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

Our Lost Earth Days [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Howard V. Hendrix
Isolate novelette by Tom R. Pike
The Day Seems as Long as a Year [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Kevin Walsh
The Robot and the Winding Woods short story by Brenda Cooper
Outside the Robles Line short story by Raymund Eich
Retail Is Dying short story by David Lee Zweifler and Ronan Zweifler
Data Corrupted poem by Bruce Boston
Groundling short story by Shane Tourtellotte
Banishing the "Inflation" from the Early Universe [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer
Homecoming poem by Brian Hugenbruch
North American Union v. Exergy-Petroline Corporation short story by Tiffany Fritz
Short Selling the Statistical Life short story by C. H. Irons
Amtech Deep Sea Institute Thanks You for Your Donation short story by Kelsey Hutton
Momentum Exchange short story by Nikolai Lofving Hersfeldt
And so Greenpeace Invented the Death Ray ... novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick
Mnemonomie short story by Mark W. Tiedemann
Methods of Remediation in Nearshore Ecologies short story by Joanne Rixon
The New Shape of Care short story by Lynne Sargent
How Glaciers on Mercury (and Eris) are Redefining the Habitable Zone [The Alternate View] essay by Richard A. Lovett
Multifaceted [Unknowns (puzzle)] essay by Todd McClary
First Contact, Already Seen short story by Howard V. Hendrix
The Scientist's Book of the Dead novelette by Gregor Hartmann
In Times to Come (Analog, May-June 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited
Siegfried Howls Against the Void short story by Erik Johnson
The Iceberg short story by Michael Capobianco
Interconnections and Porous Boundaries novelette by Lance Robinson
Bluebeard's Womb novella by M. G. Wills
The Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2025) [The Reference Library] essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard
Review of non-genre non-fiction book: "When the Heavens Went on Sale" by Ashlee Vance essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard
Brass Tacks (Analog, May-June 2025) [Brass Tacks] essay by various

Yesterday I read the short story The Robot and the Winding Woods by Brenda Cooper. I’ve read a few things by Cooper in the past, notably a novel that I didn’t care for, so I didn’t have great expectations for the story. However I ended up liking it quite a bit.

The story is set some time in the not too distant future, in a remote public wilderness park, probably somewhere in the northern part of the USA. An elderly couple is living there. They were once employed to look after the park, and stayed on after it was officially closed. There have been no visitors in a long time. The story begins when a robot arrives to inform them officially that they will have to leave.

It’s a simple story, but I think well told, and I found it a satisfying read. A nice story about old people. I’ll rate it at 4 stars for the pleasure it delivered.

I plan to get to the magazine next week, so to have at least half a year of both Asimov's and Analog read by the month's end

Isolate is a rather intellectual story, set in a far future interstellar empire. The main character is a linguist sent to evaluate the language of a people on a fairly remote planet. If she concludes that the language is related to an existing “Golden Tongue” recognized by the Empire, they will be permitted to retain their language and some of their culture. The Empire seems to be both a religious and a political thing; the character is a member of a religious order and prays to the Emperor. There is a fair amount of linguistics in the story, which is dedicated to “the linguistic research of Dr. Rossina Soyan”. I’m not equipped to comment on the linguistics.

I found the story a little dry but substantial. The central issue of the basically totalitarian imperialism underlying the situation isn’t directly addressed. The character isn’t a rebel but she is sensitive and humane. An interesting story that probably deserves 4 stars.

Outside the Robles Line Thousands of years in the future, a stable, expanding society exists, centred on a mineral rich asteroid habitat. An ambitious young man advocates transitioning from solar to fusion power.

A decent hard sf story. The ending, in which a wise old man delivers life advice to the young protagonist, didn’t really quite work, imo.

3 stars.

These stories sound pretty interesting!

Yes, pretty good stuff in this issue so far.

Retail is Dying A quite short near-future story set in a nearly empty, apparently repurposed shopping mall. A very old man and his AI companion visit the place. He seems about ready to die. But there is an ironic tone to the piece that suggests, maybe not.

3 stars.

There seems to be a recurring theme of old age in many of these stories.

Groundling is a short piece about a starship crew member, born and raised on the ship. The colonists spent the journey hibernating. The small crew who ran the ship have adapted psychologically to shipboard life and expect to continue living on board, in orbit, supporting the colonists. The story’s main character, to his surprise, finds life on the planet attractive and schemes to be assigned to work there. (The planet is barely described but seems to be an uninhabited, temperate, earth-like place.)

The story is only about 4 pages long, and well executed though slight.

3 stars.

North American Union v. Exergy-Petroline Corporation is a short satirical piece written in the form of a mock court decision, purportedly from the year 2110. The court is dealing with fallout from a catastrophic climate-related event in Texas. An oil company apparently disregarded environmental regulations and is considered to have had some responsibility for the event. The story deals with recognizable issues around government, regulatory agencies, areas of jurisdiction, business-political relations etc.

I thought the story read a lot like American court decisions I’ve occasionally seen reported, so on that level it succeeded as far as I’m concerned. It also presented a good deal of “world-building” at the level of future political and governmental developments, and also tangentially involving space colonization. I thought the satire was fairly acute.

3 stars.

Short Selling the Statistical Life The central concept is a Statistical Life Index, which uses some kind of market mechanism to set the level of financial spending considered appropriate to invest in saving a human life.

I found the concept interesting but I don’t understand how it would work. The story is reasonably well written. 3 stars.

The Robot and the Winding Woods, which I rated at 4 stars above, is apparently available as a podcast:

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/an...

Also Analog has The Astounding Analog Companion - https://theastoundinganalogcompanion.... there are usually 3-4 interviews with authors for each issue. Sometimes quite interesting

I've started the issue.
Our Lost Earth Days [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Howard V. Hendrix a discussion of ideas of once popular The Population Bomb, nothing really new. 3*
Isolate novelette by Tom R. Pike a setting that can be described as peaceful Wh40k: there is an empire, its god-emperor and Adepta Sororitas of Dialogous order. Arzhaana is the holy sister in question and she came to the world where people speak Gaskanni. She should determine whether their tongue emerged from one of the Golden Languages. If not, it should be forgotten and replaced with a kind of imperial basic. (view spoiler)[it isn't but she fakes the results in her report to protect it (hide spoiler)]. There is more details with spoilers in her essay https://theastoundinganalogcompanion.... 3*
The Day Seems as Long as a Year [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Kevin Walsh non-fic musings on simulation of Earth with different tilt and rotation speed, how will it affect the climate. 3*
The Robot and the Winding Woods short story by Brenda Cooper an elderly couple (she is 77, he is 83) are rangers in a park. The world went through a mild apocalypse previously, so they live from the ground and don't know what happens in the outside world. A robot drives to them to inform them that they will be relocated and the park restored to wilderness. A bittersweet tale. 3.5*

Momentum Exchange This story seems to be mainly an excuse to display a bizarre bit of “world building”, two inhabited planets that regularly (?) exchange orbits. The actual story involves a centuries long struggle between two long-lived offworld characters, in this setting. I wasn’t interested in the setting and found the story unengaging.

2 stars.

Outside the Robles Line short story by Raymund Eich Barin lives at an asteroid belt roughly a millennium from now. He presents an alternative power source for a new O’Neill (habitat). Instead of solar panels, he suggests nuclear fusion. However, the council of elders says that such a source is depletable even if in 1000 years, so it should be avoided. An interesting story, his essay on it: https://theastoundinganalogcompanion.... 3.5*

Retail Is Dying short story by David Lee Zweifler and Ronan Zweifler a man aged 104 years, with a wheeler and AI assistant based on a slightly younger version of himself, enters the giant mall. The place is almost empty and from his comments, like “It’s not like I’m going to have to worry about sore legs tomorrow,” it seems that he is hugely dissatisfied with the changed world, and he plans to leave it. There is something in the moll to change his plans 3.25*
Data Corrupted poem by Bruce Boston fantasy beats recollection, thus we are better than machines. 3*

Stephen wrote: "There seems to be a recurring theme of old age in many of these stories."

There definitely is and I'm curious whether this hints of the demographics of readers or editors. Trevor Quachri is 49, but maybe others...

Groundling short story by Shane Tourtellotte Arturo as well as his parents were born on a generation ship, so he never saw anything else. Now they arrived at their destination and he volunteers for a ground mission because he has a strange desire to be there. A moody piece, well-written. A bit from the author https://theastoundinganalogcompanion.... 3*
Banishing the "Inflation" from the Early Universe [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer non-fic from how Big Bang became the dominant theory of early universe, problems with accelerated expansion... a little over my head but interesting 3*
Homecoming poem by Brian Hugenbruch a trope used in a lost of SF, a spacer returns to Earth to find how it changed. 3*

North American Union v. Exergy-Petroline Corporation short story by Tiffany Fritz a simple plot: a court decision on compensation from an oil company whose spills exacerbated a hurricane that caused death and damage. However, all is in how it is written: with multiple footnotes and links to other trials. I'd say that novelty factor is high, so 4*
An interview with the author https://theastoundinganalogcompanion....

Short Selling the Statistical Life short story by C. H. Irons after a financial crisis in our near future, (average) life is valued by the market and is traded. A doctor is an underfinanced hospital gets a message on how to short the Statistical Life Index to get money for the hospital. A lot of background from economics on what the monetary value of life is. A nice thought experiment, even if some things are more a political message. 3.5*

Stephen wrote: "I found the concept interesting but I don’t understand how it would work. "

The concept of expected discounted life-time earnings, which can be oversimplified as a value of life is already used by courts to estimate damages. Currently, what do life insurance companies do? They estimate value of life to calculate fees. In this story, it seems the author got rid of life insurance plus public spending on healthcare, making the payments to hospitals (what about stuff like disability payments?) dependent on market valuation of life

Is there some AI monitoring the index and continuously adjusting various fees and payments? How does anyone budget?

Stephen wrote: "Is there some AI monitoring the index and continuously adjusting various fees and payments? How does anyone budget?"

I guess that the author was more into ethics, "how can you value a human life" than into real details. Therefore, who made money on it are capitalists who own gov't therefore, the prosecution. At the same time, as I said, life insurance has been doing this valuation for centuries

The idea that in effect we place a monetary value on a life for various practical purposes is not novel to me or I assume to most people.

I also didn’t understand how the index worked. Was it based on actual prices paid for various things?

Maybe I didn’t read the story carefully enough.

Stephen wrote: "I also didn’t understand how the index worked. Was it based on actual prices paid for various things?"

From what I've read plus general knowledge:
1. index funds usually buy stocks of companies that compose an idex like Dow Jones. In the case of life valuations I guess there are multiple different gatherings of life insurance equivalents, e.g. white men with higher education aged 25-30 are in one group, children of illegal migrants aged below 10 in another and so on. The index is composed of all these bundles
2. we know that healthcare payments depend on the index or its components - the prosecutor's dad is to be turned off because of the index fall
3. main holders of the index are capitalists. Quote: We’ll be making money, while a whole lot of rich people are losing it.
4. fall in the index makes admitting new patients loss-generating: It occurs to her that if the Index does crash—like her friend assures her it will—the next batch of intakes might not even have a clinic here to receive them and can also close the clinic, which is strange

Amtech Deep Sea Institute Thanks You for Your Donation short story by Kelsey Hutton a short piece told from POV of a deep-sea octopus, who recalls something from her human life... the final reveal the reason, even if it is hinted in the title. 3*

Momentum Exchange short story by Nikolai Lofving Hersfeldt Jeraka and Cerule are tugged in a millennia-long war on a planet settled by (re-created?) Homo Denisians. Cerule wants to leave the planet (is she a criminal in a planet-prison?), while Jeraka thwarts her attempts, which turn to ever higher tech. Interesting but weird. 3*

And so Greenpeace Invented the Death Ray ... novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick a classic Analog story: a woman-astronaut and her family; a group of satellites, which beams microwave energy down from space to a power generator in the Rockies. Someone captures satellite's management and the woman should fly to disable them in space. An interesting title but a boring story. 2.5*

Mnemonomie short story by Mark W. Tiedemann Olin is a teen (?) boy, only caring about playing group sports. In this world, boys, when they mature, are taken away to reappear as productive adult members of society. For years they are paired to a person who studies while they play, in the case of Olin he bis paired with Winston, who studies accounting and Olin is so illiterate that thisks that's about keeping score. However, Olin gets a head trauma and is forced to learn how his world operates... a strange tale. 3.25*

Oleksandr wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I also didn’t understand how the index worked. Was it based on actual prices paid for various things?"

From what I've read plus general knowledge:
1. index funds usually buy stocks..."

Thanks for taking the trouble to enter that. I agree, that’s what the story gives us. I just find it unsatisfactory.

Stephen wrote: "I agree, that’s what the story gives us. I just find it unsatisfactory."

I like the general idea of life valuations traded as stocks (I don't want it to be true, but as a thought experiment), but I fully agree that the execution is lacking

Methods of Remediation in Nearshore Ecologies short story by Joanne Rixon it is 2075 and the protagonist is kayaking over the drowned city of Tacoma, collecting data on water pollution after the storm. She talks with dumb AI of her tester and collects stuff for handicraft. a day-in-life kind of story, I rarely like them. 2.75*
The New Shape of Care short story by Lynne Sargent flash fic about last hours of life in a hospice, where the narrator meets her daughter but prefers her caring bot... 3*
How Glaciers on Mercury (and Eris) are Redefining the Habitable Zone [The Alternate View] essay by Richard A. Lovett there are a lot of glaciers on other planets. The main idea: we should search for habitable niches not just planets in Goldilocks zone. 4*
Multifaceted [Unknowns (puzzle)] essay by Todd McClary yet to solve
First Contact, Already Seen short story by Howard V. Hendrix repetition of a story - invaders come, declare locals unhuman, destroy them, rinse repeat. Hardly original. 2.75*

The Scientist's Book of the Dead novelette by Gregor Hartmann a near future, where a group of scietists-activists destroyed Earth of nation states, replacing it with the technocratic world gov't, which restores wilderness across the globe. During their campaign, planet's population dropped from 9 bn to 200 mn. The main plot of this story is a discussion between a mildly gene-modified general of their Roughnecks and highly gene-modified woman named Raven, who calls for further reduction to 20 mn of post-humans. 3.25*
In Times to Come (Analog, May-June 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited maybe Marie Vibbert is the only one I can expect to have something good, the rest we'll see
Siegfried Howls Against the Void short story by Erik Johnson a long story of a robotic spaceship and its life. Its goal was to map a part of our galaxy. A newer ship Eurydice sometimes sends him messages regarding her travel. Centuries pass by... I guess i'd prefer a much shorter version. 2.75*

The Iceberg short story by Michael Capobianco entries from a diary of a researcher, who witnessed the destruction of Antarctic ice. A poignant story. 3*

And So Greenpeace Invented the Death Ray I basically agree with Oleksandr’s description and assessment: a “classic”/typical Analog story that is also a boring story. 3 stars I guess but I didn’t care for it.

Interconnections and Porous Boundaries novelette by Lance Robinson three rival colonies (US, China, India) are established at the asteroid belt. They have to be self-sufficient, but it is hard to create a sustainable bio-environment for just a hundred persons. The story starts with the bad news that molybdenum deficiency can kill colonists. They create a biote that stores the element to supplement their diet, but it escapes its niche... as can be expected, the colonies will try to communicate because they are hours away while Earth is 17 months away, so it is an open secret that they'll do something, despite The USA and PRC are on the bring of a nuclear war back home... 3.5*
Bluebeard's Womb novella by M. G. Wills the way to fight misogyny is to change men, so they can bear children. The whole story is based on the idea, with a lot of science and conflict. 3*
The Reference Library (Analog, May-June 2025) [The Reference Library] essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard I'm interested in the mentioned old and new Afro-American writers, with books to check Sweep of Stars and The Martian Trilogy: John P. Moore, Amazing Stories, Black Science Fiction, and The Illustrated Feature Section plus Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend
Brass Tacks (Analog, May-June 2025) [Brass Tacks] essay by various an interesting discussion that postmodernism killed objecftive truth

Just two reviews of this issue:
1st: https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-mo...
2nd: https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id....

Mnemonomie is an unusual, somehow interesting tale, told from the point of view of a character who doesn’t understand what’s going on. He lives in a world where boys like him, possibly all boys, don’t seem to be educated, they just play sports until they “matriculate”, which involves having their personality obliterated and “overlaid” by another more mature one, apparently from a parallel universe. The main character suffers brain trauma and doesn’t undergo the process. From his bio at the end I get the impression that this is a rather personal story for the author.

I almost want to give the story 4 stars for its uniqueness but in the end I think it’s a readable oddity of a 3 star story.

I enjoyed Methods of Remediation in Nearshore Ecologies . it’s short and there’s very little plot, but it’s well written and agreeable. The character, a future biologist, paddles her kayak and takes readings of chemical pollutant levels while also thinking about family. A crafter in her spare time, she comes up with an idea for using shells of invasive mussels to make a gift. Pleasant stuff. 3 stars.

Oleksandr wrote: "Just two reviews of this issue:
1st: https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-mo...
2nd: https://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id...."

Thanks for the pointers. I particularly like the reviews by Victoria Silverwolf at Tangent Online.

I liked The Scientist’s Book of the Dead. I bought into the situation and cared about the outcome of the debate. I’ll give the story 4 stars.

Stephen wrote: "I liked The Scientist’s Book of the Dead. I bought into the situation and cared about the outcome of the debate. I’ll give the story 4 stars."

I liked it too, even if I need more context (I guess I should check other stories by the author in Analog) and I agree that the debate is interesting. My take on it is mostly in line with genetic selection in The Day After Tomorrow: parents should be able to select the "best" genes for their offspring but humans aren't omniscient gods, we can err in our definition of best, so 'bad' genes should remain as well and their holders should be compensated by the society for this is their help to the society. Also I liked the analogue "I was dead serious about fixing that toilet. I’m afraid your super-dooper brainiacs would just sit around and argue while the stink got worse."

The situation of a Leninist-like party elite discussing this issue was uncomfortably credible.

Stephen wrote: "The situation of a Leninist-like party elite discussing this issue was uncomfortably credible."

True, true

Oleksandr wrote: " … we can err in our definition of best, so 'bad' genes should remain as well..."

I agree with this point.

I am generally skeptical of the “posthuman” idea, whether involving AI or genetics or both, but I thought both the gene-tailoring used by the viewpoint character and others, and the “Massively Parallel In Vitro Fertilization” that produced the supposedly superior Raven character in this story were both more or less credible. However the latter could fall foul of the issue you raise: “…the young embryos were tested. All but the best one were discarded.” But how can you be sure which is ‘best”?

Siegfried Howls Against the Void The first publication by author Erik Johnson. The “life” of a robotic interstellar probe, told in almost poetic terms. I found it interesting. A solid 3 stars.

Stephen wrote: "Siegfried Howls Against the Void The first publication by author Erik Johnson. The “life” of a robotic interstellar probe, told in almost poetic terms. I found it interesting. A solid 3 stars."

For me it is interesting as an experiment, but too long - I got bored by the end

Somewhat to my surprise I found it rather absorbing.

Stephen wrote: "Somewhat to my surprise I found it rather absorbing."

More than once, I noticed that by appreciation of a story depends on my current mood
So it is more than likely that the story was good, just not in the right time for me