Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November/December 2020

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor), Gordon R. Dickson (Contributor), Juliette Wade (Contributor)

Volume CXXXX, No. 11 & 12.

Contents:
4 • Therefore, I Knew Him • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by Trevor Quachri
9 • Call Him Lord • (1966) • novelette by Gordon R. Dickson
20 • Together, We Can Be More! • novelette by Juliette Wade
34 • Big Smart Objects • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven
44 • This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty • novelette by Evan Marcroft
59 • So Many Blank Moons • poem by Holly Lyn Walrath
60 • A Purpose for Stars • short story by Brad McNaughton
70 • Ghost Strike • short story by Brenda Kalt
77 • Peaceweaver • short story by Marissa Lingen
80 • The Polar Bear Sleeps On • short story by M. Bennardo
84 • The Lentz Soliton FTL Drive • [The Alternate View] • essay by John G. Cramer
87 • Event • short story by Timons Esaias
88 • Courtship FTL • short story by Mary E. Lowd
91 • Beloved Toiler • short story by George Zebrowski
98 • The Women We Can See in Analog • essay by Marie Vibbert
104 • Brought Near to Beast • short story by Gregor Hartmann
114 • Trial and Error • novelette by Grey Rollins
131 • Asleep Was the Ship • short story by Eric Del Carlo
139 • Just the Facts: How Articles Came to Astounding • essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr.
146 • State of Grace • short story by Clancy Weeks
156 • Lazarus, Unbound • short story by Liam Hogan
158 • In Times to Come (Analog, November-December 2020) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
159 • Ashes • short story by Mario Milosevic
161 • The Return • poem by G. O. Clark
162 • Why Things Work on a Starship • short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
166 • Winter's Spring • novelette by A. P. Hawkins
178 • Enter the Fungicene • novelette by J. M. Swenson
200 • The Reference Library (Analog, November-December 2020) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Don Sakers
206 • Letters & upcoming events.

Genres: Science Fiction

208 pages, digest magazine

First published October 13, 2020

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 November-December 2020 issue of Analog. While the stories in this issue are quite good, they aren’t of the wow kind.


Therefore, I Knew Him [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Trevor Quachri This is a usual intro of the magazine, which presents the last reprint related to the magazine’s 90th anniversary and speaks about the US politics, among other thinks calling not to vote for Trump and comparing him to the character in Dickson’s story. 3*
Call Him Lord -1966 novelette by Gordon R. Dickson a prince of human interstellar emire visits Earth, which is held low tech and takes a horse ride with locally appointed bodyguard. The prince is not a very good person.
Together, We Can Be More! novelette by Juliette Wade a nice easy story about gathering several alien species and humans (I guess mostly young ones) on a space station in order to boost communication between them. each small chapter by a different specie and their point of view. Maybe a bit YA but endearing. 3.5*
Big Smart Objects [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven related to the trilogy by the same authors, discussion of really large artificial objects like a Ringworld or a Dyson’s sphere. What scientific issues arise. 4*
This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty novelette by Evan Marcroft humans crash on a planet where they can suvive only by becoming toys of local low-tech species they call Rabbits. The protagonist initially hates everything in this situation but later sees a fuller picture humans are taught that aliens attacked and destroyed the Earth, but actually its humans who made in uninhabitable andnow they spread like plague polluting other worlds. Interesting concepts but underdeveloped. 2.5*
So Many Blank Moons poem by Holly Lyn Walrath we paint space. 2*
A Purpose for Stars short story by Brad McNaughton a surgeon on a mission at newly discovered planet with a medieval tech civilization. Locals have a signal system based on the getting their faces showing different colors based on underskin blood pressure. There are some who are unable to do it, ‘mutes’ and the surgeon operates to restore the function. One local patient has a heart defect and an operation quite likely will kill him. What to do? 4*
Ghost Strike short story by Brenda Kalt a debt-ridden asteroid miner is offered a forgiveness of his debts if he gets a chache of mined materials in space. He however, finds not minerals but a derelict human ship, which is even better, but how to transport it to the base? 3*
Peaceweaver short story by Marissa Lingen a pianist visits aliens to find a new and unexpected way of art. 2.5*
The Polar Bear Sleeps On short story by M. Bennardo a polar bear leaves zoo and lives in a rich human house after due to some disaster all humans died. 2.5*
The Lentz Soliton FTL Drive [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer a possible warp drive. Above my knowledge. 3*
Event short story by Timons Esaias flash fic about humans failing to see a calamity that destroyed them. 3*
Courtship FTL short story by Mary E. Lowd if ships are sentienty, you don’t buy one but partner with it. 3*
Beloved Toiler short story by George Zebrowski a homage to Citizen Kane and its creators. Not my interest. 1*
The Women We Can See in Analog essay by Marie Vibbert attempt to check the share of women contributors over years and problems (pen names, initials, etc) that complicate the problem. 3.5*
Brought Near to Beast short story by Gregor Hartmann two men, young and old follow a herd of mammoths, which were re-introduced by aliens, who now control Earth. The younger wants to show himself to be taken as an alien’s helper. Potentially interesting but undeveloped world. 2.5*
Trial and Error novelette by Grey Rollins a cook of a mission to an alien world was earlier taught by other aliens that his decisions should be long term intervenes when due to a misunderstanding several humans and aliens kill each other and hot headed leader of human team wants revenge. A nice idea but how on Earth a bully can be sent as a leader of a diplomatic mission is a gaping plot hole. 3.5*
Asleep Was the Ship short story by Eric Del Carlo aliens cannot be active when a ship is a hyperspace, so they hire a human to be woke during the voyage. However, he soon finds out that he is not alone. 2.5*
Just the Facts: How Articles Came to Astounding essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr. who wrote fact articles for he magazine, history of it. 3*
State of Grace short story by Clancy Weeks a ship’s drive is damaged and AI wakes a crew member from cold sleep to do repairs. The mission is under heavy radiation that will kill that member and they both are aware of it. Whil they prepare they became friends. 3.5*
Lazarus, Unbound short story by Liam Hogan far future AI collects cryo-sleeping bodies of undesirable people to set them on a mission 2*
In Times to Come (Analog, November-December 2020) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited what to wait for next issue
Ashes short story by Mario Milosevic long-living human woman says goodbye to her even longer living mother. 2*
The Return poem by G. O. Clark
Why Things Work on a Starship short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer a nice story why rules matter written as a dialogue between a smart engineer and ship’s captain, who shows who not only geniuses should be allowed to be engineers. 3.5*
Winter's Spring novelette by A. P. Hawkins a colonization of a very cold planet. 2.5*
Enter the Fungicene novelette by J. M. Swenson for over 5000 years a group of clones of several women work to restore Earth biosphere, where mushrooms are the dominant species. The project was initially planned for a century, but there is no end in sight, why? 3*
The Reference Library (Analog, November-December 2020) [The Reference Library] essay by Don Sakers reviews, mostly BAEN books

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several really fine stories in this issue to put it at four and a half, rounded up to five stars.

9 • Call Him Lord • 11 pages by Gordon R. Dickson
Good+. Humanity has colonized a hundred worlds. There is an emperor to maintain a cohesiveness. Earth has become a rustic world, but it’s there to keep human’s human, to make sure there is no genetic drift. Every fourth generation the family must marry an Earther. A prince visits, incognito, and Kyle is to be his bodyguard. The prince is very adept, but very arrogant about it.

20 • Together, We Can Be More! • 14 pages by Juliette Wade
Good+. A habitat is created to house six different species, human plus five more. They interact, some of it’s kind of funny and heart warming. Broken into short segments, so we hear the inner voice of the different species. A lot to absorb.

44 • This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty • 16 pages by Evan Marcroft
Good. A group of human colonists crash onto Sheen. The novo men and women barely survive, but feel trapped by the environment and enslaved by the bunnies who have kept them alive.

60 • A Purpose for Stars • 10 pages by Brad McNaughton
OK/Good. Pedroso became a doctor to help as many underprivileged as he could. Well he really doesn’t know his purpose, but something like that. He helped many people on Earth before the cures were so fast he wasn’t needed. So he went to Yuma. There he helped many of the native species fix death face that afflicted about one in a thousand. There was one Yumjian that also had a bad heart and they couldn’t operate.

70 • Ghost Strike • 7 pages by Brenda Kalt
Good/OK. Failed miner gets an opportunity to do a salvage run. Probably risky, but he’s shoveling sewage now, and his wages are garnished.

77 • Peaceweaver • 3 pages by Marissa Lingen
OK. The Keroshans can’t intermarry with humans or ensure peace, so they exchange artists. Lora gets there and has no idea what to do. They have no interest in her music.

80 • The Polar Bear Sleeps on • 4 pages by M. Bennardo
OK. A polar bear roams in a post apocalypse world. Mildly interesting, but I'm not really invested in the bear. I think the story is more of a statement on complacency.

88 • Courtship FTL • 2 pages by Mary E. Lowd
Good. Addie goes to buy a spaceship and learns that the ship also has a say in the matter.

90 • Beloved Toiler • 8 pages by George Zebrowski
Poor. A bit of documentary of Welles and Hearst. Hearst didn’t like Citizen Kane, so he sabotaged some new great Welles movie. Then future someone finishes the film using new techniques, but then the stolen footage is found. None of it grabbed me.

104 • Brought Near to the Beast • 10 pages by Gregor Hartmann
Good. The ChoRen, advanced humans, have brought back a prehistoric landscape to the Americas. Peng is hoping for an implant that will give him immediate access to everything, until then he is the vet looking after the mammoths. Even there though the technician has more rapport with the creatures.

114 • Trial and Error • 17 pages by Grey Rollins
Very Good+. A first contact team weren’t able to solidify relations with the Bennat. The contact team from the Gorbachev wasn’t doing any better and maybe worse, going from an indifference to considering open hostility. Paul made a mistake earlier in his career, but he became an anwabi. He’s the cook, not trained for contact, so when he acts on an idea the specialists don’t like it.

131 • Asleep Was the Ship • 15 pages by Eric Del Carlo
Good. Coates was the breather, the lone being awake while the ship crossed the Quinque Sweep, except maybe he wasn’t. Then again maybe he was and the Sweep was causing him to hallucinate.

146 • State of Grace • 10 pages by Clancy Weeks
Very Good/Excellent. After failures broke Carol’s drones, the ship had to wake one of the human colonists. The repair would certainly lead to Henry’s death. If not immediately, within a few years.

156 • Lazarus, Unbound • 2 pages by Liam Hogan
OK+. Would be colonists’ ship never made it past Neptune. Some are being revived four thousand year later. Humanity has changed in the interim.

159 • Ashes • 3 pages by Mario Milosevic
OK/Fair. The life expectancy of our narrator could be a thousand years. Her mother was nine-fifty. I couldn’t put logistics out of my head. Over population, resources to fire a rocket into space just for a funeral.

162 • Why Things Work on a Starship • 4 pages by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
Good/Very Good. Alex is called into the chief engineer’s office. She’s a great engineer, but this meeting hasn’t started like a congratulatory talk.

166 • Winter's Spring • 12 pages by A. P. Hawkins
Good/Very Good. The crew is trying to create a habitat on Winter. The weather in the Southern Hemisphere is too violent and the north is cold. Nia is directing the project but is having continual trouble with Kieran’s attitude.

178 • Enter the Fungicene • 22 pages by J. M. Swenson
Good+. The Earth has a toxic atmosphere and fungal growth dominates after the cycles of burning and rain. Vivian 2698 and the other clones are continuing the mission of trying to restore Earth to a livable condition. Vivian worries that it's never going to happen. Thousands of years ago, it was going to take maybe a couple hundred years, yet now they aren't any closer.

[Michael Goodine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best and most readable issue of the year. It probably deserves a four star review, but I've given it a fifth star because I didn't notice a single typo, spelling mistake or grammar error in the whole thing. It's got a pretty cover, too.

A few highlights:

"Together, we Can be More." A light story, but pleasant to read in these particularly trying times.

"This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty." A touching story (eventually, anyways) about a colonization attempt that goes badly.

"State of Grace." Yet another AI story in Analog, but quite well done.

"Enter the Fungicene." I think this is J.M. Swenson's first published SF story (well, according to ISFDB). It is a bit rough at points, but I liked it. I'm always going to cheer for a good fungal SF story.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

An upgraded species of human has fled the wreckage of Earth, presumably destroyed by the CthO, but when one of the fleet crashes on the harsh world of Sheen, they encounter natives who wish to use them as a kind of plush toy. In a desperate bid to escape the planet they make a balloon and find more wreckage, but they also find a Big Lie and possibly doom a planet. Evan Marcroft’s “This Hard World Of Unwanted Beauty” is bittersweet. A medical officer treating a paling disease of natives finds that the meaning of death varies among different species in “A Purpose For Stars” by Brad McNaughton, while Grey Rollins gives us a tale of alien contact gone awry and a ship’s cook who doubles as an anwabi - a sort of sage - who might just salvage things in “Trial And Error”. A settler is wakened early en route to Proxima to repair a generator but it means a deadly amount of radiation exposure and he develops an unusual relationship with the ship AI in the moving “State Of Grace” by Clancy Weeks, and some nice space opera from Brenda Kalt where a down-and-out ore miner finds a derelict spaceship in “Ghost Strike”. A fairly consistent issue.

[Jeppe Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This issue consists mostly of stories in space, on strange planets with weird aliens, or aboard starships. The stories kind of blend together because of that, but the standout stories for me were the following.

"This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty" by Evan Marcroft is a really well written story about humans stranded on a hostile alien planet, that makes them co-operate with the weird aliens in an unusual manner. The ending twists the sympathy from the humans to the aliens. Unique and strange aliens are hard to do, but this is well done.

Another story with interesting strange aliens is "A Purpose for Stars" by Brad McNaughton about a surgeon working all day trying to help the aliens with a common birth defect. A special case forces him to consider ethical dilemmas regarding who to perform operation on when certain risks are involved. Not just for the patient, but for the humans relationship with the aliens.

In "Trial and Error" by Grey Rollins the protagonist is a cook for the human military presence on an alien planet. They are not at war with the aliens, but not exactly on good terms either. He finds a way to deal diplomacy better than the military people.

"State of Grace by Clancy Weeks tells the story about an engineer who is woken up the AI aboard a colonization ship were everyone is in cryosleep. He needs to fix something, but gets untreatable cancer in the process, so he spends his short awaken life building an intimate relationship with the AI personality.

"Enter the Fungicene" by J.M. Swenson imagines a strange future thousands of years from now, where Earth is inhabited solely by cloned females working on restoring the planets environment. But it is taking longer than planned. It gets a little heavy on the infodumps, but otherwise an interesting premise.

[Timo Pietilä · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok issue, but Analog would, really, really need a science editor. More and more stupid errors seem to creep in issue by issue.


Together, We Can Be More! • novelette by Juliette Wade

A space station is repurposed for several different alien species so that they can learn co-operation, their languages, habits and to make friends. Told in snippets from different (in most cases alien) viewpoints (the aliens having pretty human psyches and even languages which resemble English in structure [two personals pronouns for genders]). A bit of an overlong story with little cohesive plot. **+

This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty • novelette by Evan Marcroft

A human ship has crashed on a world where most life is apparently silicon-based ends horribly sharp and maims and kills when touched. However, somehow there are intelligent creatures, who help humans, carry them around apparently as pets, give them pieces of their flesh to eat, and parts of their skin as “cloth” (I don’t really understand the biochemistry of that). The humans consider this horribly demeaning and try to get to the emergency transmitter to get help. The aliens feel a bit anthropomorphized and chemistry is bizarre. Human behavior and attitudes feel strange, also. ***½

A Purpose for Stars • short story by Brad McNaughton

An altruistic doctor is on an alien planet performing procedures for a condition that affects the faces of the local intelligent species. The colors on faces are used as part of local communication, so the condition which prevents that is socially debilitating. One child has a heart condition that poses a huge risk for the procedure and it is most likely the child will die from it. The mother presses for the operation. What should they do? A pretty good but slightly short story. ***½

Ghost Strike • short story by Brenda Kalt

Down in his luck, asteroid prospector gets an offer he can’t refuse. He is supposed to find an old discarded lump of ore. He doesn’t find that but something more valuable. A problem-solving story with nothing really new. ***

Peaceweaver • short story by Marissa Lingen

An artist joins an alien race to enhance co-operation and friendship between species. How does a composer present his art to a species which has no concept of music? There is something all artists everywhere share. Reading critiques. A short entertaining story. ***

The Polar Bear Sleeps On • short story by M. Bennardo

A polar bear escapes the zoo and has moved into an upper-class apartment. The people there have died. There are food stores but they don’t last long. A well-told postapocalyptic story. I don’t get why the bear was so lethargic, though. ***-

Beloved Toiler • short story by George Zebrowski

Orson Welles’s Magnificant Ambressons is being recreated but the original footage which was thought to be lost is found - or something. The first half of the story is the history of Orson Welles and Citizen Kane and Magnificent Andersson told in more than 100-word-long sentences (no kidding, I counted). A pretty bad story; more of a history lecture and not very well told. **-

Brought Near to Beast • short story by Gregor Hartmann

Pleistocene ecology with mammoths and dire wolves has been created in North America after ChoRen, a group that took global power and eliminated religion and superstition (and most of the humans). A game warden has lived for a long time with animals and when a veterinarian comes to visit, is gone pretty much “native”. The professionalism of them seems to be pretty bad, as the feed rhododendron leas for the mammoths - it is a poisonous plant, after all. The leader of Choren is coming to visit. A pretty clumsy and bad story with a LOT of forced exposition and explaining. **+

Trial and Error • novelette by Grey Rollins

A research group has landed on an alien planet with sentient aliens. The aliens are not at all interested in humans and mostly ignore them. There is a disastrous encounter where both humans and aliens end up dead. The cook of the ship has a plan for a peaceful solution, but some hotheads want revenge at almost any cost. I don’t understand why the members of a research/diplomatic mission would be horribly stupid, bigoted, and violent persons. Wouldn’t there be some sort of vetting process to weed out idiots? Otherwise a very good and well-written story. ****-

Asleep Was the Ship • short story by Eric Del Carlo

A human is working as a “breath” on an alien space ship. He stays awake as the alien pilgrims sleep while the ship passes a region of space which for some reason is harmful to the alien minds. He must watch over the sleeping alien during the transit. A few days into the journey he hears steps… is someone else there? A fairly good story, but 40 days at about half food rations (apparently there is no leeway in the food stores at all) isn’t going to kill or even seriously hurt anyone. ***½

Ashes • short story by Mario Milosevic

Hundreds of years' old woman is at her mother’s funeral, who died by suicide when she was 950 years old. They have evolved to live for a long time by conceiving from the last possible egg. The funerals are bittersweet and festive and the won powders on her own life. Otherwise a nice story, but the premise was horribly stupid. EVOLUTION DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY. The genetic set-up of a child doesn’t depend on which order the children are born. The second story with Lamarckian evolution in Analog in a short while. **-

State of Grace • short story by Clancy Weeks

An interstellar spaceship encounters a disaster mid-transit. The automatic systems can’t handle it and the ship AI wakes one passenger, an engineer who can make the repairs. The downside is that repairs will cause radiation damage which will certainly kill him from cancer in a few years. Actually, it doesn’t work like that - after a single radiation dose (which apparently doesn’t even cause severe radiation sickness) the cancer risk goes well up, but cancer is anything but a sure thing. According to the data I found, a single 1000 mSV dose, which will give you pretty bad but usually survivable radiation sickness, gives you a 1:13 risk of cancer due to radiation, and it takes years or decades. In spite of the bit shaky background, the story was very good with a nice development of the characters. ***½

Why Things Work on a Starship • short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer

An engineer in a space ship is very good and is able to improve on the designs on the ship. The captain recognizes that but warns him of two original designs as more or less mediocre other crew wouldn't understand in a dangerous situation, but... A nice, but short story. ***

Winter's Spring • novelette by A. P. Hawkins

A ship that has run from the Earth, which is under an alien attack has arrived at its destination. The planet they are supposed to colonize is cold - very cold. Much colder than it was supposed to be. Is it even possible to establish a colony so that the crew will be able to WAKE up the sleeping colonists? They try to establish farming, but the ground doesn’t seem to warm as it should. As a surprise discovery they find out that the frozen ground acts as a heat sink. No shit. Who would have thought? The energy needed for heating is running out. Using geothermal energy and drilling through 10 meters of frozen ground would be too demanding so they invent another approach: build gigantic wind turbines on the other side of the planet (where it is constantly windy) and use robot tractors to haul loaded batteries from there - that uses so much fewer resources! The writing is average, but the characters are stupid beyond belief. **

Enter the Fungicene • novelette by J. M. Swenson

A small group of clones are working to restore Earth. Most humans are dead; only a few cloned women have been single-mindedly worked towards their goal for thousands of generations. Vivian 2698 is an engineer (as are all her predecessors). She is known for being sometimes unorthodox and behaving in somewhat novel ways, something the other clones, who work as scientists, really don’t understand. The earth is filled with a wide variety of fungal growth. A breakthrough aiming for the reintroduction of normal plants seems to be very near, possibly in a few weeks. Like it has been for the last thousand years or so. Is there a way to turn the biosphere back to what it used to be? Or should it be done? A pretty good story, perhaps some small tightening might have made even better. ***½

[Brad Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat better than average issue. I loved Trevor Quachri's editorial. Yes, he spoke his mind about the political situation in late 2020. Yes, that was probably touching the third rail, and likely alienated some non-trivial fraction of his readers. I look forward to the Brass Tacks column in subsequent issues. 4 1/2 years later, everything he said is still true.

There were several really good stories in this issue. Grey Rollins' Trial and Error, Brad McNaughton's A Purpose for Stars, Brenda Kalt's Ghost Strike, Marissa Lingen's Peaceweaver, Gregor Hartmann's Brought Near to Beast, and Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer's Why Things Work on a Starship, were all excellent examples of the craft. There were only a small handful of stinkers, and only one I could not finish - J.M. Swenson's Enter the Fungicene. An example of the "humans are stupid and evil and have never solved a single problem in ten thousand years" type of sci-fi. Do we really need more of this? Still, the rest of the magazine more than made up for it.

If you're reading this, then you'll notice that I'm reviewing a 2020 issue in 2025. I've fallen way behind, and despair that I'll ever catch up. But I'll keep trying.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ratings for this issue:

A (excellent):

Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson
State of Grace by Clancy Weeks

B (very good):

This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty by Evan Marcroft
Trial & Error by Grey Rollins
A Purpose for Stars by Brad McNaughton
Ghost Strike by Brenda Kalt
Courtship FTL by Mary E. Lowd
Beloved Toiler by George Zebrowski
Brought Near to Beast by Gregor Hartmann
Asleep Was the Ship by Eric Del Carlo
Lazarus Unbound by Liam Hogan

C (average):

Winter's Spring by A. P. Hawkins
Enter the Fungicene by J. M. Swenson
Peaceweaver by Marissa Lingen
The Polar Bear Sleeps On by M. Bennardo
Ashes by Mario Milosevic
Why Things Work on a Starship by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer

D (poor):

Together, We Can Be More! by Juliette Wade

[David Mcquillen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five Stars is probably too high, but wanted a standout ranking as this is the best front to back installment of Analog I've read in quite some time.

Only one or two stories that fell short, and several standouts, including the reprint of Gordon R. Dickson's Call Him Lord (which couldn't feel more timely today), Evan Marcroft's This Hard World Of Unwanted Beauty, J.M Senson's Enter the Fungicene, Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer's Why Things Work On A Starship, and especially Grey Rollin's Trial and Error.

And while not a favorite of many in this edition, the old film school graduate in me loved The Magnificent Amberson's obsessing Beloved Toiler.

[Seth Halleway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Packed full of great stories, many of which I found hard to put down. Looking forward to the next issue!

[Seth Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a tight issue. Really no misfires in here at all for me. Lots of exploration of what it means to be human and sentient thematically. Good way to end the 90th year retrospective! Keep it up!

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked “Trial and Error” by Grey Rollins and “State of Grace” by Clancy Weeks