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Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2016
CONTENTS
Novellas
"The Forgotten Taste of Honey" by Alexander Jablokov
"Choose Poison, Choose Life" by Michael Blumlein
Novelettes
"Eating Science with Ghosts" by Octavia Cade
"Wretched the Romantic" by Michael Libling
"The Leaning Lincoln" by Will Ludwigsen
"Project Extropy" by Dominica Phetteplace
Short Stories
"The People in the Building" by Sandra McDonald
"Water Scorpions" by Rich Larson
"Lucite" by Susan Palwick
"When Grandfather Returns" by S. N. Dyer
Poetry
"After" by Herb Kauderer
"Icommensurable" by Eliot Fintushel
"The Ambassador's Daughter" by Megan Arkenberg
"All Saints Day" by Lisa Bellamy
"The Scientist's Paramour" by Lucy A. Snyder
"Tomorrow's Ghosts" by Sarah Gittens
"Old Women of the Wood" by Jane Yolen
Departments
"Editorial: Our Slightly Spooky Issue" by Sheila Williams
"Reflections: Magical Thinking" by Robert Silverberg
"On the Net: Welcome Our Robot Overlords!" by James Patrick Kelly
"On Books: Short Stories" by Norman Spinrad
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2016, Vol. 40, Nos. 10-11 (Whole Nos. 489-490)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Karla Ortiz
Novellas
"The Forgotten Taste of Honey" by Alexander Jablokov
"Choose Poison, Choose Life" by Michael Blumlein
Novelettes
"Eating Science with Ghosts" by Octavia Cade
"Wretched the Romantic" by Michael Libling
"The Leaning Lincoln" by Will Ludwigsen
"Project Extropy" by Dominica Phetteplace
Short Stories
"The People in the Building" by Sandra McDonald
"Water Scorpions" by Rich Larson
"Lucite" by Susan Palwick
"When Grandfather Returns" by S. N. Dyer
Poetry
"After" by Herb Kauderer
"Icommensurable" by Eliot Fintushel
"The Ambassador's Daughter" by Megan Arkenberg
"All Saints Day" by Lisa Bellamy
"The Scientist's Paramour" by Lucy A. Snyder
"Tomorrow's Ghosts" by Sarah Gittens
"Old Women of the Wood" by Jane Yolen
Departments
"Editorial: Our Slightly Spooky Issue" by Sheila Williams
"Reflections: Magical Thinking" by Robert Silverberg
"On the Net: Welcome Our Robot Overlords!" by James Patrick Kelly
"On Books: Short Stories" by Norman Spinrad
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2016, Vol. 40, Nos. 10-11 (Whole Nos. 489-490)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Karla Ortiz
- GenresShort Stories
196 pages, ebook
First published October 11, 2016
About the author
Sheila Williams
290 books69 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
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 13, 2016
This is only my second issue, and I liked this one better than the last. I felt most of the stories had better pacing and the ideas felt more unique and intriguing.
My favorite from this collection was Wretched the Romantic. It was brilliant and witty, and I wish I'd thought of it!
A few of the stories had great voices and were emotionally engaging, but the endings left me flat. All of them were good enough that I didn't skip any this time.
I found myself uncomfortable with the critic's section, On Books. I agreed with some of the premise being put forward, but found the way in which it was done a bit ugly. It may be that I simply have different tastes, and I realize that wasn't his larger point, but the clearly biased fawning for Ellison made the rest of his message sound like an old man yelling at the young kids to get off his lawn.
My favorite from this collection was Wretched the Romantic. It was brilliant and witty, and I wish I'd thought of it!
A few of the stories had great voices and were emotionally engaging, but the endings left me flat. All of them were good enough that I didn't skip any this time.
I found myself uncomfortable with the critic's section, On Books. I agreed with some of the premise being put forward, but found the way in which it was done a bit ugly. It may be that I simply have different tastes, and I realize that wasn't his larger point, but the clearly biased fawning for Ellison made the rest of his message sound like an old man yelling at the young kids to get off his lawn.
January 27, 2017
Editorial: Our Slightly Spooky Issue Asimov’s1 by Sheila Williams reminisces about all the issues of Asimov’s tinged with the uncanny which she has published around Halloween time.
Reflections: Magical Thinking by Robert Silverberg considers Lynn Thorndike’s “magisterial” A History of Magic and Experimental Science “an extraordinary treasurehouse of human thought in all its folly and grandeur.”
On the NET: Welcome Our Robot Overlords!2 by James Patrick Kelly examines the state of AI development.
In an excellent On Books:3 Norman Spinrad, for the first time in his reviewing career at Asimov’s dealing with short story collections/anthologies, notes the tendency for works of fantasy to dominate SF awards (and outlets,) in effect the colonisation of SF by “literary” craftspeople looking for a market (all but the only market,) and the necessity for story and style to be combined to make any fictional work outstanding. He decries the necessity for an author to have a “voice” as the style a tale is told in ought to serve the story, not the ego of its author.
In the fiction, Alexander Jablokov's The Forgotten Taste of Honey4 sees viewpoint character Tromvi have to take a corpse back to the land it came from in order to please the gods. A transfer of memories from the corpse to Tromvi via the honey from a hive inside the body thwarts the man who tries to prevent him.
In Eating Science with Ghosts by Octavia Cade our unnamed narrator goes about eating and drinking with the ghosts of scientists and explorers, ghosts only she can see.
The People in the Building5 by Sandra McDonald describes the occupants of said building – including the interplanetary rescue service on the third floor which has unwisely as it turns out revived an ancient god from a nearby swamp.
Wretched the Romantic by Michael Libling is narrated by Richard, a loser who takes up scattering ashes as a scam once he discovers he has taken on the attributes of the deceased after accidentally inhaling them.
Water Scorpions6 by Rich Larson is set in the aftermath of the crash of an alien spaceship in the Sahara. One of their offspring, genetically modified to make them more human-like, is taken into the family of an ethnobiologist.
In The Leaning Lincoln7 by Will Ludwigstein, said figure is a toy made from a lead ingot salvaged from the shore. It has baleful properties.
Lucite8 by Susan Palwick sees a visitor to an attraction based on Dante’s Inferno take home a dead person’s soul in a lucite box.
Project Entropy9 by Dominica Phetteplace is another in the author’s series on AIs in San Francisco. My heart has begun to sink when I see her name on Asimov’s cover.
When Grandfather Returns10 by S N Dyer is a tale of the appearance among the Navaho of Cabeza De Vaca and his followers and their displacement to the present day.
In Choose Poison, Choose Life11 by Michael Blumlein a woman who has an unfortunate taste in men is variously, and in various guises, saved from, or saves herself from, suicide.
Reflections: Magical Thinking by Robert Silverberg considers Lynn Thorndike’s “magisterial” A History of Magic and Experimental Science “an extraordinary treasurehouse of human thought in all its folly and grandeur.”
On the NET: Welcome Our Robot Overlords!2 by James Patrick Kelly examines the state of AI development.
In an excellent On Books:3 Norman Spinrad, for the first time in his reviewing career at Asimov’s dealing with short story collections/anthologies, notes the tendency for works of fantasy to dominate SF awards (and outlets,) in effect the colonisation of SF by “literary” craftspeople looking for a market (all but the only market,) and the necessity for story and style to be combined to make any fictional work outstanding. He decries the necessity for an author to have a “voice” as the style a tale is told in ought to serve the story, not the ego of its author.
In the fiction, Alexander Jablokov's The Forgotten Taste of Honey4 sees viewpoint character Tromvi have to take a corpse back to the land it came from in order to please the gods. A transfer of memories from the corpse to Tromvi via the honey from a hive inside the body thwarts the man who tries to prevent him.
In Eating Science with Ghosts by Octavia Cade our unnamed narrator goes about eating and drinking with the ghosts of scientists and explorers, ghosts only she can see.
The People in the Building5 by Sandra McDonald describes the occupants of said building – including the interplanetary rescue service on the third floor which has unwisely as it turns out revived an ancient god from a nearby swamp.
Wretched the Romantic by Michael Libling is narrated by Richard, a loser who takes up scattering ashes as a scam once he discovers he has taken on the attributes of the deceased after accidentally inhaling them.
Water Scorpions6 by Rich Larson is set in the aftermath of the crash of an alien spaceship in the Sahara. One of their offspring, genetically modified to make them more human-like, is taken into the family of an ethnobiologist.
In The Leaning Lincoln7 by Will Ludwigstein, said figure is a toy made from a lead ingot salvaged from the shore. It has baleful properties.
Lucite8 by Susan Palwick sees a visitor to an attraction based on Dante’s Inferno take home a dead person’s soul in a lucite box.
Project Entropy9 by Dominica Phetteplace is another in the author’s series on AIs in San Francisco. My heart has begun to sink when I see her name on Asimov’s cover.
When Grandfather Returns10 by S N Dyer is a tale of the appearance among the Navaho of Cabeza De Vaca and his followers and their displacement to the present day.
In Choose Poison, Choose Life11 by Michael Blumlein a woman who has an unfortunate taste in men is variously, and in various guises, saved from, or saves herself from, suicide.
December 29, 2016
The double issue format allows Ms. Sheila Williams, to choose several novellas and novelettes as well as short stories. This issue also has a lot of poetry, including "Old Women of the Wood," by Jane Yolen, which draws on her extensive knowledge of fairy and folk tales.
This issue is less science fiction and more "magic," or, as the cover proclaims, "Slightly Spooky." Appropriate for the October-November issue, but not something I want on a regular basis. Interestingly, Norman Spinrad's column "On Books" discusses this same subject: how fantasy is starting to encroach on traditional science fiction stories. And how the lack of publishing venues for short stories in general is responsible for this
This issue is less science fiction and more "magic," or, as the cover proclaims, "Slightly Spooky." Appropriate for the October-November issue, but not something I want on a regular basis. Interestingly, Norman Spinrad's column "On Books" discusses this same subject: how fantasy is starting to encroach on traditional science fiction stories. And how the lack of publishing venues for short stories in general is responsible for this
July 17, 2017
Review also available at: https://devinhurd.herokuapp.com/singl...
"Slightly" spooky indeed. This collection treads lightly around the supernatural or at least finds justification for indulging in the presence of ghosts. Not every contribution is great, but the great ones make the full set worthwhile. Particularly strong stories included "The Leaning Lincoln" by Will Ludwigsen, "Wretched the Romantic" by Michael Libling and "The Forgotten Taste of Honey" by Alexander Jablokov. I've missed not reading more of Asimov's.
"Slightly" spooky indeed. This collection treads lightly around the supernatural or at least finds justification for indulging in the presence of ghosts. Not every contribution is great, but the great ones make the full set worthwhile. Particularly strong stories included "The Leaning Lincoln" by Will Ludwigsen, "Wretched the Romantic" by Michael Libling and "The Forgotten Taste of Honey" by Alexander Jablokov. I've missed not reading more of Asimov's.
October 27, 2016
My son recently asked me what Donald Trump would be like if he didn't have any money. I found out when I read "The Leaning Lincoln" by Will Ludwigsen.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews