April issue arrived before March issue.
Ok, nothing unforgettably good, but nothing is unforgettably bad.
Gunfight on Farside • novella by Adam-Troy Castro A young woman travels to meet a character of legends, the main character of at least two famous movies, the survivor of the first (and apparently only) gunfight in the moon. The events are well known on the surface, but why he (with several other old-time moon dwellers) has chosen to live alone on distant area? Especially most people who had any direct connection to the shooting? And why the government seems to support them?
Nice, well told story. Goes in the end a bit too far towards fantasy, but well written, nice story. ****-
The Final Element • shortstory by Eric James Stone
Copying matter down to atomic level is possible, but illegal. Someone has copied a Stradivarius violin. With isotope analysis it is supposed to be possible to distinguish a copy from the real one - but both violins seem to be identical even to the isotope level. Not too surprising detective story, writing is ok. ***-
A Jug of Wine and Thou • shortstory by Jerry Oltion
Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, try to survive in wilderness after crashing their flying car. Nice story, but not really science fiction, except for the futuristic car in the beginning - which really has nothing to do with main plot of the story. And that plot is pretty simplistic. ***
The Invasion • shortstory by H. G. Strattman
Ironic story about invasion of alien AI. The irony is a bit heavy-handed, slightly more subtle approach might have worked better. ***-
Steak Tartare and the Cats of Gari Babakin • novelette by Mary Turzillo Toxoplasma infection modifies the behavior of a Mars colony. Officials want to eradicate the infection, but the ”sufferers” might have a different opinion. Pretty nice story, not so implausible at all as one might think first. ***½
Foe • novelette by Mark Rich
Efficiency expert is evaluating the efficiency of a Martian colony. But always more efficient doesn’t mean more work. The end result shouldn’t be any kind of surprise of any expert worth his title, so it’s pretty surprising that the ”expert” is so surprised of the end result, also I didn’t entirely get his motivation for actions he took. ***+
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