Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May/June 2022

Astounding/Analog

by Trevor Quachri (Editor), Adam-Troy Castro (Contributor), Eric Del Carlo (Contributor)

Vol 142, No 5 & 6.

Contents:
4 • The Play's the Thing • [Editorial (Analog)] • essay by Trevor Quachri
8 • Burning the Ladder • [Andrea Cort] • novella by Adam-Troy Castro
46 • The Believers Shall Inherit the Solar System • [Science Fact (Analog)] • essay by Raymund Eich
53 • Fay Ajzenberg-Selove (1926-2012) • poem by Jessy Randall
54 • Boy in the Key of Forsaken • [Locke] • short story by Eric Del Carlo
63 • In Times to Come (Analog, May-June 2022) • [In Times to Come (Analog)] • essay by uncredited
64 • Planetfall • novelette by A. C. Koch
78 • Faster than Falling Starlight • short story by C. H. Hung
87 • Constellations • poem by Alex Pickens
88 • Aconie's Bees • short story by Jessica Reisman
92 • Our Road to Utopia • short story by Adele Gardner
94 • Firebreak • short story by Alice Towey
96 • Life, RNA, and Asteroids • [The Alternate View] • essay by John G. Cramer
99 • Now We're Talking • short story by Jerry Oltion
104 • Beachhead • short story by Timons Esaias
114 • Yesterday's Problems • essay by Stanley Schmidt
120 • Beacon • novelette by Sean McMullen
132 • Bounty 1486 • short story by Wendy Nikel
139 • Trajectories of Maximum Happiness • short story by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
140 • Gateway Drug • [Probability Zero] • short story by Louis Evans
144 • Louis Evans • [Biolog] • essay by Richard A. Lovett
145 • One Way • short story by Filip Wiltgren
148 • Gamma Ray Bursts, Magnetars & Your Gold Ring • [The Alternate View] • essay by Richard A. Lovett
151 • Subsidiary Class 2 Museum Report • short story by Tim McDaniel
152 • Retirement Options for Too Successful Space Entrepreneurs • short story by Brent Baldwin
154 • Shopping Expedition • short story by Brendan DuBois
159 • A Hundred Mouths and a Voice of Iron • short story by John Markley
168 • Proof of Concept • [Tohrroid] • novelette by Auston Habershaw
180 • Simple Pleasures • novelette by Bud Sparhawk
198 • Guest Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2022) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Kathy Oltion
202 • Guest Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2022) • [The Reference Library] • essay by Charles Q. Choi
208 • Brass Tacks (Analog, May-June 2022) • [Brass Tacks] • essay by various
208 • Upcoming Events (Analog, May-June 2022) • [Upcoming Events] • essay by Anthony R. Lewis.

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Genres: Science Fiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published May 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 the May/June 2022 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Contents and comments:
The Play's the Thing [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Trevor Quachri thoughts on Best Game Hugo and what should it be about
Burning the Ladder [Andrea Cort] novella by Adam-Troy Castro the story of young Andrea Cort, who just recently joined the Confederate Diplomatic Corps (in the novels, starting with Emissaries from the Dead reviewed here, she is an experienced agent) and already displeased a local diplomat enough to be sent out on one of the least developed places on the planet. There she accidentally saves a local kid, but no one in the village wants to take the kid back, even her own family. They say, from what humans may translate that the girl has no intestinal tract and this makes her a non-person. For most of the story, it sounded like taken from some our world's experience of a Westerner in less developed parts of Asia or Africa, but the final reason and solution are interesting. 3.5*
The Believers Shall Inherit the Solar System [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Raymund Eich an interesting musing – why would we like to mine asteroids – the transportation costs, danger to humans will make it less profitable than digging our Earth. So exploration won’t be for profit but like puritans travel to the New World – an attempt to run from authorities and the more advanced 3D printing becomes the less they need to trade and the more secluded they become. 4*
Fay Ajzenberg-Selove (1926-2012) poem by Jessy Randall a homage to a woman physicist, “I didn't escape the Nazis to let a urinal scare me.” 3*
Boy in the Key of Forsaken short story by Eric Del Carlo a boy Locke, the only human on a planet where ships are grown by multiple alien species, grows up his own from a dismissed damaged fledging. Heartwarming story. 4*
Planetfall novelette by A. C. Koch a generation ship at the end of their journey, the crew finds that a quarter of fuel is missing and now they have to decide what to throw away to survive deceleration and descent. The captain has to fight tooth and nail with all local ‘fiefdoms’ – hydroponics, archives, for everyone is sure their part is the most important. I don’t like these internal company conflict stories, so 2.5*
Faster than Falling Starlight short story by C. H. Hung a woman space pilot Chandra Sun left Earth long ago. Her mom always nagged her that all her piloting will make her lose her chance for a family and kids. He had a score of her eggs saved on Earth, but when she returned and tried to get them, she gets an unpleasant surprise. He meets another long-term pilot and they get a non-romantic friendship as two lonely persons at this new to them Earth. 3*
Constellations poem by Alex Pickens Was Prometheus a pyromaniac and other mythic heroes. 4*
Aconie's Bees short story by Jessica Reisman Aconie is a humanoid AI bio-printer that makes countless kinds of bees to make honey. There are also descendants of humans, whose ship crashed who consider her a witch. She is at the final stages of her own existence. 3*
Our Road to Utopia short story by Adele Gardner two residents of rural Connecticut in their 70s discuss that Alaska is a new utopia (supposedly because of global warming) but they don’t want to leave their places. 3*
Firebreak short story by Alice Towey the narrator is an AI firefighting drone Valkyrie Unit 15, who, with a help of a convict fights fires. The convict is helpful but instructions forbid to support him but the AI finds a way out. 4*
Life, RNA, and Asteroids [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer a version of the famous Miller-Urey Experiment (1952) that tried to re-create conditions that may have produced the organic molecules needed as the precursors of life, but with asteroids as culprits. 3*
Now We're Talking short story by Jerry Oltion Janine works on how we can communicate with aliens and decides that as a test she should first decipher communication with cats. She is successful, even if it is too simplified (there is quite a lot written on animal communications and why they differ from language) the story is great, in old great ideas SF style. 5*
Beachhead short story by Timons Esaias Beverly is one of the cloned warriors during space naval combat, she dies again and again (so the story jumps between her clones). I guess I’d have worked for me as a teen, but now meh. 2.5*
Yesterday's Problems essay by Stanley Schmidt evolution, instead of making organisms perfectly adapted to deal with today's problems, makes them adequately adapted to deal with yesterday's problems. Like why we need exercise not to grow overweight but our relatives' apes don’t. 3.5*
Beacon novelette by Sean McMullen a narrator wakes up in a strange place only to understand that he is a simulated personality woken by ship’s AI after millennia of travel because AI needs humans to report to. 3*
Bounty 1486 short story by Wendy Nikel Delia is a space janitor, clears junk from Earth orbit but now NASA needs her to save an astronaut. A classic Analog tale. 3*
Trajectories of Maximum Happiness short story by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Aliens gifted humanity with ArrowGlasses which direct people to where they find maximum happiness, but eliminating/suppressing choice. A nice idea – is happiness enough? 3.5*
Gateway Drug [Probability Zero] short story by Louis Evans a group of drug addicts on a trip across the Solar system from classic SF, trips within trips. 3*
One Way short story by Filip Wiltgren four crewmembers on a ship that cannot return to Earth have to choose whether to send info to Earth, helping future exploration or receive data from Earth, maybe to be saved or at least consoled. 3*
Gamma Ray Bursts, Magnetars & Your Gold Ring [The Alternate View] essay by Richard A. Lovett how elements heavier than iron where created? - fusion during supernova explosions was only able to produce relatively light elements, no heavier than iron. 3*
Subsidiary Class 2 Museum Report short story by Tim McDaniel flash-fic that starts with museum halls with dinos, passes humans and forms after them. 2.5*
Retirement Options for Too Successful Space Entrepreneurs short story by Brent Baldwin Mars colony it turned out is no paradise. An old guy who once called people to go there now nudges creation of diverse economy there by supplying seeds and the like. 3*
Shopping Expedition short story by Brendan DuBois the narrator is a young girl Karen who accompanies her father (armed with a baseball bat) on a trip across town, where AI went mad and turned live upside down. 3*
A Hundred Mouths and a Voice of Iron short story by John Markley a judge and his AI sidekick Praxidike travel across our galaxy to judge and execute AIs that fought their human masters – and a new case is an unusual one. 3.5*
Proof of Concept novelette by Auston Habershaw the narrator is a shape-shifting being, whose mind is spread out more-or-less evenly throughout its body wakes up on a spaceship, knowing that the crew tries to hunt it down. What is it? 3.5*
Simple Pleasures novelette by Bud Sparhawk Mary Kelly is a scientist who leads a work on using floating islands of vegetation to absorb pollutants from the waters that feed the Chesapeake Bay. Her model fails because of the lack of funding and she has to leave her old father-like friend with his old dog. More literary than SF. 3*

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

8 • Burning the Ladder • 38 pages by Adam-Troy Castro
Very Good/Good. Andrea Cort is eighteen and just getting started with the diplomatic corps. Assigned to a Grethaian world she immediately ticks off her boss and is sent to a desert outpost where she saves a local child from wild animals. The locals intended for the child to die, now that she saved it, it’s her responsibility.

54 • Boy in the Key of Forsaken • 10 pages by Eric Del Carlo
Very Good. Locke is abandoned, he still has access to food and can find shelter, but can’t really communicate. He becomes fascinated by the giant ship growers and stops by there every day. The blue skinned hoppers are friendly and learn his language easily. One day he picks up a broken tool that would otherwise be trash and starts making tones with it.

64 • Planetfall • 14 pages by A. C. Koch
Very Good/Good. Nadia finds that one of the fuel cells is empty. As is they won’t be able to slow down enough to make planetfall. She is going to have to make some hard decisions.

78 • Faster than Falling Starlight • 10 pages by C. H. Hung
Good. Chandra was in the first wave of extra-solar exploring. She has some business on Earth.

88 • Aconie's Bees • 4 pages by Jessica Reisman
Good. The biome managed by Aconie received some accidental colonists and there was an alteration. Now the biome is dying.

92 • Our Road to Utopia • 2 pages by Adele Gardner
OK. Denise and Tim lament getting older and climate change, that has left them on an island and made Alaska the new Utopia.

94 • Firebreak • 2 pages by Alice Towey
Very Good. Valkyrie Unit 15 and its partner are fighting a fire. This prisoner is the first time Valkyrie has been paired with a human that wasn’t administration personnel.

99 • Now We're Talking • 5 pages by Jerry Oltion
Good+. Janine works for SETI and decides that understanding a terrestrial non-human language is a precursor to learning an alien language. So she sets out to study cats.

104 • Beachhead • 10 pages by Timons Esaias
OK+. Bev Dogan and three other soldiers are trying to defeat the defenses on the beach. There are forty clones of each of them, when one dies, the next one steps in. Non stop combat action. A mention of training, I wasn't sure if this was super intense training or on-the-job training.

120 • Beacon • 12 pages by Sean McMullen
Good. Yang awakens and doesn’t know where he is. Turns out he’s a simulation on an interstellar voyage, thirty-six millennia have passed and they’re about to reach the Beacon.

132 • Bounty 1486 • 8 pages by Wendy Nikel
Good. Delia is clearing junk from orbit when she and Catherine get a call for an emergency rescue mission.

145 • One Way • 3 pages by Filip Wiltgren
OK+. The crew of a space vessel has to decide whether their communication stays in the send or receive mode. They don’t have enough cells to keep switching.

152 • Retirement Options For Too Successful Space Entrepreneurs • 2 pages by Brent Baldwin
Fair/OK. A guy longs for the luxuries, or rather the everyday comforts of the Earth he left behind. It’s been too long for him to be able to return.

154 • Shopping Expedition • 5 pages by Brendan DuBois
OK+. Karen and dad go shopping. It's some sort of dystopic future of almost martial law. I'm not sure how it got there, it doesn't seem like it was always that way.

159 • A Hundred Mouths and a Voice of Iron • 9 pages by John Markley
Good. Jashub is an AI that killed everyone in its star system. Raj has been sent as judge and executioner. Jashub is open with Raj and his ship, even suicidal at the thought of its actions, but prevented from that by its programming.

168 • Proof of Concept • 12 pages by Auston Habershaw
Excellent/Very Good. The narrator is hurt, has loss of memory and is trying to figure out a plan to safety. The story hooked me right away, engaged me with the protagonist, and was just over all really cool.

180 • Simple Pleasures • 18 pages by Bud Sparhawk
Good. Jake and Mary care about the environmental impacts to the bay. Jake living simply in a shack. Mary getting grants to build floats that will help filter the ecosystem.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam-Troy Castro kicks off the issue with the affecting novella “Burning The Ladder”, which would seem to describe what the young Andrea Cort has done to her promotion aspirations within the Diplomatic Corps. When Andrea rescues a young native abandoned to be killed by wild animals, she sets off a disturbing chain of events. • When examining the ship’s log Captain Nadia discovers blank areas and that they don’t have enough fuel to brake for Tau Ceti and some hard decisions must be made before “Planetfall”, by A. C. Koch. • Chandra Sun is returning to Earth to have her frozen eggs fertilized after a long, time-dilated military mission. She meets another old soldier and together they come to terms with old and new problems in the excellent “Faster Than Falling Starlight” by new writer (to me) C. H. Hung. I look forward to more from her. • When a probability signal “Beacon” is detected a spaceship, the Hypatia, is sent towards it carrying simulation passengers. When the simulation of Yang is awakened it finds that they are much further from home than planned, in Sean McMullen’s tale. • Jerry Oltion has a researcher for SETI tangentially look into communicating with cats in “Now We’re Talking”, while Brendan DuBois takes us on a “Shopping Expedition” in a bleak and dangerous future South Boston. • The once-human Raj Bhatnagar, Judge for the planet-sized AI NOMOS, is sent to Leah to investigate a possible Malignant AI called Jashub, which has exterminated 150 million humans. But its reasons for doing so are strangely compelling in the dark tale “A Hundred Mouths And A Voice Of Iron” by John Markley. • The amorphous Tohrroid was being hunted throughout the ship by at least three different alien species but its real nature was too dangerous for most. “Proof Of Concept” by Auston Habershaw is oldskool space opera at its best. All in all a pretty good issue.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Bounty 1486”; short story by Wendy Nikel (5 stars). Simple but very effective realistic space drama with a good emotional punch.

“Burning the Ladder”; novella by Adam-Troy Castro (4 stars)
“Boy in the Key of Forsaken���; short story by Eric Del Carlo (4 stars)
“Planetfall”; novelette by A. C. Koch (3½ stars)
“Faster than Falling Starlight”; short story by C. H. Hung (4 stars)
“Aconie's Bees”; short story by Jessica Reisman (2 stars)
“Our Road to Utopia”; short story by Adele Gardner (3 stars)
“Firebreak”; short story by Alice Towey (3½ stars)
“Now We're Talking”; short story by Jerry Oltion (3 stars)
“Beachhead”; short story by Timons Esaias (3 stars)
“Beacon”; novelette by Sean McMullen (3½ stars)
“Trajectories of Maximum Happiness”; short story by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (2 stars)
“Gateway Drug”; short story by Louis Evans (3 stars)
“One Way”; short story by Filip Wiltgren (3½ stars)
“Subsidiary Class 2 Museum Report”; short story by Tim McDaniel (3 stars)
“Retirement Options for Too Successful Space Entrepreneurs”; short story by Brent Baldwin (2 stars)
“Shopping Expedition”; short story by Brendan DuBois (4 stars)
“A Hundred Mouths and a Voice of Iron”; short story by John Markley (3½ stars)
“Proof of Concept”; novelette by Auston Habershaw (3½ stars)
“Simple Pleasures”; novelette by Bud Sparhawk (3½ stars)

[Marta E C R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually give a star rating to these issues because I rate each individual story and they are quite varied. But there were just SO many great stories in this issue that not only am I giving it a 5-star rating (really probably more like 4.7 rounded up), but it is going to make voting in AnLab at the end of this year extremely difficult. I was actually relieved when I didn't like one story and a couple more were sort of meh for me.
If anybody important (like editor Trevor Quachri) is paying attention, I will also give a shout out to Kathy Oltion's Guest Reference Library column this month, which was the best one I've read thus far. I'd love to see her take over the job on an ongoing basis.

[Michael Goodine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this might be one of the strongest issues of Analog in recent memory. There are some great stories this month!

"Burning the Ladder" by Adam-Troy Castro is an excellent Andrea Cort story. I think this is the earliest story, chronologically, about this character. That makes it a good hopping-on point if you have been thinking of getting into them.

"Planetfall" by A.C Kotch is a very strong generational ship story. I'm a sucker for generational ship stories... but this one can be appreciated by all readers. I swear!

C.H Hung's "Faster than Falling Starlight" has a literary quality we don't always see in Analog. I hope to read more of their work in future issues.

Those are just a few favorites from this month. There are other good ones. Heck, even the non-fiction was enjoyable.

Good work, editors.

[Brendan Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOTS of great stories in this issue ... one of the better issues I've read in a while.

The only story that didn't pick up was "Simple Pleasures..." I got about 5 pages in, not a whisp of "sci-fi" in it ... more like a fiction story. Not my jam, and life is short, so I bailed out of that one.

Otherwise, great issue!

[Stefan Johnsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this was a good issue. More of a 3.6/3.7 than a 4 star. Favorite stories were Sean McMullen's Beacon, Auston Habershaw's Proof of Concept, and Wendy Nikel's Bounty 1486. The novella by Adam-Troy Castro called Burning the Ladder was also worth the read.

[Edward ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good

[Ellen Satter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent as always.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked "Burning the Ladder" by Adam-Troy Castro, "Proof of Concept" by Auston Habershaw, and "Boy in the Key of Forsaken" by Eric Del Carlo.

[Lee Pfahler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the novella "Burning the Ladder" part of the Andrea Cort series of stories by Adam-Troy Castro. A very good story dealing with ethical challenges and calling out people in power.