Story summaries written between 1991-1996.
Judith Moffett. Tiny Tango.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, February 1989.
Botanist with AIDS, meltdown of nuclear plant.
Charles Sheffield. Out of Copyright.
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1989.
Big businesses draft (a la NFL) for cloning rights to long- dead geniuses.
Mike Resnick. For I have Touched the Sky.
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1989.
Another Kirinyaga story – young girl wants to learn, but the old ways are powerful, and unforgiving.
Gregory Benford. Alphas.
Originally in : Amazing Stories, March 1989.
First contact with indifferent aliens with plans for Venus, which involve taking out the core. The hero, with ingenuity rarely seen since the early days of Asimov, manages to make his escape – diagrams supplied.
Connie Willis. At the Rialto.
Originally in : OMNI, October 1989.
Quantum Physics at a convention.
Kathe Koja. Skin Deep.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July 1989.
Sex with a very icky alien – a consuming passion.
Steven Popkes. The Egg.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1989.
Young boy finds an alien egg on a deserted hulk in the bay. His bodyguard/friend is one mean dude.
Robert Silverberg. Tales from the Venia Woods.
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1989.
Alternate History with a still-thriving Roman Empire.
William King. Visiting the dead.
Originally in : Interzone, March/April 1989.
Aged moon-dweller returns to a much-changed Earth on the brink of war.
Bruce Sterling. Dori Bangs.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, September 1989.
Alternate History with a rock and roll angle based on a wife for rock journalist Lester Bangs.
Lucius Shepard. The Ends of the Earth.
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1989.
A traveller finds himself in Guatemala – and gets involved in a very strange, high odds, mind-bending duel.
Nancy Kress. The Price of Oranges.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1989.
Harry Kramer nips back in time from a particularly unpleasant future to get oranges for his friend, and a husband for his grand-daughter.
S.P. Somtow. Lottery Night.
Originally in :Myth, Folklore & Archetype – the Book of World Fantasy Convention 1989.
Bangkok family down on their luck rely on Ancestor Worship to bring them luck in the national lottery.
Alexander Jablokov. A Deeper Sea.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, October 1989.
Russians and sentient whales head for Jupiter.
Michael Swanwick. The Edge of the World.
Originally in : Full Spectrum 2.
Three adolescents go to the End of the World and start climbing down it.
Megan Lindholm. Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1989.
Spinster falls for madcap magician who inconveniences an enemy with an Incessant Rectal Itch spell.
Alan Brennert. The Third Sex.
Originally in : Pulphouse 3.
The androgynous hero/ine struggles with gender identity.
Neal Barrett Jr. Winter on the Belle Fourche.
Originally in : The New Frontier.
A trapper in injun country in winter-time comes across prim Miss Emily Dickinson, who takes away his stock of kindling/lavatory paper – the paper on which he was apt to write down his poetry whenever the muse took him.
Robert Silverberg. Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1989.
Francisco Pizzaro and Socrates are reconstructed digitally.
Robert Sampson. Relationships.
Originally in : Strange Plasma No. 1.
Hadley Jackson finds his past lovers reappearing – rather off-putting.
John Varley. Just Another Perfect Day.
Originally in : The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1989.
Martians and man with memory-loss. Subsequently published online on Lightspeed Magazine in August 2011 here.
Janet Kagan. The Loch Moose Monster.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1989.
Mama Jason on the frontier planter Mirabile, with a loch with a monster of a sort.
Brian Stableford. The Magic Bullet.
Originally in : Interzone, May/June 1989.
Female immortality.
Avram Davidson. The Odd Old Bird.
Originally in : Weird Tales.
Roast Archaeopteryx for dinner.
John Crowley. Great Work of Time.
Originally in : Novelty.
A time traveller sets out to collect a stamp destined to become rare and valuable, and ends up in a labyrinthine convolution, involving Cecil Rhodes.