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Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
August 1998

In this month's Reflections column, Robert Silverberg admits to commiting 'atrocious crimes' in his youth: the 'slaughter' of numerous frogs and other amphibians and reptiles that he caught. He cannot even say he has curious to see what was inside frogs since he did not stop after the first two or three. Fortunately, he has now grown out of it.

Stories featured in this issue are:

"Oceanic" by Greg Egan. This is an unusually 'quiet' story by Greg Egan, who is known more for his highly speculative 'hard science' stories. But even in this story, he manages to weave together an unusual tale of humans living on another world in the future and what happens when an apparently religious experiences felt by one person may have a more mundane explanation.
"Totally Camelot" by Esther M. Friesner gives a somewhat modern and humorous tone to the closing story of King Arthur.
"Dante Dreams" by Stephen Baxter takes a look at what Dante may have seen when he wrote his Divine Comedy. The source of it may prove to be from an unsuspected intelligence from an unexpected dimension.
"Savior" by Robert Reed looks at the life of an old man who was once a hero who saved the world from aliens but who may now be prosecuted for what he did.
"Proof of the Existence of God and an Afterlife" by James Patrick Kelly looks at an experiment that is suppose to reveal the future life of subjects but is only a hoax to test subjects; or is it?
"Ancestral Voices" by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick tells the tale of an alien lost on the Earth who kills to seek nourishment while trying to find out why it is here. In the end, it needs an understanding person who has to decide on life and death to help decide matters.

[Home Page][Index of Reviews][July 1998][September 1998]

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine August 1998

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
August 1998