Perhaps expectedly enough, Robert Silverberg—who has worked this mode before—comes closest to Vance-ian sensations with his “A Piece of the Great World.” Humanity has been long superseded by another sentient species, furred humanoids who are just reclaiming their planet after a Long Winter. Nortekku, an architect, at first begins researching his world's past simply to impress a woman. But his investigations soon bring him face to face with the Sea Lords, a decayed race that presents ethical problems.
Both the Silverberg and Reed pieces deal with worlds that are in some real sense devolved from earlier pinnacles of civilization. Nancy Kress's “Mirror Image” is the first tale here to deal with a super-high-tech future—a straight-line acceleration and projection of current trends—and it sets the pace for the rest of the book. Akilo is one of five strangely allied sisters. Living as an uploaded consciousness, she is recalled to bodily existence by the plight of one of her set, who has been accused of destroying an entire populated planet. The mystery-fiction aspect of her tale will be echoed by others here, notably Reynolds and Stross.
“Thousandth Night,” by Alastair Reynolds, reminds me of George R.R. Martin in his early career, namely his Dying of the Light (1977). Immortal posthumans gather for a ritual celebration, when one is murdered. His murder is connected to a mysterious project known as the “Great Work,” which has the potential to remake the very shape of the galaxy.
Charles Stross creates a supremely weird hybrid with “Missile Gap.” He posits a mind-blowing Big Dumb Object with more than one hundred million times the acreage of a Dyson sphere, then transports our Earth circa 1962 to its surface. Think Farmer's Riverworld books in brief.
Finally, Greg Egan's “Riding the Crocodile” describes an enigma at the heart of the otherwise completely manicured galaxy, which two people set out to unriddle. And solving the riddle will constitute the trigger of their mutual suicide pact! The fact that it takes them over fifty thousand years to reach their goal is a mere bagatelle.
All the authors here have succeeded in creating startling, gripping venues peopled with catchy characters. The resulting stories are all top-notch. But I'm not sure they all need the theoretical passage of one million years to justify their existence. The sense of cumulative eras piled atop each other, leaving cultural detritus behind, is mostly missing. But as I said, that's just my personal touchstone for such tales. These stories stand just fine on their own merits.
Copyright © 2006 Paul Di Filippo
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* * *
PARADISE
by Tom Disch
I'll need no map when I get there.
I'll just bound up its golden stair
And greet the folks who welcome me,
And oh! how happy I will be.
* * * *
O'er fields and streams and rocks and rills
I'll course through the Elysian hills.
What care I, if I am dead?
My cares and sorrows will have fled.
* * * *
I'll live a life of endless bliss,
And every breeze will seem a kiss.
And yet, dear friend, I'll miss you much,
So write to me and keep in touch.
—Tom Disch
Copyright © 2006 Tom Disch
[Back to Table of Contents]
* * *
This index covers volume 29 of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, January 2006 through December 2006. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author. When there is more than one entry for an author, listings are arranged alphabetically according to the story/article title. All entries are followed by a parenthetical note: (a) article; (c) cartoon; (ed) editorial; (na) novella; (nt) novelette; (p) poem; (r) review; (se) serial; and (ss) short story. Collaborations are listed under all authors and are cross-referenced. When a title, a parenthetical note, or an author's name is omitted, it is the same as that of the previous entry.
Aldiss, Brian W.—
Safe! (ss) Dec 60
Allen, Karen Jordan—
Godburned (nt) Sep 62
Angell, R.A.—
In the Space of Nine Lives (nt) Jan 24
Antieau, Kim—
Storm Poet (ss) Jan 84
Asher, Neal—
The Gabble (nt) Mar 20
Bacigalupi, Paolo—
Yellow Card Man (nt) Dec 12
Barton, William—
Down to the Earth Below (na) Oct/Nov 180
Baxter, Stephen—
Ghost Wars (nt) Jan 98
In the Abyss of Time (ss) Aug 50
Beatty, Greg—
Forward and Backward Belief (p) Oct/Nov 171
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (p) Oct/Nov 125
Motive, Cause, Weapon (p) Dec 47
The Tree of Life Drops
Propagules (p) Apr/May 144
Beckett, Chris—
Dark Eden (nt) Mar 54
Bein, Steve—
Datacide (ss) Apr/May 75
Bernobich, Beth—
A Flight of Numbers
Fantastique Strange (nt) Jun 100
Bieniowski, Brian—
Thought Experiments: A Possible Planet: SF and Electronic Music (a) Apr/May 16
Boston, Bruce—
Brick, Concrete, and Steel People (p) Apr/May 156
It's Not Easy Being Dead (p) Feb 101
Burke, Sue—
Hell on Wheels (p) Oct/Nov 113
The Sonnet from Hell (p) Apr/May 115
Carter, Scott William—
The Tiger in the Garden (ss) Jun 45
Cleary, David Ira—
The Kewlest Thing of All (nt) Mar 102
Clink, David Lingstone—
Copyright Notice, 2525 (p) Dec 5
Frankenstein vs. the
Flying Squirrels (p) Oct/Nov 149
Coates, Deborah—
46 Directions, None of them North (ss) Mar 46
Collins, Ron—
1 Is True (nt) Oct/Nov 126
Cooper, Constance—
The King's Tail (ss) Apr/May 171
Creasey, Ian—
The Edge of the Map (ss) Jun 78
The Golden Record (ss) Dec 86
The Hastillan Weed (ss) Feb 72
Silence in Florence (ss) Sep 97
Di Filippo, Paul—
On Books (r) Jan 127
—Mar 132
—Jul 133
—Sep 132
Disch, Tom—
The Two Friends (p) Sep 60
Duchamp, L. Timmel—
The World and Alice (nt) Jul 41
Emshwiller, Carol—
The Seducer (ss) Oct/Nov 150
World of No Return (ss) Jan 46
Evans, Kendall—
(with David C. Kopaska-Merkel)—
Compute This (p) Jan 83
In Wicked Hollows, on
Darkling Plains (p) Aug 64
Flynn, Michael F.—
Dawn, and Sunset, and the
Colours of the Earth (nt) Oct/Nov 76
Forest, Susan—
Immunity (ss) Dec 50
Frazier, Robert—
Top Five Hints that You May be Falling into a Flat-Screen
Black Hole (p) Feb 85
Frederick, Carl—
We Are the Cat (ss) Sep 83
Garcia y Robertson, R.—
Teen Angel (nt) Feb 110
Grimsley, Jim—
Unbending Eye (nt) Feb 86
Gurley, James—
Tesla's Pigeon (p) Jan 44
Heck, Peter—
On Books (r) Feb 136
—Jun 136
—Aug 136
—Dec 136
Jablokov, Alexander—
Dead Man (nt) Aug 20
Johnson, Matthew—
The Ninth Part of Desire (ss) Jun 66
Kelly, James Patrick—
The Leila Torn Show (nt) Jun 16
On the Net: Adventures in Podcasting (a) June 12
—In your Ear (a) Feb 13
—Secrets of the
Webmasters (Part One) (a) Oct/Nov 12
—Son of Movies (a) Aug 16
Kessel, John—
Sunlight or Rock (nt) Sep 22
Koja, Kathe—
Fireflies (ss) Jul 99
Kopaska-Merkel, David C.—
(with Kendall Evans)—
Compute This (p) Jan 83
In Wicked Hollows, on
Darkling Plains (p) Aug 64
Kosmatka, Ted—
Bitterseed (ss) Jul 60
Kress, Nancy—
Nano Comes to Clifford Falls (ss) Jul 17
Lazzaro, Joe—
Thought Experiments: More than
Halfway to Anywhere (a) Mar 14
Levine, David D.—
The Last McDougal's (ss) Jan 60
Primates (ss) Sep 50
Littleton, Therese—
Thought Experiments: Preserving the History of the Future (a) Jul 12
Lunde, David—
Dear Schrödinger (p) Feb 135
Marjesdatter, Rebecca—
Preponderance of the Small (p) Oct/Nov 75
Maxey, James—
The Final Flight of the
Blue Bee (ss) Apr/May 62
Meltzer, Kat—
Change of Life (ss) Feb 46
McAllister, Bruce—
Kin (ss) Feb 102
McAuley, Paul J.—
Dead Men Walking (nt) Mar 80
McCarthy, Wil—
The Analects of Decomprecius (p) Jun 77
Heisenberg Elementary (ss) Apr/May 59
McDonald, Ian—
The Djinn's Wife (nt) Jul 102
Melko, Paul—
Snail Stones (ss) Jul 84
The Walls of the Universe (na) Apr/May 176
Miskell, Vincent—
Widow of the Android-Robot
Time Wars (p) Sep 21
Nestvold, Ruth—
Feather and Ring (ss) Aug 40
Neube, R.—
Not Worth a Cent (ss) Apr/May 158
Payack, Peter—
Alien Invasion (p) Feb 45
Peck, Brooks—
Thought Experiments: Cyberpunk is Alive and Well and Living in—Where Else?—Japan (a) Feb 18
Phillips, Holly—
Grey November (p) Oct/Nov 161
Rain (p) Dec 141
Pratt, Tim—
Impossible Dreams (ss) Jul 72
Priest, Christopher—
A Dying Fall (ss) Dec 78
Preston, William—
You Will Go to the Moon (ss) Jul 30
Reed, Kit—
Biodad (ss) Oct/Nov ?
Reed, Robert—
A Billion Eves (na) Oct/Nov 18
Eight Episodes (ss) Jun 58
Plausible (ss) Dec 39
Rwanda (ss) Mar 72
Roberson, Chris—
Companion to Owls (ss) Mar 94
Rosenblum, Mary—
Home Movies (nt) Apr/May 124
Rucker, Rudy—
Chu and the Nants (ss) Jun 90
Postsingular (nt) Sep 106
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn—
Crunchers, Inc. (nt) Aug 66
Except the Music (nt) Apr/May 90
Thought Experiments: Barbarian
Confessions (a) Sep 12
Sargent, Pamela—
After I Stopped Screaming Oct/Nov 108
Schweitzer, Darrell—
Remembering the Future (p) Oct/Nov 225
Shaw, Melissa Lee—
Foster (ss) Oct/Nov 172
Shunn, William—
Inclination (na) Apr/May 24
Sherwood, Jonathan—
Under the Graying Sea (nt) Feb 24
Silverberg, Robert—
Hanosz Prime Goes to Old Earth (ss) Apr/May 108
Reflections: The Days of Perky Vivienne (ed) Feb 8
—Flashing Before My Eyes (ed) Dec 6
—Levitating Your Dinner (ed) Jan 6
—Making Backups (ed) Oct/Nov 8
—Plutonium for Breakfast (ed) Mar 8
—Sixtus the Sixth (ed) Jun 8
—The Kraken (ed) Sep 8
—The Thumb on the
Dinosaur's Nose (ed) Jul 8
—The Thumb on the
Dinosaur's Nose: 2 (ed) Aug 8
—Tracking Down the Ancestors (ed) Apr/May 8
Skillingstead, Jack—
Are You There (ss) Feb 54
The Girl in the Empty
Apartment (ss) Sep 38
Life on the Preservation (ss) Jun 32
Spinrad, Norman—
On Books: Aussies, Brits, and Yanks (r) Apr/May 224
—The Big Kahuna (r) Oct/Nov 226
Stableford, Brian—
The Plurality of Worlds (na) Aug 96
Steele, Allen M.—
World Without End, Amen (nt) Jan 68
Stewart, W. Gregory—
Choose (p) Apr/May 13
Not This Earth Forever (p) Aug 95
Reiko (p) Jun 135
Strauss, Erwin S.—
Conventional Calendar (a) Jan 142
—Feb 142
—Mar 142
—Apr/May 238
—Jun 142
—Jul 142
—Aug 142
—Sep 142
—Oct/Nov 238
—Dec 142
Swanwick, Michael—
An Episode of Stardust (ss) Jan 14
Lord Weary's Empire (na) Dec 100
Tin Marsh (ss) Aug 82
van Eekhout, Greg—
The Osteomancer's Son (ss) Apr/May 146
Van Pelt, James—
The Small Astral
Object Genius (ss) Oct/Nov 114
Watkins, William John—
Burying Maud (p) Apr/May 237
Chaos Theory (p) Feb 71
Demon Armies of the Night (p) Mar 130
Watson, Ian—
Saving for a Sunny Day, or, the
Benefits of Reincarnation (ss) Oct/Nov 162
What, Leslie—
Aliens Captured Me (p) Mar 79
White, Sophie M.—
Field Trip (p) Jan 23
Williams, Liz—
The Age of Ice (ss) Apr/May 116
Williams, Sheila—
Editorial: The 2006 by Dell Magazines Award (ed) Aug 4
—2006 Readers’ Awards (ed) Sep 4
—Alternate History (ed) Feb 4
—Coming of Age (ed) Apr/May 4
—How My Heart Breaks When I Hear That Song (ed) Dec 4
—Interaction (ed) Jan 4
—Moon Day (ed) Jul 4
—The Pulp Art Time Machine (ed) Oct/Nov 4—Science Fiction Sudoku (ed) Mar 4
—The Yellow Pill, or, Altered Perceptions (ed) Jun 4
Winter, Laurel—
An Eccentric in Orbit (p) Dec 48
The Dying Physicist Tells Her
Why Goodbye Is Meaningless (p) Aug 39
O the Angels and Demons (p) Mar 53
The Unified Field of
Dreams Theory (p) Jun 141
Yolen, Jane—
Growing Old the Mythic Way (p) Jun 56
January 2007
Asimov's
January 2007
2006 Index
[Back to Table of Contents]
* * *
TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL READERS’ AWARD
It hardly seems possible that we could be up to the January issue already, but that's what the calendar says—and that means that once again it's time for our Readers’ Award poll, which is now in its (can this possibly be true? Seems like only yesterday that we started it!) twenty-first year.
Please vote. Most of you know the drill by now. For those of you who are new to this, we should explain a few things.
We consider this to be our yearly chance to hear from you, the readers of the magazine. That's the whole point behind this particular award. What were your favorit
e stories from Asimov's Science Fiction last year? This is your chance to let us know what novella, novelette, short story, poem, and cover artist, you liked best in the year 2006. Just take a moment to look over the Index of the stories published in last year's issues of Asimov's (pp.137-139) to refresh your memory, and then list below, in the order of your preference, your three favorites in each category.
Some cautions: Only material from 2006-dated issues of Asimov's is eligible (no other years, no other magazines, even our sister magazine Analog). Each reader gets one vote, and only one vote. If you use a photocopy of the ballot, please be sure to include your name and address; your ballot won't be counted otherwise.
Works must also be categorized on the ballot as they appear in the Index. No matter what category you think a particular story ought to appear in, we consider the Index to be the ultimate authority in this regard, so be sure to check your ballots against the Index if there is any question about which category is the appropriate one for any particular story. In the past, voters have been careless about this, and have listed stories under the wrong categories, and, as a result, ended up wasting their votes. All ballots must be postmarked no later than February 1, 2007, and should be addressed to: Readers’ Award, Asimov's Science Fiction, Dell Magazines, 475 Park Avenue South, 11th Flr., New York, NY. 10016. You can also vote online at [email protected], but you must give us your whole U.S. mailing address. We will also post online ballots at our website, so please check us out at www.asimovs. com.
Remember, you—the readers—will be the only judges for this award. No juries, no panels of experts. You are in charge here, and what you say goes. In the past, some categories have been hotly contended, with victory or defeat riding on only one or two votes, so every vote counts. Don't let it be your vote for your favorite stories that goes uncounted! So don't put it off—vote today!
* * * *
BEST NOVELLA:
1.
2.
3.
* * * *
BEST NOVELETTE:
1.
2.
3.
* * * *
BEST SHORT STORY:
1.
2.
3.
* * * *
BEST POEM:
1.
2.
3.
* * * *
BEST COVER:
1.
2.
3.
* * * *
NAME:
ADDRESS:
SIGNATURE:
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Asimov's SF, January 2007 Page 21
