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oleksandr's review
4.0
This is a fresh, January-February 2022 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. As always, there are some good ‘hard’ SF works, scientific and less so facts.
The (Sometimes) Reality of "I Told You So" [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Richard A. Lovett despite about issues connected with global warming scientists talked since the late 19th (!) century we still drag our legs on the subject. The problem is that evolutionary we aren’t evolved to solve long-term issues by sacrificing short-term utility. 3*
Communion novella by Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu two points of view, one of (an alien) sentient marco-cell, which is a communion with other cells in a manner our brain cells (and not only them) exchange information – by specific protein ‘messengers’ Therefore its story is filled with description of cell work, e.g. Thinkers in the main cluster inform me that this is an old protein, as indicated by its degraded tails. Possibly it was passed from one colony to another, from far down the magnetic field.. The other POV is of human on a cargo ship, whose ship collided with ice world where the cell was frozen, accidentally reviving it. A nice idea but boring execution. 2*
The Science Behind Kepler's Laws [Kepler's Law] essay by Jay Werkheiser in the previous two issues the novel was published about a human colony on a new habitable planet. This essay talks about how the life evolved differently (less nitro in atmosphere, proteins are more expensive, no shift from RNA to DNA, all being able to horizontally transfer RNA). It is written partially in and partially out of within story style, so sometimes there are ‘strange claims like When the only life known was life that evolved on Earth, the specific codes could have been considered a product of happenstance. But with the discovery of two worlds using the same code, it seems evident that there is some biochemical advantage that these particular codes have over other combinations.. Interesting and shows that the author thought a lot about the science part. 4*
The Lobster Pot novelette by Tony Ballantyne a team of humans on a space ship are asked to enter the device left by an alien race that vanished long ago, but left artifacts, one of which is referred to as a lobster pot: “Why do they call them lobster pots?"
“It’s an old Earth reference. People used to weave a basket with a narrow entrance and place a little mirror inside. side. The lobster would be attracted inside by its reflection and then find itself unable to leave." in such pots over 1000 humans entered but only 5 returned. 3.5*
Splitting a Dollar short story by Maghan Hyland a couple moves on the Moon in old spacesuits to a storage of old knowledge and they are observed by a narrator, who seems to be an AI. The mankind reached the stars but then degraded. They seek old knowledge - So. let s examine the choice Amy and Brad will make—the stakes of the game they ’ll play against each other…On the one hand, a bacteria that consumes river mud and excretes gold. Brad’s choice. On the other, the augment, which both enhances human cognition and emphasizes reason over reaction. This is the prize among prizes, the thing that will bootstrap humanity back onto its path to greatness. This is the gift I was built to contain, and it will be Amy's choice. The story lack details even if the premise is interesting. 3*
Charioteer short story by Ted Rabinowitz a former astronaut, imprisoned by cryptoclastic corporations is sent to participate in solar-wind race, but her equipment slowly fails. 3*
Orientation short story by Adam-Troy Castro a monologue of an alien entity that created a copy of you for its purposes, which it details. It is several times interrupted by [you], who suggest that it is something or other from SF, but [you] err. 3.5*
By the Lake Where We First Loved short story by Paul Starkey a couple of astronauts, who were part of the first team on Titan, they drift apart as all media lights are on him, while she is forgotten. 3*
Soroboruo Harbormaster's Log short story by David Whitaker (2020's) a flash fiction, about a score of entries, spanning 10 millennia of various ships reaching a colony world. A homage to many colonists' stories. 4*
Science Fiction Meets Science Fact: The Robots of Ancient India [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Brishi Guha states that ancient India had a rich literature featuring stories about robots, dating back over a millennia. In fact, there were enough of these stories that according to scholar and professor Signe Cohen, the "robot tale" forms a genre of its own in ancient Indian literature. It is interesting, but I’m unsure that any metallic android that can follow orders (or even just look like real thing) should be named a robot. 3*
The Bumblebee and the Berry short story by M. Bennardo a generation ship made within a hollow asteroid for the fifth time tries to enter an orbit over their expected colony planet. Each try adds to decades to their travel and therefor their current leader established more diverse and reach environment on the ship including blackerries and bees. 4*
The Way Back short story by Jen Downes a girl wanted to go in space since her childhood and her life story. 3*
Dix Dayton and the Miner from Mars short story by Liz A. Vogel a humorous tale about a man on an asteroid habitat, that won (not exactly honestly) a lot of money from a newcomer from Mars and that newcomer is an inventor and gave his invention as a collateral till he gets needed funds to repay his card debt. The invention appeared a bit too self-sufficient. 3*
Do No Harm short story by Louis Evans a medical story in a near future where you can ask to hide your personal data and this may create a problem if you are wounded and unconscious delivered to emergency care, which ought to use inefficient humans instead of efficient machines trying to save you. 3.5*
Yellow Boots short story by Stephen L. Burns a near future where the protagonist is a not very bright man paired up with a robot working in the sale of drinking water. One of the clients hints that the water may be contaminated with saltwater… 3*
A Living Planet short story by Benjamin C. Kinney a man records video messages for his wife on her way to Mars but recently her ship stopped responding. Meanwhile they on Earth orbit encounter UFO. 2.5*
Patience short story by David Cederstrom written initially from a POV of a predator creature that sees new potential victims walking on two legs and even having fingers like it. 2.5*
On the Rocks short story by Ian Randal Strock a flash-fic narratee by a billionaire who decided to fight global warming by dropping ice asteroids on Earth. 3*
Fermionic Transversable Wormholes [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer supersmall wormwholes, wide enough for an electron…
The Middle of Nowhere short story by Rachel S. Bernstein a woman works in preventing illegal usage of a version of ‘beaming’ fighting maybe contraband but what if illegal migrants, eliminating these people… 3*
A Fistful of Monopoles short story by Raymund Eich two guys try to salvage items from derelict ship of long extinguished alien race. 3*
Wind Gets Her Own Place novelette by J. M. McDermott a teen appears on a new human colony, loses her mom to de-freezing, hates mom’s boyfriend, a lot of teens angst in a colony that tries to survive. 2*
Ham poem by Holly Day
Cloudchaser novelette by Tom Jolly a nice story, the first plot like about a younger son of a king on some planet – his older brother is a spoiled brat and he starts to collect unique things. The second plot is about a couple that developed a yeast to make ‘empathic wine’. 3.5*
What Once Was Pitch Black poem by G. O. Clark
The (Sometimes) Reality of "I Told You So" [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Richard A. Lovett despite about issues connected with global warming scientists talked since the late 19th (!) century we still drag our legs on the subject. The problem is that evolutionary we aren’t evolved to solve long-term issues by sacrificing short-term utility. 3*
Communion novella by Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu two points of view, one of (an alien) sentient marco-cell, which is a communion with other cells in a manner our brain cells (and not only them) exchange information – by specific protein ‘messengers’ Therefore its story is filled with description of cell work, e.g. Thinkers in the main cluster inform me that this is an old protein, as indicated by its degraded tails. Possibly it was passed from one colony to another, from far down the magnetic field.. The other POV is of human on a cargo ship, whose ship collided with ice world where the cell was frozen, accidentally reviving it. A nice idea but boring execution. 2*
The Science Behind Kepler's Laws [Kepler's Law] essay by Jay Werkheiser in the previous two issues the novel was published about a human colony on a new habitable planet. This essay talks about how the life evolved differently (less nitro in atmosphere, proteins are more expensive, no shift from RNA to DNA, all being able to horizontally transfer RNA). It is written partially in and partially out of within story style, so sometimes there are ‘strange claims like When the only life known was life that evolved on Earth, the specific codes could have been considered a product of happenstance. But with the discovery of two worlds using the same code, it seems evident that there is some biochemical advantage that these particular codes have over other combinations.. Interesting and shows that the author thought a lot about the science part. 4*
The Lobster Pot novelette by Tony Ballantyne a team of humans on a space ship are asked to enter the device left by an alien race that vanished long ago, but left artifacts, one of which is referred to as a lobster pot: “Why do they call them lobster pots?"
“It’s an old Earth reference. People used to weave a basket with a narrow entrance and place a little mirror inside. side. The lobster would be attracted inside by its reflection and then find itself unable to leave." in such pots over 1000 humans entered but only 5 returned. 3.5*
Splitting a Dollar short story by Maghan Hyland a couple moves on the Moon in old spacesuits to a storage of old knowledge and they are observed by a narrator, who seems to be an AI. The mankind reached the stars but then degraded. They seek old knowledge - So. let s examine the choice Amy and Brad will make—the stakes of the game they ’ll play against each other…On the one hand, a bacteria that consumes river mud and excretes gold. Brad’s choice. On the other, the augment, which both enhances human cognition and emphasizes reason over reaction. This is the prize among prizes, the thing that will bootstrap humanity back onto its path to greatness. This is the gift I was built to contain, and it will be Amy's choice. The story lack details even if the premise is interesting. 3*
Charioteer short story by Ted Rabinowitz a former astronaut, imprisoned by cryptoclastic corporations is sent to participate in solar-wind race, but her equipment slowly fails. 3*
Orientation short story by Adam-Troy Castro a monologue of an alien entity that created a copy of you for its purposes, which it details. It is several times interrupted by [you], who suggest that it is something or other from SF, but [you] err. 3.5*
By the Lake Where We First Loved short story by Paul Starkey a couple of astronauts, who were part of the first team on Titan, they drift apart as all media lights are on him, while she is forgotten. 3*
Soroboruo Harbormaster's Log short story by David Whitaker (2020's) a flash fiction, about a score of entries, spanning 10 millennia of various ships reaching a colony world. A homage to many colonists' stories. 4*
Science Fiction Meets Science Fact: The Robots of Ancient India [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Brishi Guha states that ancient India had a rich literature featuring stories about robots, dating back over a millennia. In fact, there were enough of these stories that according to scholar and professor Signe Cohen, the "robot tale" forms a genre of its own in ancient Indian literature. It is interesting, but I’m unsure that any metallic android that can follow orders (or even just look like real thing) should be named a robot. 3*
The Bumblebee and the Berry short story by M. Bennardo a generation ship made within a hollow asteroid for the fifth time tries to enter an orbit over their expected colony planet. Each try adds to decades to their travel and therefor their current leader established more diverse and reach environment on the ship including blackerries and bees. 4*
The Way Back short story by Jen Downes a girl wanted to go in space since her childhood and her life story. 3*
Dix Dayton and the Miner from Mars short story by Liz A. Vogel a humorous tale about a man on an asteroid habitat, that won (not exactly honestly) a lot of money from a newcomer from Mars and that newcomer is an inventor and gave his invention as a collateral till he gets needed funds to repay his card debt. The invention appeared a bit too self-sufficient. 3*
Do No Harm short story by Louis Evans a medical story in a near future where you can ask to hide your personal data and this may create a problem if you are wounded and unconscious delivered to emergency care, which ought to use inefficient humans instead of efficient machines trying to save you. 3.5*
Yellow Boots short story by Stephen L. Burns a near future where the protagonist is a not very bright man paired up with a robot working in the sale of drinking water. One of the clients hints that the water may be contaminated with saltwater… 3*
A Living Planet short story by Benjamin C. Kinney a man records video messages for his wife on her way to Mars but recently her ship stopped responding. Meanwhile they on Earth orbit encounter UFO. 2.5*
Patience short story by David Cederstrom written initially from a POV of a predator creature that sees new potential victims walking on two legs and even having fingers like it. 2.5*
On the Rocks short story by Ian Randal Strock a flash-fic narratee by a billionaire who decided to fight global warming by dropping ice asteroids on Earth. 3*
Fermionic Transversable Wormholes [The Alternate View] essay by John G. Cramer supersmall wormwholes, wide enough for an electron…
The Middle of Nowhere short story by Rachel S. Bernstein a woman works in preventing illegal usage of a version of ‘beaming’ fighting maybe contraband but what if illegal migrants, eliminating these people… 3*
A Fistful of Monopoles short story by Raymund Eich two guys try to salvage items from derelict ship of long extinguished alien race. 3*
Wind Gets Her Own Place novelette by J. M. McDermott a teen appears on a new human colony, loses her mom to de-freezing, hates mom’s boyfriend, a lot of teens angst in a colony that tries to survive. 2*
Ham poem by Holly Day
Cloudchaser novelette by Tom Jolly a nice story, the first plot like about a younger son of a king on some planet – his older brother is a spoiled brat and he starts to collect unique things. The second plot is about a couple that developed a yeast to make ‘empathic wine’. 3.5*
What Once Was Pitch Black poem by G. O. Clark
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