Geoffrey A. Landis, "Ecopoiesis" (SF Age 5/97) Solid hard-SF mystery on a Mars abandoned to anaerobic bacteria; might have been called "Brown Mars".

Greg Abraham, "Front Man" (Asimov's 6/97) A gay couple's disintegration mirrors the relationship between humanity and alien visitors.

Richard Bowes, "Streetcar Dreams" (F&SF 4/97) The culminating urban fantasy about Kevin Grierson and his "Shadow".

Paul J. McAuley & Kim Newman, "Residuals" (Asimov's 6/97) The FBI tails two survivors of an alien abduction in the 1970s and discovers the truth is creepier and weirder than they suspected.

Gregory Benford, "The Voice" (SF Age 5/97) Young people in a far future underground society rediscover reading.

Paul Di Filippo, "Alice, Alfie, Ted and the Aliens" (Interzone 3/97) Alice Sheldon and Alfie Bester meet a weird religious cult and mysterious aliens. Like something out of recent headlines.

James Patrick Kelly, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (Asimov's 6/97) A woman finds her elderly father comforted by a robot version of herself as a girl.

Rebecca Ore, "My Mother, the Alien, and Me" (F&SF 4/97) A girl and her mother, a sucker for males in pain, take in an injured alien.

Paul Park, "Get a Grip" (Omni Online 3/97) A man learns the world doesn't make sense because it's not real.