Status Updates From Asimov's Science Fiction, V...

Christmas, Mirages, and Hind all solid stories. 3.5, 4, and 3

The James Gunn sequel to previous 'Stars' stories here is the worst of the three, but with a cool start. But man, once Harry and Lisa appear, the story takes a hard dive into what might be one of the dumbest conclusions to a story I've ever read.

“Footprint” by Kate Maruyama. Short story. A mother struggles with the final farewell to her Mars-bound daughter. 5/5

“Return to Glory” by Jack McDevitt. Short story. Three hundred years in the future, Star Trek is rediscovered. 5/5

“The Mirages” by Alaya Dawn Johnson: short story exploring relationships in a world with new borders drawn by a rapidly changing climate. 5/5

“Grief, As Faithful As My Hound”: a short story by Marissa Lingren. First contact and hospice. (I love everything Lingren writes. She’s amazing.) 5/5

'Return to Glory' by Jack McDevitt *****
'The Long Iapetan Night' by Julie Novakova ****

'Pull It From The Root' by Zack Be ****

'Footprint' by Kate Maruyama *****
'Return from the Stars' by James Gunn ***
'Forger Mr. Z' by Chen Qiufan *
'As Grief, As Faithful As My Hound' by Marissa Lingen *****

'The Mirages' by Alaya Dawn Johnson *****
'The Hind' by Kevin J. Anderson and Rick Wilber ***

'Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria' by Sam Schreiber *****

'The quantumly entangled elevator to Nick's floor was slow, relatively speaking.' - Sam Schreiber

“Forger Mr. Z” by Chen Qiufan: a struggling writer, reverse identity theft, and time travel. I enjoyed the twist at the end. 5/5

“Take a Look at the Five and Ten”: a lovely story about family and the brain by Connie Willis, 5/5.

Grief, as Faithful as My Hound - Lingen: Aliens come while her mother dies.

Footprint - Maruyama: A mom ponders her world-saving daughter.

The Mirages - Johnson: A man with issues and his ex-wife & daughter are going north.

Return to Glory - McDevitt: Rediscovering a sense of wonder in the future through Star Trek fandom.

Pull It from the Root - Be: Gaiel is on the down low, but some slakes walk into the joint.

The Hind - Anderson & Wilber: Adrift generational ship, though the plotting was a bit weak.

Return from the Stars - Gunn: Appears to be a sequel to another novelette, but ugh, Gunn's style just does not work for me.

Forger Mr. Z - Chen: This is hilarious and intriguing metafiction.

(Reading the fiction from longest to shortest)

Take a Look at the Five and Ten - Willis: A lovely little rom-com, though I really had to struggle to see any SF/F elements in this one.

The Long Iapetan Night - Novakova: A dark story about a mission to Saturn's moon 100 years after the last one.

Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria - Schreiber: A fun and funny story about ole Nick in a hotel with infinite rooms.

Just getting the departments and poems out of the way first so I can just do the short fiction.