Analog Science Fiction & Fact, March/April 2022

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor)

Volume XCII, No. 3 & 4.

Contents:
4 • In Defense of a New Era • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by John Vester [as by John J. Vester]
6 • Exile's Grace • novella by Mark W. Tiedemann
40 • Evolving Brainy Brains Takes More Than Living on a Lucky Planet • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by Christina De La Rocha
46 • The Four Spider-Societies of Proxima Centauri 33G • short fiction by Mercurio D. Rivera
53 • Nirvana or Bust • short story by Michael Swanwick
58 • What We've Done • short story by Marie Vibbert
60 • Math of the Spear-Carrier • short story by Mike Duncan
65 • The Libraries of Mars • poem by Mary Soon Lee
66 • The Hard Law • short story by D. G. P. Rector
78 • In Transit • novelette by J. T. Sharrah
98 • Are You Kidding? Humor in Astounding and Analog • essay by Stanley Schmidt
103 • In Times to Come (Analog, March-April 2022) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
104 • You Can't Believe Those Lying AIs • [The Alternate View] • essay by John G. Cramer
107 • The Honeymooners • short story by Brenda Kalt
115 • Brenda Kalt • [Biolog] • essay by Richard A. Lovett
116 • The Big Day • short story by A. T. Sayre
120 • Grandma Paradox • [Probability Zero] • short story by Louis Evans
124 • Philanderer • short story by Monica Joyce Evans
126 • Hostess • short story by C. L. Kagmi
135 • The Robot Librarian • poem by Ken Poyner
136 • Reaction Time • novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick
150 • Amyloids for Algernon • short story by Corie Ralston
158 • Standard • short story by Thomas Webster
162 • Stage of Mind • short story by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
164 • Epistemology, Star Trek, and Iron Rain • [The Alternate View] • essay by Richard A. Lovett
168 • The Boy Who Cried Fish • short story by D. A. D'Amico
178 • The Journeyman: At the Bluffs of Sinjin Trell • [Journeyman] • novelette by Michael F. Flynn
199 • Guest Reference Library (Analog, March-April 2022) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Odin Halvorson
201 • Review of non-genre non-fiction book: "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism" by Cory Doctorow • essay by Odin Halvorson
202 • Guest Reference Library: Amidst the Cris(e)s, We Have Good Fiction (Analog, March-April 2022) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Alexander Pyles
205 • Letters & upcoming events.

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208 pages, digest magazine

First published February 1, 2022

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 March-April issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. This time the stories are mostly average, no gems but also no duds.

The contents and item-by-item review.
In Defense of a New Era [Editorial (Analog)] essay by John J. Vester an essay that supports the private exploration of space and provides arguments against usual points against it (rich men toys, environmental damage, etc) 3*
Exile's Grace novella by Mark W. Tiedemann a guy accidentally stuck for ten days on a station above a planet that has some animal life, which is now suspected to have some sentience. He finds out that a woman he once knew is the only person legally allowed on a planet and that there is a cult following after her. It appears that there is a system of cages under the mountain on the planet, where drones cannot reach and to where local life comes and goes. The woman visited the site twice and now she has mentally changed. The protagonist visits her just to find out that he isn’t alone in seeking for the truth. 3*
Evolving Brainy Brains Takes More Than Living on a Lucky Planet [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Christina De La Rocha an explanation of how it is that temperatures on Earth aren’t varying greatly and are at balmy 20-30 degrees Celsius. 3*
The Four Spider-Societies of Proxima Centauri 33G short fiction by Mercurio D. Rivera a log of a guy who visits planet after planet, seeking to trade contracts with locals, but with no lack. He, a son of a wealthy father, assumes that the fault in the locals, but readers can doubt this conclusion. 3*
Nirvana or Bust short story by Michael Swanwick there is a war between humans and AI, but one girl Has united with AI exoskeleton suit and maybe each side has something unique to share. 3*
What We've Done short story by Marie Vibbert a flow of consciousness by an AI, which tried to serve, but something went wrong. 4*
Math of the Spear-Carrier short story by Mike Duncan a woman in a space suit orbits the place of her damaged battleship, the sole survivor. By using her knowledge of orbital dynamics she had to survive and bring revenge. 3*
The Libraries of Mars poem by Mary Soon Lee 4*
The Hard Law short story by D. G. P. Rector a group of four travels a planet with liquid ammonia, one gets under the surface… they try to serve him, get to the nearest miners community. Readers find out that the group tries to find and judge their former member, disregarding the lives of miners. A bit messy story. 2*
In Transit novelette by J. T. Swanwick a group plays in a VR, its developer cheat. A girl calls him on it and gets reprimanded as a rebel. This is a generation ship, close to its final goal, but people grew complacent over generations and maybe rebels have their use. 3.5*
Are You Kidding? Humor in Astounding and Analog essay by Stanley Schmidt about humor stories in this magazine over decades, an overview. 3*
You Can't Believe Those Lying AIs [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer why GPT-3 tells lies [because it is trained on social networks messages], what are these lies and what to do. 3*
The Honeymooners short story by Brenda Kalt a rich couple comes to Mars as the first married on Mars pair. They have money but disregard that it is not Earth. 3.5*
The Big Day short story by A. T. Sayre every device, incl. a toaster informs about the first attempt of FTL travel, and it seems that AIs in devices are more interested in that than a human character. 2.5*
Grandma Paradox [Probability Zero] short story by Louis Evans linked to the humor in Astounding and Analog essay above, a funny court trial, where the accused, victim and witnesses are the same person, who gave birth to herself on two separate occasions. 4*
Philanderer short story by Monica Joyce Evans a woman swims to explore Titan’s subsurface oceans in a special exoskeleton suit, while a man worries about her on a station. She doesn’t listen to him until it’s too late. 2.5*
Hostess short story by C. L. Kagmi a woman visits someone famous, who looks like a human female but isn’t. as the story goes on readers find out about a first contact that went awry. 3.5*
The Robot Librarian poem by Ken Poyner 3*
Reaction Time novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick a group of people working for a startup remote guides a giant air drone that should help to help space ships to land safely. Their initial try fails endangering the startup. How they should find out what went wrong. 2.5*
Amyloids for Algernon short story by Corie Ralston an open allusion to Flowers for Algernon. In this story there is a lab, where Nadine works – she is about to get a PhD and tries to make a cure for Alzheimer's (there goes serious biochemical stuff how it should work), while her boss (who is an uncaring jerk) injects himself and a lab mouse with this prototype drug. 3*
Standard short story by Thomas Webster a guy lives on an island and fixes high and low tech for villagers nearby. A woman with a lot of implants frequents his shop because she overuses them, until she fries them out… 3*
Stage of Mind short story by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro a future where there are art-designers for something hi-tech (I won’t spoiler what) and there is a hard-working artist and a constantly unsatisfied art-dealer. 3*
Epistemology, Star Trek, and Iron Rain [The Alternate View] essay by Richard A. Lovett how some modern tech is even better than what trekkers have. 3*
The Boy Who Cried Fish short story by D. A. D'Amico a woman with her autistic brother help to explore Europe’s oceans and possible life there. 2.5*
The Journeyman: At the Bluffs of Sinjin Trell [Journeyman] novelette by Michael F. Flynn a story set in an early black powder war campaign, where one of the men slept with a general wife and was sent with ‘savage’ archers against cannons on a suicide mission, with a lot of quotes from The Charge of the Light Brigade and ahistorical calls to ‘Rock’n’Roll’ and not very funny jokes. Because it is Analog and therefore hard SF, there is a reason why this story is in this magazine, but it does not make it good. 2.5*

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

6 • Exile's Grace • 34 pages by Mark W. Tiedemann
Very Good. The Cryshuil is stranded on Karmeister for at least ten days. Quill gets some shore leave, but no one can leave the station to go the planet. He looks at rosters to see if there is anyone he knows. There is Willer, who has become the Hermit or Exile depending on who you ask. She is on planet, has a cult following, and gets him transport to the surface. There's mystery about what happened to her, others trying to take advantage all pointing towards an artifact/geologic formation.

46 • The Four Spider Societies of Proxima Centauri 33G • 7 pages by Mercurio D. Rivera
Fair. Donovan leads his contact mission to a new planet, but can’t make any headway in trade negotiations. Maybe some irony that it’s him not the unwillingness of the other species.

53 • Nirvanna or Bust • 5 pages by Michael Swanwick
Good+. Huiling and title AI have built an intraface between themselves which is a perceived threat by both AIs and humans.

58 • What We've Done • 2 pages by Marie Vibbert
OK/Fair. AI provides suggestions for app user. The AI telling us that it started out as a virus threw me off.

60 • Math of the Spear-Carrier • 5 pages by Mike Duncan
OK/Fair. Sandra is surviving in the wreckage of the Lincoln, but running out of air. She’s making the calculations to make it to a ship that is orbiting her area.

66 • The Hard Law • 10 pages by D. G. P. Rector
Good. In spite of the horrible reasoning of the characters. Ina, three of her kith and a mercenary are on a mission to find someone that left Ouemac. I think the point is that Mara is the only rational person in the story, maybe the miners.

76 • In Transit • 22 pages by J. T. Sharrah
Very Good/Excellent. Molly is somewhat of a nonconformist on a generational colony ship. It’s already caused a rift between her and her [foster] father, now it could get her sent to Coventry with the other noncoms.

107 • The Honeymooners • 8 pages by Brenda Kalt
OK. Ultra rich couple wants to be the first to get married on Mars, but expect more than the lack of resources there can provide.

116 • The Big Day • 4 pages by A. T. Sayre
OK. Everything on the news is about the probe, but why? Maddie isn’t that interested and the inundation is total.

124 • Philanderer • 2 pages by Monica Joyce Evans
Fair. The narrator uses a suit to do hands on data collection on Titan while Martin stays in the base.

126 • Hostess • 9 pages by C. L. Kagmi
Good/OK. Ana goes to visit with Devi Amar, and through their conversation we learn an alien parasite took over Draco, infected the humans that visited, spread to a neighboring colony and both had to be eradicated.

136 • Reaction Time • 14 pages by C. Stuart Hardwick
OK/Good. Samara and David are remotely controlling a pair of $$ drones, but the lag time causes an accident. They might be able to get another test with the one remaining drone, but it’ll have to have a pilot.

150 • Amyloids For Algernon • 8 pages by Corie Ralston
Very Good/Good. Nadine is the ace lab tech but all she gets is more work. It’s her data and Michael is taking other grad students with him and having her start a new experiment.

158 • Standard • 4 pages by Thomas Webster
OK+. The pragmatic narrator runs a repair shop. A woman comes in to get her mods repaired. She keeps overusing them and comes in several more times for repair.

162 • Stage of Mind • 2 pages by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
OK/good. An artist keeps capitalizing to a dealer. Was this the last straw?

168 • The Boy Who Cried Fish • 8 pages by D. A. D'amico
Fair. Boy (young man) senses some imminent danger on Europa, but lacks credibility. If I could visualize the action and setting it would’ve been better.

176 • The Journeyman: at the Bluffs of Sinjin Trell • 23 pages by Michael Flynn
OK/Good. Teo's Savage Archers are given orders to charge in to a position where all of the advantages are with the enemy. The General wants Teo or whatever savange slept with his wife to become a casualty of war. Decent enough plot, the humor seemed to be forced, some of it was funny, but didn't flow with the story which had gaps in the action.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

When an ex-member of a secretive religious enclave is forced to spend time around Karmeister’s World he discovers that an acquaintance from the sect has isolated herself on the surface. Apparently she is now a saint to members of the cult but when Quill contacts Willer he finds that what she has discovered is more mechanistic than God in “Exile’s Grace” by Marl W. Tiedemann. On a generation ship the number of rules tend to be excessive and noncomformists can be considered a danger. When Molly and Dwight infract once too often they are sent to Coventry - a walled-up section of the ship Aesop. Rather than punishment, it is in fact an honor and they are set to solve a problem Molly highlighted - they seem to be unable to leave the ship once they arrive! “In Transit” by J. T. Sharrah is a good tale. D. G. P. Rector takes us to an ammonia planet where enclaves must enforce “The Hard Law” but when the death penalty is imposed on a doctor the inflexibility of law must be re-examined. A wealthy industrialist makes the long journey to the Red Planet to be the first to be married there but finds it is still a dangerous place if you insist on privacy in “The Honeymooners” by Brenda Kalt, and a woman must come to terms with her dying father’s words when first contact becomes a deadly fight against infection. ‘I’d be worried if they didn’t try to kill us’, he said in “Hostess” by C. L. Kagmi. “The Journeyman: At The Bluffs Of Sinjin Trell” is another in Michael F. Flynn’s series about a lost colony world, where competing descendant factions vie for information from ancient AIs. Middle Ages military fiction mostly but fun.

[Stephen Burridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a particularly strong issue. I liked several of the short stories, including “The Honeymooners” by Brenda Kalt.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

A (excellent):

In Transit by J T Sharrah

B (very good):

Exile's Grace by Mark W Tiedemann
Reaction Time by C Stuart Hardwick
Math of the Spear Carrier by Mike Duncan
The Hard Law by D G P Rector
The Honeymooners by Brenda Kalt

C (average):

Nirvana or Bust by Michael Swanwick
The Big Day by A T Sayre
Philanderer by Monica Joyce Evans
Hostess by C L Kagmi
Amyloids for Algernon by Corie Ralston
Standard by Thomas Webster
The Boy Who Cried Fish by Marie Vibbert
Stage of Mind by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
Grandma Paradox by Louise Evans
The Journey: At the Bluffs of Sinjin Trell by Michael F Flynn

D (poor):

The Four Spider Societies of Proxima Centauri 33G by Mercurio D Rivera

[Michael Goodine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might be the weakest issue of Analog I have read in some time, but there are still a few gems.

I like "In Transit" by J.T. Sharrah quite a lot. It's a colony ship tale about a couple of young non-conformists. I guess one might call this a YA story, but that's not a complaint.

"The Honeymooners" by Brenda Kalt is also very well written. The protagonist seems to be the oldest woman on the Mars colony, which is a perspective we don't always get in the "living on Mars" genre. Good stuff.

Corie Ralston's "Amyloids for Algernon" is pretty decent.

[Daniel Farrelly]

Only got round to reading one story, so not going to give it an overall rating

The four spider societies - its ok. In a future where humans are making first contact with alien worlds dozens of times a week, we follow a surfer bro who has to make first contact with a planet of spider people. The fact that they are spiders is completely inconsequential. Nothing much happens. The concept is an excuse for some eh gags. The sci fi shot story equivalent to one of those animes where he's reincarnated as a fridge or something. Not much more than an interestint title.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "In Transit" by J. T. Sharrah

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating is only for Nirvana or Bust by Michael Swanwick, heard on the Analog podcast.