So how do we top an issue like this one? Well, a two-fer is a good start. In next month’s July/August double, we kick off with the first installment of a serial—and not just any serial. New planets bring new opportunities, but when unexpected complications arise, how do we keep from making the same old mistakes all over again? Find out in Stanley Schmidt’s Night Ride and Sunrise. Then we have a pair of fact articles: Edward M. Lerner’s next entry in his ongoing series, “Alien Altercations: Star (Spanning) Wars,” as well as a smaller, “crunchier” piece from Robert
Zubrin, “Moving the Earth.”

Of course, a plethora of further fine fiction awaits, from Liz J. Andersen’s flea-bitten “The Smell of Blood and Thunder,” to Ian Watson’s slyly shifting quantum entanglement, “Breakfast in Bed”; from Rob Chilson’s Vancian “The Tarn,” to Adam-Troy Castro’s tense thriller, “Sleeping Dogs,” and plenty more in between, as well as a special feature on plotting by Richard A. Lovett, all our regular columns, and the results of our annual Analytical Laboratory Reader’s Awards.

Not every character strictly needs an origin story—life is rarely that simple. So while next issue’s Andrea Cort tale, “Burning the Ladder” by Adam-Troy Castro, isn’t one, it’s still a formative moment, earlier than any we’ve seen so far, that has big ramifications for the character we’ve come to know. New to the Diplomatic Corp, Andrea struggles to understand the abuse an alien child suffers at the hands of its own species, but she may just learn a painful and permanent lesson that no good deed goes unpunished instead.

Our fact article for the issue is from Raymund Eich, looking at some of the exact logistics of interplanetary colonization, in “The Believers Shall Inherit The Solar System.”

And we’ll have stories including a tale of an old man, his dog, and an environmental reclamation project, in Bud Sparhawk’s “Simple Pleasures”; a trippy (in multiple ways) Probability Zero from Louis Evans, “Gateway Drug”; an unusual pair of firefighters who are more than the sum of their parts in Alice Towey’s “Firebreak”; an orphan making his way in an alien world in Eric Del Carlo’s “A Boy in the Key of Forsaken”; the return of a cunning shape-shifter in Auston Habershaw’s “Proof of Concept”; all-out warfare in Timons Esias’s “Beachhead”; desperate times demand hard choices in A.C. Koch’s “Planetfall”; nearly-forgotten knowledge struggles to be preserved in Jessica Reisman’s “Aconie’s Bees”; and more, from Sean McMullen, Stanley Schimdt, Jerry Oltion, and others!

When an escapee from an interstellar cult looking for an old flame stumbles across an enigmatic structure on a distant planet that seems to be drawing alien creatures to it, his unique experiences may just be the thing that qualifies him to see more of the situation than anyone else. But he’s not the only one who seeks its meaning, and there are others who would do anything to get it. At what price, understanding? Discover the answer next issue, in “Exile’s Grace,” by Mark W. Tiedmann.

Our fact article for the issue. “Evolving Brainy Brains Takes More Than Living on a Lucky Planet,” by Christina De La Rocha, is part evolutionary biology and part planetary geology in an attempt to shine light on one of the more profound questions we have about human life.

We’ll also have a Journeyman story from Michael F. Flynn; a bit of “youth in revolt . . . on a starship” from J.T. Sharrah; stories from C. Stuart Hardwick, Michael Swanwick, Brenda Kalt, and more; plus a special feature on humor in Analog from Stanley Schmidt (as well as a couple of thematically-appropriate stories to accompany it); and of course, all our regular (and regularly excellent) columns.

New year, new issue! We start things off with a bang, in the form of a novella from a titanic team-up: in the aftermath of a disaster, the survivors have to discover a way to communicate with a most alien life form or die trying. My intentionally vague description doesn’t do it justice, as you’ll find out in “Communion,” by Frank Wu and Jay Werkheiser.

Our fact article for the issue also comes from Jay Werkheiser, in the form of a Science Behind the Story on Kepler’s Laws, concluding in this very issue, and we have a “speculative history” Special Feature, in
Brishti Guha’s “The Robots of Ancient India.”

We also, of course, have a wide array of stories, from androids fighting pirates in Tom Jolly’s “Cloudchaser” and a potentially other-worldy trap in Tony Ballantyne’s “The Lobster Pot” to a high-stakes heist in Raymund Eich’s “A Fistful of Monopoles” and some environmental justice in “Yellow Boots” from Stephen L. Burns, as well as plenty more, from Liz A. Vogel, Megan Hyland, and others.

Don’t miss it!

Next issue, we close out the year . . . and Kepler’s Laws, Jay Werkheiser’s serial begun in this very issue. You’ve read the beginning: now find out how it ends, when tensions come to a head and the quiet conflict explodes into the open. Stands are taken, mysteries are solved, and not everybody makes it out alive. Don’t miss the exciting conclusion!

Then Christina De la Rocha continues her informal series of fact articles on global warming, with “Will Nuclear Power Save Us From Global Warming?” The answer is, like many things, not entirely straightforward, but that’s what makes it interesting.

And of course we’ll have a myriad of shorter stories, including the return of a long-absent fan-favorite author, with “Malady,” by Shane Tourtellotte, as well as pieces from Dan Reade, Brenda Kalt, Barry Malzberg & Bill Pronzini, Robert Reed, Bill Frank, and more. 

This issue, we’re going to do something that’s a little unusual for a number of reasons: we’re experimenting with the serial format by bringing you a full-length novel in just two parts, and we’re revisiting the lethal world of Kepler from Jay Werkheiser’s original novelette, “Kepler’s Law,” much expanded, in Kepler’s Laws (note the plural). Folks who remember the original story and recall the desperate attempts of the colonists to settle on the chemically hostile world might think they have an inkling of what’s in store, but far from it—Kepler’s Laws is about 90,000 words beyond what you’ve seen. Hold on to your hats; survival is going to come at a cost.

Perhaps the primary objection to using nuclear power to wean ourselves off of fossil fuel is that terrestrial nuclear power plants are dangerous. If that’s the case, then might we skirt the issue by making them nonterrestrial? We take a look in our fact article for the issue, “Orbital Nuclear Power,” by Donald Wilkins.

Then we have a planet held in thrall by two feuding petty tyrants when contract killer Rage Laskin drops in to take a job, but naturally things rapidly go pear-shaped in “The Silence Before I Sleep,” by Adam-Troy Castro.

And of course we have a wide variety of other stories from familiar faces like J.T. Sharrah, John Vester, Marissa Lingen, Robert Scherrer, Marie Vibbert, Joel Richards, and Holly Schofield, plus new names like Marco Frasetto and Bianca Sayan, plus the next entry in all of our fine features and incredible columns. 

When a crew of pirates decides to rob a ring station, the last thing they’re expecting is a pair of rivals who’ll band together to save everyone . . . if they don’t kill each other first. All hope lies with . . . “The Unlikely Heroines of Calisto Station,” from Marie Vibbert. (That blurb works best if you read it in your best “Trailer Guy” voice.)

Our fact article for the issue is a look at Venus as it may have existed in the distant past (and the not-so-distant past of science fiction) in “Return to the Golden Age: Why Venus Might Actually Once Have Been Habitable,” by Richard A. Lovett, and we’ll have a special feature from Edward M. Wysocki, as well as an interview with theoretical cosmologist and author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), Katie Mack.

And of course there will be plenty of fantastic fiction, including a Space Age alternate history, in “The Next Frontier” by Rosemary Claire Smith; orbital derring-do that takes on personal significance in C. Stuart Hardwick’s “Sample Return”; a check-in with a much older version of a familiar character, now retired and living in a dome on Mars when disaster strikes, in “Long Day Lake.” Don’t miss it!

When an orbital salvage team stumbles across something lurking among satellite debris, a rote recovery mission becomes a matter of life and death. And even if they manage to survive, can they also hope to safeguard the Earth? Find out in May/June’s lead story, “Dangerous Orbit,” by Analog newcomer M.T. Reiten.

Many headlines were made recently about the discovery of potential evidence of life on Venus, and our fact article for the issue comes from one of the very researchers who made that discovery, who’s also an author with a long history at Analog: David L. Clements writes about “Possible Signs of Life on Venus.”

Then we have a host of other stories and special features, from such authors as Lettie Prell, Neal Asher, Charles Q. Choi, Tom Jolly, Jay Werkheiser, Bond Elam, and more, plus all of our regular features, of course.

Something unknown to humans is killing squid in huge numbers off the coast of Monterrey, and Emilia, a marine biologist, is trying to unravel the mystery, but it may just put her and her daughter’s lives at risk if she can’t solve it, and quickly. Follow her, in our March/April cover story, “Flash Mob,” by Meg Pontecorvo.

Then when a woman goes missing on an alien planet and no one seems willing to help, one man must venture into terra incognita with a local guide to try to find her, no matter the cost, in Catherine Wells’ “Invasive Species.”

Climate change isn’t just about temperature, as we see in our fact article for the issue, “From Atmospheric Rivers to Super Typhoons: The Future Looks Bright for Weather Disaster Fans,” from Christina De La Rocha.

And of course we have plenty of other stories, from Sean McMullen, Tony Ballantyne, Sean Monaghan, Brenda Kalt, Ray Nayler, Tom Jolly, Marie Vibbert, James Van Pelt, Aimee Ogden, and more, plus all our regular and (regularly excellent) columns.

New year, new stories! We start 2021 with a look at an unusual living arrangement creating stresses on a relationship in “Mixed Marriage” by Dan Helms; then we have a hardboiled slice of fiction in which a protagonist with “a certain set of skills” sets out to discover who murdered a friend and mentor, even when doing so seems to run counter to “The Will of The Gods,” by Charles Q. Choi.
Our first fact article of the year gets into the nitty-gritty of one of the most ambitious projects humans can undertake: “Constructing a Habitable Planet” by Julie Novakova.
And of course we have an abundance of other stories, from the unequal relationship in Harry Turtledove’s “My Hypothetical Friend” to the complicated rebellion of Nick Wolven’s “The Liberator,” plus more from Norman Spinrad, Deborah L. Davitt, Raymund Eich, Jerry Oltion, Em Liu, and others, as well as all our regular columns.

It’s hard to believe we’re already wrapping up the anniversary year with the next issue, but you know we’re going to go out with a bang!

Our cover story marks the overdue return of an author and characters absent from Analog’s pages: what have the otter-like Cochee-coco been up to since we last saw them back in 2012? Find out in “Together We Can Be More” by Juliette Wade.

Then our fact article focuses on some famous SF concepts by some of the people who thought them up: we return to Dyson Spheres and Ring-Worlds in “Big Smart Objects” by Greg Benford and Larry Niven.

Next, our retrospective piece is a fine look at the weight of duty and the consequences of shirking it, in Gordon R. Dickson’s “Call Him Lord,” as well as a provocative accompanying essay from yours truly.

We also have a pair of special features diving deep into our history: “The Women We Can See in Analog” from Marie Vibbert, and “How Articles Came to Analog” by Edward M. Wysocki, as well as a range of fine fiction from the likes of George Zebrowski, Grey Rollins, Brenda Kalt, Gregor Hartmann, Eric Del Carlo, Marissa K. Lingen, M. Bennardo, and more!
You don’t want to miss it!

And the anniversary year rolls on! We have a new novella from Adam-Troy Castro, the provocatively titled “Draiken Dies”—but you’ll actually find that anchoring the issue; our cover story is a bit shorter, but no less worthy—it’s a tale of a trio of tween girls with a knack for science and an eye for adventure, in the style of the best Heinlein Juveniles—it’s James Van Pelt’s “Minerva Girls.”
 
Derek Künsken’s House of Styx serial may have wrapped up, but we haven’t seen the last of the setting just yet, as Derek takes us behind the scenes to look at “The Science Behind The House of Styx,” our fact article for the issue.
 
We’ll also have the next in our series of retrospectives, this one from current Asimov’s editor and former Analog executive editor, Sheila Williams, plus something suitably seasonal yet lighthearted in Sarina Dorie’s “I, Bigfoot”; an SF-spin on a fairy tale in “The Chrysalis Pool” by Sean McMullen; the hunt for the future’s most valuable commodity in “The Treasure of The Lugar Morto” by Alan Dean Foster; the life and times of an enhanced boxer in “Home of the King” by Dan Reade; a city full of shifting timelines in “City” by Joel Richards; plus stories from Maggie Clark, Jay Werkheiser, Mary Soon Lee, James Sallis, Aimee Ogden, and more!

Imagine: a desperate crew finds a last ditch, unexpected lifeline, but to take advantage of it, they may have to cross a threshold they’re unprepared for. At what price, survival? Find out in our next issue’s cover story, “Sticks and Stones,” by Tom Jolly.

Then our retrospective also serves as a tribute to Vonda N. McIntyre, who passed away in 2019: we present her “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand,” as well as a few words from former Analog editor, Ben Bova.

We’ll also have the finale to Derek Künsken’s “The House of Styx” and a sequel to Jay Werkheiser’s September/October 2018 fact article, “Alien Biochemistry: Embracing The Carbon Chauvinist,” in which he embodies the role of a critical thinker and outlines the opposite position, in “Alien Biochemistry: Rejecting the Carbon Chauvinist.”

And of course we’ll have plenty of other fiction, including a novella-length sequel to Stan Schmidt’s 2015 serial, Night Ride and Sunrise, as well as stories from Marie Vibbert, Robert R. Chase, Elisabeth R. Adams, Alec Nevala-Lee, Rich Larson, and more!

The celebration continues! Next issue, our cover story is one where alien physiology also leads to alien philosophy: it’s “Moral Biology,” by Neal Asher.

Then we have arguably the most famous piece in our retrospective series: Anne McCaffrey’s “Weyr Search,” with a poignant introduction from Analog’s majordomo, managing (and poetry) editor, the superlative Emily Hockaday.

Our fact article is the rather self-explanatorily titled “Space Dust: How an Asteroid Altered Life on Earth . . . Millions of Years Before the Dinosaurs,” by one of our most popular nonfiction authors, Richard A. Lovett.
Of course we also have part two of Derek Künsken’s serial, The House of Styx—no spoilers, but readers who enjoyed the nuanced characters, hard science, and imaginative world-building in The Quantum Magician and especially “Persephone Descending” will find much to love here.

We’ll also have scores of other stories, about dirty deeds in a mining colony in “A Breath of Air,” from Tom Jolly; an alien getting a wider look at its own culture in Ramona Louise Wheeler’s “The Calm Face of the Storm”; a father try to bond with his daughter in spite of changing technology in Eric Cline’s “It Was Tradition When You Turned 16.”

Our 90th anniversary kicks off with the magazine you hold in your hands, and it continues full swing throughout the year and next issue: 

We open March/April with the next anniversary retrospective, Raymond F. Jones’ 1952 gem, “Noise Level,” accompanied by an introduction from Alec Nevala-Lee.

Then we’ll have the first of three installments of Derek Künsken’s serial, The House of Styx. An unexpected discovery sets a family of hardworking prospectors on Venus down a dangerous path, with repercussions that could shape the entire planet and beyond.

We’ll also have a short story and tie-in fact article from Gregory Benford, a very Analog take on an old adage in C.C. Finlay’s “One Basket,” plus fiction from Jenn Reese, Andy Dudak, Catherine Wells, Richard A. Lovett, Edd Vick and Manny Frishberg, and more, on top of all of our ongoing columns and features.

Our next issue is really something special: it’s Analog’s 90th anniversary! We’ll be celebrating with treats and events throughout the whole year, but we kick off the anniversary issue proper with our lead story, “The Quest for the Great Grey Mossy,” by Harry Turtledove. It’s set in the same world as “Bonehunters” (May/June 2019) but you don’t need to have read that to appreciate this—most of you will recognize the famous tale it riffs on right away, but you’ll also quickly see it’s more than just homage.

Then we have something unusual for Analog: a retrospective of a classic Analog story from decades past, along with the story itself. Our initial offering is also the most recent (and just past the twentieth anniversary of its appearance in these pages): the Hugo—and Nebula-nominated “The Astronaut From Wyoming,” by Jerry Oltion and Adam-Troy Castro.

We’ll also have two fact articles, one from Alec Nevala-Lee and Ed Wysocki, looking at John W. Campbell’s various technological interests and inventions, “Making Waves”; and a Science Behind the Story feature from Eric Choi, based on “The Greatest Day,” his alternate-history tale in the same issue.

Then we have tons of top-shelf fiction, like “Wheel of Echoes,” by Sean McMullen, in which an undiscovered historical artifact changes how we see a major literary figure as well as what we think we know about historical technology, and plenty more terrific tales besides, from Jay Werkheiser, Doug Dluzen, C. Stuart Hardwick, Sarina Dorie, Ian Randal Strock, Joel Richards Fruchtman, Izzy Wasserstein, Matthew Claxton, Richard A. Lovett, Andrew Ward, Wendy Nikel, Rachel Rodman, and Gregor Hartmann, as well as plentiful poems and all our regular columns.

And be on the lookout over the rest of the year for more special features, including more retrospectives, a serial, and lots of especially great content that you don’t want to miss. 

The November/December issue opens with a story in the most classic Analog mold: a pair of explorers try to open line of communication with an alien species, but the process may involve a painful exchange for the humans. How many sly jokes can I make about this story? Find out in “An Eye for an Eye,” from Jerry Oltion.

The n we also have a novella about the kind of choices we might make if we really had a new lease on life, in “You Must Remember This,” from Jay O’Connell.

And of course, we’ll have plenty of other stories, from Julie Novakova, Gary Kloster, Aimee Ogden, Rajan Khanna, Eric Cline, Craig DeLancey, Michael Carroll, Guy Stewart, Marissa K. Lingen, and more (including a few seasonally-appropriate treats), as well as all our regular columns.

Another issue means another cache of cleverly curated chronicles for your indulgence! First, we check in on some old friends that we haven’t seen in some time—almost twenty years, in fact! When a prospector on the Moon sees people who couldn’t possibly be there, the only thing to do is check in with other people who couldn’t possibly be there. Get the rest of the story (though maybe not the whole story) in “The Gorilla in a Tutu Principle; or, Pecan Pie at Minnie and Earl’s,” by Adam-Troy Castro.

Then: we currently have two detectors searching for “ripples in space-time,” but what about making ourselves heard by any other civilizations that may be searching? Find out in “Building a Gravitational Wave Transmitter,” our fact article from Albert Jackson and Gregory Benford.

And as always, we have plenty of other stories, including an adult SF take on superheroes from Christopher L. Bennett, in “Conventional Powers”; a tale about paving the way for those who come after us, in “On Her Shoulders,” by Martin L. Shoemaker; a story that’s somehow exactly what it sounds like, in “Road Veterinarian,” by Guy Stewart, and more, from authors like Tony Ballantyne, Antha Ann Adkins, Norman Spinrad, Michael F. Flynn, Joe M. McDermott, Christian Monson, Julie Novakova, Marie Bilodeau, Mario Milosevic, Brenda Kalt, Brendan DuBois, Phoebe Barton, Sean Vivier, Edward M. Lerner, and Jennifer Povey, as well as all our regular departments (and maybe a bonus article or two).

When political tensions aboard an astronomical exploratory vessel run high, it’s a tense situation. But when that same vessel discovers a mysterious alien artifact and it’s revealed that not everyone on board is who they say they are, it becomes a powder keg. Find out what happens next, in our July/August lead story, “Vault,” from Robert R. Chase. 

Our fact article for the issue is a bit different: a little like a traditional fact piece and a little bit of an essay, C. Stuart Hardwick brings us “Do We Still Need NASA? The Agency and Its Future in the Era of Commercial Space.” 

Then we have a cosmic mystery on the largest possible scale in “The Slipway,” by Greg Egan, and you’ll also find a truckload of tricky time travel tales, such as “Monarch of the Feast,” by Paul Di Filippo; “All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Phoebe North; “The Babbage Tour,” by Leo Vladimirsky; and “A Wonderful Thing to Say” by Dan Reade, as well as a tale of Augmented Reality gone horribly wrong in Nick Wolven’s “The Eyes of Alton Arnhauser”; a science-fictional take on a fairy-tale in Freya Marske’s “What We Named the Needle”; and a crime with an impossible murder weapon in Tom Jolly’s “Shooting Stars,” plus stories from Catherine Wells, Robert Scherrer, Joe M. McDermott, Julie Novakova, Alison Wilgus, Eric James Stone, Steve Rasnic Tem, John Vester, Buzz Dixon, David L. Clements, and Leah Cypess, as well as all our regular ongoing (and outstanding) columns.

The story of a frontiersman and his ward, who must escort a scholarly expedition looking for fossils in hostile territory, may not sound like science fiction, but when you discover just who’s doing the escorting and precisely what they’re looking for, you’re going to change your tune. Find out more in our May/June issue lead story, “Bonehunters,” by Harry Turtledove.
 
Then our fact article comes to us from John Vester: living on one of the least-habitable planets is more possible than you might imagine, as you’ll see in “The Venus Sweet Spot: Floating Home.”
 
We’ll also have:
 
A curious automaton studies whale remains and learns something new “At the Fall” by Alec Nevala-Lee; astronauts must adapt to an alien world that’s unexpectedly close to home in J.T. Sharrah’s “Forgetfulness”; the last hope of a dying species in Dave Creek’s “The Dominant Heart Begins to Race”; a gonzo post-human pursuit (in multiple senses of the word) in “Leave Your Iron at The Door,” by Josh Pearce; an outsider who finds the common thread in different forms of fleeting beauty in “The Methuselah Generation,” by Stanley Schmidt; the profitable search for a historical artifact on the Moon, in “Mulligan” by Bud Sparhawk; a sequel to “Paradise Regained,” in Edward M. Lerner’s “Gates of Paradise”; as well as a plethora of pleasing plots from such fine fabricators of fiction as Bruce McAllister, Phoebe Barton, Joe McDermott, Wendy Nikel, Cynthia Ward, Marissa K. Lingen, Alex Shvartsman, Frank Smith, Liam Hogan, Guy Stewart, Antha Ann Adkins, Mary E. Lowd, Joshua Cole, and David Ebenbach, plus all our regular (and regularly excellent) columns.

We always like to do something a little seasonal when the opportunity arises, so next issue, you can expect something in the April spirit (either April 1 or April 15—take your pick), like “Hop and Hop with Gleepglopgeep! A Bedtime Reader,” from Tim McDaniel; “Parenting License” by Leah Cypess, and “The Little Sailboat,” by James Gunn, along with a selection of more serious (but still seriously good) hard SF, ranging from C. Stuart Hardwick’s “Open Source Space 2: Dangerous Company” and “Beneath a Red Sun” from James C. Glass, “Second Quarter and Counting” from James Van Pelt, and “The God of All Mountains,” by Joanna Miles, as well as “The End of Lunar Hens” by M.K. Hutchins, and “The New Martian Way,” an SF mystery from Brendan DuBois.
Then there’s a new fact article from Richard A. Lovett, plus stories from Matt Kressel and Mercurio Rivera; Sarina Dorie; Tom Greene; Bond Elam; Brad Presslar; Bruce McAllister; Bud Sparhawk; Eric Del Carlo; Jay Werkheiser; Vajra Chandrasekera; Jack McDevitt; Steve Rasnic Tem; Elizabeth R. Adams, as well as all our regular columns.

We open November/December with “Empress of Starlight” by G. David Nordley. When stars begin “disappearing,” a crew takes the long trip out to the Dyson sphere they suspect is causing it, but what they find is even bigger and more astounding than they imagined.

Our fact article then tackles the remote but very real possibility of a cataclysmic terrestrial asteroid impact, and what can be done to prevent it, in “Defending the Earth,” from Marianne J. Dyson.

And of course we have a wide array of other stories, including an epic space opera with a very big idea, from Christopher McKitterick, “Ashes of Exploding Suns, Monuments to Dust”; a look at how daunting a seemingly-simple skill can be to learn for the inexperienced, from Joyce and Stanley Schmidt, in “Mixipoxi Learns to Drive”; a most unusual reality show contestant in “Pandora’s Pantry,” from Stephen L. Burns; “Hubstitute Creatures,” a new Hub story from Christopher L. Bennett; and plenty more, from Jerry Oltion, Rich Larson, Marissa Lingen, Cynthia Ward, Tom Jolly, C. Stuart Hardwick, and others, plus all of our regular outstanding columns and features.

We open November/December with a story you may have been expecting in this issue: “Empress of Starlight” by G. David Nordley. When stars begin “disappearing,” a crew takes the long trip out to the Dyson sphere they suspect is causing it, but what they find is even bigger and more astounding than they imagined.

Our fact article then tackles the remote but very real possibility of a cataclysmic terrestrial asteroid impact, and what can be done to prevent it, in “Defending the Earth,” from Marianne J. Dyson.

And of course we’ll have a wide array of other stories, including an epic space opera with a very big idea, from Christopher McKitterick, “Ashes of Exploding Suns, Monuments to Dust”; a look at how daunting a seemingly-simple skill can be to learn for the inexperienced, from Joyce and Stanley Schmidt, in “Mixipoxi Learns to Drive”; a most unusual reality show contestant in “Pandora’s Pantry,” from Stephen L. Burns; “Hubstitute Creatures,” a new Hub story from Christopher L. Bennett; and plenty more, from Jerry Oltion, Rich Larson, Marissa Lingen, Cynthia Ward, Tom Jolly, C. Stuart Hardwick, and others, plus all of our regular outstanding columns and features.

Our lead story for September/October is “Empress of Starlight” by G. David Nordley. When stars begin “disappearing,” a crew takes the long trip out to the Dyson spheres they suspect are causing it, but what they find is even bigger and more astounding than they imagined.

Then our fact article examines the nitty-gritty realities of non-carbon-based life, in “Alien Biochemistry: Embracing the Carbon Chauvinist,” by Jay Werkheiser.

We follow that with a historical romp in “Harry and the Lewises,” from Edward M. Lerner; a comedy of tesseract errors in “And He Built a Crooked Hub,” from Christopher L. Bennett; some suitable bits of Halloween feeling in “The Unimportant Parts of the Story” from Adam-Troy Castro, “Black Shores” by Darren Speegle, and “It Came From the Coffeemaker,” by Martin L. Shoemaker; a look at the ways an AI’s programming might lead it down unexpected paths in “Optimizing the Unverified Good,” by Effie Sieberg; and many more, from the likes of Greg Benford, Sean McMullen, Ron Collins, Tony Ballantyne, and others.

Forget the Avengers meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy; the biggest crossover of the summer isn’t in theaters, it’s in next month’s issue—black-ops agent extraordinaire Draiken comes face to face with infamous lawyer/killer Andrea Cort, and when they go toe-to-toe, who will come out on top? Why, the readers, of course. Find out more next month in “A Stab of the Knife,” from Adam-Troy Castro.

Then our fact article is a Science Behind the Story piece that takes a look at all the genetics and quantum physics that went into Derek Künsken’s serial, The Quantum Magician, which wrapped up in this very issue.

Then we have a host of novelettes and short stories, including a look at some very alien yet suspiciously familiar creatures in “Until We Are Utterly Destroyed,” by Frank Wu; an adventure among the asteroids with lethal stakes in “Potosi” from Joe Pitkin; a unique take on exploration in “Open Source Space,” by C. Stuart Hardwick; a treasure hunter in the far future with a valuable relic of forgotten technology in Auston Habershaw’s “A Crystal Dipped in Dreams”; a tale of how sometimes our hypotheses don’t pan out, even when you’re an icon of SF, in “New Frontiers of the Mind,” by Andy Duncan; an unusual way of remembering those close to us, in “Eulogy for an Immortal,” by Robert James Herndon; and more, from Marissa Lingen, Evan Dicken, Mary Soon Lee, Alex Shvartsman & Alvaro Zimos-Amaro, Mary E. Lowd, Kris Dikeman, M. Bennardo, Stephen L. Burns, Jacob A. Boyd, Eduardo Vaquerizo, and Daniel Peterson, as well as all our regular columns . . . plus maybe even a special feature or two!

The May/June issue brings The Quantum Magician from Derek Künsken to a close. The heist of the millenium has only just begun, but the wheels have already started to come off: betrayed and hunted, things are about to become very dangerous for Bel and his crew. But is everything what it seems?

When a hidden vault filled with inexplicable artifacts is discovered in the Network, David, Nashira, and Rynyan must race a band of treasure hunters to claim its contents in our lead story, “Hubpoint of No Return,” from Christopher L. Bennett.

Time marches on, and we either find ways to march along or be trampled over, and perhaps not all of us are well-suited to both options, as we see in Wil McCarthy’s “The Last Biker Gang.”

Our fact article is on “Seeing Alien Tech,” from James and Dominic Benford, and then we turn our sensors inward, in “Monitoring Diseases From Space,” a guest Alternate View from Richard A. Lovett (in addition to our regular column from John Cramer).

We’ll also have an array of great stories from Sam J. Miller, Chuck Dixon, Ian Creasey, Alison Wilgus, Tim McDaniel, Marissa Lingen, William Ledbetter, Kate MacLeod, Robert Reed, Marie Vibbert, Evan Dicken, Stephen L. Burns, as well as all of our regular columns and departments.

Our lead story for March/April is from Alec Nevala-Lee: a strange vision in the remote Alaskan wilderness leads a pair of intrepid reporters to investigate, but will it ultimately be more—or less—than it seems? Find out in “The Spires.”

Then we pick up with Belisarius and his motley crew of criminals and mercenaries in the second installment of The Quantum Magician, from Derek Künsken. Bel has assembled the team he’ll need to pull off his plan, but is even the most advanced mind in the Known Systems capable of foreseeing every pitfall?

Then an experiment hides a shocking secret in “Lab B15” by Nick Wolven; a green World War II serviceman in a Boeing Superfortress gets more than he enlisted for in “The Tailgunner’s Lament,” from Brendan DuBois; an invasive ecosystem turns out to be more invasive than normal in Bruce McAllister’s “Frog Happy”; one chance to avert disaster rests with the last person anyone expects, in Brian Trent’s “An Incident on Ishtar”; Gregory Benford brings us a look at the science journals of 2116, in “Physics Tomorrow”; people will always find new ways to make a living, as we see in “The Streaming Man,” from Suzanne Palmer; an alien makes an all-too-human mistake with tragic consequences in “The Selves We Leave Behind” by Gwendolyn Clare; automated cars get a little too self-directed Mary Turzillo’s “Car Talk”; and desperate times call for desperate measures, in Susan Forest’s “Sun Splashed Fields and Far Blue Mountains.”

Plus we’ll have articles and stories from C. Stuart Hardwick, Tom Ligon, James Van Pelt, Tom Jolly, Rich Larson, and Jerry Oltion, as well as a Probability Zero from Bill Pronzini, and all our regular fact articles and columns.

As 2018 looms, we put a year of quality fiction behind us, while another year of stellar stories awaits ahead. So let’s get to it, shall we? 

We kick off with a little bit of an experiment in our new format: a serial. Belisarius is a Homo quantus, a breed of enhanced human capable of interacting with quantum states in a way the rest of us baselines are not. But he’s been lying low, putting his gifts to use as a gambler and con man, and when someone offers him a job so big and complex that he’s the only one who might be able to pull it off, even Bel can’t be sure if is everything is what it seems. You can find some clues in the first installment of “The Quantum Magician,” by Derek Künsken.

Our fact article is “Hell is Other Planets,” from Julie Novakova. It’s a close look at how our conceptions of Venus over the years have matched up to the reality.

Then we check in on Daiken, Adam-Troy Castro’s hyper-lethal retired black-operative. He’s traveling with an equally dangerous companion, but as their search for their former masters brings them ever closer to finding those who once controlled them, the risks grow ever closer as well, and they cannot be held at bay forever. You’ll be shocked by “Blurred Lives.”

We’ll also have an installment of Michael F. Flynn’s ongoing series, in “The Journeyman: Through Madness Gap,” as well as stories by David Gerrold, Alan Dean Foster, Ian Watson, Holly Schofield, Mary Turzillo, Eric Cline, Jeremiah Tolbert, Marissa Lingen, Andrew Barton, and Paul Carlson, as well as all our regular columns.

Next month’s November/December issue closes out the year in style: We open with a return to Bill Johnson’s Martin and his AI companion, Artie, in “Hybrid Blue by Firelight.” In a world where everyone is jockeying to protect his or her own timeline, any given quid pro quo can get very complicated, very abstract . . . and very dangerous.

Then our fact article is a deep dive into the dangerous effects of supernovae on Earthlike planets, in “Fatal Starlight,” by Paul Fisher.

We also have a novella that looks at one group’s survival after everything else is gone, in Catherine Wells’ “Native Seeds”; uploaded imprints that may not see things in entirely the same way as the original, in “Keepsakes” by Kenneth Schneyer; a bit of sinister silliness in “Laminated Moose Zombies” by Dennis M. Flynn and Michael F. Flynn; a look at the economics of uploading knowledge, in “Quirks” by Marie Vibbert; the human cost of technological solutions in “Time Travel is Only for the Poor” by S.L. Huang; one possible solution to the famous paradox in “Fermi’s Slime” by Tom Jolly; a brutal bit of justice in Jay O’Connell’s “Weaponized”; some possible ramifications of making your currency a bit too smart, in “Luscina” from Robert Reed; and a touching (maybe?) Probability Zero from Edward M. Lerner.

We also have pieces from James Sallis, Scott Edelman, Brenta Blevins, Ian Creasey, Bud Sparhawk, Igor Teper, Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer, Richard A. Lovett, Brendan DuBois, and Sean McMullen, as well as—of course—all our regular fine features. 

Our lead story for our September/October issue presents a conundrum: a notable figure is seemingly plucked out of the past, but his presence in the future isn’t just unlikely, it’s impossible . . . or is it? Find out in “My Fifth and Most Exotic Voyage,” by Edward M. Lerner.
 
In our fact article for the issue, Richard A. Lovett checks the progress of “The Quest for the 2:00 Marathon.” More than just a look at the evolution of sports, it’s biology, chemistry, and no less than a matter of how far we can push the human form. Just what might we be capable of under the right circumstances? This is one answer to that question.
 
Then misfortune befalls a group of scientists including some Uplifted animals in “i know my own, and my own know me,” by Tracy Canfield; letters from the Front and quantum warfare mingle in Eric Del Carlo’s “Ghostmail”; Marie Vibbert builds “The First Trebuchet on Mars”; Simon Kewin goes “Climbing Olympus”; Rich Larson brings us the most personal possible tale of revenge in “The Old Man”; very unscientific methods inspired by real world events leave just “The Absence” by Robert R. Chase; even the truly alien may speak in ways we understand, in Tom Jolly’s “The Mathematician”; A Close Encounter winds up being regretted by both parties in “Abductive Reasoning,” by Christopher L. Bennett; there’s a seasonal Probability Zero from Michael F. Flynn, and more, from Craig DeLancey, Lettie Prell, Jerry Oltion, Christina de la Rocha, James Van Pelt, Stanley Schmidt, Norman Spinrad, and Bud Sparhawk.

We kick off our July/August issue by checking in on Captain Nick Ames and his crew, last seen in “Racing to Mars,” September 2015, by Martin Shoemaker. When a routine mission goes off the rails, it’s more than just a matter of shipboard politics: lives are at stake, and people will die if they go too far, or “Not Far Enough.” 

Then we have the kind of fact article that we only pull off all too rarely: H. G. Stratmann gives us a look at the science behind Stanley Schmidt’s story in this very issue, “The Final Nail.”

We’ll also have fiction ranging from “Across the Streaming Sea,” an adventure that perfectly embodies Clarke’s Law, by Rob Chilson; to a story of the bond between a captain and his ship in Brian Trent’s “Galleon”; a follow-up to Maggie Clark’s “Seven Ways of Looking at the Sun-Worshippers of Yul-Katan,” in “Belly Up”; and an almost-could-have-happened-this-way tale of early space travel, “For All Mankind,” from C. Stuart Hardwick.

There’ll also be a slew of short pieces from such folks as Andrew Barton, Tom Easton, Tim McDaniel, Robert R. Chase, Ron Collins, Kyle Kirkland, Aubry Kae Andersen, Edward M. Lerner, Eve Warren, Holly Schofield, Uncle River, and Howard V. Hendrix, as well as an awesome array of compelling columns.

May/June 2022

March/April 2022

January/February 2022

November/December 2021

September/October 2021

July/August 2021

May/June 2021

March/April 2021

January/February 2021

November/December 2020

September/October 2020

July/August 2020

May/June 2020

March/April 2020

January/February 2020

November/December 2019

Published since 1930, Analog Science Fiction and Fact is one of the most enduring and popular science fiction magazines of all time. Starting with its January/February 2017 issue, Analog Science Fiction and Fact updated its annual subscription format to feature a total of 6 issues per year, all of them 208-page double issues. The new format allows for expanded articles and more special features, as well as greater editorial flexibility overall, and comes with no increase in the annual subscription price!

 

Analog’s editorial emphasis continues to be on realistic stories that reflect high standards of scientific accuracy and imagination, and on lively articles about current research at the frontiers of real science. A recurrent theme in both fiction and provocative opinion columns is the human impact of science and technology. Home to many bestselling authors, including Robert J. Sawyer, Michael F. Flynn, Stephen Baxter, Catherine Asaro, Harry Turtledove, Joe Haldeman, and Ben Bova, Analog has won numerous Nebula, Hugo, and other awards cementing its position as a leading SF periodical.

 

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Analog Science Fiction and Fact - July/August 2015

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