[Home Page][Index of Reviews][October/November 1998][October/November 2001]

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
December 1998

This month's issue of Asimov's features a Reflections column by Robert Silverberg that looks at the classic novel, Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. He mentions how when he first read it, he never thought about the sections in the book on whaling. But now that he's more aware about it, he reads it with a different outlook and considers whaling in the modern world and attempts by some tribes to revive whaling as a way to 'get in touch' with their roots.

Stories featured in this issue are:

"Down in the Dark" by Willian Barton gives a bleak look at the future where life on the Earth has been destroyed by an asteroid strike and the various scientific colonies must now struggle to survive. But on Triton (one of Saturn's moons), a discovery is made that may change the future of what is left of humanity.
"Fruitcake Theory" by James Patrick Kelley gives a quirky look at two minders looking after an alien and an unusual theory to explain what happens to them while visiting a mall.
"The Game this Year" by Lisa Goldstein looks at two groups of people with magical powers who meet each year to decide who gets to influence the world through a game. But this year, one of the players suggests a change that may well cause a different outcome.
"Archaic Planets: Nine Excerpts from the Encyclopedia Galactica" by Michael Swanwick (with Sean Swanwick) gives nine unusual entries concerning the planets of the solar system.
"Building the Building of the World" by Robert Reed takes a look at a teacher at a science camp who proposes setting up two teams to design two worlds. One team builds a world of peace while the other builds a world of war which strangely mirrors the students' behaviour. When both worlds meet in a virtual environment, the results are unexpected.
"Grist" by Tony Daniel is a solar system wide story about humanity in the future and the properties of 'grist' whose origin is not stated but appears to be some kind of intelligent nanomachines. One priest starts on a journey to locate a man with unusual quantum powers who may affect the starting and outcome of a war that may engulf the entire solar system.

[Home Page][Index of Reviews][October/November 1998][October/November 2001]

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine December 1998

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
December 1998