"Refried Cliches: A Five-Course Meal" by Mike Schultz

A story made up of 'vignettes' set around the items of a five course meal. While most of the 'items' are satisfying, one or two items look like they could do with a little more 'cooking' to bring out more 'taste'.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2005 issue

"Gypsy Tail Wind" by Mary Rosenblum

A tale set in the outer reaches of the Solar System about a girl who may be involved in intrigues she is unaware of. Sent to meet a representative of the gypsies, who are apparently genetic experts, she is then drugged, along with the representative, in an attempt to kidnap the gypsy. Only her wits, and the unusual connection she builds up with gypsy, may save her is the end against her kidnappers.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2005 issue

"Maze of Trees" by Claudia O'Keefe

An unsettling fantasy story about a young woman who is forced to stay in a particular forest location due to her 'gift' and 'connection' with the forest which she uses to protect the forest from developers and humanity. But when she meets a young man who attracts her, the situation changes and she must decide whether to continue the relationship of to force him away. As events show, love is powerful but is the sacrifice of love worth it?

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2005 issue

"Thwarting Jabbi Gloond" by Matthew Hughes

An interesting detective story that is also about the start of the career of Henghis Hapthorn, who has a instinct for figuring out the truth. In this case, it is the truth behind the mysterious Jabbi Gloond who appears one day at the estate of his friend and suddenly has the run of his house. Investigating this particular mystery would raise some awful truths about his friend's father and the source of his wealth.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2005 issue

"Mission to Utah" (non-fiction) by Wil McCarthy

A fascinating journey into what it might be like to be on a mission to Mars. McCarthy joins a group of Mars Society people who have set up a base in the desert that attempts to simulate just what it would be like to be living on Mars. The simulation is quite realistic, from the 'space-suits' they wear (and the steps they take to pressurize/de-pressurize) to the basic problems of fixing radios and even shoveling fertiliser.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"Climbing the Blue" by Stephen Baxter

The story is set on a very unusual Earth: the inhabitants live on a kind of cliff that is stratified in time: the lower you go, the slower time flows and light appears red-shifted and the higher you go, the faster time flows and light appears blue-shifted. A doctor who is investigating the causes of a strange plague is forced to make a decision when his wife is inflicted with the plague. His decision may cause him to become an exile in time but he believes it is a price worth paying.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"The Pain Gun" by Gregory Benford

A straight-forward story set in an urban war where a new weapon is being introduced: a 'pain gun', a microwave device that cuases pain in the adversary without killing them. But, as in all wars, the advantage to the soldiers will not last forever.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"Prayer for a Dead Paramecium" by Carl Frederick

Two brothers go to a science exhibition that is partly a games arcade set-up by a sponser. The smaller of the brothers reacts badly to a particular game, causing a ruckus and they end up in the office of the exhibition's administrator. In the ensuing conversation, opinions about who is in the right and what is is the right thing to do take place, changing the opinions of more than one person involved.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Scott William Carter

A story told from the perspective of the wife of a time traveller. After the time traveller leaves for the future and doesn't return, the wife is left nothing to do. To keep herself busy, she begins education herself, speaking out and doing other things that comes full circle when the time approaches for the time traveller to re-appear. It is only at the end of the story is the reason for why the traveller never returned to the past revealed.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"The Keeper's Riddle" by Joe Schembrie

An interesting tale, set in the asteroid belt that contains several separate colonies. An unknown object that seems to come from another colony known to be segregationist appears and is investigated by a team. The team discovers that the object may contain secrets that the originating colony may not want revealed. To protect the object, they need to break the password to its system but it is locked inside a riddle that, as it turns out, only a child (or someone who can think like one) can solve.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"TelePresence" by Michael A. Burstein

A story that starts off with an interesting premise but does not quite deliver. In a future where schools are conducted via virtual reality, students suddenly begin dying. To solve the crimes, which may derail the introduction of such virtual schools nationwide in the US, the pricipal has to figure out who is doing the killing and why. In the end, the story is more about how it feels to be in the virtual reality environment than about catching the criminal.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"Endeavor" by Robert R. Chase

A stardard tale about an exploration ship that barely escapes when the star Betelgeuse becomes a nova, in the process rescuing a group of altered humans, Genenhu, who the crew think was involved in a war in the past. Their problems mount as the life support is unable to handle so many people and they have to get raw materials from a planet just barely ahead of the nova shock-wave. But their possible savior may come from a badly injured man who wants to bridge the differences between them.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"In the Loop" by Brian Plante

A man is employed by a company that operates a virtual reality 'rest home', where the residents are dead people who are software simulations. His job is to get the residents ('spooks') to 'break their loops'. Since the spooks can be whatever they want, most of them are now very good at singing, dancing, diving or playing tennis and don't want to do anything else. His job is to be the 'spoke in the wheel' and jog them out of their loops and do other things. While at work, he becomes fascinated by one particular spook who appears to be really stuck. But in the end, whose loop is bring broken depends on your point of view on life and death.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"Of Kings, Queens, and Angels" by Rajnar Vajra

Set at a time when inter-dimensional links have enabled 'angels' to contact humanity and offer their services in return for some minerals, this story follows the trials and tribulations of a cruise captain whose ship sets off on an inter-dimensional tour with paying passengers. Things turn tricky when the angels need to perform miracles to save the ship an inordinate number of times, leading the captain to play the poker game of his life to save the ship. In doing so, he finds out more about who the angels are any why they need humanity and forges a new deal between them. This interesting puzzle story could have been even more interesting if the author could reveal more clues for the reader to guess just what is different about the universe the ship ends up in that would affect the outcome of the poker game.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"Chandra's Pup" by Bud Sparhawk

A story set in interstellar space in a time where humanity has spread to the stars. Near one colony world, a military ship encouters what appears to be an alien ship, igniting what may well be man's first war with an alien species. In an attempt to understand the alien, the military enlists the help of a scientist who is adamant the alien must be peaceful and that the military has spoiled a chance to meet an alien species in peace. But as the stories continue, it becomes increasingly difficult to know whether the alien ships are peace or not, or even if they are alien ships.

• Read from Analog SF, July-August 2005 issue

"The Compass" by Edd Vick

A tale about what kind of sacrifices people have to make and who has to make them. A ship can travel light-years by going through 'skipspace' (a kind of hyperspace) but the only way to navigate is through the use of a foetus which can sense where the earth is. Problem is, the foetus is dying and a new one is needed. But choices are limited for the ship was escaping from Earth moments before its destruction and not many women of child-bearing age were on board. The doctor on board has to help to make this decision if they are to find a new world to settle but she herself may have a hard choice to make.

• Read from Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"The Real Deal" by Peter Friend

A story about how relationships between two alien species can be mis-interpreted. A human and an alien being (dubbed 'Piccaso' because the individuals have a different number of limbs like in Piccaso paintings) find an 'artifact' (an ancient Piccaso ship) in space, a finding shared with other Picassos of the same family. After the ensuing celebrations over the discovery, the humans employed by the Picassos begin to fall ill and suspect a sinister purpose in being used by the Picassos. But the purpose turns out to be very different and has a link to the Picassos's unusual religion.

• Read from Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"Waking Chang-Er" by Samantha Ling

An interesting tale involving a Chinese mythological figure, Chang-Er and the Jade Rabbit. The rabbit is fed up with being cooped up in Chang-Er's palace on the moon with no other gods to play with. Then, in a dream, it sees a little girl who is dying but whom the moon goddess may be able to help, if she can be convinced to do so.

• Read from Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"Killing Time" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

A simple tale about memories and where we want to be. An old woman (who may be senile) is offered a chance to spend the rest of her life in memories via a device that can make her believe that she is living in her past. But is living in the past really what she wants to do?

• Read from Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2005 issue