are Genuine" by Gregory Frost
"Deep Diving" by Joel Richards
"Encounter on Starbase Kappa" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Short Stories
"Memories of Earth" by Neal Asher
"When the Rain Comes" by Ian McHugh
"Adventures in Cognitive Homogamy: A Love Story" by Paul Di Filippo
"A Very Small Dispensation" by Sheila Finch
"Waiting for Medusa" by Jack Dann
"The Wildfires of Antarctica" by Alan DeNiro
"Within These Well-Scrubbed Walls" by Ian Creasey
Poetry
"The Monster's Sonnet" by Jack O'Brien
"Creature Conforts" by Lou Ella Hickman
"The Phantom Navigator in Stasis" by Robert Frazier
"The Monster" by Bryan D. Dietrich
"Neanderthal Frankenstein" by Dominica Phetteplace
"Marie Antoinette, 2125" by Bruce Boston
Departments
"Editorial: Twenty-Seventh Annual Readers' Awards Results" by Sheila Williams
"Readers' Award Winners"
"Reflections: Translations II" by Robert Silverberg
"On the Net: Both Sides of the Desk" by James Patrick Kelly
"Thought Experiments: Dreaming Up a Center for Science and the Imagination" by Ed Finn
"On Books: Genre Versus Literature" by Norman Spinrad
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2013, Vol. 37, Nos. 10-11 (Whole Nos. 453-454)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Larissa Morais
Novelettes
"The Time Travel Club" by Charlie Jane Anders
"Grounded" by Meg Pontecorvo
"Quantum Orpheus, at the Light Cone's Apex" by Igor Teper
"No Others are Genuine" by Gregory Frost
"Deep Diving" by Joel Richards
"Encounter on Starbase Kappa" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Short Stories
"Memories of Earth" by Neal Asher
"When the Rain Comes" by Ian McHugh
"Adventures in Cognitive Homogamy: A Love Story" by Paul Di Filippo
"A Very Small Dispensation" by Sheila Finch
"Waiting for Medusa" by Jack Dann
"The Wildfires of Antarctica" by Alan DeNiro
"Within These Well-Scrubbed Walls" by Ian Creasey
Poetry
"The Monster's Sonnet" by Jack O'Brien
"Creature Conforts" by Lou Ella Hickman
"The Phantom Navigator in Stasis" by Robert Frazier
"The Monster" by Bryan D. Dietrich
"Neanderthal Frankenstein" by Dominica Phetteplace
"Marie Antoinette, 2125" by Bruce Boston
Departments
"Editorial: Twenty-Seventh Annual Readers' Awards Results" by Sheila Williams
"Readers' Award Winners"
"Reflections: Translations II" by Robert Silverberg
"On the Net: Both Sides of the Desk" by James Patrick Kelly
"Thought Experiments: Dreaming Up a Center for Science and the Imagination" by Ed Finn
"On Books: Genre Versus Literature" by Norman Spinrad
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2013, Vol. 37, Nos. 10-11 (Whole Nos. 453-454)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Larissa Morais
- GenresScience Fiction
196 pages, ebook
First published October 1, 2013
46 people want to read
About the author
Sheila Williams
277 books66 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form.
Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts. Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis. She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.
She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing). In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.
Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. Most recently she has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams."
She has been nominated for 4 Hugo Awards as editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
See also Sheila Williams's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form.
Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts. Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis. She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.
She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing). In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.
Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. Most recently she has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams."
She has been nominated for 4 Hugo Awards as editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
See also Sheila Williams's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 10, 2013
An above average issue with fascinating tales by Charlie Jane Anders, Igor Teper and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, with a fascinating semi-horror tale about Edison's wax records by Gregory Frost
- "The Time Travel Club" by Charlie Jane Anders: a fascinating story about a club where people tell stories about their (fictional) time-travel exploits. Meetings were good; until one day a member shows up with an actual time machine. Figuring out how to use and whether to use it becomes a major part of the story, with an ending that shows just how it might all end.
- "Memories of Earth" by Neal Asher: one computationally augmented man has memories of aliens attacking his new colony on a planet, forcing him to reject most of his computer connections and depend on hibernating his dying body as he struggles to make his colony self-sufficient. When he wakes up one last time, his discover how things have changed for the colony and discovers a hidden secret about himself.
- "When the Rain Comin" by Ian McHugh: a short short story about survival in a time of drought and rain, when people hibernate during the dry times and awake during the rain and tell stories of the past.
- "Grounded" by Meg Pontecorvo: a fascinating tale about a rebellious teenage girl who rebels against her protective mother during a time when strange alien petals rain from the sky that may or may not be biologically dangerous. Her struggles to break free of her house curfew would lead to changes in the household and cause her to be truly grounded.
- "Adventures in Cognitive Homogamy: A Love Story" by Paul Di Filippo: a story filled with techno and genetic references, but is basically a story of a man who is dissatisfied with his wife-to-be, goes out to a bar for the night, meets a girl, is kidnapped and decides to help his kidnappers get information from a factory of a corporation. The future divide between the techno-haves and have-nots is described but never really explored in this story.
- "A Very Small Dispensation" by Sheila Finch: an old woman waits for the arrival of his grandson when an old acquaintance appears; one that, in flashbacks that describe her horrendous journey on a wagon trail to the west, is shown to be not as he appears to be and may have had an influence on the lengthy life that she has lead.
- "Waiting for Medusa" by Jack Dann: a dog who can regenerate is caught along with a girl in a battle with mutants on a future war-torn world. As he regenerates, his telepathic powers get merged with that of the girl, leading to him being forced to follow her lead and possibly be dismembered by her community for them to survive; but not if he can help it.
- "Quantum Orpheus, At the Light Cone's Apex" by Igor Teper: an interesting story about a quantum based computer that begins to display unexpected behaviour, leading a scientists to reluctantly contact his estranged daughter for help. What they discover would lead them to a major discovery and an attempt to do what hasn't been done before: to teleport the quantum state of the computer. The issue of whether the discovery should be hidden or not is not really explored but the tense relationship between the father and daughter help to drive some of the tension in the story.
- "No Others Are Genuine" by Gregory Frost: set at a time when people are just being introduced to the wonders of recorded sound via Edison's wax cylinders, this fantastic horror story features a boy with a crush on a lady who stays with his family in a rented house. But one day, she goes missing and her room is given over to a strange man who has a strange wax cylinder player. As the boy tries to discover what happened to the lady, his journey would lead him to a horrifying discovery about the man and his wax cylinder player and would involve his mother. The only jarring item in the story is the involvement of a policeman whose actual role in the investigation of the missing lady is never really revealed apart from a chance meeting with the boy.
- "The Wildfires of Antarctica" by Alan DeNiro: in a future where global climate has apparently run wild, a rich man 'loans' his biological artpiece to a museum in Antarctica. But when it becomes more than the museum can handle and escapes, will it come back to haunt him?
- "Deep Diving" by Joel Richards: on a deep-space voyage, a murder is committed. In an attempt to find the murderer, an AI 'Fury', against the wishes of the ship's Captain, was activated whose only job is to find the murderer and terminate it. It would require the skills of a man whose job is 'dive' into people's minds and retrieve that past lives, and can apparently interface to machines, to save the ship. But it would require the ship's Captain to put the ship's safety above that of his Officer, the ship's political minder.
- "Within These Well-Scrubbed Walls" by Ian Creasey: as a man decides what to do with the remains of his estranged mother, who was paranoid about cleanliness, he discovers a secret she had been keeping since he left.
- "Encounter on Starbase Kappa" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: far in the future, a space ship is stranded with no way back, unless they take a chance with a malfunctioning drive on a starbase from their era that may send them back. But when intruders arrive, the captain has to decide whether to continue with the plan or to live with what he has now.
- "The Time Travel Club" by Charlie Jane Anders: a fascinating story about a club where people tell stories about their (fictional) time-travel exploits. Meetings were good; until one day a member shows up with an actual time machine. Figuring out how to use and whether to use it becomes a major part of the story, with an ending that shows just how it might all end.
- "Memories of Earth" by Neal Asher: one computationally augmented man has memories of aliens attacking his new colony on a planet, forcing him to reject most of his computer connections and depend on hibernating his dying body as he struggles to make his colony self-sufficient. When he wakes up one last time, his discover how things have changed for the colony and discovers a hidden secret about himself.
- "When the Rain Comin" by Ian McHugh: a short short story about survival in a time of drought and rain, when people hibernate during the dry times and awake during the rain and tell stories of the past.
- "Grounded" by Meg Pontecorvo: a fascinating tale about a rebellious teenage girl who rebels against her protective mother during a time when strange alien petals rain from the sky that may or may not be biologically dangerous. Her struggles to break free of her house curfew would lead to changes in the household and cause her to be truly grounded.
- "Adventures in Cognitive Homogamy: A Love Story" by Paul Di Filippo: a story filled with techno and genetic references, but is basically a story of a man who is dissatisfied with his wife-to-be, goes out to a bar for the night, meets a girl, is kidnapped and decides to help his kidnappers get information from a factory of a corporation. The future divide between the techno-haves and have-nots is described but never really explored in this story.
- "A Very Small Dispensation" by Sheila Finch: an old woman waits for the arrival of his grandson when an old acquaintance appears; one that, in flashbacks that describe her horrendous journey on a wagon trail to the west, is shown to be not as he appears to be and may have had an influence on the lengthy life that she has lead.
- "Waiting for Medusa" by Jack Dann: a dog who can regenerate is caught along with a girl in a battle with mutants on a future war-torn world. As he regenerates, his telepathic powers get merged with that of the girl, leading to him being forced to follow her lead and possibly be dismembered by her community for them to survive; but not if he can help it.
- "Quantum Orpheus, At the Light Cone's Apex" by Igor Teper: an interesting story about a quantum based computer that begins to display unexpected behaviour, leading a scientists to reluctantly contact his estranged daughter for help. What they discover would lead them to a major discovery and an attempt to do what hasn't been done before: to teleport the quantum state of the computer. The issue of whether the discovery should be hidden or not is not really explored but the tense relationship between the father and daughter help to drive some of the tension in the story.
- "No Others Are Genuine" by Gregory Frost: set at a time when people are just being introduced to the wonders of recorded sound via Edison's wax cylinders, this fantastic horror story features a boy with a crush on a lady who stays with his family in a rented house. But one day, she goes missing and her room is given over to a strange man who has a strange wax cylinder player. As the boy tries to discover what happened to the lady, his journey would lead him to a horrifying discovery about the man and his wax cylinder player and would involve his mother. The only jarring item in the story is the involvement of a policeman whose actual role in the investigation of the missing lady is never really revealed apart from a chance meeting with the boy.
- "The Wildfires of Antarctica" by Alan DeNiro: in a future where global climate has apparently run wild, a rich man 'loans' his biological artpiece to a museum in Antarctica. But when it becomes more than the museum can handle and escapes, will it come back to haunt him?
- "Deep Diving" by Joel Richards: on a deep-space voyage, a murder is committed. In an attempt to find the murderer, an AI 'Fury', against the wishes of the ship's Captain, was activated whose only job is to find the murderer and terminate it. It would require the skills of a man whose job is 'dive' into people's minds and retrieve that past lives, and can apparently interface to machines, to save the ship. But it would require the ship's Captain to put the ship's safety above that of his Officer, the ship's political minder.
- "Within These Well-Scrubbed Walls" by Ian Creasey: as a man decides what to do with the remains of his estranged mother, who was paranoid about cleanliness, he discovers a secret she had been keeping since he left.
- "Encounter on Starbase Kappa" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: far in the future, a space ship is stranded with no way back, unless they take a chance with a malfunctioning drive on a starbase from their era that may send them back. But when intruders arrive, the captain has to decide whether to continue with the plan or to live with what he has now.
October 1, 2018
Mostly good stories in here! My favorites were "Deep Diving" by Joel Richards, "Within these Well-Scrubbed Walls" by Ian Creasey, and "Grounded" by my Taos classmate Meg Pontecorvo!
October 10, 2013
Predominantly light stories in this issue, entertaining, but not particularly profound or inspiring. Many were more fantasy than SF, which I do like, though some will not. Rusch manages a huge output, so I wouldn't expect more than pulp-type fare, but this particular one just failed to keep me interested, though I had enjoyed previous stories set in this universe. The highlights for the issue were "The Time Travel Club", "Memories of Earth", Deep Diving, and "When the Rain Comin". A few of the stories echoed familiar tropes a bit too closely, particularly "Grounded" and "A Very Small Dispensation", though they were well written.
September 18, 2013
This was an okay collection of stories. Some were sort of blah, but others I really liked, specificallyEncounter on Starbase Kappa (Kristine Kathryn Rusch), Deep Diving (Joel Richards) and No Others Are Genuine (Gregory Frost).
There is nothing longer than a novelette in it and some of those are only just longer than some of the short stories (based off page count).
As I say not a great issue, but overall okay.
There is nothing longer than a novelette in it and some of those are only just longer than some of the short stories (based off page count).
As I say not a great issue, but overall okay.
November 5, 2013
Suitably spooky stories for October. As a parental survivor of teenagers, I appreciated "Grounded." I liked "Deep Diving" and "The Time Travel Club." And stories about "The Fleet" are always appreciated.
Norman Spinrad's "On Books" prompted me to buy Rudy Rucker's book, "Turing and Burroughs." I bought it shortly after I finished October's Asimov's and I'm already on page 213. Since this novel is self-published, I wouldn't have found it otherwise.
Norman Spinrad's "On Books" prompted me to buy Rudy Rucker's book, "Turing and Burroughs." I bought it shortly after I finished October's Asimov's and I'm already on page 213. Since this novel is self-published, I wouldn't have found it otherwise.
October 17, 2013
Some great novelettes mixed in with some forgettable shorts. Mixed bag here. I confess to not finishing Adventures in Cognitive Homogamy, like the title, the prose were a little self-conscious and the result was grating.
Charlie Jane Anders ****
Drowning in quirk at first, but the connection between time slips and drunkenness was superb.
Grounded *****
Teenage apocalyptic angst turned beautiful
No Others are Genuine ****Literary horror fantasy
The rest **-***
Charlie Jane Anders ****
Drowning in quirk at first, but the connection between time slips and drunkenness was superb.
Grounded *****
Teenage apocalyptic angst turned beautiful
No Others are Genuine ****Literary horror fantasy
The rest **-***
April 15, 2016
An average issue with a mixed bag of stories. I particularly enjoyed:
"Deep Diving", by Joel Richards, an SF story of the locked room mystery and what happened afterward.
"A Very Small Dispensation", by Sheila Finch, a story about love and death.
"Encounter on Starbase Kappa", by Kristine Katherine Rusch, another entry in her Diving into the Wreck universe.
"Deep Diving", by Joel Richards, an SF story of the locked room mystery and what happened afterward.
"A Very Small Dispensation", by Sheila Finch, a story about love and death.
"Encounter on Starbase Kappa", by Kristine Katherine Rusch, another entry in her Diving into the Wreck universe.
September 8, 2013
Overall this double issue is not as riveting as others have been, despite the presence of some great stories from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jack Dann, and Charlie Jane Anders.
February 9, 2014
I read the story 'Grounded' from this. Very good!
September 13, 2013
Some good stories, some unreadable stories
Read
September 14, 2013I can't decide whether Paul DiFilippo's story was elaborate inside joke, Dan Brown pastiche, or both.
January 8, 2015
The Anders and Rusch were my favorite stories.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews