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Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
April 1998

In this month's Reflections column by Robert Silverberg, he chronicles the first part of his journey to the former East (Democratic Republic of) Germany. Despite the progress achieved since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Silverberg finds much that needs to be improved but without burying it's history.

Stories featured in this issue are:

"Steamship Soldier on the Information Front" by Nancy Kress. An interesting story that takes a hard look at what is in store for us as the 'Information Age' picks up steam. The main character in the story is flying all over the world each day, looking up investment opportunities while trying to find out why his son appears to be turning away from the world. The answer comes in the unlikely form of self-learning robots. Question is, what are the robots learning and what does it mean at the end of the current age?
"Auschwitz and the Rectification of History" by Eliot Fintushel gives a quirky look at how a doctor attempts to rewrite history by literally wiping out memories of the Nazi Holocaust.
"The Year of the Mouse" by Normal Spinrad is Spinrad's usual funny spin at current trends. Here, he looks at the likely outcome when the People's Republic of China attempts to stop the Disney Corporation from releasing an animated version of "The Long March": with hilarious, but disturbing results.
"Animae Celestes" by Gregory Feeley is a story set in two time frames. One set in the near future follows a student's research into spiritus, the vapour thought to join soul to body. The other is set in the past and looks at a heretic and Pope's attempts to harness the same spiritus to alter their fates.
"The Value of Objects" by Daniel H. Jeffers looks at the future of marketing by using representative samples to judge the value of objects.
"A Question of Grammar" by L. Timmel Duchamp looks at the life of a young girl, bonded emotionally and biologically to an alien who, via telepathy, uses the girl as a translator. She has little choice as she is considered a terrorist by the Federation authorities. But she has a choice to make when she turns out to be vital in finding out the true intentions of the alien.

[Home Page][Index of Reviews][January 1998][May 1998]

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine April 1998

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
April 1998