Asimov's SF, April-May 2007 Read online

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  Asimov's SF, April-May 2007

  by Dell Magazine Authors

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  Science Fiction

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  Dell Magazines

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  Copyright ©2007 by Dell Magazines

  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

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  Asimov's Science Fiction

  April/May 2007

  Vol. 31, Nos. 4 and 5. Whole Nos. 375 and 376

  Cover Art courtesy of NASA

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  NOVELLAS

  The River Horses by Allen M. Steele

  Dead Money by Lucius Shepard

  NOVELETTE

  The Rocket into Planetary Space by William Barton

  SHORT STORIES

  A Small Room in Koboldtown by Michael Swanwick

  Wolves of the Spirit by Liz Williams

  The Eater of Dreams by Robert Silverberg

  Lilyanna by Lisa Goldstein

  Distant Replay by Mike Resnick

  End Game by Nancy Kress

  Always Karen by Joy Fowler

  Fifth Day by Jack McDevitt

  Green Glass by Gene Wolfe

  POETRY

  Where the First Backyard Starship Lifted Off by Robert Frazier

  Soular by Peter Payack

  The Dimensional Rush of Relative Primes by Bruce Boston

  Leaving for the Mall by Roger Dutcher

  Alternate Astrology by Ruth Berman

  DEPARTMENTS

  Editorial: In Memories Yet Green by Isaac Asimov, George Scithers, Kathleen Moloney, Shawna McCarthy, Gardner Dozois, and Sheila Williams

  Reflections: Thirty Years! by Robert Silverberg

  Asimov's Hugo- and Nebula-Award Winners

  Letters

  On Books: Whither the Hard Stuff? by Norman Spinrad

  The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

  Asimov's Science Fiction. ISSN 1065-2698. Vol. 31, Nos. 4 and 5. Whole Nos. 375 and 376, April/May 2007. GST #R123293128. Published monthly except for two combined double issues in April/May and October/November by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications. One year subscription $43.90 in the United States and U.S. possessions. In all other countries $53.90 (GST included in Canada), payable in advance in U.S. funds. Address for subscription and all other correspondence about them, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for change of address. Address for all editorial matters: Asimov's Science Fiction, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10016. Asimov's Science Fiction is the registered trademark of Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications. © 2007 by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. All rights reserved, printed in the U.S.A. Protection secured under the Universal and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction or use of editorial or pictorial content in any manner without express permission is prohibited. All submissions must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope; the publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Periodical postage paid at Norwalk, CT and additional mailing offices. Canadian postage paid at Montreal, Quebec, Canada Post International Publications Mail, Product Sales Agreement No. 40012460. POSTMASTER, send change of address to Asimov's Science Fiction, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. In Canada return to Quebecor St. Jean, 800 Blvd. Industrial, St. Jean, Quebec J3B 8G4.

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  Click a Link for Easy Navigation

  CONTENTS

  EDITORIAL: IN MEMORIES YET GREEN

  REFLECTIONS: THIRTY YEARS! by Robert Silverberg

  Asimov's Science Fiction Hugo and Nebula Award Winners

  LETTERS

  THE RIVER HORSES by Allen M. Steele

  WHERE THE FIRST BACKYARD STARSHIP LIFTED OFF by Robert Frazier

  A SMALL ROOM IN KOBOLDTOWN by Michael Swanwick

  WOLVES OF THE SPIRIT by Liz Williams

  THE EATER OF DREAMS by Robert Silverberg

  SOULAR Peter Payack

  THE ROCKET INTO PLANETARY SPACE by William Barton

  LILYANNA by Lisa Goldstein

  DISTANT REPLAY by Mike Resnick

  THE DIMENSIONAL RUSH OF RELATIVE PRIMES by Bruce Boston

  END GAME by Nancy Kress

  LEAVING FOR THE MALL by Roger Dutcher

  ALWAYS by Karen Joy Fowler

  ALTERNATE ASTROLOGY by Ruth Berman

  FIFTH DAY by Jack McDevitt

  GREEN GLASS by Gene Wolfe

  DEAD MONEY by Lucius Shepard

  ON BOOKS: WHITHER THE HARD STUFF? by Norman Spinrad

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  Asimov's Science Fiction

  Isaac Asimov: Editorial Director (1977-1992)

  Sheila Williams: Editor

  Brian Bieniowski: Associate Editor

  Gardner Dozois: Contributing Editor

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  Stories from Asimov's have won 44 Hugos and 25 Nebula Awards, and our editors have received 17 Hugo Awards for Best Editor.

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  Please do not send us your manuscript until you've gotten a copy of our manuscript guidelines. To obtain this, send us a self-addressed, stamped business-size envelope (what stationery stores call a number 10 envelope), and a note requesting this information. Please write “manuscript guidelines” in the bottom left-hand corner of the outside envelope. The address for this and for all editorial correspondence is Asimov's Science Fiction, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. While we're always looking for new writers, please, in the interest of time-saving, find out what we're loking for, and how to prepare it, before submitting your story.

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  EDITORIAL: IN MEMORIES YET GREEN

  This month's editorial is a composite of short pieces. Each of the magazine's previous editors was asked to write about his or her tenure at the magazine, and I've included some recollections of my own. Shawna McCarthy recommended the title. At George Scithers's suggestion, the mix also incorporates Isaac Asimov's first editorial, which details the magazine's beginnings.

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  Isaac Asimov

  In addition to writing or editing over five hundred books, penning around ninety thousand letters, and receiving dozens of awards and honorary doctorates, Isaac Asimov was the magazine's beloved editorial director from 1977 until his death in 1992.

  I suppose I ought to start by introducing myself, even though that seems needless. The whole point about putting my name on the magazine rests on
the supposition that everyone will recognize it at once, go into ecstatic raptures, and rush forward to buy the magazine. Well, just in case that doesn't happen, I'm Isaac Asimov. I'm a little over thirty years old and I have been selling science fiction stories since 1938. (If the arithmetic seems wrong here, it's because you don't understand higher mathematics.) I have published about forty books of fiction, mostly science fiction, and about 140 books of nonfiction, mostly science. On the other side of the fence, I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University and I'm Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine.—But let's not go on with the litany since I am (as is well known) very modest, and since I am the least important person involved with this magazine.

  Joel Davis, the publisher, is much more important. His company, Davis Publications, Inc., puts out over thirty magazines, including the enormously successful Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. It also publishes Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. With two such magazines under his belt, visions of empire arose before Joel's eyes, and it seemed to him he ought to have a science fiction magazine as sister to these. To retain symmetry, however, he needed a name in the title and he thought of me at once.

  You see, I'm familiar to him because I have, in recent years, sold a score of mystery short stories to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and he would often catch me in suave conversation with Eleanor Sullivan and Constance DiRienzo, the bewitching young women who occupy the EQMM office. I can't say I fell all over myself with joy. The truth is I was worried. I told Joel that no science fiction magazine had ever borne a person's name on it, to my knowledge, and that the writers and readers would surely resent this as an example of overweening arrogance. He said, “Nonsense, Isaac, who could possibly accuse you of arrogance?"

  —Well, that's true enough. But then I pointed out that the editors of the various other science fiction magazines were, one and all, personal friends of mine, and I would not wish to compete with them. He said, “You won't be competing with them, Isaac. One more strong magazine in the field will attract additional readers, encourage additional writers. Our own success will help the other magazines in the field as well.” (I consulted others and everyone agreed with Joel.)

  Then I told Joel that I had a monthly science column running in one of the other science fiction magazines. It had been running without a break for eighteen years and under no circumstances could I consider giving it up. He said, “You don't have to give it up. Continue it exactly as before.” (And I am doing so, with the blessing of the other magazine's editor.) But then I had the topper. I told him that the fact was I couldn't edit a magazine. I didn't have the ability or the experience or the desire or the time. He said, “Find someone you can trust, with the ability, the experience, the desire, and the time, and he can be the editor. You can be the editorial director, and the man you pick will work under your direction, for I want this to be your magazine, a reflection of your tastes with your kind of science fiction. You should keep an eye on what the editor buys, write the editorials yourself, and work closely with this editor to set policy and to solve problems as they come up."

  So we agreed to that; now let me introduce the Editor. He is George H. Scithers, an electrical engineer specializing in radio propagation and rail rapid transit, who is a Lieutenant Colonel (retired) in the United States Army and who does a bit of writing on the side. He has been involved with the world of science fiction for over thirty years. He was the chairman of DisCon 1, the World Science Fiction Convention held in Washington in 1963 (where I got my first Hugo, so you can see what a well-run convention that was), and has been parliamentarian for several other conventions. He has a small publishing firm, Owlswick Press, publishing books of science fiction interest, notably the new revision of L. Sprague de Camp's Science Fiction Handbook. Furthermore, I know him personally, know that his tastes in science fiction are like mine and that he is industrious and reliable.

  As Associate Editor, George has managed to get the services of Gardner Dozois, who is himself a contemporary science fiction writer of note.

  Now what about the magazine itself ? Life is risky for magazines in these days of television and paperbacks so we are starting as a quarterly. What reader support we'll get is now in the lap of the gods, but if things go as we earnestly hope they do, we will work our way up to monthly as soon as we can. We are concentrating on the shorter lengths, and there will be no serials. Novels have plenty of outlets these days, the shorter lengths relatively few.

  With my name on the magazine, it won't surprise you to hear that we will lean toward hard science fiction, and toward the reasonably straightforward in the way of style. However, we won't take ourselves too seriously and not every story has to be a solemn occasion. We will have humorous stories and we will have an occasional unclassifiable story. We will have a book review column that will favor short notices of many books rather than deep essays on a few. We will have non-fiction pieces—that we will try to make as science-fiction-related as possible. We have one that will cover a museum opening, for instance, but it's a space museum; and we're working on one that compares real life computers with those in science fiction stories. But you can see for yourself what we're trying to do if you read this issue and, undoubtedly, we will develop in ways not easily predictable at the start.

  Two last points—for heaven's sake, don't send any manuscripts to me, send them to George Scithers. And for heaven's sake, be careful where you allocate credit. If this magazine pleases you, do give the credit to George Scithers and write and tell him so. He's doing the work.

  —If, on the other hand, you decide it's a stinker, please send your letters to Joel Davis. The whole thing was his idea.

  And remember, those letters that we find to be of general interest will be printed in a letter column along with comments by me; and we will try to spell your name correctly.

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  George Scithers

  George Scithers received two Hugo Awards for editing Asimov's. In addition to founding our magazine, he also edited the venerable Amazing Stories. With Darrell Schweitzer and John Betancourt, he now edits the even more venerable Weird Tales and works full time for Wildside Press.

  The early years working on Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine were some of the happiest, yet most challenging, of my life.

  I had just retired from thirty years in the U.S. Army and taken a job with the City of Philadelphia's Department of Public Property as the city's electrical engineer on a quarter-billion-dollar project to build a four-track, electrified commuter railroad through the center of that city; dream job for a railroad fan like myself. Then Dr. Asimov called me with even more of a dream job: to be the editor of a professional science fiction magazine as well!

  And that came about like this: Joel Davis, president and publisher of Davis Publications, Inc., had long been the publisher of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. A year or so earlier, he had purchased the then-money-losing Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. He and his staff immediately turned it into a successful, money-making magazine. Looking for new fields to enter, Joel asked Isaac to be editor of a similarly titled publication, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.

  “But no,” Isaac protested; “I'm not an editor, and besides...” and so on at some length. “But who...?” Joel asked, and Isaac suggested me.

  Isaac and I had met at various science fiction conventions over the years. We had mutual friends—the late L. Sprague de Camp, Lester del Rey, and John D. Clark. We were both members of the Trap Door Spiders, a supper club immortalized by Isaac in his Black Widowers mystery stories. And I had saved him from a lonely train ride when it happened that we took the same train from a mid-west science fiction convention to Boston.

  I had written and sold short stories to the professional magazines—one to Fred Pohl at If, one to John W. Campbell at Analog, and another to Ben Bova, also at Analog. While I had no experience as a professional magazine editor, I had been the publisher and editor for just over twe
nty years of the long-running, Hugo-winning sword-&-sorcery fanzine, Amra. And best of all, my work at the commuter railway project let me take the then-part-time job as the founding editor at IA'sfm, as we abbreviated the magazine's title in those days.

  Starting a magazine from scratch would have been impossible without the substantial help from the Davis staff and from Joel himself. The late Fred Dannay, who had been editing EQMM for decades for Joel's father and then for Joel, gave me invaluable advice and support. Eleanor Sullivan, managing editor (and later editor in her own right) of EQMM, helped me set up the magazine's system of handling manuscripts and dealing with George Monette's Twin Company, our typesetter. Connie DiRienzo, contracts manager for all the Davis fiction magazines, helped me write our standard contract, based on EQMM's and that of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction—a contract which I have since used with Amazing Stories and now Weird Tales. For the first few issues, Gardner Dozois, who had experience as a first reader for other magazines, served as IA'sfm's associate editor.

  Starting from scratch would have been really impossible without the help of the established science-fiction writers and of their organization, the Science Fiction Writers of America. As Jerry Pournelle once put it, I called in a lot of obs (a term from a story by Eric Frank Russell). As it turned out, starting took a few months longer than I had first assumed; after some discussions with Eleanor Sullivan and Fred Dannay, I had to go to Joel and ask for a little more time, which he gave.

  In addition to the full-time staff in New York, I accumulated a small group of science fiction fans in Philadelphia—Darrell Schweitzer, who's been working with me ever since; Lee and Diane Weinstein; John Ashmead; and many others. At the same time, IA'sfm built up a group of new writers, notably Somtow Sucharitkil, Sharon Webb, the late John M. Ford, and Barry Long-year.