The Quest for the Great Gray Mossy • novelette by Harry Turtledove
Mieville’s Moby Dick told as a dinosaur story. Mammals are only disgusting small critters (how irritating and disgusting they are is mentioned a few too many times). There are whale-like creatures, though. They are not mentioned to be mammals, but they behave just like whales. They produce oil, ambra, and meat, just like whales. If the mammals didn’t evolve to large creatures on dry land, where did the whales come? Other than the protagonists being lizards, there were no fantasy or SF elements at all. As I haven’t read the original, I most likely missed most of the references and found the story to be pretty boring. ***
Wheel of Echoes • short story by Sean McMullen
After some farfetched circumstances, a recording of Shakespeare acting as Hamlet is recovered. A smoothly moving nice story, but the effects of the find on Shakespearean studies is extremely hard to believe. Why would anyone really care if Shakespeare was a mediocre actor? ***+
Hive • short story by Jay Werkheiser
Humans and insectoid aliens whose entire communication and even intelligence is based on pheromones encountering each others. Both think that the other is a mindless animal. A pretty good story about a truly alien intelligence. ****-
The Greatest Day • short story by Eric Choi
An alternative history of the disaster of spaceship Columbia, where the damage was noticed midflight and an attempt was made to salvage the crew. Things don’t end as badly as in our reality. An OK story, well written, and even partly moving, but not entirely plausible at all places. ***+
Welcome to the New You: Terms and Conditions for the iCRISPR Gene-Editing Kit • short story by Douglas F. Dluzen
An advert on the home kits for crisper DNA modification. An amusing story which isn’t very far on the future (if you don’t consider the fact that changing autosomal DNA doesn’t usually cause phenotypical changes). ***+
The Grass Bows Down, the Pilgrims Walk Lightly • short story by Izzy Wasserstein
Aliens give humanity technological and scientific secrets if humans are able to solve puzzles. The protagonist tries to find out why grass “bows” on a planet and reminisces her life. A bit of a short story with a scant background. ***
All the Turns of the Earth • short story by Matthew Claxton
A youth falls to the past without an explanation and makes friends with a pterosaur. Then he falls back and always partly misses his former life. A fantasy story, not sf. Nice writing and mood, but there is not much of an actual plot. ***-
One Lost Space Suit Way • short story by A. J. Ward
An old, intelligent, and self-aware space suit runs away and has many adventures. A short story that aims for a sad, bittersweet mood and pretty much succeeds. The plot itself is partly implausible, but the story works fairly well nevertheless. ***+
Around the World in Ninety-Six Hours • short story by Wendy Nikel
A sister of two siblings is on a Venus expedition while the brother is on a Mars expedition. The Venus group is using Morse code to communicate with the ground robot vessel for some contrived reason. The siblings bicker like ten-year-olds. The brother gets into trouble on Mars. The solution to how he is rescued is pretty obvious after reading the first two pages or so. A pretty unsurprising, standard “in peril” story. ***-
Birds of a Feather • short story by Gregor Hartmann
A scientist has developed an easy way to create radio telescopes which function at space. His approach uses tiny metallic shards, millions of them, and their reflections are analyzed by a sophisticated computer program. But he doesn’t get funding. His twin brother helps him to test his idea in reality (and most likely to prevent any low orbit space flight for centuries...but that wasn’t mentioned in the story). ***
Guns Don't Kill • short story by Richard A. Lovett
Hunter tries to shoot a deer after hunting season. Game warden gets an automatic message about poaching about to happen. What happens when guns get very automatic and autonomous? A very good story, Hopefully, things go in this direction. ***½
Q-ship Militant • short story by Joel Richards
A spaceship which is a disguised warship is chasing a “slaver” ship - that is, pirates who have stolen AI cores from other ships. Just a fragment that tells the story of one such chase and battle. There was little background and little reason to care about characters or events. **½
The Shocking Truth About the Scientific Method that Privatized Schools Don't Want You to Know • novelette by Sarina Dorie
A teacher teaches in a school where the curriculum is dictated by private contributions. When the contributor supports creationism, the teaching of science is hard and frustrating. A teacher starts an extracurricular course, but the school isn’t happy about it. A pretty good and sadly plausible (at least in the US where schools seem to be in a sorry state) story. ***+
Hubble Rising • novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick
A recovery attempt of Hubble space telescope ends in an accident. Everything looks bad, but a resourceful crewmember manages to save the day. Nothing which hasn’t been seen on a hundred Analog stories before. ***
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