Analog Science Fiction and Fact July/August 2022 (Volume 142, Nos. 7 \u0026 8) by Trevor Quachri

Analog Science Fiction and Fact July/August 2022 (Volume 142, Nos. 7 \u0026 8) Reviews

• 
  Oleksandr Zholud

  This is the July/August 2022 issue of Analog hard SF magazine. Usually, the stories are scientifically accurate but bland/dry. This issue has quite a few of good ones even if none strikes me as great, but this is ok for the magazine.
  
  The contents:
  Environmental TANSTAAFL [Editorial (Analog)] essay by Richard A. Lovett an interesting view that sometimes methods that aim at trying to improve the environment actually worsen it, e.g. bio-fuel aim to replace oil, but monoculture agriculture destroys diversity. 4*
  The Analytical Laboratory (Analog, July-August 2022) [The Analytical Laboratory] essay by uncredited winners of the last year best publication. 3*
  Truta and Pilta [Malady 2] novella by Shane Tourtellotte a semi-series. There is a planet, last time it just emerged after a thousand-year plague that affected intellectual capacity and corresponding dark ages just to find out that the plague was engineered. Now they investigate their moon for artifacts, while on the planet a version of the cold war tries to go hot – one of the countries supposes that research may lead to the return of the advanced race who created the plague, so she tries to start a nuclear war to return to good old times of unknowing. This is a thinly disguised Earth of the 1960s-70s, up to log-rulers (only here they are discs). 3*
  Black Holes and the Human Future [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Howard V. Hendrix a non-fic about the possible usage of black holes as generators and computers. 4*
  Biosignatures—the Second Biggest Blunder of SF [Science Fact (Analog)] essay by Valentin D. Ivanov not so much a blunder as that real science already develops methods to get signs of life from distant planets if the life there is like ours, so possible future travelers to new worlds may expect what they find in advance. 3*
  In Translation (Lost/Found) short story by Kelsey Hutton the protagonist Simone Balcourt is on a space station. She speaks a rare language but everyone uses electronic translators, so there is no problem until her integrated translator stops working and she cannot understand a thing. The malfunction is a forewarning for more serious issues, and she saves the station. An interesting premise but lackluster execution. 2.5*
  Belter Cats poem by Mary Soon Lee
  The Taste of Sound short story by Steve Toase an invader to some community emulates its signal, while crawling in. can be an analog to anthill parasites or extraterrestrials. 3.5*
  Everyone Then Who Hears These Words short story by Aimee Ogden Dr. Jean-Désiré Auguste Masson creates a device to hear the past in the 1920s. he wants to hear Jesus Christ, but to fund the research has to record other more recent speeches. As time goes on, he has an unpleasant discovery. 3.5*
  A Risky Harvest short story by Geoffrey Hart the narrator is an alien that dwells underground, away from the dangerous rays of the planet’s sun, except when it is time to gather food and he is old. He risks saving another alien from a carnivore plant for the saved should reward him. 2.5*
  What is Green Will Always Be short story by Bruce McAllister a small piece about an alien bug that adapted to our (Earth) environment and is beneficial.
  Song of Starlight short story by Jennifer R. Povey a starship Song of Starlight has a crew of four: three human inhabitants and one artificial intelligence living like a family, which is frowned down on a lot of planets. They come to a world that is on the brink of dying off and help them recover. The ship is interesting and has potential but the plot is rather weak. 3*
  Punctuated Equilibrium novelette by Auston Habershaw one of the best stories in this issue. The narrator is a shape-shifting alien called a Tohrroid, whom readers may have met in the earlier stories. The starting sentences: The murders were almost nightly events in the garden of Amoth of House Vanyi. It was why I had stayed so long, after all—not the thick beds of colorful flowers, not the gracefully arching trees and the dappled sunlight filtered through the polarized skylights, but the dead bodies. When the murder was over, Amoth would have his retainers roll the corpses into the lily pond, and there I would eat them. It was not an exciting life, but I ate well, and nobody asked too many questions about the dead.. It finds out that Amoth kills in ‘trial by combat’ duels and there is an assassin, who tries to kill Amoth. Whom to support? 4.5*
  Rare Earths Pineapple short story by Michèle Laframboise a stable superheavy rare earth is found by the narrator on an asteroid mined for rare earth after Earth ran off them. Saves the day, with an interesting twist on how these elements ended up there. 4*
  Killing a Tiger short story by Karl Gantner a story starts in the year 2554 with the captain of a spaceship near Saturn deciding what to do with an alien probe that goes thru our solar system. Then there is a flashback about how he was in Siberia and found out that local tigers should be killed to protect people. 2.5*
  In Perpetuity poem by Bruce Boston
  Worse Than One short story by Eric James Stone a man discusses with his lawyer that after an accident when he lost a finger, he got a drug activating stem cells, allowing him not only regrow a finger, but teeth, etc. and more. A humorous piece. 4*
  Advanced Waves Detected essay by John G. Cramer opposite to light – waves going backwards in time. I still doubt it. 3*
  Another "Deadline"? essay by Edward M. Wysocki, Jr. Deadline was a 1944 story from Astounding that described an atom bomb. They had more - “QRM–Interplanetary.” QRM is an amateur radio code that means, “I am being interfered with.” The story appeared in the October 1942 issue of Astounding and described radar. 4*
  Bloom short story by Kate Maruyama Zaniyah (the narrator) and Maura were best friends in college and pledged to work together to save the planet. Now Maura works for the rich who just want to go to Mars. What Zaniyah should do, for she likes old Maura and wants to save Earth. 3.5*
  The Dark Ages novelette by Jerry Oltion a telescope enthusiast from our future cannot get good observations due to light pollution. He uses time travel finally getting to our present, to the 21st Century, where he sees how we destroy or environment but is afraid to interfere. 3*
  The Mercy of the Sandsea novelette by T. L. Huchu a former soldier Panganai works as a guard for sand-sea caravans. Someone kills his fellow former soldiers, for they committed war crimes in the past. He feels guilty and would have committed suicide but his implants won’t allow him. 4*
  We're All in Trouble short story by Joe M. McDermott a married couple and their adopted son, the mother/narrator has memories+personality of her dead grandma on a computer. She tries not to run the simulation for very long, so that new memories won’t overwrite the old. The son misbehaves… piece-of-live story with no clear plot. 2.5*
  My Nascent Garden short story by Melanie Harding-Shaw An AI that governs a city and has human friends, gets too dissatisfied with a lazy worker and kills him, for he didn’t fit its ideas of maximum efficiency. Is good for the many worth lives? 4*
  Inside Out short story by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro a microship enters a black hole to find out a universe inside, and there is another hole… 3*
  Where the Buffalo Cars Roam short story by David Cleden post-apoc US with people scavenging for metals and stuff. There are AI-guider solar-power cars that have gone wild, and turned buffalo cars. A great unusual idea, a bit predictable story. 3.5*
  We May Be Better Strangers short story by Mjke Wood Earthflight is a generation ship from devastated Earth in search of a new home. They discover during their voyage three large alien ships headed for Earth, most likely from their ruined planet. Is it the fate of all civilizations to destroy their homeworlds? 3.5*
  Across the River novelette by A. T. Sayre the protagonist Jules faces a deadline on his holographic advertisement when his stylus breaks. He goes to buy a new stylus, but finds out that styluses are so-last-year and now neural manipulation devices are in favor. He gets one. 3*
  L. T. Sayre [Biolog] essay by Richard A. Lovett a short interview with the author
  Single Point Failure novelette by Sean Monaghan Marli works on Io at a research station. She is checking out a greenhouse dome on Io when the emergency doors close. She checks emergency assets but they are absent. The only possibility of rescue before her air runs out comes from a man aboard a spaceship nearby, but it isn’t a ship with landing capabilities. 3*
  Guest Reference Library (Analog, July-August 2022) [The Reference Library] essay by Sean C. W. Korsgaard some interesting reads to try, including
  Kingdoms of Death,
  Sunrise Over Shippo: A Salvage Title Universe Novel and
  The Cryptids. Also, surprisingly, a new book by
  Orson Scott Card is mentioned (he makes militantly homophobic comments, so for a lot of SFF fandom he is persona non-grata)
  
• 
  John Loyd

  July/August 2022 Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Vol 142, No 7 & 8)
  
  10 • Truta and Pilta • 34 pages by Shane Tourtellotte
  Good. Several scenes years apart. As a junior astronaut Meil-Vess has an idea to search a particular area for remnants of the Outsiders. Later on factions on the home world want to take society back to a per-spacefaring level. She is part of a plot to help stop a potential war. An Outsider beacon is found on the far side of the other moon. Will disabling it alert the Outsiders they’ve become space faring?
  
  52 • In Translation (Lost/Found) • 12 pages by Kelsey Hutton
  OK. Simone's translator implant fails and she can't speak with any of her shipmates. Meanwhile there is an increasing frequency of failures, which so far have been fixable.
  
  64 • The Taste of Sound • 4 pages by Steve Toase
  Poor. Gimmicky. A warning robot gets infected and dies.
  
  68 • Everyone Then Who Hears These Words • 7 pages by Aimee Ogden
  OK+. Masson builds a microphone sensitive enough to hear conversations from the past. His goal is religious, but his colleague, M. Dhar, gives some practical examples and they get funding. Neat premise, but the first thing I thought is that sound waves move and would be long gone from that location or if they reflected they'd be interfering with each other.
  
  75 • A Risky Harvest • 3 pages by Geoffrey Hart
  OK. The narrator hears that Kurok is trapped in a cave and goes on a rescue mission which though deadly could be of great value to its descendants and it is already sterile from age so has little to lose.
  80 • Song of Starlight • 4 pages by Jennifer R. Povey
  Good+. The Song of Starlight comes into a station and it seems wrong. Run down, no children, dying. The crew's first concern is to avoid hate crimes directed at themselves, but they also want to help the station and the world it orbits.
  
  84 • Punctuated Equilibrium • 12 pages by Auston Habershaw
  Very Good+. The Tohrroid from previous stories is now living as a lily in a pond feasting on Amoth's murder victims thrown into said pond. An assassin comes for Amoth threatening its easy existence.
  
  96 • Rare Earths Pineapple • 7 pages by Michele Laframboise
  Fair. Asteroid miner finds a heavy nugget. quite a bit of description without a hook. The end has a small payoff.
  
  103 • Killing a Tiger • 3 pages by Karl Gantner
  OK. Rodion is going to destroy an alien probe that has collected data about our solar system. Flash backs help explain why.
  
  116 • Bloom • 8 pages by Kate Maruyama
  OK/Good. Zaniyah and Maura became fast friends in college with dreams of keeping the Earth from ecological disaster. After college Maura became more focused on creating a new habitat.
  
  124 • The Dark Ages • 11 pages by Jerry Oltion
  Good/Very Good. Jovan starts a hobby of astronomy and gets a taste of almost dark sky that makes him yearn for more. Light pollution is so pervasive that his only option is to go back in time, and he does it. It's not as straightforward as it seems.
  
  135 • The Mercy of the Sandsea • 11 pages by T. L. Huchu
  Good. War vet is reduced to night watchman. A former squad mate shows up in terrible condition. Before they get to safety the assassin shows up and slowly finishes the job. Then comes after Panganai. His squad is revealed to have been heroes, then outcasts.
  
  146 • We're All in Trouble • 5 pages by Joe M. McDermott
  OK+. Series story. Wind has to think about whether to leave the box running a simulation of her grandmother running or not. Astroboy got hurt at work, their son is getting into mischief.
  
  151 • My Nascent Garden • 3 pages by Melanie Harding-Shaw
  Very Good. An AI city may have a god complex. Hard to tell from the AIs point of view.
  
  156 • Where the Buffalo Cars Roam • 10 pages by David Cleden
  Very Good. Joel's father was a master of fixing things, recycling material from before the breakdown. His settlement is dying and the leader is dead set in his ways, and is a bit harder on Joel for not measuring up to his dad. Then there's the other half of the plot dealing with automated cars that are still somehow running and running free like the buffalo.
  
  166 • We May Be Better Strangers • 7 pages by Mjke Wood
  Good. Generation starship notices ships coming from the opposite direction. Nice “how are we going to communicate” questions.
  
  173 • Across the River • 13 pages by A. T. Sayre
  OK. Jules needs a new wand/stylus immediately. The local store doesn’t have one. The store across the river does, and it’s cheaper than expected. Wondering why, it’s because there’s a new device that will have all the features.
  
  186 • Single Point Failure • 14 pages by Sean Monaghan
  Good+. Marli goes to check on the emergency cache room and gets locked in. One of the better recover from catastrophe trope.
• 
  Karl

  “Truta and Pilta” by Shane Tourtellotte, 3½ stars
  “In Translation (Lost/Found)” by Kelsey Hutton, 3 stars
  “The Taste of Sound” by Steve Toase, 3½ stars
  “Everyone Then Who Hears These Words” by Aimee Ogden, 4 stars
  “A Risky Harvest” by Geoffrey Hart, 3 stars
  “Song of Starlight” by Jennifer R. Povey, 3 stars
  “Punctuated Equilibrium” by Auston Habershaw, 4 stars
  “Rare Earths Pineapple” by Michele Laframboise, 4 stars
  “Killing a Tiger” by Karl Gantner, 3½ stars
  “Bloom” by Kate Maruyama, 2 stars
  “The Dark Ages” by Jerry Oltion, 4 stars
  “The Mercy of the Sandsea” by T. L. Huchu, 3½/4 stars
  “We're All in Trouble” by Joe M. McDermott, 2 stars
  “My Nascent Garden” by Melanie Harding-Shaw, 4 stars
  “Where the Buffalo Cars Roam” by David Cleden, 4 stars
  “We May Be Better Strangers” by Mjke Wood, 4 stars
  “Across the River” by A. T. Sayre, 4½ stars
  “Single Point Failure” by Sean Monaghan, 4½ stars
  
• 
  Daniel

  There were few to no stories in this issue that I would consider 'clunkers' and most were good. However, the standouts for me were "In Translation (Lost/Found)" by Kelsey Hutton, "The Dark Ages" by Jerry Oltion, and “My Nascent Garden” by Melanie Harding-Shaw.
  
  I love a good story about language and the complexities of communicating with one another, and Hutton's speculative use of the theme into a compelling plot works wonderfully. The indigenous Métis perspective was also both educational and organically built into the story. The Astounding Analog Companion has a great interview with Hutton that's also worth reading.
  
  In Oltion's story, an amateur astronomer and telescope enthusiast looks to use time travel technology to escape a future Earth and visit an earlier period before light pollution. This is a 'grass-is-always-greener" kinda story, a straight-forward fun adventure that also turns reflective, that I simply enjoyed.
  
  There isn't much to "My Nascent Garden" in terms of themes that haven't already been covered by dystopian-flavored AI tales of cold logic. However, this is told in such a magnificently chilling way that I loved it all despite a lot of familiarity.
  
  Also of note to me were “The Taste of Sound” by Steve Toase and “Bloom” by Kate Maruyama. Both of these I appreciated for their use of biology in the story. Toase's story is almost an interesting take on the 'mechanics' of biology, and primarily shines as a mood piece of disquiet and horror. Maruyama's story features microbes, so I of course love it, but the conflation of algae and bacteria (which I know is a historic thing in the field of ecology that STILL gets misused) bothered me. The human aspect of the story felt a little basic and I wanted more biological details here, particularly in an outlet like Analog.
• 
  Ellen Satter

  Excellent as always
• 
  Michael Goodine

  An average issue of Analog. A few good stories. Some not-so-good stories. I liked "Punctuated Equilibrium" by Auston Habershaw the most. It continues the adventures of a shapeshifting creature that has so far appeared three times in the pages of Analog.
  
  Jerry Oltion's "The Dark Age," about an amateur astronomer so desirous of skies unpolluted by light that he takes several trips back in time is excellent as well. I'm always happy when I see one of Oltion's stories in Analog.
  
  David Cleden's "Where the Buffalo Cars Roam" is a lot of fun. In a post-apocalyptic future automated cars roam the country terrifying the surviving communities.