Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine - April/May 2014

In this issue

Two huge novellas are crammed into our April/May 2014 double anniversary issue. Each in His Prison, Thinking of the Key” is William Preston’s exciting new story about an “Old Man” who’s bigger than life and a young man who must learn to cope with his own devastating talents. Robert Reed’s gigantic alternate history novella about “The Principles” introduces us to a recent college graduate, unemployed and aimless in a repressive society, and an intense older woman who is struggling to change an oppressive regime.

A charming protagonist makes the best of her deal with the devil in Michael Swanwick’s “Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown”; new author Fran Wilde reveals that conditions on a prison planet will sting “Like a Wasp to the Tongue”; “Someday” making babies will be a lot different according to veteran Asimov’s author James Patrick
Kelly; but soldiers aren’t going to find homecoming any easier according to Matthew Johnson’s “Rules of Engagement.” New-to-Asimov’s author Joe M. McDermott spins a heartbreaking tale about a family that depends on “Dolores, Big and Strong”; K.J. Zimring’s “The Talking Cure” isn’t quite as it appears; M. Bennardo tells an unusual story of survival in “Slowly Upward, the Coelacanth”; and in Will McIntosh’s terrifying tale about an extraterrestrial invasion, a human boy has a strange encounter with an alien “Scout.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column sings the praises of “Borges, Leinster, Google”; Paul DiFilippo’s On Books column opens with a depiction of the life and Alluring Art of Margaret Brundage—the fabulous illustrator whose work once emblemized Weird Tale’s; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.