"Old as Books" by Mike Shultz

A neat story that comes with a nicely implied and rich background set in a library that contains books on magic and sorcery. Into this steps an old librarian who is unhappy that his own son wants to remove him from the post as the son feels he is no longer suitable. In the midst of his depression, the old man thinks of some way to pay back his son but, as it turns out, the resolution may involve him doing something else that he loves but has not occured to them before.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005

"Promised Land" by Steven Utley

Set in the prehistoric past, this is a straight-forward tale about a dying paleontologist who curses the discovery of time-trave; it invalidates his work, since people can just travel to the past instead of mucking around with fossils, and he can't use it as he is dying. But some people who care for him are willing to do some subterfuge to fufill some of his wishes.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005

"Think So?" by Robert Reed

A funny and thought provoking story about a future where every joke you say can and will be used against you if you voilate the copyright of the original person who said the joke. That lands one imaginative joke maker in court for copyright violation until he thinks of a way out. But the solution may be worse that the problem it solves.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005

"Twilight States" by Albert E. Cowdrey

An interesting fantasy story about a man who runs a bookshop. One day, a visitor buys an issue of a old pulp Horror magazine that raises memories in the man concerning his relationship with his brother who went to war. As the story progresses and we see the conflicts in his life, you get the feeling that something is not quite right with the man and the key may lie in a story written by his brother...if it was his brother who wrote it.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"Angry Duck" by Scott Bradfield

A humourous little tale, told in the form of a series of interviews, about the greatest poet of his generation. That is, if you think the quackings of a duck are poetry. The interviews tell of his rise and fall and the mysterious going-ons of people around him.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"The Pitiless Stars" by Jim Young

A space-travel story with interesting elements of nanotechnology and stored personalities, but whose ending does not match the build-up the story initially promises. A ship from Earth lands on an alien world, only to discover an alien artifact. The ship 'uploads' an apparent prisoner of the artifact who urges them to leave before they are trapped like him. The ending is too convenient and leaves unanswered a question: how did the artifact survive the disaster it says the prisoner is responsible for?

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"The Tournament at Surreptitia" by John Morressy

An amusing fantasy story about the wizard, Kedrigern, and his wife, Princess, who set out to help a warrior join a mysterious tournament in a hidden land. But when they find it, they discover that they are not the only ones involved in the mysterious quest that involves a slightly scatter-brained king and a lady with an unusual effect on men. The solution may turn out costly for the wizard but not for his wife.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005 issue

"Rainmakers" by Ruth Nestvold

(Short Story)

An ambassador is sent to a world to try to negotiate peace between the planet's native population and colonist. At first, the problem looks impossible to solve. The natives reject the technology the colonist bring and, worse, think the technology is changing their way of life and attracting too many natives to try it. But as the story progresses, and violent means are employed, the ambasador finds out that not only was she meant to fail to negotiate a settlement, but that her unique skills may be the only way to prevent the natives from being used for other purposes.

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

"Martyrs' Carnival" by Jay Lake

(Short Story)

Set on a world with a desert, one police Inspector finds herself dealing with a group of Christian fanatics who, every Easter re-create the crucifixion, disrupting the life of the colony. She decides to deal with the problem one and for all and, like many others in other stories, discovers that the price of dealing with fanatics may not be worth it and may endanger her own life.

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

"Bad Machine" by Kage Baker

(Novelette)

A pretty hilarious tale set in a future England where the birth rate is very low and the civil service has apparently taken over the entire country and the morals of the public are being watched over by the Bureau of Public Health. Things start to become tricky when some Bureau people notice that a certain Alec Checkerfield, the teenage son of an English aristocrat and gifted with unusual 'talents', has been ordering an extraordinary amount of "Happihealthy Shields" for 'intimate encounters' with girls who just cannot resist his charms. How can Alec avoid been sent to a hospital for 'sexual perverts'? Perhaps he can, with the help of an intelligent machine which was originally designed to protect Alec as a kid but who will now stop at nothing to protect him.

Read from Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2005 issue

"The Edge of Nowhere" by James Patrick Kelly

(Novelette)

Not one of Kelly's better tales, this one is of the inhabitants of a town called 'Nowhere' which appears to be literally in the middle of nowhere. Inhabitants and things appear to be there for no reason, created out of, possibly, the collective memory of future mankind. For some unknown reason, agents (looking like dogs) appear looking for an unknown novel (unknown even to a collective memory?). The ending is ambiguous and sounds rather like the middle section of another well known fantasy book about tales within tales.

Read from Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2005 issue