asimov's science fiction may/june 2025

by Sheila Williams

Asimovs Science Ficton, ISSN 1065-2698 Vol 49 #'s 5 & 6

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2025

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

[Michael Frasca · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some very good stories and a few disappointments.

The Hunt for Lemuria 7 by Allen M. Steele
A continuation of a previous novella about the mysterious disappearance of rich tourists investigating strange phenomena on the moon.
The Mountains of the Moon yield some answers, but raise many more questions that perhaps await a future story.
Allen Steele is a Deadhead who likes to sprinkle his stories with references to Grateful Dead songs, history and culture. This novella contains:
- a lyric from Scarlet Begonias
- a callout to their former sound engineer
- the title of a NOLA song they frequently played
- a cover tune usually only played on Halloween
I’ll leave it up to you to find them


The Passage by John Richard Trtek
Passenger, don't you hear me?
Destination seen unclearly.
—Lesh/Holt
The whole world is burning, but our alien saviors are fixing things. In return, they want our best and brightest to make the passage to their world. The first leg is most unusual boat trip with an equally unusual human crew.

The Fight Goes On by Harry Turtledove
Competitive time travel, ‘Schrodinger’s Archduke,’ and why it is so hard to book a hotel room in Sarajevo on June 27th, 1914.


The Tin Man’s Ghost by Ray Nayler
The US won WWII using technology from a crashed alien ship, but Robert Oppenheimer is nonetheless haunted by the same demons. A tale told through the eyes of a cyborg.


Trial by Harry by Michael Libling
An FDA Phase III clinical trial horror story: “Drip, tablet, or suppository…”

Woolly by Carrie Vaughn
Rescuing and protecting gen-gineered pint-sized wooly mammoths that are abandoned becomes an exercise in creativity for a dedicated woman and her friends.

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average issue, but a great new piece from Ray Nayler and a story from the cover by Carrie Vaughn, the rest is so-so, or at least I wasn't in a good mood. I've read and discussed this issue at ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes group.

Contents:
The Writes of Spring [Asimov's Editorials] essay by Rick Wilber a guest editorial about SF where baseball plays a role from the author, who wrote several of those. I still don't know rules of the game and haven't watched a game in my life, so a total miss. 1*
The Other Schlieman [Reflections] essay by Robert Silverberg, the famous Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered (actually not) Troy, had a grandson, Paul Schliemann, who announced in 1912 that his granddad left him clues on how to locate Atlantis... an interesting fact, but nothing special. 3*
Moonshots [On the Net] essay by James Patrick Kelly A Moonbase, an unlikely happening in our world where finances are cut, as the base of future exploration. Really sad to find out that by 2030 ISS will be drowned in the ocean and China will have the only working space station. 3.5*
Baggus Plasticus poem by Ciarán Parkes an enviromental piece, with the main point "I’ll swim\\some day in every\\creature. I’ll be\\in every mouthful\\of food. I’m empty\\of life completely." 3*
Crime and Punishment in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange [Thought Experiments] essay by Kelly Lagor it starts with the novel A Clockwork Orange, reasons for writing it (growing crime rates and the fact that "his way of exploring the trauma left by the 1944 robbery, rape, and assault of his pregnant wife, Lynne, who was attacked by U.S. servicemen (likely deserters) on her way home from work during the London Blitz". Then shift to Kubrick, who after Odyssey 2001 shot this movie, but the US version of the novel lacked the last chapter! 3.5*
Introducing My Friends to My Dad poem by Chiwenite Onyekwelu I haven't understood this one. 1*
The Hunt for Lemuria 7 [Lemuria 7] novella by Allen Steele there was a previous novella by the same author, where Moon tourists who found aliens (?) there. This onw made as a collection of news, forum posts, interviews, etc., after that situation on Earth. 3.5*
In the Forest of Mechanical Trees short story by Steve Rasnic Tem 'a-day-in-life' type of story, old people do what they can to ameliorate the consequences of global warming. Temperatures are over 119 degrees F. They save a family of runaways, whose car broke... 3*
The Fight Goes On novelette by Harry Turtledove a light piece, as travellers from the futures gather in Sarajevo in the summer of 1914, some to prevent the assassination, others to keep it real. A small detail, the character says he knows all local languages, but writes the address as 'Franje Josipa Ulica', where Ulica means Street, while in Slavic languages, Ulica goes before the name, not after. 3.25*
The Tin Man's Ghost [Disintegration Loops] novelette by Ray Nayler finally, the part (not all) of this ongoing alt-history got its name, Disintegration Loops! In this installment (can be read as a standalone), Sylvia Altstatt, a woman who can use an alien artifact to 'speak with the dead'. The year is 1960, the USA is a semi-dictatorship and Sylvia meets Oppenheimer, who informs her that while the US deconstructed alien stuff, opponents got an A-bomb, and she is to read memories of an unusual dead. Great as always. 4*
The Humming of Tamed Dragons short story by A. M. Dellamonica a weird tale about developers of AI, which should befriend kids/teens to protect them from all dangers, from accidents to kidnappers. With the latest danger, the inventors test in at an airport. The concept is interesting but the realization is not for my taste. 2*
Quantum Ghosts (Part 2 of 2) serial by Nancy Kress this part is more action-packed than the last, for a solar flare is coming and people should be saved, even if those people are looters, rapers and murderers. I liked the first part more. 3*
Trial by Harry novelette by Michael Libling two POVs change one another in this story: one is from outside, an experimental drug treatment for old people 'locked-in' in their minds, unable to communicate; the other from inside one of the persons who are in this condition. As he became more able to communicate with the outside world, we can guess we had made a mistake allowing it to happen. 3*
Woolly short fiction by Carrie Vaughn a near future, after a popular movie, where a resurrected mammoth saves a girl, everyone decided they have to have mini-mammoth as their pet. However, they aren't easy pets, so a protagonist runs a farm shelter for mini-mammoths thrown away. And Department of Agriculture says these gene modifications should be terminated. 4*
Stellarium poem by Stuart Greenhouse on reversed lens view... 2*
The Passage novella by John Richard Trtek a weird leisure ship with only one passenger aboard. It is on the route to Suez, where the passenger will move outside Earth. This is part of a benevolent program of help made by alien Lezhenad, who also helped humans to ameliorate the consequences of environmental imbalances. This time, the passenger is Sanjay, a mathematician with a new idea. He is monitored by the captain and a personal evaluator. For me the story lacked something, I was scanning through at the end... 2.5*
Micro Circuit poem by Sai Liuko, a talk with an AI that turns into a stream of (un)consciousness. 2*
On Books (Asimov's, May-June 2025) [On Books] essay by Kelly Jennings most interesting among ones not yet read was maybe Exadelic
Train poem by David Rogers a homage to Simak. 3*
Next Issue (Asimov's, May-June 2025) essay by uncredited looking forward for Suzanne Palmer's novella

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the novella "The Hunt for Lemuria 7" by Allen Steele. It was very good.

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, solid issue full of entertaining and thought-provoking fiction. The poetry, reviews, and essays help round things out.

The Hunt for Lemuria 7 • novella by Allen M. Steele
This sequel to “Lemuria 7 Is Missing” (May/June 2023) reads like the middle third of a longer work, although Steele does a good job of recapping the previous story without being too expository. After an exploratory mission to the Moon mysteriously disappears, plans for a rescue mission get underway. When an amnesiac astronaut from the missing crew suddenly appears on Earth, things get weird. Are aliens involved, or is it something else? Some answers are provided by the end, but I suspect we won’t find out the whole story until another installment is published.

In the Forest of Mechanical Trees • short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
A lot of exposition with a dollop of story to show how climate change might adversely affect residents of Arizona. The mechanical trees are designed to take carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester it for other purposes, such as the manufacture of synthetic fuels.

The Fight Goes On • novelette by Harry Turtledove
A time traveler goes to 1914 to prevent the assassination of Franz Ferdinand—along with hundreds (thousands?) of other time travelers, some of whom also want to prevent the assassination and some of whom want to make sure the assassination goes according to history. It’s an interesting thought experiment, but nothing substansive.

The Tin Man’s Ghost • novelette by Ray Nayler
In an alternate history, the U.S. government uses captured alien technology to devise death rays and other weapons—atomic bombs were never developed. When the Soviets get close to making atomic weapons, the U.S. feels the need to catch up. A reluctant government agent uses her power of telepathy to investigate just how far along the Soviets are. Will the arms race bring death and destruction to the world? This is a well written look at an atomic age that never was but could have been imagined by science fiction writers of the 1950s.

The Humming of Tamed Dragons • short story by A.M. Dellamonica
This story is about an AI trained to predict and prevent kidnappings, the developer trying to coax it through a high stakes test run at Vancouver International Airport. The developer literally runs into some interference in the form of an unusual passenger on her way through the terminal. Slight, but entertaining.

Quantum Ghosts: Part II • novella by Nancy Kress
The second half of a rare, serialized novel is mostly concerned with the preparations and aftermath of a solar storm’s disruption of power and information grids, focusing on a town in New York. It’s a tense story where actual information is distrusted due to AI incompetence and a general lack of faith in science and journalism by the public of this near-future society. Some of the subplots from the first half seemed to be brushed aside, but it might be that there will be a sequel to delve deeper into some of those ideas.

Trial By Harry • novelette by Michael Libling
A man with dementia is put in a blind trial for a promising new drug to reverse aging effects. As the drug takes effect, we slowly see that the man is not a nice person, to say the least. The contrast between him and his children who don’t know his dark side moves toward a terrifying conclusion.

Woolly • short story by Carrie Vaughn
In the near future, miniature woolly mammoths are genetically created. A black market arises for people to buy them as pets, but they turn out to be hard to care for and most are abandoned. A wildlife refuge takes in some of the discarded mammoths, but the federal government eventually decides that all mammoths are to be terminated. The refuge’s owner finds expected and unexpected allies to try to save the animals who exist by no fault of their own.

The Passage • novella by John Richard Trtek
On an Earth devastated by climate change, aliens have arrived and are helping humans to restore things. The aliens have an exchange program of sorts where humans are invited to travel to the alien’s home world. To get to the launching point, candidates are ferried by ship from Mumbai to Suez. On board the ship things aren’t necessarily what they seem, however, and the captain and his assistant are secretly evaluating the candidate for unknown reasons. The story is well written, with good character development and creative extrapolation. I’m just not sure what the ultimate point is.

[George Kasnic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another solid effort top to bottom, the stories and the commentaries, enjoyed them all. Not as much a fan of the poetry, and I enjoy poetry, but it’s basically filler. Solid sci-fi spanning the gamut of the genre. Still need a sci-fi story written in verse like Jason Reynolds “Long Way Down,” that would be marvelous.

[Graeme Scallion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid issue. My favourites were "The Hunt For Lemuria 7", "The Tin Man's Ghost", "Trial by Harry", and "Woolly".

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading this magazine since it first came out back in the spring of 1977 (Yes, at the same time the first STAR WARS movie came out.)

This is the strongest issue in years. We start with the conclusion of the 2-part Nancy Kress story, "Quantum Ghosts". The other stories maintain a high level that flowed well and contained intriguing concepts that challenged me.

My favorite might have been "Wooly", by Carrie Vaughn. What do you do when the government wants your miniature cloned woolly mammoth back??

Most highly recommended!

[Kit MacAllister · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of picking up a free copy from Worldcon and I was not disappointed. There is something really special about a trade paper fiction magazine like this, and the stories were great. There's a reason Asimov's is highly regarded! I particularly enjoyed Harry Turtledove's time travel story, The Fight Goes On, which was a wonderful piece of classic science fiction, as well as John Richard Trtek's piece, The Passage, which had very memorable dialogue and characterization.

[Stephen Burridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, enjoyable issue of the magazine with no really weak stories.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lunar excursion ship Lemuria 7 disappeared five years ago with all six on board. No wreckage. No bodies. This documentary style tale tells of “The Hunt For Lemuria 7”, as Allen M. Steele reveals that truth may be weirder than all the ‘conspiracy theories’ thrown about. When a survivor mysteriously finds herself back on Earth we suspect that we are not alone. Steve Rasnic Tem gives us some cautionary clifi “In The Forest Of Mechanical Trees”, where elderly people are trying to mitigate global warming amid the wasteland that the desert southwest has become, and Harry Turtledove takes us back to Sarajevo in 1914, where the crowds are mostly time-travellers, futilely trying to change history in “The Fight Goes On”. When a UFO crashed in the United States in 1938, the Americans halted their other weapons development and reverse-engineered the alien tech to get, among other things, death rays, which won them the war. They also developed a type of teleportation delivery system for small bombs, used for surgical strikes. But the Soviets continued atomic research and have now detonated a nuclear weapon. Old hands have been recalled and warbots have been repurposed to deal with this existential threat in “The Tin Man’s Ghost” by Ray Nayler. Nancy Kress concludes her novella “Quantum Ghosts” with an impending Carrington Event (massive coronal mass ejection) threatening to destroy not only the Upload Centre but any electronic infrastructure. All while Senator Dayson’s daughter is trapped in the UC. Exciting stuff! Michael Libling gives us the sinister tale of a trial drug for memory degradation like Alzheimer’s and a husband and wife who are in the trial. But sometimes these things are run without due regard to the quality of the applicants, and in this case, whether some patients deserve to be saved. “Trial By Harry” is the standout story in this issue. Mathematical genius Sanjay has been chosen by the alien Lezhenad to make the journey to their home world, there to continue his ground-breaking work on the origins of the ur-Universe, which even the Lezherad do not understand. “The Passage” to their enclave is by ship and provides the opportunity for a woman on board, Asra, to get to know him. But her reasons are not entirely without ulterior motives, as Sanjay’s work may be important to Earth. John Richard Trtek’s tale is fascinating. All good stories here. Recommended issue.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 Overall