A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: Analog

Analog 1-2/24

The January/February issue of Ana­log kicks off with “Kagari” by Ron Collins, which follows the young heir to a kingdom of birdlike beings. He is in love with a commoner, and not overly enamored of the strict rules governing his society, but he is given a human named Kagari as a pet who helps him see he might work within the system to effect change. “Music of a Different Sphere” by former editor Stanley Schmidt is a cute story about an orchestra invited to play a concert on a remote outpost station contending with the impact the environmental conditions there have on their instruments. At its core, it’s a story about challenging one’s assumptions and not letting biases get in the way of learning and growing. In “From the River to the Moon” by Kelsey Hut­ton, a woman relocating from Earth to a station on the moon experiences a panic attack, thinking of all the things she’s leaving behind. One of her fellow passengers helps her focus on why she’s making the journey, so that the nature she loves so much might actually have a chance to recover without human intervention, helping her cope with her loss.

“Game, Set, Match” by Robert Friedman and Barry N. Malzberg presents an exchange between two characters who share the authors’ names de­bating the merits and dangers of AI. “Homesick” by H.A.B. Wilt is a bittersweet flash fiction piece about an astronaut reflecting on her last mission in space, which may turn out to be the last space mission ever. “Sluggish” by Martin L. Shoemaker takes a lighter tone as a woman harvesting giant slug roe ends up having to fend off several amo­rous slugs who are attracted to her cargo after her ship crashes in the swamp.

Two of the standout pieces in the issue are “The Handmaiden-Alchemist” by Marie Vibbert and “Places You Have Never Been” by David Cleden. Vibbert’s story centers on Margot, a young woman who wants to study alchemy, even though it’s an unsuitable subject for a woman of her time. Margot finds a way to gain herself a measure of freedom, but at a cost. The story has a strong voice, and Vibbert does an excellent job showing a char­acter with limited options pushing back against society in a way that feels realistic and satisfying, while still acknowledging the unfairness and pain of the situation she’s placed in. Very tonally dif­ferent, but also carrying real emotional weight, is Cleden’s novelette – a near-future story set in a world where mysterious bubbles of “nowhere space” appear at random, collapsing buildings and making the streets dangerous. Petch lives in an all-but-abandoned neighborhood, selling maps to help people navigate safely. He encounters a young woman named Chloe, and eventually learns her father is one of two app designers who originally discovered the nowhere places and who subse­quently vanished into one of them. The writing is lovely, and Cleden does an excellent job with the worldbuilding and characters, making both feel like they extend beyond the page.

“The Song of Nyx” by Sam W. Pisciotta is another story with lovely writing, following a sci­entist named Denny who records the stories told to him by a whale named Nyx via a neural link. Denny is struggling with his relationship with his wife and the idea of change, and Nyx ultimately helps him to cope through her own desire to see what is out there in the wider world. In “Barreira do Inferno” by Madeline Barnicle, a contractor tries to navigate a dangerous rocket launch, pro­viding an effective look at the way corporations weigh safety against the potential for profit. “The Invariant Speed of Destiny” by Phoebe Barton is a lovely flash piece that meditates on time dilation, the dangers of space, and whether certain events are fixed and always meant to happen.

“The Most Expensive Family Vacation on Re­cord” by Sheldon J. Pacotti is a bittersweet look at a relationship between a father and son, which gets inverted as the father undergoes a treatment that essentially lets him be born again as a new person. “For Every Bee, a Hive” by Benjamin C. Kinney is a story with a strong voice about a woman named Tamar who loses her crew dur­ing a salvage mission, but finds an unlikely ally in an AI bot separated from its collective. As a collective, the AI was a dangerous weapon, but Tamar believes the individual component, which she nicknames Honeybee, has the potential to be something more. It’s a nice look at trust, fear of the other, and self-determination.

“Hull Run” by David Goodman is another standout piece in the issue, with a strong voice and excellent characters. Four bored teens engage in a dangerous hull run during a Venusian windstorm. When one of them mistimes a jump, the others stage a dangerous rescue to get her back, evok­ing particularly strong memories for one of the characters who lost her mother as a result of an accident during a routine hull repair. Goodman does a wonderful job of creating characters who feel real, giving the story emotional depth, and conveying genuine tension during the rescue, making for a highly effective story overall.

“Paytron of the Arts” by Raymund Eich sees an author hunting down his top-tier patron after receiving feedback he doesn’t agree with on his latest novel. “You’re 16” by Steve Ingeman is a relatively short, but effective piece with some lovely writing about a woman who has essen­tially become a living computer reflecting on her youth and her lost humanity. “Tepid War” by Jay Werkheiser draws some nice parallels between office politics and a war largely carried out by drones that has become background noise to ev­eryday life. Co-workers Nik and Kelly repeatedly step on each other’s toes, accidentally hang each other out to dry, and unintentionally take credit for each other’s work, creating tension and leading to retaliation and escalation, until they are finally able to hash things out. “Thin as Blood” by Eric Del Carlo follows an arms dealer trying to bring about an apocalyptic war to drum up business, while saddled with caring for an orphan who acts as his conscience.

The issue closes with “A Vintage Atmosphere” by Hûw Steer, which starts as a quiet slice-of-life story about an oxygen farmer living a lonely exis­tence harvesting his crop from the algae he grows on a series of asteroids. While selling his latest batch at the market, a shuttle accident upends his life, and he’s recruited into the rescue effort along­side an adventurer named Matthis, who despite a seemingly glamorous life is also lonely. The story circles back to quiet slice-of-life as Matthis returns home with the farmer while waiting on his ship to be repaired, in what either may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or a budding romance. It’s a sweet ending that provides a nice, uplifting note of hope to end the issue.

Recommended Stories
“The Handmaiden-Alchemist”, Marie Vibbert (Analog 1-2/24)
“Places You Have Never Been”, David Cleden (Analog 1-2/24)
“Hull Run”, David Goodman (Analog 1-2/24)

This review and more like it in the April 2024 issue of Locus.

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