Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 2016

A pretty good issue mostly; better than average.

Progenesis – Novelette by J. L. Forrest
A biotech company is doing really far fetching research on human genetic modification. Religious fanatics, both from the Near East and Bible Belt are trying to destroy everything connected to the company and its main scientists. The company withdraws to "citadel", where they finish their research - which goes really far. A pretty good story, but bit too short. There would have been material for a novel - or for a pretty good movie. ***½
Angles of Incidence – Short Story by Nancy Fulda
A pretty strange alien race demands that the shadows of a series of sculptures must be "assimilated " before an important agreement can be done. In fact, they insist on it, right now. And if the negotiators don't succeed they will be eaten, as is the custom. A pretty nice story, a bit on a short side. ***+
The Blue Lady of Entanglement Camber 1 – Short Story by Ron Collins
The first pilot of a ftl-system, which uses quantum entanglement, has died in an accident. Something went wrong; it isn't really clear what. The system is in widespread use without any problems. But sometimes, the dead woman's ghost seems to roam in the laboratory. Is her quantum presence still around? A sort of detective story,. The writing was ok; the plot didn't really work for me. ***-
Mom in the Moon – Short Story by Muri McCage
This story seems to continue an earlier one. I am not aware of the first part; at least it hasn’t been published in Analog. It happens in a world with several moons. A mother has apparently gone to one of them by accident. A grandfather and a daughter go to the mountain to get a yearly radio connection to Mother. I wonder why the connection has happened on a mountain, why only once a year, and how in hell the mother ended up going to the moon by accident. The grandfather and the daughter aren’t completely honest when they talk with the mother. The writing was pretty good, but plot wise, there were the above mentioned problems and a lot of lack of continuation. Also, how a dust cloud can “suck away all water” from an entire planet? Wouldn’t the dust rather work as a condensation point and lead to heavy waterfalls? **½
Revenge of the Invisible Man – Novelette by Robert R. Chase
A some sort of secret agent, who apparently works for some sort private clandestine agency, is hired to find out how an invisible man has been able to attempt murders of key personnel of a firm that screwed him over. It is pretty baffling, as he has been imprisoned for weeks under pretty constant surveillance. A pretty good and entertaining story. ***½
The Soul Behind the Face – Novella by Adam-Troy Castro
A secret agent is on a mission. He hires a woman to be his wife – the woman uses mental conditioning and cosmetic surgery to really BE the imagined spouse. He has a mission which seems pretty nonsensical, but he is succeeding in it, and getting through the security checks – or at least it seems like it. A pretty good story, where the emphasis is on the person and in his relationship with the proxy wife rather than the plot. It continues a story which was published in Analog about a year ago, but works pretty well by itself. The story will most likely continue. Hopefully. ****

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