8 • Brokedown • 17 pages by Mark Bourne OK/Good. Boone is on his way to Little Rock when his truck breaks down. He’s stranded in a small town. It's ba8 • Brokedown • 17 pages by Mark Bourne OK/Good. Boone is on his way to Little Rock when his truck breaks down. He’s stranded in a small town. It's bad, but the waitress at the local diner is kind. After closing a group gathers and he finds that many of them are stranded as well.
25 • Schrodinger's Cathouse • 6 pages by Kij Johnson Fair/OK. Bob is driving. While at a stop light he starts to open a package. He is suddenly transported to some psychedelic bar, the title establishment where things aren’t predetermined.
31 • Detritus Affected • 16 pages by David Brin Good/OK. Archaeologists are digging in a landfill near Los Angeles and find human bones. Then more and more. Where did these people come from?
58 • Mrs. Molton's Mr. Molton • 22 pages by Urs Frei Good/VG. The town was hoping to cash in when Molton died. Not knowing he had a daughter. They kind of held a grudge against Dolly. Dolly advertised for a husband, got a gold digger which would have been OK, but he also broke her trust by mentioning the mutant in the basement.
80 • Alex • 7 pages by Mary A. Turzillo OK. Cara has a first date with Alex. She was unsure he’d show and fairly sure once he did it was just for a one night stand. I completely don’t know what happened. Maybe Alex was a vampire and just left, maybe he was a wererat and the cat got him. The italicized lines might mean something, though nothing to me.
87 • Fetching • 19 pages by Rob Chilson Very Good/Good. Jack is going straight, buying himself a manor and name. The guests at his first party say great, but where’s the family ghost? He sets out to get himself a ghost, but it’s not tame as he thought it would be.
117 • The Good Pup • 15 pages by Bridget McKenna Good/OK. Romer Wills adopts a stray dog. It dies, hit by car, but the day after they bury it, the pup returns. Somehow with healing power. I dislike the trope that mobs of people see a miracle and feel that they are entitled to it as well. This story also had a second group of religious kooks that thought the pup was a sending from Satan.
132 • Vermin • 29 pages by Harry Turtledove Good/VG. Victoria is fed up with all the bugs. One day she goes to the [ungodly] research base and asks them to do something about the vermin. Rationalizing that it's for the good of the Haldols, because it wouldn't be proper to ask for their own benefit. Would have been better if there were any sympathetic characters....more
6 • Born from the Beast • 58 pages by Vance Aandahl Very Good. Becky is hideously scarred from the accident that took the lives of the rest of her fam6 • Born from the Beast • 58 pages by Vance Aandahl Very Good. Becky is hideously scarred from the accident that took the lives of the rest of her family. She is now a ward of the infirmary. She hates the pity of the school children but she doesn’t want to be cooped up either. When the doctors suggest homeschooling she runs away stowing away on Unbefrontable's boat. He's a grizzled old man who is the only one that treats her as a person. He has gotten a commission to take an offworlder upriver. They are off on an adventure which takes a few twists and turns.
71 • First I Came to Los Angeles • 6 pages by Neil W. Hiller OK. Deal with the devil tale.
77 • By the River, Fontainbleau • 14 pages by Stephen Gallagher OK+. Marcel and Antoine are heading back to Paris after their painting trip. They lose their way and end up at a farm. Marcel gets directions and is glad to be away from that place that is just creepy. Antoine sees a farm girl and declares he is staying. He only has enough money to allow him to stay for two weeks, would Marcel go to his father and get his allowance? Marcel obliges, but the father says no allowance. He returns with the bad news and finds his friend disheveled. The story tending more towards horror as it progresses.
91 • Trick • 22 pages by Augustine Funnell Very Good. Trick runs the Golden Bruin for his abusive stepfather. The father who mourns the death of one daughter and more so Alanya who ran away. On this cold and blustery night there’s a sparse crowd of regulars then a stranger arrives. This Klute dropped an eye encased in a globe. Trick finds it and returns it to Klute, who then says that it is Alanya’s eye, she’s addicted to glitterdust and will die. Horribly without her father’s hoard or pleasantly and longer with it.
120 • Something in the Blood • 11 pages by Richard Purtill Very Good. Niko goes to Franco’s bar. Tonight he meets Ann. Ann who for an instant seemed really sad, but is willing to dine with Niko at a restaurant and the go to his home. The reader is quickly aware that Niko is a vampire or something.
131 • In the Hour Before Dawn • 4 pages by Brad Strickland Good/VG. Charles has a lucid dream where he meets Paul, a complete stranger, who claims he is the one dreaming of Charles.
146 • Crystal • 13 pages by Charles L. Grant Good/OK. Visiting a London shop Brian buys a portrait of a striking woman. After leaving the shop a taxi crashes into it. Brian is bruised but otherwise unhurt in the accident. Going back to his hotel Melody tells him it’s a painting of her grandmother. Brian has more close calls and feels a weirdness about the picture....more
5 • The Only Game in Town • 27 pages by Poul Anderson Good. Manse Everand and John Sandoval are sent to the western US to make sure Mongol explorers h5 • The Only Game in Town • 27 pages by Poul Anderson Good. Manse Everand and John Sandoval are sent to the western US to make sure Mongol explorers head back to Asia. That there isn't an Asian colonization of America a century or two prior to the Europeans. Presumably their ship sank and no more came of it. Certainly not a full fledged colonization.
32 • A Divvil with the Women • 5 pages by Niall Wilde (Eric Frank Russell) OK+. Patrick lives to drink. The tavern closes and he departs. On his way, Shaitan asks him to fill his flask with holy water. Patrick is hesitant until he’s told Shaitan will make him irresistible to women.
37 • The Blind Pilot • 15 pages by Charles Henneberg Fair/Poor. North owns a pawn shop. He won’t accept a box because it contains an animal, but ends up loaning five thousand credits for his papers. The guy leaves his box anyway. Jacky, North’s crippled brother, sees the guy dead on the news the next day. Then a bunch of hallucinogenic scenes, some mention of sirens (the mythical beings) and I couldn’t follow it from there.
52 • Bug-Getter • 3 pages by Reginald Brentor OK/Good. Frustrated and struggling artist gets a visit from an alien. Makes a deal. Two years later the alien comes to collect the second half of its payment.
69 • Final Gentleman • 33 pages by Clifford D. Simak Very Good+. Hollis Harrington is calling it quits after thirty years and fourteen novels. During an interview the questioner points out that some discrepancies, such as no record of him having attended Harvard, or his girlfriend there. This disturbs him. He goes to see his mother only to find out some other family had lived there for fifteen years. What’s going on? Has he been delusional for three decades?
102 • A Little Girl's Xmas in Modernia • 6 pages by David R. Bunch OK. The people on Modernia have turned inward. (Does make me wonder how there came to be a little brother and little sister.) Little sister hasn’t reached that point, and may even be instigating more interaction between individuals.
108 • The Galactic Calabash • 7 pages by G. C. Edmondson OK. The narrator and his mad friend visit Mexico. Their host shows them the farm. Chickens, eggs, etc. and some sort of pumpkin like vegetable. The characters were observers and the narrator made a [startling] deduction at the end.
115 • Double, Double, Toil and Trouble • 14 pages by Holley Cantine Very Good. The narrator goes through phases, student, activist, ends up being a bit of a hermit and gets to focus on one of his earlier passions, magic. He only gets one spell to work, a doubling spell, but it’s enough to provide food, many necessities and more. Things are going well until it spirals out of control.
129 • Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot: XXII • 1 pages by Grendel Briarton (Reginald Brentor) Meh. Ghoul from undertaker’s assistant....more
3 • The Star Gypsies • 14 pages by William Lindsay Gresham OK. Fedar is the king’s son until he falls in love with a girl and elects to leave the Grea3 • The Star Gypsies • 14 pages by William Lindsay Gresham OK. Fedar is the king’s son until he falls in love with a girl and elects to leave the Great People who travel the road, instead staying in the gorgio village with Thene. The villagers worship the old civilization of which they have only remnants. The Gypsies have knowledge, such as how to catch ducks. Fedar hasn’t been in the village long when a storm damages their reaper and flattens the wheat. They will die unless they can figure out what to do.
17 • The Adventure of the Snitch in Time • 8 pages by August Derleth, Mack Reynolds Very Good. Pons and Parker might as well be Holmes and Watson. They receive a visitor, not from the future but rather from an alternate universe that is seven hundred years in their future. Athelney has come to consult them about a group of criminals that are stealing from less advanced timelines. The mystery was all right, the characters were spot on. Really fun read.
25 • The Hypnoglyph • 8 pages by John Anthony (John Ciardi) OK. Jaris picks up a piece of wood. Maddick explains to him it’s addictive, once you pick it up, you start rubbing it and can’t stop. Then goes on to tell the story of where it originated on DK-8.
33 • The Untimely Toper • 7 pages by L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt OK/Fair. Cohan got into a tiff with Pearce and told him to leave and not come back. Pearce first went to the bathroom, Cohan didn’t see him leave, but a check of the bathroom later on showed it empty. The next night Pearce came out of the bathroom ordered a couple of doubles, went back in the bathroom and again when checked the room was empty. A couple more anomalies has Cohan chagrined and scratching his head.
40 • Man • 4 pages by Dave Dryfoos OK. A human ship lands on a planet of intelligent trees, told from the perspective of one of the natives.
44 • Mop-up • 7 pages by Arthur Porges Fair/OK. The last man on Earth finds a witch, a vampire and a ghoul. They confirm he’s the last surviving human. As the witch starts saying the newcomer is to be hers, the vampire is not to drink his blood, animals attack the three. Being just a solitary man, I didn’t see any future for him.
51 • Yankee Exodus • 11 pages by Ruth M. Goldsmith OK+. Joshua has a friend that visits him in a flying saucer. One day as Adam left a chunk of something fell off his craft and damaged the roof. When Joshua made an insurance claim. Adam came back offering to fix the damage, when Joshua said it was being handled and Adam ended up building a new henhouse. Kind of unique, and it gained unwanted popularity. Also the insurance adjuster was giving Joshua a hard time about the claim.
62 • The Friends of Friends • 22 pages by Henry James Slog/Fair. All the characters are referred to with pronouns, so it was incredibly hard to know who was there. The first part, a woman traveling in France knows the exact moment when her parent died. Flash forward a few years, the narrator is trying to be a matchmaker for two friends, they are both amenable to it but can never meet. Strange because they have many friends in common. A few years pass and the narrator is marrying the fellow. She tries one more time to set up a meeting, but once again it fails, and the woman friend dies that night.
87 • Judgement Planet • 12 pages by Idris Seabright (Margaret St. Clair) Good. Innes lands on Amorgos with the intention of proving a positive of human nature. He drops his last food ration, his foot already having been injured, there is no way he’s going to make it back to the ship alive. And worse his findings have kind of confirmed that the Eleans were not as righteous as he thought. Then he finds a hidden door and a huge ship or dwelling. At least it’s warm and he won’t freeze to death.
99 • Expendable • 5 pages by Philip K. Dick Good/OK. Ants are plotting against a man. The man knows this and tonight he barely escaped a trap, and only because he was warned by a spider.
104 • The King's Wishes • 9 pages by Robert Sheckley Good/Very Good. Shop owners stake out their shop because every night appliances have gone missing. They catch the culprit but it’s a magic being impervious to force, and anything else they try.
113 • Star Light, Star Bright • 15 pages by Alfred Bester OK+. Warbeck is looking for Stuart, a young student who wrote about fantastic inventions he and his friends have been using. As soon as he figured this out Stuart vanished, even school records were gone. ...more
7 • Grizzled Veterans on Many and Much • 25 pages by Robert Reed Fair/OK. Brad's grandpa is one of the first to transcend. That's a sort of souped up 7 • Grizzled Veterans on Many and Much • 25 pages by Robert Reed Fair/OK. Brad's grandpa is one of the first to transcend. That's a sort of souped up living. It enhances the brain. These first people live nine or ten days in a gel (later it's up to 30 days), but from their perspective it's each day is ten years. The story jumps ahead several times, with an episode later in Brad's life.
48 • By the Light of the Electonic Moon • 15 pages by Andelica Gorodischer OK/Fair. Trafalgar goes to distant planets to sell merchandise. When he sells some comic books on Veroboar he gets detained at his hotel. After several days of being put off he decides it's time to make a visit.
63 • Changes • 35 pages by Rand B. Lee OK/Fair. The changes are areas that disappear to be replaced by past, future or alternate timelines. Whitsun has wealfire which warns him of dangers and allows him to make wards and do some healing. While traveling he encounters an area surrounded by a white mist, a mist that doesn’t get wispy like fog when you get closer, but rather just stays solid. He runs into a pack of dogs that can communicate by thought and says he’ll help them.
98 • The Woman in the Moon • 20 pages by Albert E. Cowdrey Good/OK. Adam asks Professor Threeput about his dissertation. His father-in-law starts telling him about how he was in the same boat. He went to a conference met his competition, but was especially nice to her. She ended up going to the moon where they discovered the remains of the Selenites. She passed along lots of information to him.
118 • Wormwood is Also a Star • 50 pages by Andy Stewart Good. Some children survive the Chernobyl disaster. They live in a bubble of non-radioactivity and have developed a second sight. They can touch people and read memories. Mitka is a reporter that has gained access to the children (well Vitaly is now nineteen) and written an article about them. It probably kept them safe in their bubble rather than in some lab. Mitya would’ve been in a prison except that her father is a general and her husband well placed in government. Now the drama. Mitya is having an affair with Vitaly, her father wants to use the witch children to bolster his political position, some of the children recently committed suicide and so on.
168 • Directions for Crossing the Troll Bridge • 2 pages by Alexandra Duncan Filler/Gimmick. Title is also the description.
170 • The Bluehole • 14 pages by Dale Bailey Fair/OK. When Jeremy was thirteen his mom died. The next May Jimmy moved in across the street. All summer they hung out with them playing at video arcade, smoking, drinking and going down to the Bluehole. A lake where three kids once died on senior skip day and there have been other stories as well. I didn’t connect with the characters, or really even care about them.
194 • The Mood Room • 7 pages by Paul Di Filippo OK+. The narrator did programming on the prototype mood room. He tells the story of how the inventors almost died. Oh, I guess this was supposed to be hilarious.
207 • Doing Emily • 11 pages by Joe W. Haldeman OK/Good. Professor Tomlinson has done F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, now he is going to go into the mind of Emily Dickinson. I wasn’t sure if this was pure simulation or some type of time travel, but it was definitely a full experience of being that person.
218 • Systems of Romance • 17 pages by Ted White Good. The narrator is a musician who has already had an extra four lifetimes. At a party after a performance, Cecelia-B talks with him. She is interested is the mathematical composition of music, he is very intrigued by her eyes and youth. He takes her in so they can collaborate, he doing most of the teaching but she having new approaches.
235 • Canticle of the Beasts • 20 pages by Bruce McAllister Fair. Three kids are being chased by two groups. Soldiers (religious persecution? One boy is papal.) and Drinkers (some sort of vampire?). They hide in some caves, though they’ve erased their trail, the groups are bearing down on them....more
4 • Yesterday's Tomorrows • 52 pages by Kate Wilhelm Excellent/Very Good. Hal picks up a hitchhiker, they’re both going to California and both are in 4 • Yesterday's Tomorrows • 52 pages by Kate Wilhelm Excellent/Very Good. Hal picks up a hitchhiker, they’re both going to California and both are in no hurry. Tilly tells him that she’s going to the house she inherited. She also mentions her work. She was a researcher doing technician work, asked her boss for reassignment, got a make-work job where she found he was a fraud, confronted him and was fired. Hal teaches history, but has done some TV work doing historical research. His research side tells him that something is fishy. It’s a mystery that needs to be investigated.
80 • Grass • 16 pages by Lawrence Miles Fair. Documentary tale of a French explorer making sure there is no “greener grass” in the Louisiana Purchase before it is sold to Thomas Jefferson and the US.
108 • Elegy for a Greenwiper • 13 pages by Alex Irvine OK. Hancock Dome is the one place for life on Kindred IV. The greenies think there should be life everywhere, Hancock employs greenwipers to eradicate their efforts, but this last one is especially hardy.
121 • Mayhem Tours • 11 pages by Michael Kandel OK+. Mayhem Tours is a revenue generating business for a poor country allowing those that have paid the exorbitant price to kill a person. Jonathan isn’t finding it easy.
138 • Mirror Games • 8 pages by Robert Sheckley Good/Very Good. Edwards lost his wife and sees a chance to get her back by going to a world where he can get her back from the mirror that saw her when she died. But that’s not all that is stored in the mirror.
146 • Shiva, Open Your Eyes • 14 pages by Laird Barron Good+/Poor. The first half was very promising, with a PI coming to investigate the narrator. It seems there have been many disappearances around his farm, and it’s cool because the narrator can see through all the deception the PI is doing. The second half tries to explain the narrator....more
5 • The Siren Shoals • 28 pages by R. Garcia y Robertson Very Good. Prince Eric escapes his home planet when it is overthrown. Now a wanted man he goe5 • The Siren Shoals • 28 pages by R. Garcia y Robertson Very Good. Prince Eric escapes his home planet when it is overthrown. Now a wanted man he goes to the fringe of the galaxy off the plane thinking it would be uninhabited. It’s not. There is a religious zealot who has with a gang of pirates and a gang of slavers captured a colony ship and is preparing to use this system. The only reason Eric isn't dead is that he has locked the controls of his ship and they don’t want to waste a top notch ship.
48 • The Bone Woman • 11 pages by Charles de Lint OK. Ellie is a homeless woman who is not quite all there. Geordie will often share a sandwich with her, though conversation is not really possible. One day he notices a woman talking with Ellie, and the vacant look is gone. He is interested in this new person, who turns out to be the bone woman.
59 • Chroncorp • 10 pages by Grania Davis Fair/OK. Time tourists got stuck in the past. Ace troubleshooter Lefty is called in to rescue them. The time stream is finicky and she makes a few detours. Maybe it’s supposed to be funny.
69 • The Silent Treatment • 13 pages by Marina Fitch OK/Fair. Sheryl sees ants in the house. Jake doesn’t allow poisons so she has to find an alternative. Now he isn’t even coming home. Well she’ll make do for a while.
88 • Mom's Cooking • 10 pages by Ron Goulart Good/OK. Jeff loses his job, on the train home he sees a sandwich on the seat next to him. It appeared from nowhere. Days later he finds beef stew in his den, and a letter from his wife’s lover. He’s sure the it’s his [dead] mother doing it.
112 • Vigil • 10 pages by Stephen Dedman OK. Jerry works at a bar. Most of the customers are dead as in ghosts. It’s not just there, all over the world the dead are appearing. Tiffany wants to move on while she still has her looks and before they start replacing living actors with dead ones.
122 • The Skeleton Key • 38 pages by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Very Good/Excellent. Tess is murdered by satanists, but instead of going to their god, she is met by Hermes. Ever since she was ten she and Sasha created the sisterhood and had rituals to him. Hermes is taking her to the afterlife, but she isn’t ready to go yet. She wants revenge on the beasts that savaged he...more
6 • Dangerous Games • 41 pages by Marta Randall Good/Very Good. A hull plate is damaged and Jes has to stop at the very next grab station. Unfortunate6 • Dangerous Games • 41 pages by Marta Randall Good/Very Good. A hull plate is damaged and Jes has to stop at the very next grab station. Unfortunately, these guys are really xenophobic and don’t have any repair docks for him. After about twenty pages of the place just being miserable and full of red tape the story takes off. There’s a spy around from the corporation that wants to buy out the locals who don’t want to sell.
55 • Far Removed from the Scene of the Crime • 8 pages by Nicholas Yermakov (Simon Hawke) Good/OK. Van Owen is in charge of getting answers from prisoner one eighty-seven. Even with extreme torture the man has remained silent. Van Owen sent away the torturers and is going to get answers himself.
63 • Terrarium • 16 pages by Scott Russell Sanders Good+. Phoenix sees an unconventional woman walking outside his door. He is both repulsed and drawn to her. So drawn that he starts walking and letting his appearance start to be more like hers, to stand out and to draw her attention to him.
82 • The Way Station • 28 pages by Stephen King Fair. The gunslinger finds a shack having journeyed to exhaustion through the wastes. He makes it to this run down way station and collapses. A boy, Jake, gives him some water, but has little idea of how he got there. Jake does tell him the man in black had passed through, so they are soon on the chase. Then there’s a side story of Roland and Cuthbert as kids. They may be training to be gunslingers, anyway they overhear some traitorous remarks and report it. Then have to go to the hanging.
110 • The Shadowed Waters • 9 pages by C. A. Cador Good. Ailil goes to a nearby island to wed the chief’s daughter. Unfortunately the chief said no, the younger son of a chief isn’t good enough for his daughter. Ailil in his heartbreak does something [stupid] thinking it may impress the chief enough for him to change his mind.
119 • Outside • 13 pages by David Bischoff Good+. Martin is free. He can sort of manipulate his environment to be as pleasant as possible, but real world keeps trying to intrude. Could easily be made into a TZ episode.
142 • Independence Day • 14 pages by Gregory G. Jeffries (Gary Jennings) Very Good. Wealthy businessman Greg on his deathbed wakes up feeling much better. Then he notices that his doctor is somebody who died decades ago. After exhausting the possibility that he cheated death accepts that he is back in his thirty year old body and has some knowledge of what is to come. ...more
4 • Sandsnake Hunter • 31 pages by Gordon Eklund OK/Good. David joins a band of snake hunters. He has something to prove, but the first time he is in 4 • Sandsnake Hunter • 31 pages by Gordon Eklund OK/Good. David joins a band of snake hunters. He has something to prove, but the first time he is in position to make a kill he chokes. Lee died on that hunt. Warren goes to get a replacement and comes back with Olgul. Nobody wants to associate with the Nogarian, they are repulsive. David ends up having the most interaction with Olgul, and overcoming the physical characteristics starts to like him. Olgul for his part tries to help David overcome his fears.
35 • Speed of the Cheetah, Roar of the Lion • 4 pages by Harry Harrison OK. Henry loves to show off his huge car in these times of energy conservation where everyone else is driving fuel efficient mini cars.
46 • The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign • 8 pages by Manly Wade Wellman OK/Fair. Jack killed a witch-priest but got acquitted. When he gets back to his home he finds strange items, a gold coin in his yard, a black magic book on his shelf. When he opens his books and reads some random passages he knows something is up. He takes it upon himself to chop down the tree by the [former] priest’s house.
54 • A Scarletin Study • 16 pages by Jonathan Swift Somers, III (Philip José Farmer) Good. Ralph von Wau Wau origin story and the highly intelligent dog’s first case. Ralph (a Holmes-like character) and Weisstein (his Watson) have to unravel the clues in a painting, using both German and English puns, to find the artist (Scarletin) that was taken.
80 • The Time before • 5 pages by Mildred Clingerman OK/Good. Our narrator goes to the deep pond. There she meets a boy and has a wonderful time dancing. He must go but says he’ll come back at the end. Until then she has an ordinary but unfulfilling life.
88 • Three Shadows of the Wolf • 27 pages by R. A. Lafferty Good. Sheep are being taken from the herds all around the county. All the clues that come to Pidgeon point to Lamotte doing it in his wolf form.
115 • Catch that Zeppelin! • 19 pages by Fritz Leiber OK+. The narrator slides into an alternate history where he is a German businessman/engineer waiting to get on a Zeppelin. This world is filled with lighter than air ships and electric vehicles. He has a last lunch before departing with his son, a professor of social history. His work mentions cusp points. When it comes time to board the ship he slides back into his dimension.
145 • The Lamp • 15 pages by L. Sprague de Camp Good. Willy Newbury buys a lamp and delivers it to an old friend. Albert has terrible luck and he’s hoping that this artifact from Atlantis will be able to change it...more
5 • Arsenal Port • 55 pages by Poul Anderson Good/OK. Earth wants to make peace with the Aleriona. Gunnar Heim thinks they just want to keep Earth out5 • Arsenal Port • 55 pages by Poul Anderson Good/OK. Earth wants to make peace with the Aleriona. Gunnar Heim thinks they just want to keep Earth out of space. When they harass New Europe the Earth navy is going to be of no use, so Gunnar is negotiating with the Staurni to buy a weapon. While there he meets an old friend, maybe more than friends now, she is divorced, his wife died. Space opera with the hero having little more than his wits in which to save a colony from invasion.
60 • Keep Them Happy • 8 pages by Robert Rohrer OK+. Kincaid is a jailer. His job is to keep (or make) the prisoners happy.
75 • Blind Date • 6 pages by T. P. Caravan Good/OK. Harry gets sent into the future only to find himself at a party where they think he is impersonating himself.
82 • The History of Doctor Frost • 13 pages by Roderic C. Hodgins Good. Doctor Frost sees a demon in his study. Azuriel wants Frost to live and continue working and when his life is done allow his mind to be absorbed. Frost doesn’t know what to think, he wants to talk it over with a priest, a psychiatrist and his girlfriend first.
95 • Lord Moon • 9 pages by Jane Beauclerk (M. J. Engh) OK. Lord Moon roams the planet without any territory to call his own. He deems it time to get married and through his mirror has seen the daughter of the Star of Freedom. But how to get to her?
115 • Eyes Do More than See • 3 pages by Isaac Asimov OK. Being that transcended to pure energy is now thinking of creating matter.
118 • Aunt Millicent at the Races • 10 pages by Len Guttridge OK/Good. Aunt Milly turns into a horse. Father (of the narrator) decides to take advantage of this and starts entering her in horse races. Not sure if Millicent lost any volition of her own or what. Did she love to run and win?...more
3 • Child by Chronos • 14 pages by Charles L. Harness Good/VG. The narrator hates her mother. She is happy to be sent to a boarding school, where she 3 • Child by Chronos • 14 pages by Charles L. Harness Good/VG. The narrator hates her mother. She is happy to be sent to a boarding school, where she can get out from underneath her mother who seems to know everything that’s going to happen. That's her business, she has a publication with predictions that are invariably correct.
17 • Flies • 6 pages by Isaac Asimov OK/Fair. Three men go to their college reunion. Casey is plagued by flies. The reverend and professor say it’s probably some odor. Build up to a startling (or “so what?”) conclusion.
23 • It Pays to Advertise • 16 pages by Kris Neville OK. Smith invented a process of genetic engineering that would allow parents to pick traits for their children. Parmenter and his faction were worried that it would put people out of work. Rather than the argument of tampering with god's creation or these modifications are not available to the poor creating a significant class difference.
39 • The Key • 2 pages by Bruce A. Agnew OK. Linguists go to an alien planet to decipher some writing.
41 • The August People • 7 pages by Con Pederson OK+. Wallace is sweet on the counter girl at the drugstore but she’s already married. He’s been reading up on voodoo. No mention of him ever practicing it, but the implication is he feels responsible for the strange things that are happening.
48 • The Man Who Liked Ants • 15 pages by Leslie Charteris OK/Good. Simon is visiting a friend. They go to see a man who is working with ants. This mad scientist guy is creating gruesome ants, ones that are huge and intelligent.
63 • Mr. Prime • 7 pages by Ralph Robin Good. Roy has a choice of staying with Leona or doing a not really ethical job for the colonel that should make him good money. While pondering this he runs into an old man who had a similar choice. When he was twenty-two the man was in love with a girl above his social class. He gets fed up one night and goes for a walk. Mr. Prime tells him go back and x will happen, go forward and it’ll be y.
73 • The Preserving Machine • 8 pages by Philip K. Dick OK. Labyrinth wants to make sure music isn’t forgotten. His theory is to feed the music into a machine and it will bring it to life (in the form of an animal.) He designs the machine and has it built. Then he tests it. It works sending out different animals for Bach, Brahms, etc. It wasn’t until near the end of the story that we learn that to get the music back you put the animal in the machine and do the reverse process.
81 • Strange Birth • 3 pages by Arthur Porges OK/Fair. From the perspective of something we follow it. The first thing it seems to want to do is kill the beings around it. Wait for the big reveal…
84 • Frist Strike • 14 pages by James Blish Fair/OK. Wally is a rocket ship pilot. In a couple days he’ll be going to space. Leading up to this point he’s had to endure the loss of friends, society being anti-science. “What did the atom bomb get us?” That seems to be the plot, a scientific mission when the country is almost completely anti-science. I’m not quite sure if that applied to not even using electricity (mention of candles) and other “roughing it” behaviors or not. Anyway the premise fell flat.
98 • Weerawannas • 8 pages by W. B. Ready Fair/OK. Five year old Parky sees a couple little men. They claim to be weerawannas, and that ordinary folk can’t see them in their little form. That’s it.
106 • The Happy Traitor • 3 pages by Morris Hershman Good/OK. Curt saves the world. He and his family don’t get a moment of peace. They are besieged by fans, companies wanting endorsements, and gawkers. Plus the unlicensed use of his name.
109 • The Maladjusted Classroom • 14 pages by H. Nearing jr. Fair/OK. Ransom is double booked in a classroom and has the idea to swing the other class through the fourth dimension which once again has problems. MacTate is there to help Ransom with grievances.
123 • The Last of the Spode • 4 pages by Evelyn E. Smith OK. The last three people on Earth discuss their future. Angela nixes the idea of trying to repopulate the Earth with Eric. Then they start talking about scones and tea....more
5 • Through Mud One Picks a Way • 27 pages by Tim Sullivan Good. Uxanna went to Ceti Four and left because humans were ruining the planet for the nati5 • Through Mud One Picks a Way • 27 pages by Tim Sullivan Good. Uxanna went to Ceti Four and left because humans were ruining the planet for the native Cetians. Back on Earth she’s working for Hob, communicating with the Cetians that are in his pit. She’s leery of the businessman’s motives, but more worried about how to help the Cetians. Both the ones here and their native planet.
54 • Hell for Company • 19 pages by Albert E. Cowdrey OK/Good. An author friend asks Mark Twain about ghosts. He tells him the story of two brothers. They got into a duel, the older brother was killed, but his consciousness inhabited the younger brother.
73 • Success • 50 pages by Michael Blumlein OK/Fair. Dr. Jim is well published, but suddenly has no time to write, is surly with colleagues and students. So much that he loses his job and eventually gets put in the nut house. When they’re just about to start experimental treatments he vanishes. Reappearing several days or weeks later with a full recovery. He has to start from scratch, but manages to find a compatible wife, Carol. Once again his monomania starts to affect his relationship. Way too long, lots of references to epigene and perigene without telling us much. Certainly not why he vanished. I suppose it has something to do with the thing in the basement, but that isn’t explained either.
127 • The Soul in the Bell Jar • 29 pages by K. J. Kabza OK. Lindsome goes to live with her mad scientist uncle while her parents are on an extended vacation. There are a lot of horrors, but people seem to know about stitching souls to dead bodies to create vivified. Uncle Albion goes a bit further in his quest for knowledge and his assistant is pretty nasty to Lindsome. He thinks she is trying to ingratiate herself into her uncle’s will. She wants nothing to do with the place.
156 • Stones and Glass • 42 pages by Matthew Hughes Good/Very Good. Raffalon fresh off working a year for a wizard has some worthless stones enchanted to look like precious gems. He’s going to a town with a weft gem convention to sell the stones and abscond before they turn back into their original form. Unfortunately the convention has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Plus there is some guy (turns out to be Cascor) following him. I know he’s a thief, but I couldn’t find any sympathy for Raffalon when he’s trying this scheme.
204 • Hard Stars • 21 pages by Brendan DuBois OK+. Secret service agents are trying to save the president. There is a crisis, somehow there are drones and other deadly weapons tracking everything and blowing up stuff without remorse. They have ditched anything that can be tracked electronically. Needs a bit more background.
225 • Sing, Pilgrim! • 4 pages by James Patrick Kelly OK. A chair appears in front of a bank. Someone eventually sits in it. She starts singing and vanishes. The second time was a man thinking it was a hoax. After that a religion grew around the chair, because the expression of those before they vanished was pure joy.
229 • Baba Makosh • 24 pages by M. K. Hobson OK+. A scout team is just about to perish from the horrible conditions when they are lead by Baba Makosh to her winter husband’s lair. I think that’s where they were trying to go. Two of the soldiers partake of the [fairy?] food provided but one stays resolute. The same guy who left a trail for the brigade to follow. When the brigade arrives it’s “How can they stand up to a god?” The commander does it with science (or whatever tricks modern man has.) Read it more as a fairy tale rather than literally....more
4 • Basement Magic • 28 pages by Ellen Klages Very Good. Mary Louise is six. When her stepmother doesn't ignore her it's to be mean. They get a new ma4 • Basement Magic • 28 pages by Ellen Klages Very Good. Mary Louise is six. When her stepmother doesn't ignore her it's to be mean. They get a new maid. Ruby is very kind to Mary Louise and when Kitty has been especially mean to her, Ruby shows her some magic.
41 • Protect Yourself at All Times • 6 pages by Bruce Jay Friedman OK. Phillip Collins is die hard boxing fan, he’s is watching a great bout on TV. These guys are giving it everything they’ve got, Collins can almost feel each blow.
47 • The Incredible Steam Man • 21 pages by Ron Goulart Very Good/Good. The Challenge detective agency is hired by Beresford to find his missing steam powered man. He doesn’t want any extra involvement, but it looks like the thieves have turned this gentle butler into a killer.
68 • Luz • 6 pages by Arthur Porges OK/Fair. A Medical Examiner discovers an unknown bone in the human skeleton. But the knowledge isn't used for anything. Fizzle.
79 • Incursions • 13 pages by Kit Reed OK/Fair. Dave Travers has a nothing life. He's on a train to the city, but it stops for a moment. He jumps off. There's a minor correlation to a text (decision tree) based computer game. Nothing really happens, another fizzle.
92 • The Curse of the Von Krumpelsteins and Other Horrors: Contents of Volume 1 • 7 pages by John Morressy Gimmick/Crap. I suppose this is supposed to be funny, but I'm too literal. I need some continuity. A character to follow and some semblance of a plot.
99 • The Retriever • 13 pages by Harvey Jacobs Good+. Aurora lost a cheap necklace and goes to Joey Luna to recover it. He does find and return it. Aurora is happy with the return, and it changes her.
124 • 555 • 13 pages by Robert Reed Good+. Joan mostly exists in her office where she works for Claudia. She appears very competent. One day as she is contemplating a man arrives at her desk. Mitchell wants her to shoot Claudia.
137 • The Refuge Elsewhere • 24 pages by Robert Sheckley Very Good. Harry is barely escaping with his life over in over. He thinks there's a leak in witness protection, but the agent says no, the guy has a remote viewer that can locate him anywhere on this Earth. Harry gets referred to a sort of fairy tale land. Only problem is The Lady won't let him stay....more
6 • What Kills the Stars • 16 pages by Alex Bisker Good. Jess is writing an article on a physicist, Mabry. They connect. She had broken up with Anna. 6 • What Kills the Stars • 16 pages by Alex Bisker Good. Jess is writing an article on a physicist, Mabry. They connect. She had broken up with Anna. This new relationship is nice. Mabry poses the question, what would you do if the world were going to come to an end?
22 • The Ndayaan Sea • 11 pages by Moustapha Mbacke Diop Fair. Coumba Sire is supposed to be mother of beasts, but her step-sister Coumba Fira steals her destiny. She goes to the djinne, pays a price, then sails the Ndayaan sea to regain what is rightfully hers.
33 • The Icy Wasteland at Her Feet • 15 pages by Deborah L. Davitt Good. Tora is doing routine maintenance to survive. Not a disaster story where she has to do something incredible. We get the back story and the human failings the caused her to be alone on a moon of Saturn.
48 • Guilt Can Wilt the Sweetest Flower • 12 pages by Veronica Henry Good. J.C. allows a homeless woman into the library where he’s the overnight custodian. There seems to be more to her, for instance she can see the ghost of the little boy the he killed [following orders] during the war.
62 • Mackson's Mardi Gras Moon Race • 12 pages by David DeGraff OK+. Miner going against the rich racers decides his best chance in this lunar pole to pole race is to use a different route (and hopefully better) than those better equipped opponents. Only problem is that one of them decides to follow him.
74 • The Wizzzer • 8 pages by Scott Nicolay Fair/OK. Russell calls the gang over, says his wizzzer went evil, ate his little brother and his mom.
82 • Burned like Coal • 8 pages by T. R. Napper OK/Fair. Emiko and Millie are blowing up a power plant in order to save the planet.
90 • The Diamond Factory • 12 pages by Phoebe Barton Good. Adamantia is doing a last inspection/salvage of the space station where she grew up. Unbelievably she finds someone. No one could have boarded the station and several crews have been through looking for survivors, salvage or whatever.
102 • The Body-Part Woman • 10 pages by Bonnie Elizabeth Good. An ungrateful customer brings a hand back to the body-part woman and doesn’t want to pay for the damages. When he wants an eye, she knows it will come back beyond repair. She’s refuses to let him have it.
112 • How to Care for Your Domestic God • 29 pages by Clara Madrigano OK. Beatriz and David get a new house that is too good to be true. No mold, no dust, the garden always in bloom, and the price was incredibly affordable. Still Bia thinks something feels strange. A month into their ownership the god makes itself known, and there is some turmoil.
162 • Big Trouble in Sector C • 12 pages by Robert Friedman, Barry N. Malzberg OK. Murphy is linked into the web to find malware. It splits his consciousness into two, One in the real world and Two in cyberspace. Contact with Murphy Two is lost, central control fears it’s Astrid.
174 • All Our Better Angels • 10 pages by Jack Neel Waddell Good+. Madeline tries to convince Jenn to take care of the unloved foster child that she was while growing up. Is that an ambiguous antecedent? Hint, the answer is no.
184 • Puzzle Pieces • 6 pages by Jennifer R. Povey Fair. The protagonist is undergoing some sort of brainwashing to make her act normal. To get out of this simulation she needs to act the right way. Can she do it and still remain herself?
190 • Zariel: Parable of a Gifted Black Child • 16 pages by Denzel Xavier Scott OK. There’s a large asteroid headed towards Earth. There is some connection between Zariel and the asteroid. Zariel starts glowing, attracts a crowd.
206 • The Wounded King • 19 pages by J. A. Prentice OK. Two knights and a servant come to visit Sartien, the exiled king, to see if he can help with the comet bearing down on the planet. What they find is a man who says that sometimes you must be evil for the greater good.
225 • The Interspatial Accessibility Compact's Guidelines for Cross-Cultural Engagement • 7 pages by Dane Kuttler Good. Tadaaki comes to the station’s florist to ask about love. Sri guesses, accurately, it’s his Hollusk lab partner and has a bit to offer about Hollusk culture.
244 • Do Not Hasten to Bid Me Adieu • 12 pages by Will McMahon Very Good+. It’s 1937. Henry gets a letter from the far future. A grand daughter from a galactic civilization who is being married off for political purposes and wants his advice. He writes back, and it’s just the first in a series of letters....more
9 • Tree of Life, Book of Death • 22 pages by Grania Davis Good+. Chava has grown up looking for her missing twin who was stolen by their wet nurse. T9 • Tree of Life, Book of Death • 22 pages by Grania Davis Good+. Chava has grown up looking for her missing twin who was stolen by their wet nurse. The nurse said Eva was taken by a one-eyed gypsy. When she finally comes across a one-eyed gypsy the man starts looking at it logically. Doesn’t sound like what a gypsy would do. Was there a ransom demand, etc.
31 • The Resurrection of Alonso Quijana • 16 pages by Marcos Donnelly Good/OK. Don Quijote meets a soldier who is abandoning a desert war zone, interpreting all of the modern armaments as magic and whatnot. At the end of this dream he learns that women fight with the army which causes him to rethink being a chivalrous knight when back in his own time.
60 • Tapeworm • 11 pages by Kit Reed OK+. Jeffrey is consumed by fear of missing out, in this case he has an obsession with taping shows and storing them on his shelves with the intention of some day watching them.
71 • Calculating Love • 15 pages by Rick Wilber Good+. Daryl goes out to celebrate. They got the bottle to work. If only he could be as slick with the girls as he was with science. His fantasies start rolling when a girl in a Porsche smiles at him as she passes. When he gets to the bar that same Porsche is in the parking lot.
86 • Country Mouse • 10 pages by Edward Bryant Good. Jerri is tired of wolves getting into the hen house and such. It’s nice to have her cousin visit and wouldn’t it be great to see the city. This story is more about the [not] mundane country life.
101 • Origami Mountain • 12 pages by Nancy Farmer OK. The top executive at a chemical plant goes missing. After a week it’s reported to the police. The wife thought he might have a mistress, the employees thought he took a vacation. The detectives investigate and track his last known whereabouts to Origami Park. It felt like a mystery, but there was no resolution. He’s probably dead, but fizzle. It’s just “ooh, aah, the park is really cool.”
113 • The Love Farmer • 47 pages by Ray Aldridge Very Good/Good. Beautiful and wealthy Arriangel wakes up as a slave after having broken up with her boyfriend. He drugged her, removed her citizenship tattoo, sold her to a slave trader that put her on ice for several hundred years. She is purchased by Memfis who wants to record a memory of love. He and his [not so nice] twin run a company that sells experiences. They have a side bet on whether he will succeed or fail....more
6 • Polyphemus • 45 pages by Michael Shea Fair+. Colonists on a fishing and exploration mission are now further from base than ever before. They come 6 • Polyphemus • 45 pages by Michael Shea Fair+. Colonists on a fishing and exploration mission are now further from base than ever before. They come upon a cove with a bounty of “fish.” The captain against the recommendations of basically everyone else decides to go all in to get the entire school. And there’s a monster. It’s a horror story, a small group of humans stranded on an isle with what they had in their boats, not their main transport, but it still seems plenty, harpoons, dissecting and diagnostic tools, etc. Not a fan of horror, and here I had trouble visualizing all of the things they learned about the Polyphemus and their ploys to subdue it. At least enough to save themselves.
60 • Alas, Poor Yorick • 11 pages by Thomas A. Easton OK. The Mayor tells Mike how he and Howie stumbled upon a group of Neanderthals.
71 • A Born Charmer • 14 pages by Edward P. Hughes Very Good+. Daffyd is given the job to watch the sheep, and be sentinel. There are raiders. He gets ambushed by the second one and ends up charming a second rifle. That’s a skill he’s hidden from the village because they execute charmers. He disposes of the second rifle by giving it to the Good Samaritan that helped ward off the raiders. Unfortunately he is found with a duplicate rifle and gets the “merciful” judgment to just be blinded. Daffyd can’t let that happen.
85 • Upgrading the Kitchen • 8 pages by Coleman Brax (M. Coleman Easton) Good+. Sara, a single foster mother of Ewald, is trying to cope with raising a boy who is overly interested the alien broadcasts on TV, and a finicky AI (CI, cyber-intelligence in this story). The concepts made me think this a much more contemporary story rather than being forty years ago. Bravo.
96 • Bait • 22 pages by Marc Laidlaw, C. A. Cador Good+. Damiol hasn’t returned, now it’s Jessany being sent to the city to see what is amiss in Am’Horok. She goes undercover as a minstrel, making friends with the stable boy and eventually being able to sense Damiol. Now to find him.
118 • Taaehalaan Is Drowning • 8 pages by Lee Killough Good. David is angry that all of the beautiful alien architecture is being flooded. He feels it’s history being lost. The world needed water to be replenished, but why so quickly?
137 • The Free Agent • 22 pages by Michael Cassutt Good. Mendoza gets an offer from an aging superstar baseball player. Gilliam needs an astronaut to fly his pod up to the Russian space station and Mendoza is kind of low man at NASA for some recent political views. It’s an offer to consider....more
I got this issue second hand. The prior reader inked their ratings onto the pages. Those ratings in parentheses.
4 • Beneath the Waves • 41 pages by GoI got this issue second hand. The prior reader inked their ratings onto the pages. Those ratings in parentheses.
4 • Beneath the Waves • 41 pages by Gordon Eklund Good+ (Fair). Astin has been convicted of treason and sentenced. The uppers transformed him into a merperson. He is desolate when found by Cassie, who brings him back to the enclave. The elders classify him as a youngling, Cassie and Isabella are assigned shifts to watch over him. Nice story, but I want to know more about the upper society which is claimed to be tyrannical with little or no personal freedom. With forty pages I think we could have gotten a better understanding of the world. Otherwise I’d give it a higher rating.
54 • Slammer • 8 pages by Gary K. Wolf OK (Poor). Sammy inadvertently gets thrown into the prison town. At first he’s aghast that there are no cabs or phones and wants to see some authority to correct the situation. The girl he met when unceremoniously dumped is guiding him through his transition in circumstances. Written tongue in cheek, because there are less drastic options that Sammy could take to improve his life.
62 • The Siren Garden • 17 pages by Lee Killough Good/Very Good (good). Michael Timon runs a shop that sells alien crystals. Living organisms that also produce chimes and tones. Lorna comes in first to buy, then to observe and finally to work with the crystals herself. A group of crystals is impossible because they are sensitive to their surroundings and will emit a shriek when agitated. They would easily create a feedback loop that is dangerous to anyone close. Lorna works on desensitizing the crystals so that she can have a garden.
82 • Plastic and Practical Jokes • 11 pages by Gregg Williams Fair (Poor). The Tuesday Night Forum brainstorms an idea for a removable nail, touting its practicality. No reason given other than it’s kind of their job to come up with inventions, no explicit order from above. They’re depicted as a bunch of jokers and indeed the demonstration is used to play a joke on their boss. It fell flat, there wasn’t much of a plot, and I guess these guys had never heard of nuts and bolts.
93 • The Lunatick • 18 pages by Thayer Waldo OK/Good (Poor - too far-out). Perrin goes into the water and there is a freak wave. The first time he thinks nothing of it. He is on a task force studying a moon rock that has extraordinary magnetism and radiation. (Though they don’t mention the radiation being at all dangerous.) They are now meeting with some Russian scientists to gather ideas about what is causing this rock’s behavior. When the interpreter says she is attracted to him he deduces it’s because he handled the rock.
111 • Waves of Ecology • 10 pages by Leonard Tushnet OK (Good - disturbing). An ecological minded group plant some genetically engineered trees along a street and the some highways. The fruit drops and the residue causes tires to wear out causing accidents or just go flat. In the immediate future this does cause less driving and the air does get better, but their plans don’t continue on as expected.
134 • The Star of Stars • 26 pages by Robert F. Young Good+ (Best in this magazine). Hwanonin is from an advanced civilization on the Planet of Lost Laughter. Physically he is very similar to humans. He decides to build a ship, come to Earth and teach them. When he lands (in ancient times) he claims to be their god, Anu. The local priest takes a dislike to him fearing that Anu is out to destroy the priesthood....more
5 • L'Arc De Jeanne • 29 pages by Robert F. Young Very Good/Excellent. A wannabe despot has taken a fleet to a backward planet to quell a rebellion. A5 • L'Arc De Jeanne • 29 pages by Robert F. Young Very Good/Excellent. A wannabe despot has taken a fleet to a backward planet to quell a rebellion. A girl thwarts the first attack on the capital. O’Riordan doesn’t want to destroy the infrastructure by bombing it to a crater. He orders this girl captured. The plan is for D’Arcy to infiltrate and make Jeanne fall in love with him, then trick her to get on a shuttle without her magical arrows and bow to be imprisoned on the mothership.
34 • Beaulieu • 5 pages by Margaret St. Clair Good/OK. Denton, who although still looking OK is scheduled to have an operation [the first of many] on Monday, is picked up by a woman. It’s not quite his fantasy, she exudes power more than anything erotic.
46 • To the Rescue • 7 pages by Ron Goulart Good. Bill Herriman is tracking down an heiress. She fled Barnum to elope, and also there’s a kidnapper following her. He might stand a chance except every vehicle he gets in starts to malfunction.
53 • The Most Wonderful News • 11 pages by Len Guttridge Good. Sam is a bit down. He loves sharing the news of the town with his wife who is constrained to the hospital, but today he has no news. Along the way there he’s having no luck. He passes by some of the town gossips and not a nibble.
66 • Survey of the Third Planet • 14 pages by Keith Roberts Good. Raf Trigg discovers a beautiful planet inhabited by low level hominids. The planet is [presumably] Earth, where there’s an army garrison close to the native that have been attacked by burning light. The army investigates finds the enemy camp and is thoroughly defeated, the CO is killed, but Paul survives and is now acting commander. I imagine this as a pre-industrial revolution era, since they aren’t using words like laser and space ship.
91 • Representative from Earth • 7 pages by Gregory Benford OK/Fair. John Bradley is kidnapped while exploring Ganymede. He’s put through testing and knows it must be some advanced civilization from outside the solar system
98 • Apology to Inky • 31 pages by Robert M. Green, Jr. Fair/OK. Walton is coming back to his hometown where he left Moira twenty years ago. He makes it to Sharonville and rather than ride the bus another fourteen miles and another back to Glendale, he decides to walk the three miles. He keeps having hallucinations of a boy and his dog, like repeated scenes from 1931 and 1944. He makes it to Glendale and meets up with Moira and has more hallucinations. We get the picture that Moira’s mother killed Inky with her car, she felt guilty about it, but the boy felt guilty, too, when Mrs. Hendricks got injured in a subsequent accident. It’s all hazy and meandering. Too much to plow through for not enough payoff...more
3 • The Other Inauguration • 12 pages by Anthony Boucher OK+. Lanroyd and Cleve are worried about the American party becoming a political tyranny. Cle3 • The Other Inauguration • 12 pages by Anthony Boucher OK+. Lanroyd and Cleve are worried about the American party becoming a political tyranny. Cleve is working on a time machine and with both of the psi powers they’ll also be able to rotate into a better world.
15 • The Monsters • 9 pages by Robert Sheckley OK/Good. First contact story on an alien planet from the perspective of the aliens which have distinctly different mores than [presumably] the earthlings that arrived. Focus on humor.
24 • Shepherd's Boy • 2 pages by Richard Middleton Fair/OK. A man is accosted by a shepherd asking if he’s seen his son. Goes to town where the shopkeeper tells him the boy died a while back. Set up for a rather callous punch line.
39 • Inefficiency Expert • 16 pages by Ralph Robin OK/Fair. Dalet lands on Leu and is met by a politeman. He is told that his ship isn’t ready would he like to see some cultural sites. Brushing off his complaints, basically doing nothing. We get the idea that Leu is laid back, unhurried and this man from Tagr is do it now, time is money reflection of his society. What we aren’t told is why he came to Leu in the first place.
55 • Able to Zebra • 14 pages by Wilson Tucker OK/Fair. Zebra the lowest of the watchers [or whatever] aka Horace Reid finds an article about current pennies being found in an archaeological dig. He immediately informs Able, the head honcho. His instructions are to wait for backup. After discounting hoax as a possible solution, he and Dog choose to follow his idea of planting time travel seed in science fiction magazines.
69 • The Sorcerer's Apprentice • 10 pages by Leslie Bigelow Fair/OK. Professor Tyana feels the need to rid the world of Emma, one of his students. He first gets her to research mystical crap. Then has another student make a voodoo doll of her suspecting that she’ll die of fear.
79 • Th Malignant Organ • 11 pages by H. Nearing jr. Good/OK. The university has a new organ and the dean’s wife ropes Ransom into giving a performance. While practicing the music professor kicks him out but inadvertently knocks over Ransom’s experiment. When Ransom does play for the crowd, he starts, but the organ itself takes over from there.
94 • The Cat Was Black • 9 pages by Tom Browne OK/Good. Arthur sees a man picking up a stray cat in an alley. After talking with him for a while, Maurice claims the secret to living nine lives is to eat cat meat and that he has already lived four.
103 • Thirsty God • 8 pages by Idris Seabright (Margaret St. Clair) OK. Brian being chased by Hrothy finds shelter in a shrine. The shrine performs some sort of physical transformation on him which attracts plunp that want him for some distasteful service. He’s been rendered immobile so he can’t escape. Poetic justice for what he did while in the Hrothy village.
111 • The Wheelbarrow Boy • 4 pages by Richard Parker OK. The teacher turns Teddy into wheelbarrow for misbehaving in class, but can’t turn Teddy back into a boy.
115 • Vandy, Vandy • 14 pages by Manly Wade Wellman Good+. John the balladeer goes into hills and valleys where he hears a family singing and gets in their good graces by playing a second verse of what they just played. When the girl is introduced as Vandy, he says that he has come there looking for a song of that name. They sing it to him. Then Mr. Loden shows up and everyone kind of stiffens up but remains polite, like they’re afraid of him....more
4 • Coelacanths • 25 pages by Robert Reed Crap. I got nothing from The Speaker sections, no plot advance, no character, if it said something about the4 • Coelacanths • 25 pages by Robert Reed Crap. I got nothing from The Speaker sections, no plot advance, no character, if it said something about the setting I missed it. Procyon is a scavenger that saves her son from falling into a trap by doing so herself. Abel wants to impress a girl by taking her to see a pool only he knows about. Escher is some sort of thought being that creates a body gets sucked up by a prison ball and then put into a tooth. I didn’t get that section at all. I think the Abel and Procyon overlapped. Hard to visualize, maybe a sympathetic character or two, but I didn’t see them doing anything. I couldn’t see a plot.
40 • The Pyramid of Amirah • 7 pages by James Patrick Kelly VG/Good. Amirah has been selected by some sort of cult religion to have a pyramid built over her house. The story went a slightly different direction. I’m rating it up because it had a few LOLs.
47 • Grandma • 7 pages by Carol Emshwiller Good+. Humorous granddaughter is now taking care of grandma who used to be a superhero or close to it.
58 • Ransom • 70 pages by Albert E. Cowdrey Very Good+. Maia and Maks divorced. Their son, Sandi, was kidnapped coming home from school. After confirming Sandi hadn’t just run away, Maia called Maks who is in the security forces. The kidnappers contact Maks. They want him to go back in time and bring back a boy. Totally illegal, but it is from just before the Troubles in 2091 when Washington was destroyed. It’s a mystery/thriller with sci-fi elements. I wrote that about halfway through, the ending added some action, put in a few twist and made me think that maybe I should read Crux.
134 • Presence • 26 pages by Maureen F. McHugh Good. Gus has Alzheimer’s. It’s getting so bad that Mila has made a decision to spend the money on an experimental procedure that will wipe the bad brain cells and the be replaced by new growth. Really well written, I just couldn’t go any higher because it wasn’t a fun read. Just a bad situation that might or might not be not quite as bad. Like an 0-11 team might make it to 2-9 the next year, and not a heroic 2-9....more
Loading...
