Analog Science Fiction & Fact, March/April 2025

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor), Alexander Senko, Arendse Lund

Vol. XCV No. 3 & 4.

Novella:
• MURDER ON THE ERIS EXPRESS, Beth Goder
• THE RETURN OF TOM DILLON, Harry Lang

Novelettes:
• THE CODE OF HIS LIFE, Owen Leddy
• HEAT DEATH, Kate MacLeod

Short stories:
• NOT OPTIMUS PRIME, Lorraine Alden
• TI EATS METAL, Mark Ferguson
• TO REAP, TO SOW, Lyndsey Croal
• THE EMERGENCY CONTACT, Arendse Lund
• THOSE OTHER REPLICATOR MANUFACTURERS ARE RIPPING YOU OFF, Jon Lasser
• TRACK EATS TRACK, Avi Burton
• CONCERNING THE MULTIPLICITY OF CHILDREN IN CENTRAL FLORIDA’S SUBURBANIZED WETLANDS, Ichabod Cassius Kilroy
• PALOMAR GOES TO SPACE, Hayden Trenholm
• ECHO, WRITE TO ALL, Nate Givens
• THE TIMECOP AND THE TIMESOCIAL-WORKER, S.L. Harris
• IF THE WEATHER HOLDS, Marissa Lingen
• MURDER WITH SOFT WORDS, Mike Duncan
• IN THE HOLE, John Markley

Probability Zero
• A WHOLE GENERATION, Timons Esaias

Flash fiction:
• IN HER ELEMENT, M.T. Reiten

Science fact:
• REFLECTIONS ON MIRROR LIFE, Robert A. Love

Poetry:
• THE DARK MATTER STORM, Deborah L. Davitt
• PRECOCIOUS CHILD, Alexander Senko

Reader's departments:
• GUEST EDITORIAL: SEEKING SCIENTIFIC COMMON GROUND, EVEN ON GUNS, Richard A. Lovett
• IN TIMES TO COME
• THE ALTERNATE VIEW, John G. Cramer
• THE REFERENCE LIBRARY, Rosemary Claire Smith
• BRASS TACKS

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Genres: Science Fiction

206 pages, digest magazine

Published February 11, 2025

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 3 out of 5]

This is the second issue this year (2025) of the once famous SF magazine Analog Science Fiction & Fact. In this issue there are two good novellas, but the rest is rather mediocre. I discussed it at ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes group, from where I copy my reviews below.

Contents:
Seeking Scientific Common Ground, Even on Guns [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Richard A. Lovett an attempt to discuss what statistics say on gun control in the US. 3*
Murder on the Eris Express novella by Beth Goder a spaceship's captain is killed and the ship's AI named Mo (the full name was a surprise) starts an investigation. The pool of suspects is small - three passengers (chess geek, jam lady and a monk) plus a mechanic and the AI itself. Filled with light comedy and surprising twists, it reads quite unlike usual Analog stuff, but it was good , bring more! 5*
Reflections on Mirror Life [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Robert A. Love starting with Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “Technical Error” (1946), where an engineer is accidentally exposed to an energy surge from a superconducting generator and finds that all the molecules in his body have been spatially inverted, this it the outline of pluses and minuses of such a change. 3*
NOT Optimus Prime short story by Lorraine Alden Vera is a mathematician who spends her time with a quantum computer. She just discovered the largest known prime number when a maintenance man Brian came to check the helium that cools the computer. Suddenly, the computer starts outputting what looks like a message from another sentient species. Vera and Brian start discussing who should be acclaimed as the first contacter. 3.25*
Gene Pool [Unknowns (puzzle)] essay by Ada Nicole a crossword with DNA, YET TO SOLVE
It Eats Metal short story by Mark Ferguson A dog vanishes, then some of people who searched for it. Due to something unknown, plants started to incorporate metals... old but clever locals seek for ways to stop this menace. 2.75*
To Reap, to Sow short story by Lyndsey Croal a narrator is a woman biologist, trying to create conditions to grow food on Moon/Mars as well as environmentally devastated Earth. She finds how, but it is only a start. 3*
In Times to Come (Analog, March-April 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited nothing strikes me as a must have
The Emergency Contact short story by Arendse Lund an old woman stranded in her house by a storm calls emergency services, but connects to some kind of galactic emergence service. Nicely done. 4*
The JWST and Early Universe Puzzles [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer what the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows - far early galaxies and giant black holes. 4*
A Whole Generation short story by Timons Esaias after Omnifactors became widespread (produces everything) teens started to run away for space exploration. 3*
Those Other Replicator Manufacturers are Ripping You Off short story by Jon Lasser check what you buy flash fic. 3*
Track Eats Track short story by Avi Burton a track racer, after his friend (also a racer) died at 24, attempts to stop his own career. However, he is full of implants and investors won't allow him to leave. His couch begs him to stay... the start reminded me of a play by Stanisław Lem, but the solution here is way less interesting. 2.75*
Concerning the Multiplicity of Children in Central Florida's Suburbanized Wetlands short story by Ichabod Cassius Kilroy a bit of New Wave, quite unlike Analog, this is a story of a girl and her little brother... I don't get it, so while it can be a gem, only 2* from me
Mr. Palomar Goes to Space short story by Hayden Trenholm a mysterious benefactor pays for ordinary people to visit a space station. Mr. Palomar is randomly chosen and sent to space. As can be expected from SF, something on the station goes wrong... 3*
The Dark Matter Storm poem by Deborah L. Davitt a nice piece filled with physics. 4*
The Code of His Life novelette by Owen Leddy a near future, biotech and biohacking is cheap, there are grey markets with sell stuff like bacteria that makes styrofoam into aspirin. The protagonist, Ava is a biologist and the story starts when she meets her friend, who was something of a prodigy. He boasts that he works for a powerful bio corp only to die almost instantly from a bio weapon. Ava runs away, for she got a stash of bio-reseach from him, worth a fortune, corp follow her trail. 3.5*
Echo, Write to All short story by Nate Givens an Earth colony that lost most of its knowledge. Trak is a young acolyte trained by Ministers to enter a code to the central node (codes are Unix commands). He decides to follow another way. There is quite vague issue - does he understand commands or is it a spiritual awakening... 3*
The TimeCop and the TimeSocial-Worker short story by S. L. Harris what the title says - a day in lives of a TimeSocial-Worker and a glimpse at her husband, the TimeCop... too generalized to enjoy. 2.5*
In Her Element short story by M. T. Reiten a startup created an ultimate recycler: Our Universal Gleaner applied two-dimensional correlated electron materials to manipulate feedstock and trick molecules into unzipping into basic elements. If the settings were tuned to atomic mass and electron orbital precision. then the chief researcher vanished. A quick, successful investigation. This reminded me of an old story with the same idea but an opposite punchline solution. 3.25*
If the Weather Holds short story by Marissa Lingen the starting sentence is Humans can normalize just about any suffering, especially someone else’s. and it sets the mood: a charity that helps people in even more frequent weather extremes seeks new donations. However, their ad campaign ideas IMHO are weak. 3*
Murder with Soft Words short story by Mike Duncan a group observes and bets on the comet, which is about to hit Io (Jupiter's moon) to end a prolonged war by genociding one of two sides. Misha bets that comet won't hit, even if chances of it are less than 1%... the setting is interesting but I think this story is too short to fit it, so 3*
In the Hole short story by John Markley a gambling heist by a poker player, to recover all his previous losses. Some nice ideas how to cheat under high tech surveilance but the story itself didn't engaged me. 3*
Precocious Child poem by Alexander Senko is it about training AI? 3.5*
Heat Death novelette by Kate MacLeod this is a murder mystery set in a relatively near future western Texas on the fringes of the Chihuahuan Desert. A body is found on the hiking trail, the trail was closed due to its danger. The police detective Lidia once lived here, so she knows a possible murder. 3*
The Return of Tom Dillon [Tom Dillon] novella by Harry Lang new gruesome murders on Mars, where murders are a rarity: “Martians generally have a more subdued emotional range. By design. A highly controlled environment, rigorous psychological selection criteria for immigration, effective tracking and intervention, rigid social controls. Mars is the biggest experiment yet in building Utopia by handcrafting a race of utopians. I’m no expert on Martian psychology, but it makes sense that what presents on Earth as a tidal wave of violent actions is distilled into a single, economical act.” And now it seems that not one but two (groups?) are committing them. 3.5*
The Reference Library (Analog, March-April 2025) [The Reference Library] essay by Rosemary Claire Smith I'm mildly interested in the Spiral Arm series by Michael F. Flynn, here the final, 5th volume is discussed, but if I start it, I'll start with the 1st. No other book really appealed to me.
Brass Tacks [Brass Tacks] essay by various here is some discussion of selected pieces from 2024

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

March/April 2025 Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Vol 145, No 3 & 4)

8 • Murder on the Eris Express • 33 pages by Beth Goder
Very Good. The Captain tampers with Mo’s memory so when he winds up dead the AI has no recorded evidence of who murdered him. There are only three passengers, one crew and a couple of cleaning bots. Could it be the chess master? The woman pushing her jams? The enigmatic priest? Surely not Shelly.

46 • Not Optimus Prime • 12 pages by Lorraine Alden
Good/OK. Vera is running a calculation to discover a very large prime number. A tech comes in to change the cooling tank. Not in the middle of a job, so he hangs around. They talk and eventually the job finishes, it looks like she has a winner. Then the computer starts acting funny. After a few mathematical exchanges they conclude it’s some sort of alien communication. She gets a message NOT and her big prime. She concludes there is some danger with that number, while Brian is gung-ho to say they’ve had communication with aliens. Both seem premature to me, but the rest of the story is based on their reactions.

58 • It Eats Metal • 8 pages by Mark Ferguson
OK. There’s a woods in Stikine where a dog was killed, no body found, the owner who ran after it heard the whimpers but five steps in was attacked by barbs and barely crawled out with her life and scars on her shins. Later two workers looking for a sinkhole went in but never came out. This was like a horror story, the protagonists saying maybe it’s some metal concentrating experiment that escaped, but no further explanation.

66 • To Reap, to Sow • 7 pages by Lyndsey Croal
Good/OK. Isla is working on fast growing crops. Right now it’s mostly kelp for dinner, so she’s hoping that with further testing this can help people on Earth, and those in space, too.

73 • The Emergency Contact • 3 pages by Arendse Lund
Good/VG. Haha. A fallen tree has blocked Mabel’s car and although not immediately threatening she calls emergency for help.

79 • A Whole Generation • 1 page by Thomas Esaias
Fair. Youngsters are running off these days. Anton doesn’t think the search will find them.

82 • Those Other Replicator Manufacturers Are Ripping You off • 3 pages by Jon Lasser
Good+. Gimmicky, in this case the humor works.

85 • Track Eats Track • 5 pages by Avi Burton
Good/OK. Matsy’s racing colleague dies and it’s enough push for him to say that he wants out.

90 • Concerning the Multiplicity of Children in Central Florida's Suburbanized Wetlands • 9 pages by Ichabod Cassius Kilroy
OK. Kind of interesting that young Mori tries to take care of her even younger brother Orion. As she goes through her day there are Mori ghosts giving her advice. Since they died, I’m not sure how great their advice could be. In the end though it didn’t seem to go anywhere, or maybe it was that it went everywhere.

99 • Mr. Palomar Goes to Space • 7 pages by Hayden Trenholm
Good+. Palomar got a trip to Florida and he’s visiting the space center. Evidently he filled out some questionnaire and was selected to be an everyman sent into space. He’s not sure why anyone would do this, but they’re going to compensate him for the time he misses at work. So, it’s all cool. He’s going.

106 • The Code of His Life • 16 pages by Owen Leddy
Good/Very Good. The world of bioengineering is big time. Alejandro has found a job with big pharma and won’t have to toil on the gray market anymore. A splurge with Ava and Chris to celebrate his good fortune ends with him dead of a viral attack. Ava quickly realizes Ale was into something. She ID’d the corporate spy tailing him into the bar, and there was also the girl with white eyes. A bit of a thriller.

122 • Echo, Write to All • 8 pages by Nate Givens
Good. Trak has been trained by the Ministers in the incantations used to talk with the ship. They are plotting to wrest power back from the Wardens. Trak is pretty sure that if he fails the Ministers will kill him and if he succeeds the Wardens will do the job.

130 • The Timecop and the Timesocial-Worker • 4 pages by S. L. Harris
OK. Leo, the social worker, laments that there isn’t any help he can provide other than grief counseling.

134 • In Her Element • 2 pages by M. T. Reiten
OK/Fair. The narrator founded a company making a gleaner. A universal recycler.

136 • If the Weather Holds • 2 pages by Marissa Lingen
Fair/OK. Luis, Tash and Holly focus on the relief efforts associated with the more frequent abnormal (or is it new normal?) weather.

138 • Murder with Soft Words • 6 pages by Mike Duncan
Fair. A comet is minutes away with impact on Io. Ending the war (no specifics). Misha comes in and bets that it’ll miss. Too much backstory not included for me to get a handle on what’s happening.

144 • In the Hole • 10 pages by John Markley
OK. Nick has lost his fortune, but plans to make some recovery tonight in a high stakes poker game. The planning includes having given himself an edge.

154 • Heat Death • 10 pages by Kate Macleod
Good/VG. Chloe finds a dead man in the park. Dead of heat stroke, but he had brand new hiking gear, what was he doing there?

164 • The Return of Tom Dillon • 36 pages by Harry Lang
VG/Good. Hector demoted to uniform and desk, drinking to forget his last case “Hothouse Orchids,” now has a new case. A woman strangled and buried outside the dome. Is it the Orchids again, this time going after political figures’ relatives? Maybe several more murders happen. Suddenly Hector is once again a detective. Mystery story in an SF setting.

[Michael Goodine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some pretty good stories this month.

I really enjoyed "Murder on the Eris Express," the opening novella. As the name suggests it is a murder mystery. Some might find it a bit too cute for the pages of Analog, but I dug it.

I also liked "Mr. Palomar Goes to Space," about an ordinary guy selected to go to space is also a lot of fun.

The closing Novella, Harry Lang's "The Return of Tom Dillon," is excellent if you've read Lang's "Hothouse Orchids," which features the same protagonist.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ship AI Mo, short for Moriarty, has awoken after three hours have been scrubbed from her memory, to find her captain, Jeremy, brutally killed. The wounds resemble an odd language of lines and since the ship is in space there are only the passengers and crew for suspects. In “Murder On The Eris Express”, each suspect is examined and discarded in true Agatha Christie fashion until the shocking denouement. A wonderful tale from Beth Goder, from whom I hope to see more. When researcher Vera finds a new largest ever prime number it triggers an alien intelligence, warning her not to use it in any cryptographic communication. It also starts a fight for life to conceal the discovery from a narcissistic social media whore in “NOT Optimus Prime” by Lorraine Alden. Mark Ferguson takes us to Canada where a strange overgrown area is the scene of a number of disappearances and it is postulated that something living there is the culprit in “It Eats Metal”. Orion has set up a computer simulation to try to find the precise set of life choices that he and his dead sister Mori should have made to be together. “Concerning The Multiplicity Of Children In Central Florida’s Suburbanized Wetlands” by Ichabod Cassius Kilroy is an affecting tale of loss and hope and persistence. A memorable tale. “Mr. Palomar Goes To Space” sends everyman Mr. Palomar on a ride to space to check the average schmo’s ability to travel. But a near-disaster sees him rise to the occasion in this feelgood tale from Hayden Trenholm. When street biopharmacist Alejandro is murdered by Big Pharma his best friend Ava decides to bring him some justice. Using the samples Ale had appropriated, as bait, she puts one of their operatives to an ultimatum in “The Code Of His Life” by Owen Leddy. Scarily plausible. The descendants of a crashed spaceship have grown to see old computer commands as prayers but the latest genius acolyte has stumbled over something amazing in “Echo, Write To All” by Nate Givens. John Markley shows us that even if you have an undetectable way to cheat at cards you can still find yourself “In The Hole”, while the discovery of a Lunar citizen in brand new hiking clothes, dead of heat stroke in a West texas heatwave, leads to the resolution of a decades-old crime in “Heat Death” by Kate MacLeod. Harry Lang closes things with the police procedural “The Return Of Tom Dillon”, where the arrival of Detective Hector Kovack’s friend Tom Dillon from the Moon coincides with an uptick in activity from the Hothouse Orchids, a terrorist group, and some murdered women. Good issue.

[Stephen Burridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few duds among the short stories, though I liked “To Reap, to Sow” and “Mr. Palomar Goes to Space”. I thought the novella “Murder on the Eris Express” was entertaining and well written, perhaps the best story in the issue. The other novella, “The Return of Tom Dillon” is another murder mystery, this one set in an interestingly bleak future Mars colony and featuring an unhappy, hard-drinking police detective. Also a strong story. I also liked the two novelettes, “The Code of His Life”, a cyberpunk-like piece in which a “street corner gene hacker” is murdered and his friend tries to figure out the involvement of powerful biotech corporations in the death, and “Heat Death”, in which a future cop investigates a death in the Arizona desert. Not an outstanding issue, but still a solid 3 stars.

[Marta E C R · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there were some excellent stories and articles in this issue (especially the novella Murder on the Eris Express; short stories Concerning the Multiplicity of Children in Central Florida's Suburbanized Wetlands and Mr. Palomar Goes to Space; and the Guest Editorial: Seeking Scientific Common Ground, Even on Guns), overall it felt very dystopic and there were quite a few which didn't sit well enough with me even to rate (which I usually do to prepare for AnLab voting each January), or which I honestly didn't understand but didn't feel like I wanted to go back and reread them to try to understand. Thus this issue overall gets a lower rating than my usual 4 stars. I still liked a lot of it, though!

[Brendan Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite issue by far ... lots of stinkers in here ... just lacking good hard sci-fi. A murder mystery is still a murder mystery, just because you set the scene on Mars vs. Earth ... that doesn't really make it a sci-fi story.

Pass on this one.