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

Three Gates [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Steven Barnes
The Analytical Laboratory (Analog, July-August 2025) [The Analytical Laboratory] essay by uncredited
North Station Blues novelette by David Gerrold
Out of "Some Warm Little Pond" Part I: "Rifters" and the RNA World [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Kelly Lagor
Kelly Lagor [Biolog] essay by Richard A. Lovett
The First Velodrome on Mars short story by Marie Vibbert
In Times to Come (Analog, July-August 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited
Desert Soul novelette by David Gullen
Hidden Achievement short story by Shane Tourtellotte
Patient Was the Doctor short story by Victoria N. Shi
Last Dam Standing short story by Dawn Vogel
Luca, Earth Life's Universal Common Ancestor [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer
If the Algorithms Are Gentle short story by Bernie Jean Schiebeling
Our Lady of the Atom poem by Josh Pearce
Low-Tide Salvage short story by Matthew Claxton
Back to Square One [Unknowns (puzzle)] essay by Rachel Fabi
ESRI [Europa] novelette by James Dick
Mother Hubble's Elegy for RHESSI: (2002-2023) April 19, 2023 poem by Sandra J. Lindow
Jennifer Does Pushups short story by Joseph Weber
Imaginary short story by Daniel D. Villani
Your Entry to Paradise™ Memorial Experience short story by Robert Morrell, Jr.
The Marks We Leave short story by M. Ian Bell
Ready for New Arrivals? short story by Sean Monaghan
Under the Moons of Venus: A Tale of a Princess Altivolant novella by Jay Werkeiser and Frank Wu
The Reference Library (Analog, July-August 2025) [The Reference Library] essay by Rosemary Claire Smith
Brass Tacks (Analog, July-August 2025) [Brass Tacks] essay by various

I've started the issue - I hope to manage reading at least a few more issues to take part in their (both Analog and Asimov's) nominations of what was best last year.

Three Gates [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Steven Barnes How to make AI ethical. Three gates system from Rumi, 13th-century sufi poet, is suggested: Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself “Is it true?” At the second gate, ask “is it necessary?” and at the third ask, “is it kind?” I like the approach. 4*
The Analytical Laboratory (Analog, July-August 2025) [The Analytical Laboratory] essay by uncredited a few for which I voted win, and I even remember them.
North Station Blues novelette by David Gerrold North Station is an asteroid-based station on an elliptic orbit around a blue giant, Larry, which one day soon will go nova. There is a side business of producing vacuum bubbles - a bubble of polymer-graphene, a sphere with literally nothing inside. It can be used in a million of ways, from insulation to taking weight off from a lower portion of a space elevator cable. A group of managers comes to check, headed by a retinue, whom the narrator nicknames: Speaker-To-Slaves. Fancy Pants. Dowager Queen. Silent Princess. Nameless Toady. Painted Frog Larry throws a fit and all ordinary activities stop and all go to a safe place within the asteroid. The management is angry that their plans are broken. The narrator suggests a great deal for them with a cut for her. I liked the story, but it feels incomplete. 3.5*

Out of "Some Warm Little Pond" Part I: "Rifters" and the RNA World [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Kelly Lagor about the beginnings of life and Peter Watts Rifters trilogy starting with Starfish. What modern science tells us. 4*
Kelly Lagor [Biolog] essay by Richard A. Lovett turns out that the author writes SF as well and her debut is available online 'How To Make a Triffid' which I plan to read. 3*
The First Velodrome on Mars short story by Marie Vibbert Manuel tries to build the velodrome on Mars, his fan project, instead of working on what he is assigned. His wife tries to straighten him, but he is obsessed with his construction, up to forgetting eating or caring for himself. I like short fiction by the author, but this one is meh. 3*

In Times to Come (Analog, July-August 2025) [In Times to Come (Analog)] essay by uncredited nothing spectacular here
Desert Soul novelette by David Gullen Earth's far future, a captain Thab of "Chimchin" sails boat, which is a mix of medieval and future tech receives a mission to deliver a person to a specified location. The person, Nysbeck needs to reach the mouth of the Tamz at the coastline of Graybithan, where she plans to destroy the last of AI. We find out that (view spoiler)[a group of AI united thousands of planets with inta-tavel, but this warped their mind and made them crazy, which destroyed the travel and the interplanetary civilization (hide spoiler)] A solid story. 3.75*

Hidden Achievement short story by Shane Tourtellotte, parallel stories of a man and a woman, each discovering a dating app and trying it, because it is unusual. There is a hidden achievement, as the title suggests and I guess it is a bit predictable. 3.25*
Patient Was the Doctor short story by Victoria N. Shi. The narrator is a doctor, his wife is pregnant, there is an alien captured by the military and because the doctor said that his oath isn't limited by humans, he visits the alien, who is probably dying. The story is centered on the narrator's feelings. 3*

I also enjoyed the editorial by Steven Barnes.

North Station Blues is inventive and readable. The narrator is an interesting character, a cold-eyed, ambitious radical egalitarian. One thing that bothered me a bit is (view spoiler)[that I found Larry the unstable about-to-implode star interesting, and it ended up being just a plot device to facilitate a meeting between the narrator and “Speaker-To-Slaves”. (hide spoiler)]

A strong 3 stars.

(I may end up adopting your ranking system of using fractions of stars, e.g. 3.5. I feel like I need more granularity.)

Stephen wrote: "(I may end up adopting your ranking system of using fractions of stars, e.g. 3.5. I feel like I need more granularity.)
"

Yes, I find it helpful, because a lot of stories are 'just ok', unrememberable, then there are like, this one is better, but lacking something to get 4

Last Dam Standing short story by Dawn Vogel a mear future world after 'soft apocalypse'. Rising oceans drive salt water upriver and there is the last dam keeping it from going even further. The group that manages the dam connects with a retired engineer, who lives alone, asking her to help them. She drives to them and tries to make rusty dam gates work... 3.25*
Luca, Earth Life's Universal Common Ancestor [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer LUCA means the last universal common ancestor of contemporary life. The oldest of several cellular ancestors and is possibly linked to the emergence of life. 3*
If the Algorithms Are Gentle short story by Bernie Jean Schiebeling a weird piece, where algorithms in a post-human world observe a red panda and try to poison it. It hasn't worked for me. 2*

The First Velodrome on Mars is a little strange in that it focuses on an oddball character, though the Mars setting is mildly interesting. I wonder if the author knows someone like the main character.

Stephen wrote: "The First Velodrome on Mars is a little strange ... if the author knows someone like the main character."

I guess yes, on Astounding Companion, there is a piece by her on this story https://theastoundinganalogcompanion....

I guess the essay is better than the story. Just look at a phrase: Given how much water we humans need to keep humaning

Our Lady of the Atom poem by Josh Pearce I haven't understood it.
Low-Tide Salvage short story by Matthew Claxton a nice short story with worldbuilding worthy of a novel. The narrator is Beatrice, telling the story from her childhood. She and her father salvage stuff on a bank to sell later to one of the great Prospers, the city-states. These cities heavily gene-modify their citizens, each following its own path. Beatrice's father doesn't want to become a next blanc in a city. 4*
Back to Square One [Unknowns (puzzle)] essay by Rachel Fabi a crossword puzzle.
ESRI [Europa] novelette by James Dick a continuation of “EDIE” (Analog, January/February 2023), but if the former was a possible first contact story, where an unmanned probe sent to Europe, stopped responding, but not before it showed an ice sculpture of itself forming. Now is 20 years later, another probe is about to reach Europa. This mission is headed by a daughter of the main heroine from the previous story, and her probe should try to leave Europe before the capture. 3*
Mother Hubble's Elegy for RHESSI: (2002-2023) April 19, 2023 poem by Sandra J. Lindow panegric to the 1st X-ray telescope

Because I liked Matthew Claxton's story, I checked his ISFDB page to find out that I read more by him, from solid 4* Terminal City Dogs short story in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, July/August 2024 to just 2* for ALL THE TURNS OF THE EARTH in Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February 2020

I plan to check his other works, there are just 13 of them

I didn’t like Desert Soul much. It’s colourful and full of action and it’s not badly written, but it didn’t engage me. 3 stars.

Stephen wrote: "I didn’t like Desert Soul much. It’s colourful and full of action and it’s not badly written, but it didn’t engage me. 3 stars."

For me, it was a little hard through the first two to three pages, but then it worked for me. Yes, variations of the plot I've read before, but it fit together nicely in this one.

Jennifer Does Pushups short story by Joseph Weber Jennifer is a victim of a hovercar crash. During her recovery, it turned out that her small intestines are a source of biome, which is great for getting skinny and healthy, so she sells it monthly. Then she meets a nerd from a bio-startup, who plans to reproduce her biome en masse, destroying her source of income... great ideas SF. 4*
Imaginary short story by Daniel D. Villani Frederick Herschel discovers infrared in his failed experiment (true story), then the heroine here, with a little help from her brother, discovers a new class of particles. 3.25*

Hidden Achievement is a fun little romance story. Not my usual thing but not bad. A better-than-average 3 stars.

I found Patient Was the Doctor quite interesting and unusual, at least in my experience. I liked it a lot. 4 stars.

Stephen wrote: "I found Patient Was the Doctor quite interesting and unusual, at least in my experience. I liked it a lot. 4 stars."

In their blog, the author discusses what pushed him to write it

Oleksandr wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I found Patient Was the Doctor quite interesting and unusual, at least in my experience. I liked it a lot. 4 stars."

In their blog, the author discusses what pushed him to write it"

Thanks! That is very interesting as well.

An idea-rich story I thought.

Your Entry to Paradise™ Memorial Experience short story by Robert Morrell, Jr. a flash-fic. A woman descends is a capsule from space, the journey paid for by her deceased father. She doesn't understand what is so great about it. 3*
The Marks We Leave short story by M. Ian Bell humanoid (?) aliens prepare to recreate humanity on Earth. Rylek is one of a team that simulates Earth development to choose an optimal scenario, but he, because of his trauma, from time to time, when he sees a death, replaces a piece of the simulation with a copy that actually survives. Interesting idea, but I think underdeveloped. 3*

I thought Last Dam Standing was a decent albeit rather slight 3-star story. I liked the main character and the technical problem solving effort but thought the ending was a little weak and sort of made the earlier sense of urgency seem unjustified. I also liked the fact that the characters were all nice ordinary people.

I agree with the 2 stars for If the Algorithms are Gentle. It’s a very short piece with a lot of pseudocode in it, a device I don’t much care for.

I also agree that Low-Tide Salvage is an excellent, 4-star story, very well thought out and written.

Ready for New Arrivals? short story by Sean Monaghan two astronaughts walk on Ganymede, Jupiter's moon. One of them suddenly drops in a hole. They are tied, so the remaining one tries to get him out. She got unexpected help. The story sets more questions than it answers. 3*
Under the Moons of Venus: A Tale of a Princess Altivolant novella by Jay Werkeiser and Frank Wu Professor William Herschel meets the narrator, Professor Boxhammer, who is known as the writer of sensationalist stories. The year is 1769 and Venus will pass the Sun, so the question is whether it has moons. The narrator brings a story in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs about floating cities above Venus, and their inhabitants are remnants of the Atlantis population. There were two artificial moons, fast and slow. The fast one brought oxygen and dropped carbon, the slow one kept the magnetic field. The former has exploded and this civilization is doomed, but most don't understand it. An interesting mix. 3.25*

Agree that Jennifer Does Pushups is excellent, 4 stars. Imaginary is short, slight, and ok; didn’t do much for me. Lowish 3 stars.

Stephen wrote: "Agree that Jennifer Does Pushups is excellent, 4 stars. "

And in a way tragic, for I doubt she'll be able to compete and she has no other trade

A tough realistic story. Her existing way of life involves being exploited in a grotesque way and has to be unsustainable anyway.

I found The Marks We Leave quite readable, but I didn’t think it really came together as the author presumably intended, and I also thought it was psychologically a bit off. 3 stars.

I liked Ready for New Arrivals, a solid, suspenseful story of dealing with an emergency on Ganymede. Good characters, and the human presence on Ganymede seemed realistically done. There is a major complication that changes the situation. Some readers might think it’s too much, but for me, it worked. 4 stars.

ESRI is readable hard sf, as Oleksandr says a “continuation” of another novelette published in Analog a few years ago, which I haven’t read. The description of the progress of the space probe sent to Europa and what happens to it was somewhat interesting to me; central character Kate Sloan’s thoughts and feelings, less so. 3 stars.

The Burroughsian nonsense in Under the Moons of Venus: A Tale of a Princess Altivolant took up most of the story, and it didn’t do anything for me. 3 stars.

Some very good stories, but ultimately an average, 3 star issue for me. Too bad the novella wasn’t better.