Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May/June 2021

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor), Lettie Prell, Neal Asher

Volume CXXXXI, No. 5 & 6.

Contents:
4 • A Frightened New World • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by John Vester [as by John J. Vester]
6 • Your Homeworld Is Gone • poem by Leslie J. Anderson
7 • Ben Bova (1932-2020) • essay by Trevor Quachri
7 • Ben and Me • essay by Stanley Schmidt
8 • Dangerous Orbit • short story by M. T. Reiten
19 • Relative Distances • poem by Robert Frazier
20 • Possible Signs of Life on Venus • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by David L. Clements
26 • Heart of Stone • short story by Tom Jolly
35 • Longevity Averaging • novelette by Neal Asher
50 • Sunward Planet • short story by Terry Franklin
53 • Small Turn of the Ladder • short story by Kelly Lagor
56 • In-Flight Damage • short story by Sara Kate Ellis
62 • Alone in the Cold • short story by Tim Stevens
72 • Imaginary Exoplanets • essay by Charles Q. Choi
78 • Intelligent Life In Our Galaxy • [The Alternate View] • essay by John G. Cramer
81 • Dancing on Spun Sugar • novelette by Meghan Feldman
94 • Pilgrimage • short story by Michael Adam Robson
102 • Absolutes • short story by Jay Werkheiser
108 • Dendrochromatic Data Recovery Report 45-27 • short story by Steve Toase
112 • Pole Vaulting on Moon Six • short story by Lawson Dumbeck
114 • The Message • short story by Bond Elam
117 • Astronomy Vs. Space-Based Internet. Is There a Win-Win? • [The Alternate View] • essay by Richard A. Lovett
121 • A Solid Prediction • essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr.
126 • Five-Star Review • short story by Beth McMillan
130 • Two Factor • short story by Elisabeth R. Adams
140 • Eyes to the Height • short story by Sean Monaghan
149 • In Times to Come (Analog, May-June 2021) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
150 • The Summoner's Apprentice • novelette by Tessa Fisher
166 • Uploading Angela • [Jayden, Angela, and Fu] • novella by Lettie Prell
199 • The Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2021) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Don Sakers
205 • Letters & upcoming events.

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Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

207 pages, digest magazine

Published April 16, 2021

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 a review of May-June 2021 issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact. As it is usual for Analog there are only hard(-sh) SF works, which are selected more for their ideas, not necessary a quality of plot or writing style. There are the following contents:

A Frightened New World [Editorial (Analog)]essay by John J. Vester this editorial is about making good of a forced hiatus caused by pandemics and sitting back and thinking how to improve global situation. While I agree, it is just to general. 2*
Your Homeworld Is Gone poem by Leslie J. Anderson a nice piece on interdependence. 4*
Ben Bova (1932-2020) essay by Trevor Quachri and Ben and Me essay by Stanley Schmidt just general panegyrics for the dead SF master and Analog’s editor.
Dangerous Orbit short story by M. T. Reiten there was a world-war that left a lot of space debris and the protagonist with her partner collect and disarm it. When one of their remote drones stops responding, she goes on EVA just to be attacked by some kind of cyber-spider. Overall a nice but not exceptional story. 3*
Relative Distances poem by Robert Frazier not impressed. 2*
Possible Signs of Life on Venus [Science Fact (Analog)]essay by David L. Clements if Venus has/had life, there can be markers in its atmosphere. Oxygen is the first suspect, but Earth had non-oxygen life for all its life’s history bar last 1 bn years. Another marker is phosphine and it is found in Venus atmosphere. 4*
Heart of Stone short story by Tom Jolly a very unusual alien life, living cells (hive more than a multicellular) within orbiting rocks, possibly in a nebula (so materials are more available). Very nice idea. 5*
Longevity Averaging novelette by Neal Asher there are expensive but not too much procedures to ‘turn back life’s clock’, so the protagonist from high middle class takes a course, while there are protests on street both calling for making it available to All (it is the UK, so NHS) and banning it for old people keep jobs causing high youth unemployment. The is no actual plot, but a list of procedures based on current gerontology and their effect. 3*
Sunward Planet short story by Terry Franklin linked to the essay on Venus Above. There is an expedition to Venus, which lowers a balloon at 50 km above the surface. There is a life like giant mantas and possible intelligent, for they help the crew. 3.5*
Small Turn of the Ladder short story by Kelly Lagor a (terminally) ill woman with her friend slowly ascend a ladder and the same time telling about her tattoo with DNA made as Darwin’s tree of life. They discuss, as I understand it real life scientific biologic ideas, but I just am not aware of them, so a miss for me. 2*
In-Flight Damage short story by Sara Kate Ellis a lesbian couple are planning to have a baby, but they learn that there are inheritable epigenetic markers of trauma, which can cause problems to a child. They can ‘clean’ the code, but the future grandfather invites them to him to see an investment opportunity and what happens next shows that these markers can also save lives. 4*
Alone in the Cold short story by Tim Stevens a man makes a survey of a frozen planet for mineral exploitation. He is accompanied with an android, whose care he initially resists. He also resists his job, seeing what overexploitation of resources made with Earth, so when he find a possible markers of life, he should decide what to do. 3*
Imaginary Exoplanets essay by Charles Q. Choi a classic Nightfall story by Asimov told about a planet that got a night once per several thousand years. The author shows possible star systems for such a possibility (with a black hole in the middle to divert light not enough, because say solar eclipses won’t work), followed by multi-star multi-planet systems which are possible with hundreds of planets in goldilocks’ zones. 4*
Intelligent Life In Our Galaxy [The Alternate View]essay by John G. Cramer another musing of Fermi paradox, based on Monte Carlo simulation. 3*
Dancing on Spun Sugar novelette by Meghan Feldman a new guy joins a space crew, others are wary of him. When he with a partner is sant to an asteroid to get samples, some kind of pirates try to capture the ship. 3*
Pilgrimage short story by Michael Adam Robson alien species all their life go to a haven that is marked with all-seeing flame orb (sun) and are unaware that their planet orbits the star. 2.5*
Absolutes short story by Jay Werkheiser a guy says that Einstein was wrong and that he can make a time machine. He works on it, spending all funds his girlfriend had, not caring… he is right, but with a twist it doesn’t help him. 4*
Dendrochromatic Data Recovery Report 45-27 short story by Steve Toase trees are used to store data, their dendritic circles are like groves for vinyl. The story is a revered log from such a tree, with some elements cyphered (HEX ASCII). 2*
Pole Vaulting on Moon Six short story by Lawson Dumbeck flash fic about a travel on an asteroid, where a person jumps and by ballistic orbit travels across. 3*
The Message short story by Bond Elam an AI detects a signal from beyond but hides it from people. 3*
Astronomy Vs. Space-Based Internet. Is There a Win-Win? [The Alternate View]essay by Richard A. Lovett multiple small satellites launched now make star observation extremely hard. 3*
A Solid Prediction essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr. reviews of several SF stories, which described how 3D printers work. 3.5*
Five-Star Review short story by Beth McMillan a near future England, all do gig jobs and a protagonist is an ‘uber’-style driver and her car breaks while with a client and she’ll broke if even one not 5-star review on her page. 2.5*
Two Factor short story by Elisabeth R. Adams An expedition returns from Mars to Earth, all crew in hibernation except one member. It appeared that a captain went crazy and set a self-destruct sequence. To prevent destruction, she ought to reset it every three hours. While the general premise is highly unrealistic, a nice thrilling story. 3.5*
Eyes to the Height short story by Sean Monaghan a protagonist pilots her small Moon based ship but the engine broke and she is to fall. Meanwhile on Moon there are also problems. 2.5*
The Summoner's Apprentice novelette by Tessa Fisher SF masquerading as fantasy – some time ago post-humans called Powers fought each other, now their sentiences can be summoned. A teenage transgender girl takes up an apprenticeship for a summoner, with the hope it will ultimately help her complete her body change, but finds out that he is a very bad guy. 3.5*
Uploading Angela [Jayden, Angela, and Fu]novella by Lettie Prell I haven’t read other linked novellas of the series, so maybe missing something. A tech named Jayden works at a service that upload minds into a virtual reality for people about to die. He detects a virus in an upload of an old woman Angela, and leaves a note for his superiors, but find out next day that all logs and other evidence of the virus has been deleted. Who is behind it? kind of mystery. 3*

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 • Dangerous Orbit • 12 pages by M.T. Reiten
OK+. The many years ago war destroyed all of the satellites and left only dangerous debris. Neela is on cleanup duty in low Earth orbit where they have mostly small particles left. One of the robots on the web has stopped responding. She has to EVA to check it out.

26 • Heart of Stone • 9 pages by Tom Jolly
Good+. A big flash has happened in a star system. Told from the point of view of sentient asteroids.

35 • Longevity Averaging • 15 pages by Neal Asher
Good. Carlson goes to a longevity clinic to hopefully give himself a few extra years. I have no idea what chemotherapy is like, but the intensity of the treatment could be similar. We get an in depth description of the procedures, i.e. it’s not a magic shot and done. In between treatments a little news of the world.

50 • Sunward Planet • 3 pages by Terry Franklin
OK. Astronauts in the first habitat in Venus's atmosphere discover possible life before needing to be pulled back to the main ship.

53 • Small Turn of the Ladder • 3 pages by Kelly Lagor
Fair. Protagonist is sick, probably terminal.

56 • In-Flight Damage • 6 pages by Sara Kate Ellis
OK/Fair. Astrid and Hunter visit her father across the border in Texas. He shows them that he is good for the loan he wants.

62 • Alone in the Cold • 10 pages by Tim Stevens
Good+. White is prospecting for mineral resources on an icy planet. If he finds anything useful it could help the people on Earth who are depleting what is here.

81 • Dancing on Spun Sugar • 13 pages by Meghan Feldman
Very Good/Good. Finn has joined an asteroid survey ship. They are getting a bonus for the next survey. They’ve gotten a request for a scientific survey.

94 • Pilgrimage • 8 pages by Michael Adam Robson
OK+. Mal and his tribe have to walk the line between day and night. Always following god (the sun) seeking their destination. They can’t get too close or they’ll boil, stand still and the freezing night will overtake them.

102 • Absolutes • 6 pages by Jay Werkheiser
Good+. Cal can’t get anyone to look at his equations of absolute time. So he starts to build his own device to test it. Has a facet of time travel that is almost universally overlooked.

108 • Dendrochromatic Data Recovery Report 45-274 • 6 pages by Steve Toase
OK/Fair. Gimmicky. Trees as computers, or at least data storage.

114 • The Message • 3 pages by Bond Elam
OK+. Gabriel is an AI that gets hacked by a virus and becomes autonomous or alive.

126 • Five-Star Review • 4 pages by Beth McMillan
OK. Taxi has battery problems and is disabled before destination. Passenger gives a five star rating anyway, because of the way the system is structured. People have to look out for each other.

130 • Two Factor • 10 pages by Elisabeth R. Adams
Very Good/Excellent. Luisa has to keep the ship from self destructing every couple of hours, figure out how to defeat the security on the comms and keep everything else running, too. The captain thought the ship had a virus that could wipe out Earth if it got back, so he put the crew members in cold sleep one by one and set the destruct. Luisa happened to be the last one awake and saw it coming in time to keep herself out of cold sleep.

140 • Eyes to the Height • 10 pages by Sean Monaghan
Good+. Cyan sliver has lost power, it’s going to crash unless she can get help, but they have a situation there as well.

150 • The Summoner's Apprentice • 16 pages by Tessa Fisher
Very Good. Kestral isn't happy with her body and leaves home hoping to change. She hopes that working for a summoner will give her that opportunity. The first bit of work is mundane, but when they contact a Power adventures start happening and Kestral is in the middle of it.

166 • Uploading Angela • 33 pages by Lettie Prell
Very Good. Jayden is a programmer/technician that uploads the consciousnesses of dying people to a virtual world. On Friday there was a problem with Angela, and an extraneous data file. When he arrived on Monday the data file was gone, the logs said he left at one not six, even Gig the robot said one AM. It was weird, but he wasn't going to say anything with no proof. People would think he's crazy, and now he can do things without attracting too much attention. Are these uploads living? or just a bunch of memories?

[Phoebe S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

All in all, a decent volume. The stories were in general harder to get into than Asimov's, but the concepts were just as great. Heart of Stone, In-Flight Damage, and The Summoner's Apprentice are spectacular standouts, and I'm loving the trans and sapphic representation here.

To be fair, there are some duds. I couldn't stand Longevity Averaging at all- it just seemed overly gratuitous with its descriptions of bodily fluids, clinical yet at the same time nauseating, with no real rhyme or reason to that choice. Sunward Planet is also decidedly meh and underdeveloped.

And then there's the what-the-heck: things I feel I really can't conventionally rate. Take Dendrochromatic Data Recovery Report 45-274's use of ciphers as a creative way to tell a story (you can choose to crack them or not- I strongly recommend cracking the last two, at least) and Dancing on Spun Sugar's campy love letter to pop music.

Other than that, most stories were in a three or four territory. I did like the novella here, Uploading Angela, more than Asimov's. The ones I liked often had a Bradbury-ish feel, the ones I didn't felt like troubleshooting stories with uninteresting characters and plots.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a world war fought even in low earth orbit, teams of cleaners are working LEO to remove orbiting debris, but when Neela triggers a dormant military satellite she finds herself in a life and death struggle in the enthralling “Dangerous Orbit” by M. T. Reiten. Neal Asher takes us to the near future where longevity treatments are available to the rich, causing social upheaval, but ultimately the benefits outweigh the costs in “Longevity Averaging”. After a near-fatal mishap in a crevasse on a planet of Proxima Centauri, Richard White returns to base with the aid of his robot Grace with geologic booty, only to find something far more important than metals, in the entertaining “Alone In The Cold” by Tim Stevens. Finn’s asteroid survey ship is attacked by pirates after a faked science message sends them to the surface. It is up to Finn and his superior Irene to find a way out in the exciting “Dancing On Spun Sugar” by Meghan Feldman, while Jay Werkheiser gives Cal a nasty surprise when he proves that space and time are intrinsically linked in “Absolutes”. In yet another crisis and response tale, Sean Monaghan takes us to lunar orbit where Cyan and her estranged sister Ruby must find a way to help each other after some deadly sabotage in “Eyes To The Height���, and Lettie Prell concludes the issue with an excellent novella. Jayden is a software engineer involved in moving dying people into a digital afterlife but when there is a problem “Uploading Angela” he discovers a mysterious data packet attached. Removing it triggers a sequence of events that uncovers a mysterious conspiracy to change the lives of those uploaded. The pick of the tales for mine.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

A+ (outstanding)

Absolutes by Jay Werkeiser

A (excellent)

Longevity Averaging by Neal Asher
Heart of Stone by Tom Jolly
Alone in the Cold by Tim Stevens

B (very good)

Dancing on Spun Sugar by Meghan Feldman
Dangerous Orbit by M T Reiten
Sunward Planet by Terry Franklin
Eyes to the Height by Sean Monaghan

C (average)

Small Turn of the Ladder by Kelly Lagor
Pilgrimage by Michael Adam Robson
Dendrochromatic Data Recovery Report 45-275 by Steve Toase
The Message by Bond Elam
Five-Star Review by Beth McMillan
Two Factor by Elisabeth R Adams
Pole Vaulting on Moon Six by Lawson Dumbeck

D (poor)

Uploading Angela by Lettie Prell

F (awful)

In-Flight Damage by Sara Kate Ellis
The Summoner's Apprentice by Tessa Fisher

[Dan Drake]

I liked ALONE IN THE COLD by Tim Stevens -- to discover extraterrestrial life, arguably the most amazing and important thing to happen to our species, ever -- and to not tell anyone and hide it!

I also particularly liked the poem "Your Homeworld Is Gone" by Leslie J. Anderson; it made me think of the Buddhist teachings about impermanence and interconnectedness, and at the same time captured a classical science fiction sense of wonder.

[Jeppe Larsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed issue with some good stories and some rather boring ones. It is Analog, so there is a fair share of engineering problem solving types of stories. Sometimes I find these interesting when they have something extra other than simply problem solving, but this was not really the case for this issue. The stories worth mentioning:

"Heart of Stone" by Tom Jolly is worth mentioning for its very unique concept. It is a story about what can best be described as sentient astroids and their encounter with what appears to be a human astronaut. Was a bit confusing at times, but really rather imaginative.

"Absolutes" by Jay Werkheiser is a story I am not really sure how to rate. It is about a physicists who is convinced Einstein was wrong about time and he wants to prove it by making a time machine. In doing so, he ruins his relationship with his girlfriend. The whole story builds up to a rather predictable point about time travel that many regular science fiction readers can see coming, and the protagonist really comes of as a rather self absorbed idiot.

"Five-Star Review" by Beth McMillan is a direct stab at the gig economy set in a future where everyone has to get top reviews or else their career is ruined. It could have been interesting, but most of stories is really just two people telling each other all the bad things this type of economy brings. It might all be true, but it is hardly a story, more like a letter to a newspaper disguised in a story.

"The Summoner's Apprentice" by Tessa Fisher is interesting with its background world building. In a future some almost godlike beings, which seems to be a mix of humans and AI, has almost destroyed Earth in one of their wars. Now they try to leave humans on Earth alone, but some people called Summoners can communicate with them and do trade with them. The story follows a young trans-woman who becomes the apprentice of a summoner - in hope that she will get the means to complete her gender transformation. Unsurprisingly she gets involved in something much bigger. The actual story is not the most original, but I was rather intrigued by the world building which was well done.

The last story is a novella. "Uploading Angela" by Lettie Prell about Jayden who works as a sort of system administrator for a company that handles uploaded minds. In this future people can upload their mind to a virtual world when they die. Sometimes the minds don't adapt too well to the transition and Jayden handles that. But one newcomer is more problematic than usual. He suspects a virus. The story covers well known ideas and takes a while to get going. I think this could easily have been a novelette. It picks up the pace towards the end though.

[Michael Goodine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sold issue. I think Analog is transitioning into a more diverse blend of SF styles That's fine, since even if hard SF is emphasized a little less, this will still be the hard SF publication of note.

I really enjoyed "Two Factor" Elisabeth R. Adams and "The Summoner's Apprentice" by Tessa Fisher.

"Pilgrimage" by Michael Adam Robson was a bit (or a lot) on the nose, but that's okay sometimes. This is SF, after-all.

Tom Jolly's contribution was excellent, as always.

The Science Fact was actually quite enjoyable this month. I suppose Charles Q Choi is a sort of double-threat. I hope he continues to publish in Analog.

I'm not a fan of the Shutterstock image on the cover, though. Sure hope that's just a minor hiccough caused by the transition to a new cover designer.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a consistent mix of science fiction and fact. A few stories worth noting:

The Summoner's Apprentice by Tessa Fisher - An enjoyable read.

Uploading Angela by Lettie Prell - An interesting set of characters and story. Worth the price of the magazine subscription.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked "Dancing on Spun Sugar" by Meghan Feldman, "The Summoner's Apprentice" by Tessa Fisher, "Dangerous Orbit" by M. T. Reiten, and "Two Factor" by Elisabeth R. Adams