Search no further for the perfect holiday gift! Asimov’s November/ December 2020 is stuffed with two splendid seasonal tales. Spend “Christmas at the Hilbert Astoria” with Santa as he investigates a disturbing mystery. Sam Schreiber’s clever cover story is his first tale for Asimov’s. We’re thrilled to have a multiple-holiday-spanning new novella from Connie Willis! “Take a Look at the Five and Ten” while unwrapping a complex story about memory, families, and much much more.

are loads of other goodies! Will the reader or Chen Quifan’s first story for Asimov’s, “Forger Mr. Z,” unravel first? “Return to Glory” with Jack McDevitt’s intriguing homage; “Return to Earth” of the far future with James Gunn; Alaya Dawn Johnson returns to our pages with a deeply perceptive look at “The Mirages”; best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson and long-time Asimov’s pro Rick Wilber give us an exciting story about “The Hind”; while also new to Asimov’s author Kate Maruyama creates a poignant “Footprint”; Zack Be tells us to “Pull it from the Root”; Marissa Lingen considers enigmatic alien visitors and “Grief, as Faithful as my Hound”; and the frozen terror of “The Long Iapeten Night” by Julie Novakova will unsettle even the bravest among us. 

The Citadel of the Old Ones may show up in Robert Silverberg’s Reflections: “Finding the Mountains of Madness”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net reveals “What Information Wants”; Paul Di Filippo’s On Books reviews works by Zenna Henderson, James Blaylock, Eoin Colfer, Alistair Reynolds, Neal Asher, and others. 

Our January/February 2021 cover story, “A Rocket for Dimitrios,” is Ray Nayler’s first novella. Set in an alternate fifties influenced by dangerous alien technology, it’s filled with intrigue and deception. The issue also features an exciting great-ship novella by Robert Reed. In “The Realms of Water,” an ancient human traveler meets an even older warrior. You won’t soon forget this account of alien warfare and the Great Surus.

Ted Kosmatka plays the odds in “Shy Sarah and the Draft Pick Lottery”; the importance of “Table Etiquette for Diplomatic Personnel, in Seventeen Scenes” is revealed in Suzanne Palmer’s captivating mystery; new author Robert H. Cloake considers  “The Fear of Missing Out”; new author Sean William Swanwick examines the motives of “Humans and Other People”; and Nick Wolven’s moving story leaves “No Stone Unturned.” Join “The Three-Day Hunt” with Robert R. Chase; learn why “I Didn’t Buy It” from Naomi Kanakia; unravel a bureaucratic nightmare in Fran Wilde’s otherwise charming “Mayor for Today”; and find out whether a young crewmember should trust his “Hunches” in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s thrilling new tale. 

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column celebrates “One Hundred Years of Robots”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net takes a look at humor and asks if we “Get It?”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books is “Out There” with Alan Dean Foster, James Gunn, and Brandon Q. Morris; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features.

Asimov’s slightly spooky September/October 2020 may not be as terrifying as the real-world Covid-19, but it’s full of entertaining and absorbing fiction. As I write this, it’s March and I’m working from home in my New York City apartment. I hope you’re all safe and healthy, and I’m so glad that our wonderful authors have provided all of us with hours of reading pleasure. Our cover story by Robert Reed imagines a far future where humans send their bodies home to Earth and uplifted creatures tend to “The Ossuary Passenger.” In her thrilling new novella, Kristine Kathryn Rusch plunges us into the “Maelstrom.” Don’t miss it! 

Jason Sanford scales great heights to offer us a fearful encounter among “The Eight Thousanders”; new to Asimov’s, Y.M. Pang brings us the deeply unsettling “Mangy White Dog”; in his first Asimov’s tale, Ian Tregillis reveals what happens “When God Sits in Your Lap”; Cadwell Turnbull returns with “The Shock of Birth”; Gregory Frost takes us “Traveling On”; Rich Larson imagines “The Conceptual Shark”; Michael Libling freaks us out as we view “Robyn in Her Shiny Blue Coffin”; Leah Cypess captures a ghostly tale in “A Sideways Slant of Light”; “A Vengeful Revenant” visits M. Bennardo; while intrigue on the Moon occurs in Gray Rinehart’s “Flareshack”; and we happily find ourselves “Escaping Real Time”; with R. Garcia y Robertson.

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections ponders “The Road Not Taken”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net reconsiders “What Information Wants”; plus Peter Heck’s On Books opines on works by Ken Liu, Lois McMaster Bujold, Cadwell Turnbull, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and others. 

The long works in Asimov’s July/August 2020 deftly explore the human condition. In his near-future novella, Derek Künsken offers a complex and compassionate account of “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County.” Humans and AIs have to figure out how to cooperate in Will McIntosh’s refreshing novelette about “Nic and Viv’s Compulsory Courtship.”

Ted Kosmatka proffers a harrowing motive for why “The Beast Adjoins”; Sean Monaghan combines romance, art, and “Marbles”; new to Asimov’s author Hollis Joel Henry encounters “The Last Water Baron” while also new to Asimov’s Janet Stilson meets “Imaginary Children”; “Bereft, I Come to a Nameless World” Benja¬min Rosenbaum tells us, and Megan Lindholm explores a legacy passed along through “Generations.” Both these authors are returning to our pages after being absent far too long. In a new military story by Tom Purdom, we discover why “We All Lose if They Take Mizuba”; Ray Nayler continues the military theme in a poignant story about “Father”; and Peter Wood reveals the frustrating truth behind “Why I’ll Never Get Tenure.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections spends some time “Rereading Hubbard”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net gets “Sporty”; Paul Di Filippo’s On Books considers works by Jane Yolen, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Hugh Howey, Kali Wallace, Lisa Goldstein, and others. Plus we’ll have an array of poetry you’re sure to enjoy. Look for our July/August 2020 issue on sale at newsstands on June 16, 2020. 

Don’t miss our May/June 2020 compelling novelettes! In “Tunnels,” Eleanor Arnason escorts us to a distant future where her characters discover a complex web of dangerous intrigue.  The world of Ian R. MacLeod’s brilliant tale, “The Mrs. Innocents,” which is both similar and very different from our own, hinges on one woman’s powerful sacrifice. 

You’ll find some more exceptional novelettes. “Ronni and Rod” face catastrophic disaster in David Gerrold & Ctein’s new tale; James Gunn’s “Against the Stars” continues the pursuit of a mysterious A.I.; a young woman comes of age in Tegan Moore’s  “Perfect Blue”; and in his first story for Asimov’s, Brad Aiken teams with Rick Wilber, one of the magazine’s veteran authors,  for a trip to “Ithaca.” Ian Watson’s short story investigates the classic “Brave New World by Oscar Wilde”; torn with guilt, Bruce McAllister’s hero must listen to “The Voice”; new to Asimov’s author Alice Towey takes us to “The River” to experience a young woman’s excruciating adaptation to a brain implant; another new to Asimov’s author Evan Marcroft visits the gods in “Pax Mongolica”; and Dominica Phetteplace imagines a chilling future in “Digital Witness.” You’ll be “Living in Wartime” in the issue’s thrilling novella by R. Garcia y Robertson!

We anticipate a very special Guest Editorial by astronaut Cady Coleman; Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column reels in “The One That Gets You Hooked”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net posits “Two Dooms”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books reviews novels by Chen Qiufan and Ma Jian as well as the anthology, Invisible Planets, edited and translated by Ken Liu, to give us a look at Modern Chinese Science Fiction—Windows into China; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and additional features you’re sure to enjoy. Look for our May/June 2020 issue on sale at newsstands on April 21, 2020.

Our March/April 2020 blockbuster novella, “Semper Augustus,” by Nancy Kress is practically a novel. This thrilling tale of the near future takes on complex multi-generation family members, poverty and violence, extreme wealth disparity and revolution, as well as genetics, aliens, and some startling revelations. Don’t miss it! 

Nathan Hillstrom’s far-future tale considers the dangers and possibilities of “Opportunity Space”; in “As Long as We Both” Tom Purdom considers the politics of marriage in a future where partners are very long-lived; Mercurio D. Rivera shows us that “Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars” reality may not be quite as it appears; Derek Künsken explores deep time and space to find out why “Tachyon Hearts Do Not Love”; Garrett Ashley exposes us to some unsettling “Skin”; we’ll find “Rena in the Desert” in new author Lia Swope Mitchell’s story about the barren west; after a disastrous interstellar expedition, Ray Nayler holds out hope that a “Return to the Red Castle” will bring some solace; for James Gunn, the resolution of a couple’s quest to determine if humanity’s sorrows are due to an indifferent universe or a malignant intelligence may be found “In Our Stars”; and “A Summary of Our Neighbor¬hood’s Salvation After the Storm” by Jason Sanford is a sometimes tragic and often wry depiction of certain philosophical and earthly mysteries.

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column jolts us with the galvanizing question: “Do Androids Dream of Electric Popes?”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net asks “Who Are You Calling Punk?”; Peter Heck’s On Books says enough with the questions, let’s all read works by Suzanne Palmer, Sarah Pinsker, Chuck Wendig, Cixin Liu, Richard K. Morgan, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and additional features you’re sure to enjoy.

We are starting to get a 20/20 view of how the new year is shaping up. The January/February 2020 issue contains two dynamic novellas. Sheila Finch’s “Not this Tide” begins in the future and extends into the unforgiving past of WW 2 London, Maunsell sea forts, and V-2 Rockets. Allen M. Steele takes us once again to the planet of Tawcety. This time we voyage to the Cetan capital and unravel some mysteries just as we encounter the utter alienness of “The Palace of the Dancing Dogs.” 

We’ll find more extraterrestrials, along with people who don’t quite fit in, when Neal Asher introduces us to “An Alien on Crete”; Leah Cypess pens a devastating tale that reveals why history truly is “A Pack of Tricks”; new author Mar Catherine Stratford shows us the secrets of “The Third Shift”; the children in new author B.S. Donovan’s tale discover that Mom will do her best to ensure “You’ll Live”; new author Meredith Lozaga examines the fragility of truth and “The Refraction of White Lies”;  truth is further compromised when Dominica Phetteplace administers “The Antidote”; in Jean-Louis Trudel’s first tale for Asimov’s, electrifying intrigue occurs on “The Way to Compos-tela”; Doug C. Souza returns to Asimov’s with a haunting tour of “The Kaleidoscope City”; and Timons Esaias throws us into an unrelenting situation where there’s only time to “Go. Now. Fix.” 

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column considers an alien past to understand why coins once carried the image of “The Pharaoh’s Trachea”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net expects us to “Live Long and Whatever”; Paul Di Filippo explores works by Samuel Delany, Elizabeth Bear, David Morrell, Marlon James, G. Willow Wilson, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and additional features you’re sure to enjoy.

We’ve certainly got some “mindbenders” in our November/December 2019 issue! Rudy Rucker & Marc Laidlaw continue to chronicle the mad antics of accidental mathematicians Zep and Del who, as usual, take to the waves. In this instance, they are “Surfers at the End of Time”! In his own ongoing series, the thrilling mystery deepens as Allen M. Steele’s characters “Escape from Sanctuary.” 

Another November/December mindbender is James Gunn’s “Quantum Theory”; “SeeApp” is a deeply disturbing tale by James Van Pelt; James Patrick Kelly rounds out our unofficial “Jim” issue with an unsettling tale about the “Selfless”; Octavia Cade sets up an unusual conundrum “Inside the Body of Relatives”; Ray Nayler bends our minds around “The Disintegration Loops”; Kali Wallace takes us off-planet to solve the enigma of “The River of Blood and Wine”; complexities build upon complexities in Michael Swanwick’s “Cloud”; “The Airwalker Comes to the City in Green” in Siobhan Carroll’s first tale for Asimov’s; R. Garcia y Robertson brings us another rousing story about the adventures of “Commander Amanda;” and Harry Turtledove takes a dark look at an alternate “Christmas Truce”!
 
“California Secedes!” or, maybe not, in Robert Silverberg’s Reflections; James Patrick Kelly demands to know “Where Are the CRISPR Cops?” in On the Net; and Norman Spinrad’s On Books ponders the “State of the Art.” Plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features that you’re sure to enjoy.

Our September/October 2019 issue features Gord Sellar’s blockbuster novella about high-tech farming in the Canadian North. “Winter Wheat” is a tour de force that begins in the dead of winter and takes us through a twelve-year cycle in Saskatchewan. You won’t want to miss this amazing story. We’ve also got a fast-paced novelette from Kristine Kathryn Rusch about an untrained captain desperately “Escaping Amnthra” and a novelette, “Then, When,” from Eric Del Carlo that explains how technology will bring on some unforeseen societal changes.

This is our traditional “Slightly Spooky” issue, and it’s full of eerie tales. “Charlie Tells Another One” to master storyteller Andy Duncan; Sandra McDonald sends us “Messages” from beyond the veil; Mercurio R. Rivera’s bone-chilling tale is set “In the Stillness Between the Stars”; Stephanie Feldman brings us an unsettling story about “The Albatwitch Chorus”; Michael Libling shakes reality “At the Old Wooden Synagogue on Janower Street”; Rich Larson reveals why you should be wary the next time someone says, “Can You Watch My Stuff”; “Personal Space” should clearly be respected in Lawrence Watt-Evan’s disturbing new tale; in Megan Arkenberg’s story, truth is disclosed slowly and on multiple levels as “All in Green Went My Love Riding”; and James Sallis lightens our mood as he spins a yarn about “When We Saved the World.”

In his Reflections, Robert Silverberg spends time “Rereading Shiel”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net has us “Deep Reading”; while Paul Di Filippo’s On Books considers works by Anna Tambour, Tim Powers, Jo Walton, Hannu Rajaniemi, and others. Plus we’ll have an array of poetry and more features that you’re sure to enjoy. 

Asimov’s July/August 2019 is jam-packed with moving, thoughtful, and exciting tales! Our double-issue format makes it possible to present Suzanne Palmer’s giant novella. In “Waterlines,” multiple intelligent beings cohabit a distant planet. Humans dwell on the surface while the Oceanics reside in the water. Until recently, their coexistence has mostly been peaceful, but when an Oceanic “Walker” shows up unexpectedly, the surface administer discovers that something terrible is about to transpire.
In her wonderful novella—which we’ve also managed to squeeze into this issue—Tegan Moore reveals “What Wolves Know.” Our novelettes and short stories rock, too! Leah Cypess mulls the mystery of “The Disappeared”; Ray Nayler investigates “The Ocean Between the Leaves”; and on Ceres, a grandfather attempts to connect with his family in Nick Wolven’s “The Terminal Zone.” Prepare for a very sad “Story With Two Names” while accompanying Ian McHugh to another world; Harry Turtledove will show us how to be a “Speaker to Emos”; Dominica Phetteplace escorts us to “The Universe Within the Universe”; Maggie Shen King’s naïve AI must make a wrenching decision in “Ardy’s Choice”; and Chris Willrich correlates the “Fragments from the Library of Cygnus X-1.”
Robert Silverberg’s Reflections embarks on “Imaginary Voyages”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net observes the “Full Moon”; Peter Heck’s On Books considers multiple works by N.K. Jemison, as well as books by Gardner Dozois, Dale Bailey, and others. Plus we’ll have an array of poetry you’re sure to enjoy.

May/June 2019 is powerhouse issue for novelettes. In his stunning story, Ted Kosmatka reveals the excruciating cost of “Sacrificial Iron” on an interstellar voyage; Asimov’s poet John Richard Trtek’s first prose piece for us is a lyrical tour de force about time travel and “Recrossing Brooklyn Ferry”; Ian R. MacLeod brilliantly conveys the tricks of a broken mind in “The Memory Artist”; and in his enjoyable romp, Bill Johnson escorts us to Canada and onto the Ship for some “Unfinished Business.” 

Not to be outdone by the novelettes, Carrie Vaughn’s soaring novella investigates what’s up with “Gremlins.” We also have a full roster of exciting short stories. In Sean Monaghan’s new tale, a heart broken mother races against time while “Chasing Oumuamua”; new to Asimov’s author Rahul Kanakia looks at some timeless concerns in “The Intertidal Zone”; Jay O’Connell presents us with a bizarre caper wherein we discover that it’s “Not Only Who You Know”; Peter Wood explains why “Never the Twain Shall Meet”; and in her first tale for Asimov’s, Campbell-Award-winner E. Lily Yu examines “The Doing and Undoing of Jacob E. Mwangi.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections celebrates “Our Shaggy Cousins.”  James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net commands us to “Fire the Canon!” In James Gunn’s Thought Experiment “Science Fiction Considers the Post Human” while Norman Spinrad’s On Books ponders whether writers can go “Beyond Mimesis?” Plus we’ll have an array of poetry and more features that you’re sure to enjoy.

March/April 2019 is a special tribute issue to long-time Asimov’s editor Gardner Dozois. Gardner, who won fifteen Hugos for best editor during his time at the magazine, is remembered by thirteen distinguished authors in a heartfelt “In Memoriam.” We’re also reprinting “The Peacemaker” from our August 1983 issue. With a melting Antarctic, coastal inundations, and drowning lowlands, this poignant tale may be even more relevant today than it was when it won the Nebula thirty-five years ago. 

March/April contains a thrilling mix of stories by authors long associated with Gardner as well as tales by exciting newcomers. Jack Dann touches on what happens when “Mr. Death Goes to the Beach”; Michael Swan¬wick treats us to “Eighteen Songs by Debussy”; Eileen Gunn investigates “Terrible Trudy on the Lam”; Kristine Kathryn Rusch unravels the mystery of an eerie “Transport.” Lawrence Watt-Evans returns to his famous diner to show us “How I Found Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers”; Allen M. Steele reveals the secret of “The Lost Testament”; Alex Irvine tells the brutal tale of “Isla Tiburon”; Greg Egan’s comp minds look for freedom through “Instantiation”; and Tom Purdom takes us on a “January March.” We have three tales by first-time Asimov’s authors. Zhao Haihong gifts us with “The Starry Sky Over the Southern Isle”; Rammel Chan introduces us to some questionable “Tourists”; and Kofi Nyameye forces us to face the unthinkable when “The Lights Go Out, One By One.”

Asimov’s blasts into January/February 2019 with Alexander Jablokov’s revelations re “How Sere Looked for a Pair of Boots.” This novella discloses more about the complex interactions of aliens living in Tempest and the motivations of our indomitable heroine. In Robert Reed’s latest novella, a mysterious organization of “The Esteemed” takes on a dangerous and powerful time traveler. Thrilling suspense flourishes in each of these enthralling tales. 
Suzanne Palmer’s star farer discovers a horrendous crime while “Taking Icarus Home”; a time traveler realizes what makes “All the Difference” in a new tale by Leah Cypess; Jay O’Connell freaks us out with “The Gorgon”; and a mother attempts to save her son from his art in Sean Monaghan’s “Ventiforms.” When the Company returns to an abandoned colony world, Peter Wood unearths why desperation calls for “Salting the Mine”; Lavie Tidhar reveals that there is sorrow and hope in “Neom”; in the rising seas of the heartland, William F. Wu shows us what’s “Written in Mud”; and in her new short story, Sandra McDonald muses on the Barbadian pledge to be a “Credit to My Nation.”
Robert Silverberg’s Reflections strolls through Zoë Lescaze’s Paleoart “Looking Backward” at Megalosauri and Iguanodons while James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net laments the loss of a “Cosmologist, Space Traveler, Hero.” Don’t miss Paul Di Filippo’s On Books, our poetry, or our Index of 2018 works, and be sure to vote in our annual Readers Award Poll.

We’ve stuffed our November/December 2018 issue with R. Garcia y Robertson’s giant novella about “The Girl with the Curl.” Plucky Amanda James, commander of the Space Viking battle cruiser Valkyrie, continues to fight off space slavers as she attempts to secure freedom for the Jupiter System.

Nick Woven also visits the Jovan System to immerse us in the terrifying realm of the “Stormdiver”; new author David Ebenbach voyages to Mars for ”Pregnancy as a Location in Space-Time”; Kristine Kathryn Rusch brings us a riveting novella about teens out on a catastrophic “Joyride”; new to Asimov’s William Ledbetter poignantly reveals “What I Am”; Ray Nayler offers an eerie explanation for the unsettling “Incident at San Juan Bautista”; and on a human habitat orbiting a distant G-class star, Derek Künsken discloses the hard truth about “Water and Diamond.” Much can be learned from Tom Purdom’s study of “Parallel Military Cultural Evolution in Non-Human Society”; in Julie Novakova’s latest tale, we discover the heart-breaking double edge of “The Gift”; and the secret to a risky escape from a dangerous land may be found in Linda Nagata’s “Theories of Flight.” 

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections asks “Do Robots Dream of Electric Cats?”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net claims “We Are the Cat People”; Allen M. Steele’s Thought Experiment considers “The History of Science Fiction, and Why it Matters”; Peter Heck’s On Books reviews Charles Stross, Carrie Vaughn, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy. 

Our annual slightly spooky September/October 2018 issue is rising out of the gloaming. It’s filled with chills and thrills! In our terrifying cover story, “3-adica,” you’ll find vampires and other evil monsters as well as all the math you might expect from Greg Egan. There are many secrets to decode in this frightening novella. Don’t miss it!

You’ll rendezvous with more alarming creatures in Carrie Vaughn’s tale of “The Huntsman and the Beast”; discover what it’s like to be under the control of a rigid democracy with alien influences in Robert Reed’s “Denali”; walk through an endless graveyard with Sheila Finch to meet some eerie “Survivors”; see the lighter side of humanity’s eventual doom in Suzanne Palmer’s “R.U.R.-8?”; and observe true bravery in Doug C. Souza’s “Callisto Stakes.” In her first Asimov’s tale, Stephanie Feldman reveals why it’s a good idea to beware “The Witch of Osborne Park”; new author Erin Roberts paints a perfect picture of horror in “The Grays of Cestus V”; Rick Wilber’s taut new novella about Moe Berg divulges the location of “The Secret City”; David Erik Nelson encounters excruciating horror “In the Sharing Place”; Leah Cypess tells a haunting tale about why Revenge is “Best Served Slow”; and in her unsettling first story for Asimov’s Jean Marie Ward invites us to jump into “The Wrong Refrigerator.” 

“I Invent the Compact Disc in 1961,” says Robert Silverberg in his Reflections column, and he’s delighted to have done so; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net considers the “X O”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books goes “Outside the Envelope” to review works by Jeff Noon, Michael Houellebecq, and Boualem Sansal; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy. 

Allen M Steele’s July/August 2018 novella introduces us to the enigmatic city of Landencyte and its mysterious planet. There’s much to unravel in “Starship Mountain,” and much that will remain a conundrum. Don’t miss this exciting tale!

The rest of the issue is chock full of novelettes and sprinkled with short stories. In an alternate universe where Seward’s folly didn’t occur, Harry Turtledove’s leathernecks find other means for “Liberating Alaska”; unusual “Rules of Biology” become apparent in Dale Bailey’s disturbing new story; socks and lost humans end up in Jack Skillingstead’s “Straconia”: Octavia Cade creates a suspenseful view through “The Backward Lens of Compromise”; for Michael Cassutt’s hapless teen, being “Unter” can be terrifying; and let’s hope the best future wins in Suzanne Palmer’s “Stones in the Water, Cottage on the Mountain.” Take a few minutes to meet Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s aptly named “Lieutenant Tightass”; puzzle out the heartbreaking nature of Ian R. McHugh’s “Ephemera”; discover why “Attachment Unavailable” is a little more unsettling than usual in the latest tale from Leah Cypess; and learn some of the secrets of the “True Zing” in a first sale from brand new author Zack Be. 

In his latest Reflections, Robert Silverberg doesn’t need a GPS to visit “Terra Incognita”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net suggests we “Listen, Watch, Read”; Paul Di Filippo’s On Books reviews works by Annalee Newitz, Andy Weir, Darrell Schweitzer, Rhys Hughes, Hugh Howey, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy. 

The May/June 2018 Asimov’s is another double issue packed with blockbuster novellas. David Gerrold and Ctein give us the thrilling tale of “Bubble and Squeak.” Two men must defy the odds if they have a hope of surviving the deluge once a massive tsunami hits Los Angeles. The characters are compelling, and the action is relentless in this unforgettable tale. Not to be outdone, Rick Wilber and Alan Smale combine their amazing talents to bring us “The Wandering Warriors.” This exhilarating novella tells the dire story of a hapless barnstorming baseball team suddenly transported to ancient Rome. It will be hard to put down these suspenseful tales before you reach their gripping conclusions.

The tension (and dynamic writing teams) continues with Sandra McDonald and Stephen D. Covey’s story of time travel, climate change, and the heart breaking desire to get “Time Enough to Say Goodbye.” The rest of the issue is packed with individualists: bestselling author Jane Lindskold’s first tale for Asimov’s reveals the chaos wreaked by “Unexpected Flowers”; Cadwell Turnbull’s bittersweet story shows what happens when “The Rains Come Back”; in Sue Burke’s new tale, life on Earth can be as terrifying as “Life from the Sky”; Peter Wood takes us on quite a ride in “Riverboats, Robots, and Ransom in the Regular Way”; Nancy Kress scrutinizes “The Cost of Doing Business”; Paul Park investigates what goes into “Creative Nonfiction”; and Marc Laidlaw drolly tops the issue off with “A Mammoth, So-Called.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections captivatingly compares “Circe and Doctor Moreau”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net examines “The Art of Algorithms”; guest editorialist Jay Cole invites us to spend “A Semester with Isaac Asimov”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books considers “Alternate Alternate Histories”; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

The March/April 2018 issue features Bill Johnson’s blockbuster novella, “Bury Me in the Rainbow.” This exciting tale is a stand-alone sequel to Bill’s 1998 Hugo-Award-winner “We Will Drink a Fish Together.” Don’t miss this taut standoff between tough Dakota locals and unpredictable aliens.

In addition to Bill’s giant story, we’ve managed to include “Dix,” a thrilling new novella by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and we’ve filled the issue to bursting with other tales. Rachel Swirsky & Trace Yulie make their Asimov’s debut with “Seven Months Out and Two to Go”; Robert Reed serenades us with “Love Songs for the Very Awful”; Sean Monaghan investigates “The Billows of Sarto”; James Gunn’s Transcendence series reaches a climax with “The Waiting Room: The Pedia’s Story” and “Attack on Terminal: The Pilgrims’ Story”; “Because Reasons,” new-to-Asimov’s author Alexandra Renwick sort of explains; Rich Larson attempts to give us some advice “In Event of Moon Disaster”; Ray Nayler offers us “A Threnody for Hazan; Rudy Rucker takes a humorous look at “Emojis”; Mary Robinette Kowal reveals the advantages of “Artisanal Trucking, LLC”; and we embark on a dangerous voyage in James Van Pelt’s “Queen of the River: the Harbor Hope.” 

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections spends some time “Rereading Fletcher Pratt”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net asks “Is the Internet Broken?”; Peter Heck’s On Books reviews works by John Kessel, Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross, Elizabeth Moon, Alan Smale, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy. Look for our super-stuffed March/ April issue on sale at newsstands on February 20, 2018. 

Our forty-first year sweeps in with the January/February 2018 issue! Two action-packed novellas feature in this exciting installment. Rudy Rucker and Paul Di Filippo take us back to the 1930s and the days of exploration for a thrilling adventure “In the Lost City of Leng.” Hugo Award-winner Kristine Kathryn Rusch rockets us forward in time for her breathtaking account of “The Rescue of the Renegat.” These tales will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout as you wonder who will survive till the curtain falls.

Multiple Hugo Award-winner Allen M. Steele escorts us once again to the planet Coyote for a dangerous journey to “The Barren Isle”; while we know the world may end in fire or ice, Hugo Award-winner Cixin Liu’s first tale for Asimov’s reveals just how perilous the pursuit of art can be in “The Sea of Dreams”; Mathew Hughes returns after too long an absence to expose us to some “Solicited Discordance”; the distinguished James Gunn continues his tales about pilgrims in “The Seeds of Consciousness: 4107’s Story” and “The Final Commandment: Trey’s Story”; new author S. Qiouyi Lu examines the stark choices facing a single parent and the sacrifices that may be made in “Mother Tongues”; Robert R. Chase brings us another thriller with “Assassins in the Clouds”; and Ian Creasey looks at the effect “The Equalizer” will have on tomorrow’s society. 

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections on walls continues in “Gog and Magog II”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net advises that we  “Don’t Read the Comments”; James Gunn brings us a Thought Experiment on “Space Opera and the Quest for Transcendence”;  Paul Di Filippo’s On Books reviews works by Daryl Gregory, Jacqueline Carey, Cat Sparks, Neil Clarke, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

We are pleased to announce that Asimov’s November/December 2017 issue will launch a brand new novella by SFWA Grand Master Connie Willis. “I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land” welcomes us into that little shop around the corner and thence into the subterranean mysteries of New York City. With all the twists and turns, you’ll soon be as lost as her hapless traveller. This is an intriguing tale that you won’t want to miss!

November/December caps our stellar anniversary year with its own stellar line up: Norman Spinrad looks at the consequences of “The Nanny Bubble”; Greg Egan investigates “The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine”; “And No Torment Shall Touch Them” if James Patrick Kelly can rescue his characters from the machinations of a difficult relative; James Gunn’s saga continues with “Love and Death and the Star that Shall Not Be Named: Kom’s Story”; Jason Sanford reveals the harsh secrets infusing “Nine Lattices of Sargasso”; and new author Emily Taylor quietly shows us what’s been “Skipped.”  We’ll go “Timewalking” with Michael Cassutt; find ourselves “Afloat Above a Floor of Stars” alongside Tom Purdom; hear the moving “Confessions of a Con Girl” in Nick Wolven’s bittersweet short story; meet Joel Richards’ desperate “Operators”; join Jack McDevitt for the “Last Dance”; and, with Rick Wilber, we may find ourselves on the wrong side of town “In Dublin, Fair City.” 

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column discusses walls in Westeros and “Gog and Magog”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net goes to the “Time Party”; Peter Heck reviews Norman Spinrad, Peter S. Beagle, China Miéville, James P. Blaylock, Jack Womack, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and additional features you’re sure to enjoy. 

Powerful novelettes bookend Asimov’s September/October 2017 issue. Sarah Pinsker’s lyrical tale set aboard a generation ship shows us that humanity may have the strength to adapt and evolve as long as “Wind Will Rove.” All that lies between civilization and brutal marauders is an outcast and a library in Suzanne Palmer’s thrilling “Books of the Risen Sea.” 

Fall is here, which means the September/October issue has its share of slightly spooky tales: Kit Reed investigates the “Disturbance in the Produce Aisle”; Carrie Vaughn introduces us to “Dead Men in Central City”; Sandra McDonald demonstrates the peril of “Riding the Blue Line With Jack Kerouac”; and William Preston unlocks “The Cabinet.” We learn that it may not be wise to open Michael Swanwick’s “Universe Box”; discover why “Squamous and Eldritch Get a Yard Sale Bargain” in Tim McDaniel’s short story; and climb “The Fourth Hill’ with new author Dennis E. Staples; On the nonspooky side, “Arriving at Terminal: Xi’s Story” and “The Ganymede Gambit: Jan’s Story” reveal the secrets of two more pilgrims in James Gunn’s intriguing series; Harry Turtledove brings us the deeply disturbing tale of the “Zigeuner”; Allen M. Steele returns with a cryptic account of “An Incident in the Literary Life of Nathan Arkwright”; and far flung action continues in R. Garcia y Robertson’s “Grand Theft Spaceship.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column examines the end of empires and the plight of “The Last Hittite”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net spends time “Remembering Bertie”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books considers locations “Outside America” as he traverses works by Bruce Sterling, Nnedi Okarafor, Lavie Tidhar, and Indra Das; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

You’ll find two fast-paced novellas in Asimov’s July/August 2017 issue. In “How Sere Picked Up Her Laundry,” Alexander Jablokov reveals that much is going on beneath the surface in this endlessly inventive tale. Exterminators, dangerous aliens, internecine business deals, a nosy detective, and laundry all come into play in a tale about a planet full of mysteries. Adventure also abounds with abductions, civil war, and spaceships in R. Garcia y Robertson’s hurtling story about “The Girl Who Stole Herself.” You won’t want to miss either of these enthralling tales!

Rudy Rucker & Marc Laidlaw return to Asimov’s with a wacky new story about how a couple of surfer dudes discover the secret of “@lantis”; James Gunn introduces us to a couple of pilgrims with ulterior motives as his series continues with “Transcendental Mission: Riley’s Story” and “Weighty Matters: Tordor’s Story; new author Cadwell Turnbull spins a poignant tale about “Other Worlds and This One”; while Lisa Goldstein offers a disturbing glimpse of the future in “Annabelle, Annie”; “The Patient Dragon” calmly bides its time in David Gerrold’s new short thriller; Sheila Finch conducts some heartbreaking “Field Studies”; Michael Bishop introduces us to the enigmatic “Gale Strang”; and get ready for more tension and intrigue when you and Rich Larson spend “An Evening with Severyn Grimes.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column contemplates collaborative SF writers “Sharing Worlds”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net commands us to “Hold the Phones!”; Paul Di Filippo’s On Books considers new works from Robert Silverberg, Carrie Vaughn, Connie Willis, Rick Wilber, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

We’ve managed to stuff an entire short novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch into our May/June 2017 issue. “The Runabout” finds the always-intrepid Boss and her team salvaging Dignity Vessels in the Boneyard. Apparently abandoned by the mysterious Fleet thousands of years earlier, this graveyard is rich with ships carrying the powerful anacapa drive. The drive allows faster than light travel and, some think, it may also provide a method for traveling through time. One small runabout could hold an answer, but exploring the ship will be extremely dangerous. Success isn’t guaranteed, and searching the runabout may not be worth the terrible toll it could take on Boss and her crew. Don’t miss this thrilling tale.

Karen Joy Fowler returns to Asimov’s with an eerie story about “Persephone of the Crows”; an intriguing series concerning pilgrims by James Gunn begins with “The Escape of the Adastra: Asha’s Story”; Peter Wood drolly wonders if we’re “Tired of the Same Old Quests”; while Dale Bailey invites some troubled young people to “Come As You Are”; William Preston suggests we watch an alarmingly “Good Show”; Leah Cypess conducts a chilling investigation of life “On the Ship”; Jay O’Connell introduces us to “The Best Man”; the repercussions of genetic engineering are examined in Ian McHugh’s “Triceratops”; and in “Night Fever,” Will Ludwigsen offers us a deeply disturbing alternate-history depiction of the seventies.

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column updates us with “Advertisments for Myself”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net compares “Harry and Dot”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books warns of “Wolockification”; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

March/April 2017 is our official fortieth anniversary! The exciting cover story is by Asimov’s Readers’ Award-winner Suzanne Palmer. In her tense new tale, a human-created artificial intelligence—left grieving and lonely on a distant planet—may annihilate an alien lifeform over a terrible misunderstanding. Don’t miss “Number Thirty-Nine Skink”!

Alan Smale flies us to another universe for an alternate view of “Kitty Hawk”; Ian MacLeod reveals the brutal “Wisdom of the Group”; We’ve come to expect that Damien Broderick will play with a myriad of motifs in his tales and certainly delivers in “Tao Zero”; Terry Bisson offers a wry explanation for why “We Regret the Error”; We find some twisted love in Rich Larson’s “Cupido”; while Will McIntosh provides us with another story of love gone wrong in “Soulmates.com”; “A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension” is a charming Asimov’s debut for new writer Andrea M. Pawley; Sarah Pinsker will break your heart with “The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going”; Ian Creasey lets us know that it will only get worse “After the Atrocity”; with “The Invasion of the Saucer-Men” Dale Bailey treats us to another of his works inspired by fifties SF movie titles; Gregory Norman Bossert lets us know who’s a “Goner”; and we’ll learn why “Three Can Keep a Secret” from a mysterious con artist in Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost’s new novelette.

We’re celebrating our fortieth anniversary all year long. The party starts with the super-stuffed double January/February 2017 issue! Two dramatic stories frame the issue. Allen M. Steele’s famous frontier planet, Coyote, has been settled for some time, but terrifying dangers still lurk around the bend of an unexplored river. Members of a scientific expedition soon learn that it takes more than bravado to survive “Tagging Bruno.” In Robert Reed’s new novella, crewmembers from the Big Ship encounter a very strange and very intelligent alien who puts their own spin on “The Speed of Belief.”

Octavia Cade escorts us to the Siberia of Stalinist Russia for “The Meiosis of Cells and Exile”; Jack Skillingstead arrives at a chilling “Destination”; Jim Grimsley paints a “Still Life With Abyss”; denizens of Fire Island will “Blow Winds, and Crack Your Cheeks” in John Alfred Taylor’s new story; Tom Purdom reveals the powerful strength of a “Fatherbond”; Robert R. Chase helps pick up the “Pieces of Ourselves”; Lisa Goldstein exposes us to “The Catastrophe of Cities”; Ray Nayler imbues a hazardous “Winter Timeshare” with new meaning; young people attempt a first contact with the help of Stephen Baxter’s mysterious “Starphone”; while beauty and sorrow are stunningly portrayed in Sean Monaghan’s evocative depiction of “Crimson Birds of Small Miracles.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column gives “Two Cheers for Piltdown Man”; during an intriguing On the Net discussion, each participant lets James Patrick Kelly know he can “Ask
Me Anything”; Paul Di Filippo’s On Books critiques works by Betsy James, Harry Turtledove, Will McIntosh, Ken Liu, Lavie Tidhar, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy. 

Our blockbuster December 2016 novella, “Where There Is Nothing, There Is God” by David Erik Nelson, is a rollicking Time Portal tale. It’s filled with a cast of unsavory characters who operate
as though Cotton Mather’s favorite TV show was Breaking Bad. In this vastly entertaining story, it’s hard to know whom to root for so just make sure your inertia dampening system is on and enjoy the ride!

Once you decompress from Colonial Massachusetts, be prepared for a sharp shift to Gregory Norman Bossert’s wild depiction of “HigherWorks” in a future London; an eerie discovery “On the Cold Side of the Island” has long-term effects on the lives of three teens in a new tale by Kali Wallace; James Sallis escorts us to another island where we learn “How the Damned Live On”; new to Asimov’s author Gay Partington Terry’s magical tale explains the significance of “Empty Shoes by the Lake”; and in Karl Bunker’s “They All Have One Breath” artists who want to create interesting work must strive against the banality of a “perfect” society controlled by artificial intelligence.

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column examines what it means to be as “ Dead as a Dodo” in this modern age; Peter Heck’s On Books reviews new works by Lois McMaster Bujold, Charles
Stross, Tim Powers, Indra Das, Lavie Tidhar, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy. 

October/November is our traditional “slightly spooky” issue, and the 2016 edition is no exception. The magazine is jam-packed with stories about ghosts, angels, demons, souls, curses, and a couple of aliens. Alexander Jablokov’s bold new novella brings us a tale of death and danger, a woman with a rather unusual occupation, and “The Forgotten Taste of Honey.”

Sandra McDonald’s cheerful tone belies the horror that lurks for “The People in the Building”; the souls of the damned are captured in Susan Palwick’s poignant “Lucite”; death and another odd job play a part in Michael Libling’s amusing and irreverent tale of “Wretched the Romantic”; “Project Extropy” uncovers new mysteries in Dominica Phetteplace’s ongoing series; S. N. Dyer draws on history and folklore to explain what happens “When Grandfather
Returns”; seeds of hurt and mistrust are sewn in Rich Larson’s “Water Scorpions”; new author Octavia Cade invites us to spend some time “Eating Science With Ghosts”; Will Ludwigsen examines the curse of “The Leaning Lincoln”; and Michael Blumlein’s heartfelt novella asks us to “Choose Poison, Choose Life.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column dabbles in some “Magical Thinking”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net prepares to “Welcome Our Robot Overlords!”; Norman Spinrad’s On Books takes on “Short Stories” in a column that features the Nebula Awards Showcase anthologies as well as The Fredric Brown Megapack and Harlan Ellison’s Can & Can’tankerous; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

Jack Skillingstead’s September 2016 novelette takes us on a terrifying journey across universes. Pursued by malevolent forces, a brilliant mathematician struggles to clean up “The Whole Mess.” Failure means destruction and subjugation. The penalty for success could be worse.

New York Times best selling author, Carrie Vaughn exposes the debilitating consequences space travel holds for some in “The Mind Is Its Own Place”; appearing in Asimov’s with her first professional sale, Tegan Moore shines a light on some dark and twisted relationships in “Epitome”; Human and Alien intelligence slowly learn to communicate in Rich Larson’s poignant excavation of “All that Robot . . .”; World Fantasy Award winner Ian R. MacLeod introduces us to the enigmatic “Visitor from Taured”; Peter Wood runs us around in some vicious, yet funny and perhaps all too recognizable, “Academic Circles”; and Robert Reed tells the old tale of migration and the promised land—this time with aliens—in “Dome on the Prairie.”

Robert Silverberg’s hilarious Reflections column reveals why it’s not a good idea to exclaim, “ ‘Darn,’ He Smiled”; Peter Heck reviews works by Charlie Jane Anders, Laura Anne Gilman, Fred Chappell, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

In Sean Monaghan’s tense August 2016 novelette, unforeseen dangers have disrupted an interstellar journey. Although the work of self-sacrificing astronauts has kept the spaceship running for hundreds of years, the voyage may soon be permanently altered
by fresh “Wakers.”

Asimov’s Readers’ Award winner Sandra McDonald’s “President John F. Kennedy, Astronaut” celebrates the spirit that motivates the brave men and women who are propelled to the stars in a wistful secret history of the space program; fellow Asimov’s
Readers’ Award winner James Alan Gardner cunningly reveals “The Mutants Men Don’t See”; brand-new author Sieren Damsgaard Ernst looks deep into the past to explain the truth about “Kairos”; new to Asimov’s author Matthew Claxton examines the steep cost of bionic implants on the shores of “Patience Lake”; New York City is transformed beyond recognition in Jason Sanford’s “Toppers”; and renowned authors Kathe Koja & Carter Sholz skillfully introduce us to “KIT: Some Assembly Required.”

In his August Reflections column, Robert Silverberg delves into ancient texts to crack “The Software of Magic”; James Patrick Kelly’s On the Net shows that he’s “Thinking about Dinosaurs”; Paul Di Filippo reviews works by Judith Merril, Allen M. Steele,
China Miéville, and others; plus we’ll have an array of poetry and other features you’re sure to enjoy.

January/February 2021

November/December 2020

September/October 2020

July/August 2020

May/June 2020

March/April 2020

January/February 2020

November/December 2019

September/October 2019

July/August 2019

May/June 2019

March/April 2019

January/February 2019

November/December 2018

September/October 2018

July/August 2018

Asimov's Science Fiction magazine has published outstanding short fantasy and science fiction by leading authors for over 30 years. Starting with its January/February 2017 issue, Asimov's Science Fiction 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!

 

Asimov’s continues to showcase stories that are innovative, entertaining, and have won numerous Hugos and Nebula Awards. In addition to fiction, readers stay informed about SF and fantasy through an editorial column, a web-focused column, insightful book reviews, and thought-provoking articles about science and science fiction.

 

Asimov's is home to many bestselling authors, including Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg, Mike Resnick, Kristine Katherine Rusch, and Stephen Baxter.

 

Asimov's Science Fiction features 6 double issues each year.

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Asimov's Science Fiction - November/December 2020

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