Asimov's Science Fiction, September/October 2024

by Sheila Williams (Editor), Nick Wolven, Naomi Kritzer

NOVELETTES

Heartshock by Nick Wolven
The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea by Naomi Kritzer
In the Dark by James Patrick Kelly
And to Their Shining Palaces Go by Betsy Aoki
All the Homes of Terror by Robert Reed

SHORT STORIES

Art Deco Farmhouse, Original Hardwood Floors, Slightly Haunted by Alice Towey
Bachelorettes on the Devil's Dance Floor by Stephanie Feldman
An Unplanned Hold by Zohar Jacobs
Bitter Chai, Sweet Chai by Anita Vijayakumar
Lost Recall by Robert R. Chase
Eternity Is Moments by R.P. Sand
Project Fafnir by Susan Shwartz
A Gray Magic by Ray Nayler

POETRY

Like a Haiku by Kendall Evans
Futurisms (What Is It Now?) by David Sandner
Wanted: by Sai Liuko
Eating With the Dead #1 by Mary Soon Lee
In a Vial on the Windowsill You'll Find It by Marisca Pichette
You Finally Understand Quantum Mechanics by Robert Persons
Wanted—Personal Demon by Mary Soon Lee
The Kelpie's Back by Jane Yolen
Awakening by Greg Schwartz

DEPARTMENTS

Editorial: Magnifique! by Sheila Williams
Reflections: The Man Who Saw the Future by Robert Silverberg
On the Net: The Music of the Future by James Patrick Kelly
Thought Experiment: Nuclear War, Satire, and the Grotesque in Dr. Strangelove by Kelly Lagor
On Books by Norman Spinrad

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2024

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naomi Kritzer's novelette The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea is a seaside tale of being trapped in a marriage where one's spouse takes way more than their fair share without giving very much back. Although it is a descendant of the Scottish folktale of the Selkie Wife and the Human Lover, it reads as its own complete story about the modern "two-body problem": two grad students fall in love, and when they start looking for jobs in academia, only one can take a prestigious faculty job, while the other has to sacrifice their career in order to continue living with their spouse.

The protagonist is a marine biologist who has an intuitive connection to seals, but ever since losing her data from an expensive study, she has been pushed into the background, where she does menial tasks and writes her husband's papers for him without getting credit for her work. Meanwhile, the husband locks himself in his study to keep doing his important research, does not thank his wife for her sacrifices and labor, and partakes in other miscellaneous jackassery.

I was fully rooting for our protagonist throughout this novella. Get her the credit and academic career that she deserves! Get this woman back into the ocean with expensive equipment, where she belongs and longs to be!

The protagonist forms complex relationships with the seals in this story, and her friendship with Murphy The Seal was a particular delight. Kritzer paints a vivid atmosphere of living in a coastal New England town, from a unique perspective (the protagonist describes how the smell of the ocean reaches her house on windy days, then proceeds to share a nerdy detail about ocean bacteria that turns the ocean smell from a generic sensory detail into a telling character trait). Plus, the plot is interesting and gripped me. It's a riveting tale that flies by.

My only gripe is that I wished for dimension to the husband's character, who showed no nuance to his words or actions. Why did our protagonist get married to this jerk in the first place? He can't have always been all bad all the time, otherwise the woman at the center of this story wouldn't have readily married the guy. And maybe he's changed over the years - perhaps, under the pressures of a faculty job. But no character evolution was mentioned in The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea. The twist in the story, consequently, doesn't have the deeply resonant impact that it potentially could. That said, it's still a nice twist.

Despite this gripe, it's a vividly written story, and I was absorbed all the way through. A highly enjoyable novelette.

[Silvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating for Naomi Kritzer's The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea. She always writes well and this is another great work from her. Was hooked from the start and got really satisfied at the end. An extra star for the marine theme. And seals!

[Michael Frasca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are my favorite stories:

Heartshock by Nick Wolven
Dealing with vanquished evil enemy—Treaty of Versailles or Marshall Plan?
Perhaps a heart of glass can find another way.

The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea by Naomi Kritze
A woman puts her academic career on hold to support and nurture her husband’s research. An engaging riff on the Selkie Wife tale.

In the Dark by James Patrick Kelly
It’s hard to dance like no one is watching when the spotlight is on you
Dead certain you will get by. You will survive

All the Homes of Terror by Robert Reed
A Great Ship story: an AI is tasked with discovering the who, what and why of the !eech. More questions are raised than are answered. A lead in to a future tale?

Art Deco Farmhouse, Original Hardwood Floors, Slightly Haunted by Alice Towey
‘Slightly’ in real estate parlance!
Interior decorating as phantasm control.

Bachelorettes on the Devil’s Dance Floor by Stephanie Feldman
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride has its advantages, especially on Walpurgisnacht.

An Unplanned Hold by Zohar Jacobs
A different kind of haunting by a ghost with a most interesting ‘unfinished business.’

Bitter Chai, Sweet Chai by Anita Vijayakumar
Life is bittersweet. Is it wrong to want a better tasting existence for yourself and your children?

Lost Recall by Robert R. Chase
This is a story about a people…umm…what was I going to say?
Must be my COVID brain fog.
This is s story about the census. Boring. Totally forgettable.

Eternity Is Moments by R. P. Sand
Past, present, and future, family dynamics never change. Outside of time, however…

A Gray Magic by Ray Nayler
The two things that the terminally ill fear the most is suffering severe pain and dying alone.
Social isolation is a growing problem in our society. Can A.I. help them?

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 Hugo Award finalist - Best Novelette ("The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea" by Naomi Kritzer)

This issue has several spooky stories appropriate for the Halloween season. By and large, all the stories are good to very good. As usual, I skip over most of the poems, but do read the articles and reviews which are interesting. Note: Goodreads somehow thinks this issue has 327 pages; where this number comes from, I don't know—the magazine is, and has been for a long time, always 208 pages.

Heartshock • novelette by Nick Wolven
This is a very thought provoking examination of a seemingly no-win situation a military captain faces after her forces defeat her side's foes. Do you seek revenge for long years of suffering, grant some kind of clemency, or something else? Do secret dissidents on the other side deserve special treatment? I see some quite pointed analogies to current world events in this story.

Art Deco Farmhouse, Original Hardwood Floors, Slightly Haunted • short story by Alice Towey
This ghost story is used to examine the process of grief when a new homeowner struggles to cope after being dumped by his boyfriend.

The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea • novelette by Naomi Kritzer
The fantasy aspect of this story really only appears near the end. Mostly, it's about a woman who has had to shelve her academic aspirations as a marine biologist in favor of her husband's work. When the family moves to a small Massachusetts beach town, she reconnects with some of the seals she knew from her research in Maine many years earlier. This leads to her reexamining her life and marriage.

Bachelorettes on the Devil’s Dance Floor • short story by Stephanie Feldman
This is a very creepy horror story about three young women going to a strange German town for the bride's bachelorette party.

An Unplanned Hold • short story by Zohar Jacobs
This is a sweet, melancholy look at the US space program past and future from the perspective of the ghost of one of the Apollo flight directors.

Bitter Chai, Sweet Chai • short story by Anita Vijayakumar
A nice, emotional story about a young Indian woman who is part of a lineage where the women use a special ginger tea to pick their husbands. The ginger is about to run out when she meets a Ukrainian woman on a flight from the US to England. Should she share the ginger one last time with this stranger, or let fate guide their futures?

In the Dark • novelette by James Patrick Kelly
In a future where enhancing your body or even morphing it with an animal is common, an enhanced firefighter is picked up by a “group” of linked individuals while he was fruitlessly waiting for his (ex-)girlfriend to join him at a virtual reality show. It's a look at the future of dating where, despite the advances in technology, love is still messy.

Lost Recall • short story by Robert R. Chase
Apparently, a group of aliens have infiltrated the human race and have survived by being forgettable to anyone who crosses their paths. When a census study uncovers some anomalies in the population data, can anything be done to stay incognito? It's a story of the power of data manipulation and how AI might or might not uncover things humans would miss.

Eternity is Moments • short story by R.P. Sand
This is a sweet story about a woman's relationship with her grandfather and eventually with her daughters as time goes by, while her job as an environmentalist gets more and more difficult as the world gets more and more polluted. It's a story about what is important to maintain good family relations.

And to Their Shining Palaces Go • novelette by Betsy Aoki
After aliens capture the Earth they create what are essentially internment camps, whole cities encased in domes. Inside these domes humans program simulations for the benefit of the aliens so they can understand humans better. One human woman gets hints that a revolution is brewing, but must be carefully vigilant to avoid tipping off the aliens. There are many interesting ideas in this story that speak to modern concerns, but I think the story would be better served with a longer length that could flesh them out more.

Project Fafnir • short story by Susan Shwartz
During World War 2, a group of Army rangers are sent on a mission to find a dragon the Germans are reportedly using. It's a gritty tale of heroism and magic realism.

A Gray Magic • short story by Ray Nayler
This is an emotional story of a terminally ill woman trying to find meaning in her last days. She interacts with an AI who helps her see things in a different way in an effort to cope with her situation.

All the Homes of Terror • novelette by Robert Reed
A Great Ship, as large as a world, plies the universe with its inhabitants, both biologic and machine. One machine, Samite, seems to be present at major incidents on the Great Ship throughout the millennia. It's a story that reminded me of Olaf Stapledon's superscience futures, more outline than actual story, but full of intriguing visions.

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the September/October 2024 issue Asimov’s Science Fiction. As usual for this time of year, this is a “slightly spooky issue’ with some stories with horror or suspense elements. Overall, a solid issue

Contents:
Magnifique! [Asimov's Editorials] essay by Sheila Williams The editor is impressed with Korshak Family Collection, of which there is only one photo (of a mask). Maybe good, I have to Google it. 2*
The Man Who Saw the Future [Reflections] essay by Robert Silverberg he says that Murray Leinster is almost forgotten early SF author, but I know his, so not that obscure. However, it is great to know that he was the man who first had parallel universes, generational ships and the Internet in his stories (the latter in “A Logic Named Joe,” from 1946!). 4*
The Music of the Future [On the Net] essay by James Patrick Kelly continuation of music and musicians in SF, this time more about the theremin, patented in 1928 by the Soviet inventor Leon Theremin (these spooky sounds in Hitchcock’s films). 3*
Nuclear War, Satire and the Grotesque in Dr. Strangelove [Thought Experiments] essay by Kelly Lagor about the title’s movie, from the book to production to real historical events. 3*
Futurisms (what is it now?) poem by David Sandner
Heartshock novelette by Nick Wolven what is the end of a war? Here the Allied Worlds finally defeated the Mark, who earlier murdered billions. A representative of the defeated comes to the victor’s ship and says she is sorry. The captain thinks how to punish mass murderers and their supporters and her solution is unusual – she kills everyone who knew that the genocide was bad but did nothing and leaves everyone who honestly believed in their right to murder others. I think the solution is as bad as WW1 terms for Germans and we know how it ended. 2*
Wanted: poem by Sai Liuko
Art Deco Farmhouse, Original Hardwood Floors, Slightly Haunted short story by Alice Towey Evan is a house owner. He supposes that the house is haunted by its previous owner. He also drinks and degrades. He calls the dead man’s niece and they seek a way out. 2.5*
Eating with the Dead #1 poem by Mary Soon Lee
The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea novelette by Naomi Kritzer Morgan Strand is a scientist, who investigates marine life and the wife of another scientist. They move to a small town near the ocean, for the rent there is low enough to stay, while her husband drives 2.5 hours to Harvard. Morgan’s own research was destroyed like 15 years ago, so she is mostly at home with her teenage daughter, turning data and ideas of her husband into scientific articles (and he mentions her but never acknowledges her as a co-author). She learns a founding myth of the town, enjoys friendly neighbors, and finds that seals in the harbor are the very same she researched years ago. Neighbors help her to renew her work… and there are stories about silkies… 4*
Bachelorette on the Devil's Dance Floor short story by Stephanie Feldman a horror story, which starts: In spring, on the eve of Saint Walburga’s Day, the witches gather in the mountains of Central Germany to celebrate the devil. A group of women with a bride-to-be travel to Germany to the feast, they go with a local, who offers them to show the true feast, which goes as one can expect from a horror. 3*
An Unplanned Hold short story by Zohar Jacobs a ghost in Houston overlooks a new Moon mission and helps when needed. 3*
Bitter Chai, Sweet Chai short story by Anita Vijayakumar the protagonist’s family women had a tradition to drink a special ginger tea after meeting their potential mates to check if they fit (it should taste sweet). She is the last of them, yet unmarried and the flood destroyed the last ginger bush for the drink, so she has only a few portions left. But does she, a modern independent woman really needs it? After all, marriage is no longer a woman’s duty. On a plane, she meets a Ukrainian, who left her good life in the West and travels to Ukraine to fight. 3.25*
In a Vial on the Windowsill You'll Find It poem by Marisca Pichette
In the Dark novelette by James Patrick Kelly on future dating, Zee waits for Iulia, his girlfriend next to a show. He was once a minor celebrity, a fit fireman. Iulia doesn’t come, but a woman sits next to him, she is a part of hive minds… a lot of body and mind modifications in this story, but no real plot. 2*
Lost Recall short story by Robert R. Chase about a kind of hominid who lives next to us, descendent of Cro Magnon, but whom we haven’t destroyed as Neanderthals. This is because they are so ordinary we cannot recall them. Actually We have wondered since we recognized what we were how it is that our presence is so quickly forgotten by non-People. One of our Questers has turned up evidence that our skin secretes substances that block short-term memory retention. Similar in some ways to pheromones. Our physiology has corresponding constituents that make us immune to those effects. Or so it seems. We would need a full chemical analysis and test subjects to be sure. Which, of course, we cannot get. Now AI trained on census data may detect them… 4.5*
You Finally Understand Quantum Mechanics poem by Robert Persons
Eternity is Moments short story by R. P. Sand a mix of memories about protagonist’s granddad and her work on creating an ecodome for local viable environments if we cannot save the Earth. 3*
Haunted—Personal Demon poem by Mary Soon Lee
And to Their Shining Palaces Go [Many Worlds] novelette by Betsy Aoki the Earth is conquered by aliens, who destroy any opposition and study humans. Mayumi is one of the lucky ones, selected to be a part of the Great Game. She does her best, but her colleagues are killed by aliens for delivering a ‘Message of the resistance’, which she cannot even recall – she is modified so isn’t able to hear or read it. Insect-like aliens don’t comprehend that people are individual and not interchangeable. 2.5*
The Kelpie's Back poem by Jane Yolen
Project Fafnir short story by Susan Shwartz Christmas of 1944, US troops in Germany. Nazis were able to summon dragon Fafnir and now rangers have to kill it… 3*
Awakening poem by Greg Schwartz
A Gray Magic short story by Ray Nayler Zhenya is dying while the world goes by. She is connected by Agata, who tries to return Zhenya to a more social life… almost no SF, except Agata is AI 2.5*
Next Issue (Asimov's, September-October 2024) essay by uncredited
All the Home of Terror [The Great Ship Universe] novelette by Robert Reed a long life of Machine (AI) named Semite, who was a part of a group of sages, who tried to understand the Great Ship. I have to start from earlier stories to understand it. 3*
On Books: Citizens of the Galaxy (Asimov's, September-October 2024) [On Books] essay by Norman Spinrad soon we’ll find extraterrestrials or their doings but speed of light means we’ll never meet. 3 hard SF novels presented: Existence, The Thousand Earths, To Each This World. For a first time I’ve read a review that says: “Worse still is that this almost-956- page novel should have been cut to no more than, say, 600 pages by getting rid of the endlessly boring pieces of nonexistent blather written by nonexistent gurus, along with pages and pages of the records of speeches by various characters, dead as doornails in literary or drama terms.” Lol true

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nick Wolven shows us that, while the price of war is high, the price of peace can be much higher. A lone emissary from a defeated planet tries to atone for the atrocities their planet committed in “Heartshock”, but the Solomon-like ruling may shock both sides. A seal researcher, depressed at the loss of her unique paper’s data on a thumb drive, and resentful of her controlling academic husband using her for his own aggrandizement, finds the small seaside town of Finstowe may have a way out of her troubles. “The Four Sisters Overlooking The Sea” by Naomi Kritzer is a memorable tale, and Stephanie Feldman takes us to Germany where three Americans on a bachelorette party find Walpurgisnacht to be more sinister than they expected in “Bachelorettes On The Devil’s Dance Floor.” Zee is a firefighter, no longer enhanced, who is struggling with the fame that came with the rescue of a child and her morphed catdog. After being stood up by his ex he encounters a persona of a groupmind-linked threesome variously known as Tosha or Sha and Wispa, and is invited into their unique worldview. “In The Dark” by James Patrick Kelly is typically inventive. A species of human that has remained hidden among us for tens of thousands of years might just have been revealed by an AI at the Census Bureau, immune to the pheremone-like chemicals that make them subject to “Lost Recall” in Robert R. Chase’s tale. The pick of the tales is “And To Their Shining Palaces Go” by Betsy Aoki. An Earth subjugated by the ruthless Alariel, mantis-like and superior, is being used to create a global simulation which the aliens hope will elicit new knowledge for their Swarms. But their data collection is being warped by clan jealousies, a nascent rebellion and serving robots that just might be sentient. An extraordinary tale which you will long remember. It’s Christmas 1944 in Bastogne and the desperate German military have embarked on “Project Fafnir”, a black magic conjuring of a dragon, and only Al Morey, a member of the Screaming Eagles can possibly defeat it. Great fantasy from Susan Shwartz. The issue closes with “All The Homes Of Terror”, a new Great Ship tale from Robert Reed. In this one Machine, a near immortal AI gives us a potted history of the Ship.

[Denise Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually the September/October editions have some "slightly spooky" stories. "The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea" is a twist on a Scottish mythology transported to the "new" world. This story pairs nicely with the poem, "The Kelpie's Back," by Jane Yolen (who often uses folk and fairy tales as the basis of her writing). And those were not the only stories to harken back to "things that go bump in the night."

The opening novelette, "Heartshock," is set in the far future when space travel is possible. But a captain's responsibility to her crew--especially those members she loves--does not change. One of my favorites was "Art Deco Farmhouse, Original Hardwood Floors, Slightly Haunted." A sweet story about loss, memory, and the need for redecorating. "Bachelorettes On the Devil's Dance Floor" combines the fun of Munich's Oktoberfest celebration with something much older and darker The poem "Wanted--Personal Demon" recalls job advertisements, including duties and benefits, as well as a hint at what happened to the former Personal Demon.

The only novelette I had difficulty with was "All the Homes of Terror." It's not a linear story and I had trouble following the many iterations of the main character who, as far as I can tell, is an AI who is very ancient.

The above is just a sample. There is a lot to choose from in this issue, especially from the poems and short stories, as well as some thought-provoking essays. Many of the authors are new to me--another reason why I enjoyed this issue!

[Alain del Risco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Stories

-"Art Deco Farmhouse" by Alice Towey- great ghost story!

-"The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea" by Naomi Kritzer -scary and traditional

-"Bachelorettes on the Devil's Dance Floor" by Stephanie Felman- excellent, reminds me of the British movie "The Wicker Man" 1973

-"And to Their Shining Palaces Go" by Betsy Aoki- higher level thinking sci-fi

-"Project Fafnir" by Susan Shwartz- WWII meets Das Reingold!

[Pau Lethani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea by Naomi Kritzer.

Not the most original story out there but what can I say. A female scientist who studies seals, a coastal town and legends about the sea. I don't think it can get more Paulish. Another 5 stars for a Hugo Nominee.

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seasonal fantasy from a variety of authors.

[George Kasnic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the publisher’s best effort. Erratic quality in the stories and subgenres. For me a bit too much fantasy. And enough of the subset of stories were too obscure for my tastes. A rare miss by this periodical.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the whole issue.

Special favs:

Naomi Kritzer : ‘The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea’ (novelette)
R.P. Sand : ‘Eternity is Moments’ (short story)

[Zoe]

Hugo finalist for best novelette:
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer - okay