Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the July 2013 issue:
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REVIEW SUMMARY: The latest issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction contains one novella, two novelettes, and two short stories as well as poems, book reviews, a guest editorial and Robert Silverberg’s latest “Reflections”

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The June 2013 issue of Asimov’s is what every fan of short fiction hopes to find: a beautiful cover housing a handful of well-written, interesting and emotionally satisfying stories showcasing the strength of the medium.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Each story functions well within the parameters of its length; endings that satisfy and don’t leave the reader feeling cheated; characters that draw the reader in; wide variety of story type and setting.
CONS: Fans wishing for “science” in their “science fiction” may find little to excite their interest in the four shorter works.
BOTTOM LINE: This issue of Asimov’s is a study in genre-defying contrasts: aliens that come to Earth not to invade, but to negotiate for help; would-be assassins with well-reasoned morality concerns; the beauty to be found in a life filled with tragedy.  My high expectations for authors Robert Reed and Kristine Kathyrn Rusch, long-time favorites, were mostly met and three new-to-me authors offered up equally effective stories.  This was one issue of Asimov’s that was hard to put down, leading me to read it in one very enjoyable sitting.  It is on shelves now and worth owning for the cover image alone.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Part 1 of the review of this double issue of Asimov’s concentrated on the novella and short stories, Part 2 completes the review by looking at the novelettes.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Humans and aliens in settings reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs and a police procedural that evolves into a discussion of string theory and Egyptian mythology are offered up in the three reviewed novelettes included in the April/May 2013 double issue of Asimov’s.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Greater story length allows for richer character studies and strong world-building; jungle settings in two of the novelettes provide a heady nostalgia for fans of fiction by Edgar Rice Burroughs; last story in the magazine is a tension-filled story that ends the issue on a high note.
CONS: One novelette disappoints after a strong, creative mystery ends with thinly-disguised scientific info-dumping and esoteric theorizing; the better stories end with the feeling that a sequel is in the works rather than being entirely self-contained.
BOTTOM LINE: I’ve never been fond of the Asimov’s double issues and the reasoning is faulty at best: I think the roughly 100 page format of the standard issue is just perfect, offering up the right amount of story to keep the reader from feeling overwhelmed.  There is truth to the idea that there can be too much of a good thing.  And while I realize I could simply read half of it one month and half the next, it does not ever work out that logically.  That being said, there was a preponderance of really good storytelling in this issue and if future double issues continue that trend I might find myself looking forward to their twice-a-year arrival.  The novelettes were particularly enjoyable, even when they did not fully deliver, because the length allows the author to build a more firm foundation for the story they are trying to tell.

Individual story reviews follow…
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Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the June 2013 issue:
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Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the April/May 2013 issue:
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Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the March 2013 issue:
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Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the February 2013 issue:

NOVELLAS

• “The Weight of the Sunrise” by Vylar Kaftan

NOVELETTES

• “And Then Some” by Matthew Hughes

SHORT STORIES

• “The New Guys Always Work Overtime” by David Erik Nelson
• “Outbound From Put-In-Bay” by M. Bennardo
• “The Golden Age of Story” by Robert Reed
• “Best of All Possible Worlds” by John Chu

POETRY

• “Curse of the Procrustean’s Wife” by Bruce Boston
• “7:17 am, June 30, 1908, Central Siberia” by Robert Frazier
• “How Many” by Ruth Berman

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: Perils of Time Travel by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Looking for Atlantis by Robert Silverberg
• On the Net: Mobility by James Patrick Kelly
• Next Issue
• On Books by Paul Di Filippo
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Subscriptions available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or the Asimov’s website.

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the January 2013 issue:
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Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the December 2012 issue:

NOVELLA

• “Sudden, Broken, and Unexpected” by Steven Popkes

NOVELETTE

• “The Waves” by Ken Liu

SHORT STORIES

• “The Caramel Forest” by Chris Beckett
• “The Wizard of West 34th Street” by Mike Resnick
• “The Black Feminist’s Guide to Science Fiction Film Editing” by Sandra McDonald
• “The Pipes of Pan” by Robert Reed

POETRY

• “Golden People” by Bruce Boston
• “Flower Power” by Karin L. Frank
• “Your Clone Returns Home” by Robert Frazier

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: Merry Armageddon by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Libraries by Robert Silverberg
• Next Issue
• On Books by Peter Heck
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Subscriptions available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or the Asimov’s website.

Join Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine at booth #148 of the Brooklyn Book Festival from 10am – 6pm Sunday September 23rd.

Raffles, subscription promotions, author signings, and free issues will be ongoing and available throughout the day.

Signing for Analog authors will be at 1 p.m. with Paul Levinson, for Asimov’s at 4 p.m. will be Michael Swanwick, and around 3 p.m. S.J. Rozan will be signing for Ellery Queen.

In the Brooklyn area? Stop by!

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the October/November 2012 issue:

NOVELLA

• “The Mongolian Book of the Dead” by Alan Smale
• “The Stars Do Not Lie” by Jay Lake

NOVELETTES

• “The Second Engineer” by Gray Rinehart
• “The Ghost Factory” by Will Ludwigsen

SHORT STORIES

• “Antarctica Starts Here” by Paul McAuley
• “Results Guaranteed” by Kit Reed
• “Lion Dance” by Vylar Kaftan
• “This Hologram World” by Eugene Mirabelli
• “A Handsome Fellow” by Ekaterina Sedia
• “Chromatophores” by John Alfred Taylor
• “Shattering” by Steven Utley

POETRY

• “Three Sumerian Mummies” by Peter Simons
• “Ghosts” by Geoffrey A. Landis
• “The Season” by Ken Poyner
• “Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (or something like that)” by Lola Haskins

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: Science Fiction That Scars Children by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Decline and Fall by Robert Silverberg
• On the Net: Unreal Life by James Patrick Kelly
• Next Issue
• On Books by Norman Spinrad
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Subscriptions available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or the Asimov’s website.

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the September 2012 issue:

NOVELLA

• “Unearthed” by William Preston

NOVELETTES

• “Mating Habits of the Late Cretaceous” by Dale Bailey
• “Noumenon” by Robert Reed

SHORT STORIES

• “Star Soup” by Chris Willrich
• “The Last Islander” by Matthew Johnson
• “Adware” by Suzanne Palmer

POETRY

• “Tornado Warning” by Danny Adams
• “Sub-Genre” by W. Gregory Stewart

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: Twenty-Sixth Annual Reader’s Award Results by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Anthologies by Robert Silverberg
• Next Issue
• On Books by Paul Di Filippo
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the August 2012 issue:

NOVELETTES

• “Weep for Day” by Indrapramit Das
• “Heaven’s touch” by Jason Sanford
• “Joining the High Flyers” by Ian Creasey
• “The Bernoulli War” by Gord Sellar

SHORT STORIES

• “Beautiful Boys” by Theodora Goss
• “View Through the Window” by Ted Reynolds
• “Starsong” by Aliette de Bodard
• “Stamps” by Bruce McAllister

POETRY

• “My House of the Future” by G.O. Clark
• “The Big Bang’s Backstory” by Marion Boyer
• “Cassandra Moments from ‘The Official Guide to Time Travel’” by Robert Frazier
• “The Music of a Dead World” by Bruce Boston

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: The 2012 Dell Magazines Award by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Big Endians/Little Endians by Robert Silverberg
• Next Issue
• On Books by Paul Di Filippo
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the July 2012 issue:

NOVELETTE

• “Old Paint” by Megan Lindholm
• “Alive and Well, A Long Way From Anywhere” by Allen M.Steel

SHORT STORIES

• “The Girl in the Park” by Robert Reed
• “Kill Switch” by Benjamin Crowell
• “Zip” by Steven Utley
• “Bird Walks in New England” by Michael Blumlein
• “Long Night on Redrock” by Felicity Shoulders

POETRY

• “Fix” by Gord Sellar
• “Terraformations” by Robert Frazier

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: The Secret Sharer by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Life in the Future by Robert Silverberg
• Next Issue
• On Books by Peter Heck
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Nebula Awards weekend also saw another set of awards being given away: Analog Science Fiction and Fact‘s AnLab Awards and the Asimov’s Readers’ Awards. Here are the winners:

The winners of Analog’s Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Awards are:

• Best Novella: “With Unclean Hands” by Adam-Troy Castro (11/11)
• Best Novelette (Tie):
  • “Jak and the Beanstalk” by Richard A. Lovett (7-8/11)
  • “Betty Knox and Dictionary Jones in the Mystery of the Missing Teenage Anachronisms” by John G. Hemry (3/11)
• Best Short Story: “Julie is Three” by Craig DeLancey (3/11)
• Best Fact: “Smart SETI” by Gregory and James Benford (4/11)
• Best Cover: December 2011 (for “Ray of Light”) by Bob Eggleton

The winners of Asimov’s Readers’ Awards are:

• Best Novella: “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by KijJohnson(10-11/11)
• Best Novelette: “All About Emily” by Connie Willis(12/11)
• Best Short Story: “Movement” by Nancy Fulda(3/11)
• Best Poem: “Five Pounds of Sunlight” byGeoffrey A. Landis(1/11)
• Best Cover Artist: October/November, by Paul Youll (for “The Man Who Bridged the Mist”)

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the June 2012 issue:

NOVELETTE

• “Missionaries” by Mercurio D. Rivera
• “Possible Monsters” by Will McIntosh

SHORT STORIES

• “Final Exam” by Megan Arkenberg
• “Waiting at the Altar” by Jack McDevit
• “The Flowering Ape” by Alan DeNiro
• “The Widdershins Clock” by Kali Wallace
• “Free Range” by Bruce McAllister
• “Scout” by Bud Sparhawk

POETRY

• “Pavane” by F. J. Bergmann
• “I am nothing, you say, to you, coming close to it” by W. Gregory Stewart
• “Objectifying Faerie” by Jane Yolen
• “The Novikov Self-Consistency Conjecture from ‘The Official Guide to Time Travel’” by Robert Frazier
• “Care and Feeding” by Mary A. Turzillo

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: We Have Met the Alien by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Rereading Philip K. Dick by Robert Silverberg
• Next Issue
• On Books: Short and Sweet by Paul Di Filippo
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for theApril/May 2012 issue:

NOVELLAS

• “The Last Judgment” by James Patrick Kelly
• “Living in the Eighties” by David Ira Cleary

NOVELETTE

• “Something Real” by Rick Wilber

SHORT STORIES

• “Bonding With Morry” by Tom Purdom
• “Sexy Robot Mom” by Sandra McDonald
• “Sensitive, Compartmented” by Gray Rinehart
• “Souvenirs” by Ian Creasey
• “Greener” by Josh Roseman
• “Riding Red Ted and Breathing Fire” by Carol Emshwiller

POETRY

• “Book Wyrm” by Robert Borski
• “The Music of Particle Physics” by Bruce Boston
• “Tachyons” by Geoffrey A. Landis
• “Apocalyptic Love Song” by Megan Arkenberg

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: Vive la Différence! by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: As Slow as Possible by Robert Silverberg
• Next Issue
• On Books: Alternate Realities by Norman Spinrad
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

What a curious species, the science fiction magazine. If you consider that first issue of Amazing Stories, published in April 1926, as the birth of the modern science fiction magazine, then the science fiction magazine has survived in one form or another for nearly 86 years. This despite constant proclamations that science fiction is dying. Why has the science fiction magazine survived as long as it has? 

This is not to say a magazine cannot be killed. We have seen countless magazines die, some after only a single issue. But they are inevitably replaced by another magazine, one that is perhaps more durable than its predecessor, one that lasts somewhat longer. And when that one dies, still another comes along to take its place. There is an almost evolutionary battle taking place that has made the science fiction magazine, despite its seeming precariousness, a fit venue for the literature. One might die, but it will be replaced, and never has the species died out entirely.

I think that there are several important reasons for this.

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the March 2012 issue:

NOVELETTE

• “Golva’s Ascent” by Tom Purdom

SHORT STORIES

• “Nanny’s Day” by Leah Cypess
• “Mrs. Hatcher’s Evaluation” by James Van Pelt
• “Patagonia” by Joel Richards

POETRY

• “A Change in the Gravity” by G. O. Clark
• “Discoveries in the Annals of Poetry” by C. W. Johnson
• “Sonnet I” by A. Walker Scott

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: Whose Cannon? by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: My Voyage to Atlantis by Robert Silverberg
• On The Net: Websites R.I.P.? by James Patrick Kelly
• Preview of April/May Double Issue
• On Books Paul Di Filippo
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

NOTE: Don’t forget to vote! Analog Readers’ Award Ballot Open Until February 14th!

Asimov’s has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the February 2012 issue:

NOVELLA

• “Murder Born” by Robert Reed

NOVELETTE

• “Hive Mind Man” by Rudy Rucker & Eileen Gunn

SHORT STORIES

• “The Voodoo Project” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• “Observations on a Clock” by D. Thomas Minton
• “The People of Pele” by Ken Liu
• “Going Home” by Bruce McAllister & Barry Malzberg

POETRY

• “Submicro-Text Message 3v45129xz: To My A.I. Valentine” by Kendall Evans &David C. Kopaska-Merkel
• “Future History” by Joe Haldeman
• “The Atom’s Lattice Could Such Beauty Yield” by William John Watkins

DEPARTMENTS

• Editorial: On Winning the Hugo by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Rereading Eddison by Robert Silverberg
• Thought Experiments: Celebrating Isaac by James Gunn
• On The Net: Son of Ebooks, the Next Generation, Volume III by James Patrick Kelly
• Next Issue
• On Books by Peter Heck
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss