Only three stories in this issue. It is a pretty decent one.
911-Backup • shortstory by Richard A. Lovett
A man has used his brain implant to store most of his memories and basic skills. It works fine, until his storage unit crashes. Unfortunately for him, he has been too lazy and busy to make any backups. A pretty good story, but would someone be so stupid as to omit making such backups? ***½
The Case of the Contumacious Qubit • novelette by Thomas R. Dulski
A retired chemist is asked to act as a referee in a high school science competition. One work seems to be very good – so good that it is hard to believe that a schoolboy might have done it. And his aunt, a research scientist, seems to be missing. Is there some connection? Soon things get pretty hot indeed. A tad overlong story that takes its time to get going. ***
The Diversification of Its Fancy • novella by John Barnes
A popular singer works as some kind of underground government agent. His performances are aimed to spread tolerance and co-operation. He has a troop of agents safeguarding him, but there are a few murder attempts against him. He also has a relationship with a young, beautiful assistant. An overlong story that goes from a pretty interesting agent story to a less than interesting and less well written relationship tale. On the other hand, there is little backstory of the characters given, but there are long lectures on the history of the world, but no good explanation for the professional hitmen with implanted explosive devices inside their brain who try to kill the main character (and who are completely forgotten in the latter half of the story). The story feels very much like part of a series, but I am not aware of any other installments (and neither is ). **½
Proofreading by eangel.me.
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