Analog SFF, June 2010
Page 23
I learned of AS as an adult, and the list of common symptoms sounded just like my brother. However, by this time my brother was also an adult, and it was extremely difficult to convince him to get tested. He remembered all the tests and misdiagnoses from childhood and had completely lost faith in the abilities of medical professionals to diagnose anything. The tide turned last year when, after four years of unemployment and countless unsuccessful job interviews, he finally agreed to just one more assessment with the hope of qualifying for some kind of job-search assistance. It turns out that he doesn't have AS after all, but rather PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder), which is also on the autism spectrum, but is more severe. After 37 years of not understanding why he was so different from others, my brother finally knows that his brain is simply wired differently. He still doesn't qualify for any kind of assistance (because he has held a job in the past), and he remains unemployed, but it comforts him to have his differences explained by science.
Your article, and books like Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison, not only increase awareness of disorders like AS and PDD, but also offer people like my brother hope that they can succeed in life despite their differences with the general population. Thank you very much.
Rachel Bexell
Coon Rapids, MN
P.S. Mr. Schmidt,
I love a story that sucks me in, arrests my imagination, and forces me to become emotionally involved in its outcome. Stories like that are exceedingly rare, but you found one in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's “The Possession of Paavo Deshin” (January/February 2010). As a writer, I hope to one day create characters as compelling and plots as intriguing as those presented in this masterful work of art. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
RB
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Dear Stan,
I have been thinking about the problem you discussed in the editorial of the March 2010 issue.
In order to be elected to Congress or to the Senate, candidates must be excellent salesmen (or saleswomen). They must sell their views of what the problems are and their capacity to solve them.
Unfortunately, salesmen are not necessarily well equipped to decide what the solutions should be, and may also not have any notion of how their solutions might react in the interaction with other solutions.
I suggest that a large number of candidates and incumbents are salesmen, and many of them are not well read, in the sense of knowing the history of previous solutions: what worked well and what did not. They see a problem and vote for solutions that come from a political party slogan.
I have no idea how to fix this problem of electing salesmen. I would welcome ideas.
S. M. Lea
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Stan,
Regarding the illustration for “Swords and Saddles” in the April 2010 of Analog:
The flag has an apparent number of 35 stars.
On page 10, paragraph 3, the last numeric is the date, 1870, given as the date of the action.
Unless this is an alternate universe with no relation to this one I am reading the magazine in, the date could be no later than 30 October 1864.
The 35th state admitted to the Union was West Virginia, on 20 June 1863.
The 36th state was Nevada, 31 October 1864. Nebraska followed on 1 March 1867.
Colorado followed on 1 August 1867.
Is the flag in use because the War Department and the Department of the Army have not sent replacement flags to its facilities?
Actually, this reminds me of a time travel story in this magazine, decades ago. Included was an illustration of the assassin carrying a carefully drawn M1 Williams carbine, when the story explicitly stated the man was armed with an M1 Garand rifle.
Regardless, both stories were excellent, and the illustrations outstanding, texts and illustrations executed well by truly talented artists. Loved them all, and chuckled at the seeming anomalies.
Wayne L. White
North Hills, California
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Dear Analog,
I have been a reader of Analog and Asimov's for many years, Analog since the ‘70s.
I watch your magazine dates with amusement as they steadily accelerate into the future. At their current rate, by 2020 we will be reading the stories before they are written.
Perhaps you have unwittingly stumbled across a time portal, FTL, or better, and this should be exploited.
Mike Taylor
Borough Green,
Kent UK
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Dear Stan,
I have been a reader of Analog for more than 25 years, and have really enjoyed the experience. At the same time, I have never seen a single copy of your magazine. This then, is a “thank you” note to you for making your publication available to those of us who are visually handicapped on tape through the National Library Service. I look forward to more years of good reading, but could you include more short stories? Thanks again.
Ron Stewart
Harrisburg, PA
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Reader's Department: UPCOMING EVENTS by Anthony Lewis
25—27 June 2010
CONTERPOINT 2010 (20th Northeast Filk Convention) at Chase Suite Hotel, Rockville, MD. Guests of Honor: Ed Stauff & Mary Ellen Wessels; TM: Juanita Coulson; Interfilk Guest: Char MacKay; Listener Guests of Honor: Jonathan & Debbie Baker. Membership: $50 until 31 May 2010, $60 at the door (supporting $15). Info: www.conterpoint.org; sbrinich@speakeasy.net; 5911 Veranda Drive, Springfield, VA 22152.
1-4 July 2010
WESTERCON 63 (Western North American Science Fantasy Conference) at Pasadena Hilton, Pasadena, CA. Guest of Honor: Rudy Rucker; Artist Guest of Honor: Marc Schirmeister; Fan Guest of Honor: John D. Berry. In conjunction with ConChord 23—ConChord Music Guest of Honor: Seanan McGuire; ConChord TM: Paul Kwinn; Interfilk Guests of Honor: Stone Dragon. Membership: $60 attending, $30 supporting until 31 May 2010; more thereafter. Info: www.westercon63.org/; info@westercon63.org; 15931 Kalisher Street, Granada Hills, CA 91344.
1-4 July 2010
CONVERGENCE (Minnesota SF conference) at Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, Bloomington, MN. Guests of Honor: L.A. Banks, Jeremy Bulloch, Paul Cornell, Bridget Landry, Chuck McCann, Wally Wingert. Memberships: $55 until 15 May 2010, $80 at the door. Info: www.convergence-con.org/; info@convergence-con.org; (651) 647-3487; 1437 Marshall Ave 203, St. Paul, MN 55104
2-4 July 2010
INCONJUNCTION (Indiana SF conference) at Indianapolis Marriott East, Indianapolis, IN. Guests: Ed Beard Jr., Andrew Looney, Kristin Looney, Wild Mercy, Samuel Travis Clemmons, TammyJo Eckhart, Joe Greene, MagicHouse Productions, Dr. Karen Nagel, Michael Z. Williamson. Memberships: $35 until 20 June 2010, $45 thereafter and at the door. Info: www.inconjunction.org/; registration@inconjunction.org; PO Box 68514, Indianapolis, IN 46268-0514.
8-11 July 2010
READERCON 21 (literary-focused SF conference) at Boston Marriott Burlington, Burlington, MA. Guests of Honor: Nalo Hopkinson and Charles Stross; Memorial Guest of Honor: Olaf Stapledon. Memberships: $50 until 1 March 2010; TBA thereafter; at-con one-day rates: $35 (Friday), $40 (Saturday), $20 (Sunday). Info: readercon.org/; readercon@gmail.com; PO Box 65, Watertown, MA 02472.
27-30 August 2010
DISCWORLD CONVENTION at Hilton Birmingham Metropole, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, B40 1PP, United Kingdom. Guest of Honor: Sir Terry Pratchett, OBE. Memberships: (pounds)60 attending, (pounds)20 supporting. Info: info@dwcon.org; PO Box 4101, Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4 9AJ, UK.
27-29 August 2010
AU CONTRAIRE (31st New Zealand national SF conference) at Quality Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand. (Stop in on the way to Aussiecon.) Guest of Honor: Sean Williams; Fan Guest of Honor: Paul Mannering. Membership: NZ$60, Supporting: NZ$15; Friday only NZ$20, Saturday only NZ$40, Sunday only NZ$40. Info: www.aucontraire. org.nz/; info@aucontraire.org.nz; PO Box 10104, Wellington 6143, New Zealand. n
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OOPS!
In our M
arch 2010 issue, we inadvertently ran a version of Bud Sparhawk's short story “Encounter in a Yellow Wood” that still had artifacts from a previous draft. The goof is no fault of Bud's, of course, and we owe him our apologies. For a clean version of the story, head on over to our website, www.analogsf.com.
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Write to us at: Analog Science Fiction, Dept. NS, 6 Prowitt St., Norwalk, CT 06855-1220. Or on our website:www.analogsf.com
ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION
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Norwalk, CT 06855
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Visit www.analogsf.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.