The Metric • novelette by David Moles
A story set in a distant future, when most of humanity lives in the last remaining city, which has apparently existed for eons. The last spaceship, which was designed with extremely high technology and built from practically indestructible materials, arrives when it is breaking down from wear and age. It brings news of a universe that is dying from old age. Could something be done, and should something be done? The beginning and end were fairly good, but the middle part was overlong, and hard to get into. ***½
Among the Marithei • short story by Mary Anne Mohanraj
A young man has lived most of his life among aliens. He was born in a war-torn world, was drafted as a child soldier and almost became a suicide bomber. After being rescued by 'spiritual' aliens, he can’t stand the sight of other humans. Slowly he adjusts, gets married, and has a child. He takes part in an alien spiritual event (as usual) and sees something… an excellent and moving story. I was left wondering about the impact of humanity, though. In the first part of the story humans felt like a minor race, at the end of the story it seemed they occupied the larger part of the galaxy. ****-
Reclaiming the Stars • [The Stars] • novelette by James E. Gunn [as by James Gunn]
The fourth and final part of a series. Didn’t read it, as I haven’t read the previous parts.
Ready Gas and Pills • short story by Dominica Phetteplace
An inspector is visiting a small town. The local pharmacy has a machine that "prints" medications, and the inspector suspects that it has been illegally tampered with. Nothing is only black and white, though. A pretty good story. But it is funny that not even in science fiction the USA has sensible and functioning health care. ***½
Año Nuevo • novelette by Ray Nayler
Apparently, alien "plants" have appeared on a certain shore. They seem to be based on some kind of colonies which are based on sugar, with different handedness and RNA-like molecules. And then the plants disappear without leaving any trace. A nice story that seems like a prelude for the real story. ***+
The Chartreuse Sky • short story by Alexander Bachilo and and K. A. Teryno
The future Moscow is practically all virtual - everyone sees it differently through personalized virtual reality. A young boy is missing, and his mother is a Luddite who doesn’t use implanted devices so he can’t be instantly tracked. The background and the worldbuilding were very interesting and fascinating, but the overall plot felt almost tucked in. A pretty good story in spite of that. ***½
Super Sprouts • novelette by Ian Creasey
Belongs to a series featuring a couple where the wife is a very skilled DNA engineer and the husband is very good at marketing her inventions. This time they try to develop greens children would eat. That is more difficult than it seems, and they are thinking about a more personal project: a child. Not everything can be left to chance for someone who is a very skilled genetic manipulator. Nice and easy-to-read story, but it was slightly overlong. Not much seems to happen after all. ***½
My Heart is At Capacity • short story by T. J. Berry
An android deeply loves his master and uses all his time to find things that would make her happier. He learns from experience and trains his behavior to seem more natural and appealing for humans and with other androids, too. But whatever he does, his mistress seems unhappy. It is a pretty good story about a very human-like android who still worked within his parameters. ****-
Tin Man • novelette by Brad Aiken and Rick Wilber
A baseball pitcher is in an accident where his throwing hand is practically destroyed. He gets an experimental bionic hand, which is better than the old one. He is soon banned from playing, but that doesn’t matter much: everything collapses and there is fighting, militias, and violence. He spends some time in Canada and returns to the US when things slightly calm down, and plays small-scale baseball. A simple “calm” story about the life of a man. The bionic arm is almost incidental. It is pretty good for a sports story. ****-
Phosphor’s Circle Short story by Annika Barranti Klein
A guide at a zoo becomes convinced that all animals are simulated holograms. A short and fairly amusing story which leaves thing slightly open. ***
Flattering the Flame • novelette by Robert Reed
Humans are approaching an area of space where a very old race is very militaristic and fights ritualistic battles so often and with such ferocity that they rarely need to fight actual battles. Humans are traveling in a gas giant-sized spaceship which they just found from somewhere with some sort of immortal crew (?) (The story apparently belongs to a series I am not familiar with at all, and the lack of back story and general pulpiness of it all made it hard to get into at first). Even a militaristic race isn’t able to resist temptations offered by superior technology. OK story, but the lack of background possibly spoiled it partly for me. ***
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