Summaries written somewhere between 1995-1999
Pat Murphy. Rachel in Love.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1987
A scientist writes his dead daughter’s brain pattern onto one of the chimps he has been raising and studying. After his death the chimp, to all intents and purposes the daughter, battles for her survival.
Bruce McAllister. Dream Baby.
Originally in : In the Field of Fire (Tor).
Medic in ‘Nam starts to suffer from premonitions regarding her comrades, and is transferred to a special unit with others with similar talents.
Bruce Sterling. Flowers of Edo.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, May 1987
A steampunk? Tokyo with electricity impacting on the society.
Kate Wilhelm. Forever Yours, Anna.
Originally in : Omni, July 1987
A graphologist gets involved, intimately, with a love affair across time.
Alexander Jablokov. At the Cross-Time Jaunters’ Ball.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1987
“..traces the intricate machinations of a group of immortals who live in the interstices between the many worlds of possibility..” – couldn’t have said it better myself, Gardner.
Walter Jon Williams. Dinosaurs.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1987
Interplanetary peace negotiations.
Paul J. McAuley. The Temporary King.
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1987
A rural village, effectively cut off from the outside hi-tech world, is profoundly effected by a visitor from that outside world.
Neal Barrett Jr. Perpetuity Blues.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, May 1987
Maggie’s dad disappears on a visit to the 7-11 one evening, and her mother dies, leaving her to live with Aunt Grace (obsessed with espionage) and Uncle Ned (don’t ever sit on his lap, girl). Oral Blue, a colourful local, manages to become (became) big in olives, and saves the day.
Ursula K. Le Guin. Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight?
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1987.
Young Myra falls out of the sky into a very strange dreamland, and is befriended by coyotes, chipmunks and other spiritual animals.
Robert Silverberg. The Pardoner’s Tale.
Originally in : Playboy, June 1987
Entities, aliens with attitude, take over Earth, leaving many of its inhabitants doomed to forced-labour of one kind or another. ‘The Pardoner’ has the electronic wherewithal to assist a lucky few to avoid the worst fates.
James Patrick Kelly. The Glass Cloud.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July 1987
Seven years after first contact, an artist is enabled to build his dream : an enormous glass cloud.
Octavia E. Butler The Evening and the Morning and the Night.
Originally in : Omni, May 1987
DGD, a disease that causes self-mutilation, is hereditary. Lynn is double-DGD (both parents had it) and appears to have few prospects.
Howard Waldrop. Night of the Cooters.
Originally in : Omni, April 1987
HG Wells’ Martian visitors land in Texas, and some good ol’ boys give them more trouble than they can handle.
Pat Cadigan. Angel.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, May 1987
Angel is an outcast from another planet, who befriends a human heamaphrodite. Angel is finally hunted down by a fellow ET, leaving the hero/ine to find other such outcasts.
Lucius Shepard. Shades.
Originally in : In the Field of Fire (Tor)
Tom Puleo returns to ‘Nam to cover a story regarding a ghost-like reappearance of a notorious GI.
Karen Joy Fowler. The Faithful Companion at Forty.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July 1987
The Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick and Displacement Theory.
Joseph Manzione. Candle in a Cosmic Wind.
Originally in : Analog, August 1987
Avdotya Nazarovna struggles in a barren post-catastrophe environment, to come across duck-like aliens, the true architects of the disaster that has befallen Earth.
Ian Watson. The Emir’s clock.
Originally in : Other Edens, 1987
An antique clock in a church offers a glimpse of a possible future dominated by intelligent machines.
Susan Palwick. Ever After.
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, November 1987
A fairy tale – half Brothers Grimm, half Bram Stoker.
Michael Flynn. The Forest of Time.
Originally in : Analog, June 1987
An Alternate History/Multiverse view of the States in Pennsylvania. A good knowledge of American history probably required to get the most from this.
Dean Whitlock. The Million-Dollar Wound.
Originally in : The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1987
In a future US-Mex? conflict wounded GIs are patched up and returned to the front, even after major injury.
R. Garcia y Robertson. The Moon of Popping Trees.
Originally in : Amazing Stories, September 1987
Native Americans on a reservation are led by a young girls with visions to a different plane of existence.
Neal Barrett Jr. Diner.
Originally in : Omni, November 1987
America under the rule of Communist China.
Gene Wolfe. All the Hues of Hell.
Originally in : The Universe (Bantam)
A organic robot, and two humans (one psychotic?) locate a shadow world which may be Hades. Or something else.
Michael McDowell. Halley’s Passing.
Originally in : The Twilight Zone Magazine, July 1987
Horror/thriller about supernatural psycho of extreme longevity and nastiness and anal retentiveness.
Orson Scott Card. America
Originally in : Asimov’s
A young man and very old Amazonian virgin come together to create a saviour for the Americas.
Michael Bishop. For Thus Do I Remember Carthage.
Originally in : The Universe (Bantam)
Technically advanced Roman Empire has to face the facts of evolution.
Kim Stanley Robinson Mother Goddess of the World
Originally in : Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction, October 1987
Climbing Everest without oxygen, but with a sherpa with abilities similar to the ATV Champions.
Rachel in Love is the MVP of this volume.