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Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
December 1998
This month's issue of Asimov's features a Reflections
column by Robert Silverberg that looks at the classic novel,
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. He mentions how when he
first read it, he never thought about the sections in the book on
whaling. But now that he's more aware about it, he reads it with a
different outlook and considers whaling in the modern world and
attempts by some tribes to revive whaling as a way to 'get in touch'
with their roots.
Stories featured in this issue are:
- "Down in the Dark" by Willian Barton gives a bleak
look at the future where life on the Earth has been destroyed by an
asteroid strike and the various scientific colonies must now struggle
to survive. But on Triton (one of Saturn's moons), a discovery is
made that may change the future of what is left of humanity.
- "Fruitcake Theory" by James Patrick Kelley gives a
quirky look at two minders looking after an alien and an unusual
theory to explain what happens to them while visiting a mall.
- "The Game this Year" by Lisa Goldstein looks at two
groups of people with magical powers who meet each year to decide who
gets to influence the world through a game. But this year, one of the
players suggests a change that may well cause a different
outcome.
- "Archaic Planets: Nine Excerpts from the Encyclopedia Galactica"
by Michael Swanwick (with Sean Swanwick) gives nine unusual entries
concerning the planets of the solar system.
- "Building the Building of the World" by Robert Reed
takes a look at a teacher at a science camp who proposes setting up
two teams to design two worlds. One team builds a world of peace
while the other builds a world of war which strangely mirrors the
students' behaviour. When both worlds meet in a virtual environment,
the results are unexpected.
- "Grist" by Tony Daniel is a solar system wide story
about humanity in the future and the properties of 'grist' whose
origin is not stated but appears to be some kind of intelligent
nanomachines. One priest starts on a journey to locate a man with
unusual quantum powers who may affect the starting and outcome of a
war that may engulf the entire solar system.
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