ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes discussion

Information is Power [Editorial (Analog)] essay by John Vester
Our Lady of the Gyre short story by Doug Franklin
Saving the Skies: How One Small City in Arizona is Pointing the Way to a Better (Darker) Future [Science Fact (Analog)]essay by Richard A. Lovett
Strange Events at Fletcher and Front! novelette by Tom R. Pike
Tom R. Pike [Biolog]essay by Richard A. Lovett
Second Chance short story by Sakinah Hofler
Upgrade short story by Mark W. Tiedemann
Rejuve Blues novelette by John Shirley
Fixative short story by Jonathan Olfert
Notes from Your Descendants short story by Lorraine Alden
Hidden Figures essay by Scott Kim
Robotic Shifting Procedure essay by Patrick Berry
Will Quantum Computing Improve AI [The Alternate View]essay by John G. Cramer
The Only God Is Us short story by Sarah Day
As Ordinary Things Often Do short story by Kelly Lagor
Go Your Own Way short story by Chris Barnham
Beyond the Standard Model poem by Ursula Whitcher
Prince of Spirals novelette by Sean McMullen
Flight 454 short story by Virgo Kevonté
Vigil short story by James Van Pelt
Battle Buddy short story by Stephen Raab
In Times to Come (Analog, January-February 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)]essay by uncredited
The Spill short story by M. T. Reiten
Prime Purpose short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
Gut Check novelette by Robert E. Hampson
Quest of the Sette Comuni short story by Paul Di Filippo
Apartment Wars novella by Vero Brook
The Reference Library (Analog, January-February 2025) [The Reference Library]essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard
'Oumuamua poem by Geoffrey A. Landis
Brass Tacks (Analog, January-February 2025) [Brass Tacks]essay by various
 Letter (Analog, January-February 2025): The Author Responds essay by Andrea Kriz
 Letter (Analog, January-February 2025): The Author Responds essay by Hûw Steer
2024 Index (Analog, January-February 2025) [Index (Analog)]essay by uncredited
It's Anlab Time Again (Analog, January-February 2025) [The Analytical Laboratory]essay by uncredited

Information is Power [Editorial (Analog)] essay by John Vester more or less general talk about too many conspiracy theories and believing, not checking. However, what is important IMHO is the final message: Regardless of how it goes, conversing is better than dismissal and retreat into our own corners or silos. It’s important to keep in mind that Flat Earthers, or other adherents to ideas you may find ludicrous, are, for the most part, otherwise good people motivated by the same priorities of survival, family, and safety that move you. 3*
Our Lady of the Gyre short story by Doug Franklin this is the story from the cover. An older man in the near future Earth works on a sea vessel called lily to help drown all excessive carbon sequestered from the enviroment. He years ago lost his love, but now sometimes visits a library to talk with orbital AI, supply it with data from the Eye, which he constantly keeps with himself. This AI has almost a demi-goddess status. One interesting note about sequestering: Biological carbon sequestration is the only plausible solution to global warming on a timescale relevant to humanity or even our fellow vertebrates....Direct air capture was a corporate con job; hundreds of thousands of facilities would have to be built and powered, at what carbon footprint? And how long would they stay operational, as civilization crumbled? Only self-reproducing organisms offer the scale-up potential and longevity required to do the job The story itself is rather flat. 3*
Saving the Skies: How One Small City in Arizona is Pointing the Way to a Better (Darker) Future [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Richard A. Lovett it turns out that light pollutionm harms not only astronoms and animals, but humans - from the fact that lightly lit night streets may encourage crimes (make victim easier to spot) to the fact that it possibly contributes to cancer. Interesting! 4*
Strange Events at Fletcher and Front! novelette by Tom R. Pike an alt-history, which starts in New York in 1909. The man is ambushed by thugs, but a door in darkness opens and a person from there shots attackers. The man is an inventor, George Cove (a real person see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_... ) one of the earliest producers of solar panels. In the story, he continues his work, finds an early article about global warming and promotes his panels as a competition to oil/coal barons... 3*
Tom R. Pike [Biolog] essay by Richard A. Lovett two good quotes: “As a younger writer, I worried about the wrong things,” he says. “I was obsessed with originality, when I [now] think what matters is authenticity.” and “I think it’s braver to write a story with a happy ending. Anybody can describe the miseries of today. Anybody can write a dystopia, and everybody says it’s such serious art. I want people to consider that the world could become a better, kinder place, and that they could be a part of how that change happens. We should all behave as if a time traveler gave us a second chance to be the best person we can be.” 3*
Second Chance short story by Sakinah Hofler a black woman accidentally shot by police gets her mind uploaded to a new body, but due to an error (at the same time was killed another woman with the same name and age) she gets white body... her daughter cannot hug her, "not our mom!", other problems. I guess the story needed more space, it is too short for real depth. 2.5*

Upgrade short story by Mark W. Tiedemann lawyers get a possible upgrade - Paracomp, a digital assistant using the host's unconscious: “it’s just neuroscience. The unconscious and the subconscious do the bulk of our processing. We’ve discovered that if we leave them alone to do that work, we make better decisions, have more apparent control of our lives. People who try to consciously think through every decision do quite badly in comparison.” It turns out that at least a third of lawyers will be unemployed and moreover (view spoiler)[assistants form a network and speak to each other (hide spoiler)] While the concept is interesting, the execution is lacking. 3*
Rejuve Blues novelette by John Shirley year 2051, an old couple wins a re-juvenation procedure - it is extremely expensive, so for them it is a win, even if the wife has her doubts. They get it and we follow them after the procedure. What will you do if you get your youth back? The wife was with Islamic Women’s Militia - an anti-Taliban force in Afghanistan and with her youth her PTSD returned, the husband was an artist and now tries a new media... a solid read. 3.25*

I needed a couple of tries to get into “Our Lady of the Gyre”, but when I finally did I found it both interesting for its ideas and affecting.

Edited to add a rating: 3 stars.

This may seem petty but I dislike the typeface used, specifically the lower case italic “h” which I found difficult to distinguish from the “b”. In the second sentence of “Our Lady of the Gyre” is it “the bull of the lily” or “the hull of the lily”? It took me a moment to figure it out.

Fixative short story by Jonathan Olfert while not exactly a flow of consciousness, this story is rambling about a former spaceship operator. The twist is that they have obsessive-compulsive behavior turned (fixed at) to a specific problem and the prose assumedly should highlight 'abnormalcy' of the character, but it was torture for me to read. 2*
Notes from Your Descendants short story by Lorraine Alden flash-fic with 'writings' of several generations of genetically tweaked people (each generation tries to improve their descendants but fail). Nice. 3*
Hidden Figures essay by Scott Kim a new item in Analog, braintwisters, this once gives word 'Analog' written is a strange script and suggests changing it to "Find the extra meaning in the word". Sadly by epub gives the answer but not the original, for which I had to check pdf. 3*
Robotic Shifting Procedure essay by Patrick Berry another braintwister. 4*
Will Quantum Computing Improve AI [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer short answer "no", but a lot of details how quantum computers and neural networks work. 3.5*
The Only God Is Us short story by Sarah Day a nice if naive post-apoc story. An older (in her 60s I guess) woman narrates these notes on a special system installed by her husband, recently passed away from cancer, in their electric van. She faces the world were genetically modified algae (created to recycle cement and other man-made products). However, it got out of the ocean and now slowly consumes our land. Moreover, it seems to evolve (view spoiler)[possibly simbiotic with animals and able to operate electricity grids (hide spoiler)]. The solution is a bit naive (view spoiler)[it cannot overcome wild flowers (hide spoiler)] 3.25*

As Ordinary Things Often Do short story by Kelly Lagor a couple - she is about to leave on a first interstellar mission, he stays on Earth. they are videoconferencing, both preparing the same meal w/o a recipe. She wants to say she loves him... a little maulding for my taste. 2.5*
Go Your Own Way short story by Chris Barnham Ferdinand is a parallel world traveller (by a Moon silvery path no less) and after years of travel, he settles in London similar to his original with a girl. However, another he appears and urges him to travel, while the other he stays with the girl. Well written if predictable, plus quite interesting glimpses at parallel Londons. 3.5*
Beyond the Standard Model poem by Ursula Whitcher
Prince of Spirals novelette by Sean McMullen an archeologist-genetist is kidnapped to perform some tests. As he slowly discovers (view spoiler)[there is a bunch of descendants of the previous British royal dynasty, Plantagenets and they check whether one of the sons of the last king escaped, replaced by another boy. Moreover, there is a royal agent, who after the escape is confirmed tries to kill potential pretenders to the throne. While highly unlikely, it is entertaining (hide spoiler)] A great plus of the story is its 'educaiment', giving basic info how genetic tests are made now, what they can show, etc. 4*

Flight 454 short story by Virgo Kevonté Avalon II was the newest and greatest passenger space ship until it rammed nose first, Ganymede. Now a Chief Security Officer investigates the crash. The main suspect is a rival company but the truth is more interesting (view spoiler)[lack of sunlight leads to depression in Northern Europe during long nights - how much more potent is the effect much further from the Sun? (hide spoiler)] 3*
Vigil short story by James Van Pelt a grandma is dying and her granddaughter keeps the last vigil next to her bed. The old woman is the last person who saw Earth on this generation ship. A slice-of-life story. 2.5*
Battle Buddy short story by Stephen Raab a company's technician investigates dissatisfaction of an officer with how one of their robots behaved. It turns out that robots are paired up with humans and it this case, after a drop, the man was killed (not a robot's fault). However, what a sentient robot feels it its sole goal is to die instead of a human... 2.5*
In Times to Come (Analog, January-February 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited some humor and mystery stories
The Spill short story by M. T. Reiten a flash fic about containing a nano-goo spill. 2*

“Strange Events at Fletcher and Front” takes the interesting historical story of George Pike (of whom I had never heard) as its basis, but the resulting piece of fiction doesn’t quite work for me. Maybe the author needed to think it all through some more. In particular I didn’t think the final deathbed scene succeeded in pulling together the alternative histories as it seemed intended to do, and the intervention by people from the future (? or so George thinks) is left hanging. Unless I somehow missed something.

edited to add rating: 3 stars

I thought “Second Chance”, though short, was a much stronger piece of writing than either of the first two stories in the magazine. Quite powerful and interesting.

4 stars.

Stephen wrote: "“Unless I somehow missed something.."

One of the ways to interpret is that it wasn't an alt-history at all - it was our history and just like electric vehicles (if you look at speed records 1900-1930, most of them are by EV) solar panels haven't played the game-changing role

Stephen wrote: "I thought “Second Chance”, though short, was a much stronger piece of writing than either of the first two stories in the magazine. Quite powerful and interesting."

For me, it was too short to fit both her relations with her family and the final scene - it ought to be a novelette. Therefore, for me the two ideas are jammed-in in one story

Stephen wrote: "I needed a couple of tries to get into “Our Lady of the Gyre”, but when I finally did I found it both interesting for its ideas and affecting."

This one also had too many ideas jammed in, IMHO

Prime Purpose short story by Steve Rasnic Tem the story of an old man and his robot caretaker. While the theme isn't new, there were even a few award-nominated stories, but quite well executed, with robot not being a metal human. The ending was a bit too sweet. 3*
Gut Check novelette by Robert E. Hampson this is what I usually expect from Analog - hard SF with far from smooth prose. Here, it is 2029, and a new manned mission is sent to the Moon. The protagonist is a crew's medic, so no surprise that one of the astronauts has a medical emergency (which I also guessed). 2.75*

Quest of the Sette Comuni short story by Paul Di Filippo an interesting world of the 23rd century. The protagonist is a satyress (female satyr) Fatina, one of many chimeras, who hasn't attained human status. She is travelling with her robot companion near what we now know as Venice (it is underwater). Her master failed in one of his schemes and a hair of the drowned Venice was kidnapped. Now, Fatina has to travel to one of the settlements from the title to rescue her. I plan to check more stories by the author. 3.75*
Apartment Wars novella by Vero Brook 1979, communist Poland. Helena recently lost her husband, a scientist and now is living in a three-room apartment. Due to constant housing shortages and public ownership of them, a person/family may be forced to move into a smaller apartment if their current one is considered too luxurious. So, she tries to keep it till her daughter with her husband return from Sweden, while some neighbors try to get this flat. After working with her late husband's papers, she finds a device he constructed, which uses quantum topography... SF element is both unlikely and hardly necessary. 3*

“Upgrade” is intelligent and somewhat interesting, but it seems mainly to just lay out a scenario and have the character mull it over. There’s not much of a compelling human situation.

3 stars.

Stephen wrote: "“Upgrade” is intelligent and somewhat interesting, but it seems mainly to just lay out a scenario and have the character mull it over. There’s not much of a compelling human situation. ."

I guess its idea is 'AI cannot use what it doesn't know' like implicit rules of interaction between lawyers. There is a true story of AI winning a game by de facto cheating - this behavior is bad for the game, so one time win may mean losing a longer game so to speak

Stephen, I plan to start one of the short story collections next week if you're interested in joining. Either The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume I: The Ultimate Egoist or His Share of Glory: The Complete Short Science Fiction of C. M. Kornbluth

Yes, I’ll happily join you on either of those short story collections. I have my own copies of both on hand.

Stephen wrote: "Yes, I’ll happily join you on either of those short story collections. I have my own copies of both on hand."

Great!

Meanwhile two reviews of this issue (if interested in comparing what readers thought about stories)
Tangent: https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-mo...

SF Revu: https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id....

I’ll join in on Kornbluth if you decide to read that one first. But it’s ok if you read Sturgeon first, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.

Allan wrote: "I’ll join in on Kornbluth if you decide to read that one first. But it’s ok if you read Sturgeon first, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy."

I planned to start with Sturgeon, but three readers are better than two, so Kornbluth it is

Back to Analog Science Fiction & Fact, January/February 2025… I thought “Rejuve Blues” was well done, both the personal side of experiencing renewed youth and the extrapolated future world. Not a brilliant story but well conceived and executed..

A high-end three stars, I guess.

“Fixative” didn’t really work for me… A character copes with the mental and emotional toll of working maintenance jobs on starships, which involves chemical intervention so that the employee is obsessed with the work. The story succeeds in producing the impression of a soul-destroying work environment and heartless exploitative corporate employers, but for me that was about it.

Low three stars.

Stephen wrote: "“Fixative” didn’t really work for me… ."

The same for me. Maybe the 'cadence' of the story attempted to give a feel of a mind with a problem but it was almost unreadable for me

“The Only God is Us” left me cold. The algae and its rather symbolic “cure” both seemed arbitrary. The story is about the bereaved main character coming to terms with life in the changed world. I can see that the story might be a nice low-key read for some, but I was unmoved.

Two stars, with the caveat that it might work better for someone else.

Stephen wrote: "“The Only God is Us” left me cold. The algae and its rather symbolic “cure” both seemed arbitrary. "

I fully agree but I liked 'tavelog across the apocalypse' and I consider it a smooth story, even if extremely unlikely in its solution

“As Ordinary Things Often Do”… another story that didn’t much interest me. More of a bittersweet romance than anything else; the romance partners interacting by advanced video conference, with one of them on a starship about to depart.

Two stars from me.

I enjoyed “Go Your Own Way”, another story where the sff elements are somewhat secondary to a relationship story. The main character has an unexplained, perhaps magical ability to travel between alternate worlds. He loves to wander the worlds but eventually falls in love with a woman who was the neighbour of another version of himself who disappeared, presumably also to wander. They seem happy, but then another version shows up… So the story is about a romantic triangle, and love versus the appeal of the open road, It’s well done, strong story.

A high three stars, maybe even four.

Stephen wrote: "I enjoyed “Go Your Own Way”, a."

Yes, fantasy in Analog and well-written

Acorn, I agree with you about “Prince of Spirals”, a fun, entertaining 4-star story of forensic archaeology and DNA identification.

An irritating though very minor plot point: one character guessing another’s phone PIN. It always bugs me when this happens in fiction.

Stephen wrote: "An irritating though very minor plot point: one character guessing another’s phone PIN. It always bugs me when this happens in fiction."

True, in most of fiction, attempts to guess passwords and the like are successful in such a large share of cases that if it were true, passwords won't be used :)

Partway through “Flight 454” I’m having trouble with its odd, awkward prose. I don’t like the style at all. However the story is short so I’ll push on through.

“Flight 454” strikes me as a very strange story, crudely told. Lots of vitality in the telling, and I kind of like the conclusion. Still, I can’t honestly give the story more than two stars.

I liked “Battle Buddy”, short but sharp. Three stars.

Stephen wrote: "“Flight 454” strikes me as a very strange story, crudely told. Lots of vitality in the telling, and I kind of like the conclusion. Still, I can’t honestly give the story more than two stars."

I liked it a bit more, and my 'suspecion of disbelief' was stretched when [1] an investigation flies to Earth and back - a resource and time-intensive process and [2] no one saw a colony-wide depression before.

As for the prose, it worked better for me than 'Fixative ', which I struggled to finish

When I started reading Flight 454, I tought maybe we were going to get a real science-based Analog story, set on a realistic Ganymede. However you describe it, it certainly wasn’t that.

“Prime Purpose” was ok I thought. A bit close to home, as my parents went through their last years not so long ago. Perhaps the story was a sort of tribute to caregivers. The robot was somewhat interesting. Three stars.

“Gut Check”… Now there’s a stereotypical Analog story, all technical detail. I’m afraid even the medical emergency didn’t interest me much. Two stars.

“Quest of the Sette Comuni”… Clever future world of genetic manipulation, sophisticated writing. Short and entertaining enough. High three stars.

Stephen wrote: "“Prime Purpose” was ok I thought. A bit close to home, as my parents went through their last years not so long ago. Perhaps the story was a sort of tribute to caregivers. The robot was somewhat int..."

In the last few years there were several stories with the idea of robot caretaker, so while it is well-written, for me it was 'good not great'

Stephen wrote: "“Quest of the Setti Comuni”… Clever future world of genetic manipulation, sophisticated writing. Short and entertaining enough. High three stars."

Yes, I plan to check other stories set in this universe

Stephen wrote: "“Gut Check”… Now there’s a stereotypical Analog story, all technical detail. I’m afraid even the medical emergency didn’t interest me much. Two stars."

Agreed

I agree that the sf element in “Apartment Wars” is secondary. It is a readable and interesting story, a solid three stars.

This issue of Analog is the first I’ve read in some time, and the first in my new subscription. If other issues are as good as this, I’ll be content with the subscription. No award candidates here, but mainly entertaining pieces from a wide variety of different science fiction subgenres. A good 3-star issue with several pieces that seemed to stand out: “Second Chance”, “Rejuve Blues”, “Go Your Own Way”, “Prince of Spirals”. Reviewing the contents again, “Our Lady of the Gyre” and “Sette Comuni” aren’t far behind.

Stephen wrote: "This issue of Analog is the first I’ve read in some time, and the first in my new subscription. If other issues are as good as this, I’ll be content with the subscription. "

Of the two, I initially preferred Asimov's over Analog, as less strict on the 'hard-SF' idea. However, last year, it was reversed for me, except for the final issue

This issue of Analog really impressed me with its variety, from romance to fantasy to imagined engineering problem solving.