by Rich Horton
"I see,” he said again, softer this time.
"Are you cross with us?"
John waited a little while before answering. “I should be, I suppose. But really, I'm not. You're probably right: I would have carried on. And given what I know now—given the memories I have—I'm glad this part of me didn't."
"Then it was the right thing to do?"
"It was a white lie. There are worse things."
"Thank you, John."
"I guess the next time you meet someone like me—some other sentient being engaged on that quest—you won't have to lie, will you?"
"Not now, no."
"Then we'll let it be. I'm cool with the way things turned out.” John was about to step outside, but then something occurred to him. He fought to keep the playful expression from his face. “But I can't let you get away without at least doing one final favour for me. I know it's a lot to ask after you've done so much..."
"Whatever it is, we will strive to do our best."
John pointed across the mirror-smooth surface of the plateau, to the circling line of distant pilgrims. “I'm going to step outside in a moment, onto Pavonis Mons. But I don't want to scare the living daylights out of them by just walking out of thin air with no warning."
"What did you have in mind?"
John was still pointing. “You're going to make something appear before I do. Given your abilities, I don't think it will tax you very much."
"What is it that you would like?"
"A white piano,” John said. “But not just any old piano. It has to be a Bösendorfer grand. I was one once, remember?"
"But this one would be smaller, we take it?"
"Yes,” John said, nodding agreeably. “A lot smaller. Small enough that I can sit at the keyboard. So you'd better put a stool by it as well."
Swift machinery darted through the air, quick as lightning. A piano assumed startling solidity, and then a red-cushioned stool. Across the plateau, one or two pilgrims had already observed its arrival. They were gesticulating excitedly, and the news was spreading fast.
"Is that all?"
John tapped the glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “There's one final thing. By the time I reach that stool, I need to be able to play the piano. I made music before, but that was different. Now I need to do it with my fingers, the old way. Think you can oblige?"
"We have much knowledge of music. The necessary neural scripting can be implemented by the time you arrive at the Bösendorfer. There may be a slight headache..."
"I'll deal with it."
"It only remains to ask ... is there anything in particular you want to play?"
"Actually,” John said, stretching his fingers in readiness for the performance, “there is one song I had in mind. It's about Mars, as it happens."
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CONTRIBUTORS
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MICHAEL SWANWICK is one of the most acclaimed science fiction and fantasy writers of his generation. He has received a Hugo Award for short fiction five times in six years—an unprecedented accomplishment. He has also received the Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards, and his work has been translated and published throughout the world. His most recent novel is Bones of the Earth. Swanwick lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Marianne Porter.
TOM PURDOM started reading science fiction in 1950, when the big science fiction boom of the 1950s was just getting started, and sold his first story in 1957, just before he turned twenty-one. His bibliography includes sales to Don Wollheim's Ace Double series, John W. Campbell's Analog, and H.L. Gold's Galaxy. In recent years he has been writing short stories and novelettes which have mostly appeared in Asimov's. He and his wife Sara live in downtown Philadelphia, the city he happened to land in over fifty years ago, after a nomadic childhood as a Navy brat. On “Bank Run” he noted that the sources for the background include “an interest in economics that goes back to the early sixties, twenty-five years of reading The Economist and Barron's, my experiences as a small investor, my experiences rehabbing two city houses and owning a rental property, my work as a freelance writer with a friend who started his own company, and all the opportunities to observe people interacting with money that you encounter in a big city."
DOUGLAS LAIN is a fiction writer living in Portland, Oregon. His first book, a collection entitled Last Week's Apocalypse, was published by Night Shade Books in early 2006. On the “Coffee Cup” story he says, “It's obviously a meditation on September 11th, but it also ended up having a sort of spiritual or transcendental message. I can't decide if that makes the story escapist crap or not."
JAMES PATRICK KELLY has had an eclectic writing career. He has written novels, short stories, essays, reviews, poetry, plays and planetarium shows. His books include Burn, Strange But Not a Stranger, Think Like A Dinosaur and other stories, Wildlife, Heroines, Look Into The Sun, Freedom Beach and Planet of Whispers. He won the World Science Fiction Society's Hugo Award twice: in 1996, for his novelette “Think Like a Dinosaur,” and in 2000, for his novelette, “Ten to the Sixteenth to One.” In 2004 Jim brought an unfinished draft of “The Edge of Nowhere” to the Rio Hondo Writers’ Workshop in Taos, New Mexico and finished the story while at the workshop. He is grateful to his colleagues for pointing out the flaws in the story that arose due to its hasty composition. Several rewrites later, he submitted it to Asimov's where it was published in 2005, marking his twenty-first consecutive appearance in the June issue of that magazine.
JOE HALDEMAN first won the Hugo Award for his novel The Forever War. His work includes the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel The Hemingway Hoax and the acclaimed Worlds Trilogy. He has won a total of three Nebula Awards and four Hugo Awards. A Vietnam veteran who was wounded, Joe Hadleman teaches writing at M.I.T. and lives part-time in Florida with his wife, Gay.
SUSAN PALWICK is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has published two novels with Tor, Flying in Place and The Necessary Beggar. A third novel, Shelter, is forthcoming in 2007. “The Fate of Mice” is the title story of a short-story collection which will also appear in 2007, from Tachyon Publications.
HOWARD WALDROP, who was born in Mississippi and now lives in Austin, Texas, is one of the most iconoclastic writers working today. His highly original books include the novels Them Bones and A Dozen Tough Jobs, and the collections Howard Who?, All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past, Night of the Cooters, and Going Home Again. He won the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards for his novelette “The Ugly Chickens."
LEAH BOBET was born and lives in Toronto, Canada with a garden, a computer, and many books. She studies Linguistics part-time at the University of Toronto, edits at Ideomancer Speculative Fiction, and works at Bakka-Phoenix Books, Canada's oldest science fiction bookstore. During the last two decades, ROBERT REED has produced more than a dozen novels and approximately 150 published works of short fiction. He has become a fixture both in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Asimov's Science Fiction, and he was a frequent contributor to the wonderful and much-missed Sci Fiction. Reed has been nominated for five Hugos, as well as one Nebula and one World Fantasy Award. His most recent novel is The Well of Stars. Reed lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife and young daughter. His typical day is built from long stretches of laziness punctuated with moments of furious motion and the occasional workable page. As far as Reed can remember, “Finished” began more as a mood piece than a plot line. Working on the opening scene, he knew absolutely nothing about the characters or their motivations. By the end, he felt slightly more informed. Certain elements of what happen in the story were a surprise to him, and hopefully they will be to new readers as well.
JAMES VAN PELT teaches high school and college English in western Colorado. He has been publishing fiction since 1990, with numerous appearances in most of the major science fiction and fantasy magazines, including Talebones, Realms of Fantasy, Analog, Asimov's Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Sci Fiction, and
many anthologies, including several “year's best” collections. His first collection of stories, Strangers and Beggars was released in 2002 and was recognized as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. His second collection, The Last of the O-Forms and Other Stories, was a finalist for the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award. In his own words: “The Inn at Mount Either” really came about because I realized I'd never written a story about how much I love my wife. I asked my wife if her parents had considered a name for her other than the one they gave her (Tammy), and it turned out that “Stephanie” was a strong contender. So, Stephanie appeared in the story, and I knew exactly how Dorian felt about her. Once I know my character's motivation, the rest of the writing becomes so much easier."
MARY ROSENBLUM, a graduate of the 1988 Clarion West writers workshop, first published in Asimov's Science Fiction in 1990 with “For a Price,” one of her Clarion stories. Since then, she has published more than sixty stories, as well as three novels: The Drylands, Chimera, and Stone Garden. Her new novel, Horizon, will be out shortly. She won the Compton Crook award for Best First Novel, The Asimov's Readers Award, and has been a Hugo Award finalist. She also publishes mysteries as Mary Freeman. When she is not writing, she trains dogs in tracking, sheep herding, and obedience work and grows all her fruits and vegetables on country acreage in the Pacific Northwest. You can find more information at her website: www.maryrosenblum.com. About her story, she writes: “'Search Engine’ is meant to be a scary story. It's barely Science Fiction in that most of the tracking and labeling technology that I described in the story already exists, at least in prototype form. What will we give up in the name of convenience?"
STEPHEN LEIGH, who also writes fantasy as “S.L. Farrell,” is a Cincinnati author who has published twenty novels and well over thirty short stories. His most recent book is Heir of Stone from DAW Books. He maintains a web site at: www.farrellworlds.com. Of “You, by Anonymous,” Steve writes: “Mike Resnick had asked me to contribute a story for his anthology I, Alien, the theme of which was stories told from the first person viewpoint of the alien. With theme anthologies, I always like to push the envelope of the theme a bit. I'd been cogitating on what an unusual alien intelligence might be, and this story emerged after reading an article in Science News. It also seemed best told from a second person viewpoint, not first person. I finished the story and sent it off to Mike, telling him that, hey, second person is just first person once removed. Mike insisted there had to be at least one “I” in the story ... and so there is. See if you can find it. It's the first story I've ever sold in second person; honestly, it may be the first thing other than a few experimental pieces I've ever written in second person. It's also the shortest story I've ever sold in my entire career ... and it's become my favorite piece to use for readings."
DANIEL KAYSEN made his fiction debut in Interzone in 2002. Since then his short stories—ranging from horror to romantic comedy and back again—have appeared in The Third Alternative, Strange Horizons, ChiZine, Ideomancer, and The Mammoth Book of Tales from the Road, among others. He has also written satirical journalism and has a screenplay stuck in Development Hell. His resumé includes a Research Fellowship in psychophysics, a strange couple of years editing train timetables, and managing a second-hand bookshop. He lives in England, two roads from the sea, and can be found online at www.angelfire.com/d20/danielkaysen. “The Jenna Set” came out of his continuing love/hate relationship with both computers and the telephone, as well as a happy acceptance of the limits of human individuality. The final version of the story owes a great deal to the editorial nurture of Jed Hartman at Strange Horizons, where it first appeared.
ALASTAIR REYNOLDS was born in Barry, South Wales in 1966. After studying astronomy, he worked for twelve years as a scientist within the European Space Agency in the Netherlands. Although he turned full-time writer a couple of years ago, he still lives in Holland, where he is married to his wife Josette (who's French, just to confuse matters). His first published short story was in Interzone in 1990, since when he's published around thirty more pieces in various markets. His first novel, Revelation Space, appeared in the UK in 2000 and was shortlisted for the BSFA and Clarke awards. His second novel, Chasm City, won the BSFA award in 2002. He is now at work on his seventh novel. This year will see the publication of two short story collections: Galactic North and Zima Blue and Other Stories. In his words: “Understanding Space and Time” was inspired by the title of a physics lecture series shown on BBC2 in the nineteen-seventies, as part of the Open University home education scheme. I read an early version of this story (a mere 1,500 words!) at the UK's Eastercon in 2001, but I didn't finish it until 2005. I had to take my laptop with me on our honeymoon to finish it, but I think my wife's forgiven me now..."
RICH HORTON is a software engineer in St. Louis. He is a contributing editor to Locus, for which he does short fiction reviews and occasional book reviews; and to Black Gate, for which he does a continuing series of essays about SF history. He also contributes book reviews to Fantasy Magazine, and to many other publications.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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"Triceratops Summer” by Michael Swanwick. Copyright © 2005 by Michael Swanwick. First published in Amazon Shorts. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Bank Run” by Tom Purdom. Copyright © 2005 by Tom Purdom. First published in Asimov's, October-November 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"A Coffee Cup/Alien Invasion Story” by Douglas Lain. Copyright © 2005 by Douglas Lain. First published in Strange Horizons, February 7, 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Edge of Nowhere” by James Patrick Kelly. Copyright © 2005 by James Patrick Kelly. First published in Asimov's, June 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Heartwired” by Joe Haldeman. Copyright © 2005 by Joe Haldeman. First published in Nature, March 24, 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Fate of Mice” by Susan Palwick. Copyright © 2005 by Susan Palwick. First published in Asimov's, January 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The King of Where-I-Go” by Howard Waldrop. Copyright © 2005 by Howard Waldrop. First published in Sci Fiction, December 7, 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Policeman's Daughter” by Wil McCarthy. Copyright © 2005 by Wil McCarthy. First published in Analog, June 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Bliss” by Leah Bobet. Copyright © 2005 by Leah Bobet. First published in On Spec, Winter 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Finished” by Robert Reed. Copyright © 2005 by Robert Reed. First published in Asimov's, September 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Inn at Mount Either” by James Van Pelt. Copyright © James van Pelt. First published in Analog, May 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Search Engine” by Mary Rosenblum. Copyright © Mary Rosenblum. First published in Analog, September 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"You, by Anonymous” by Stephen Leigh. Copyright © Stephen Leigh. First published in I, Alien. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Jenna Set” by Daniel Kaysen. Copyright © Daniel Kaysen. First published in Strange Horizons, March 14, 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Understanding Space and Time” by Alastair Reynolds. Copyright © Alastair Reynolds. First published in Novacon 2005 Program Book. Reprinted by permission of the author.
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Table of Contents
The Year in Science Fiction by Rich Horton
Triceratops Summer by Michael Swanwick
Bank Run by Tom Purdom
A Coffee Cup/Alien Invasion Story by Douglas Lain
The Edge of Nowhere by James Patrick Kelly
Heartwired by Joe Haldeman
; The Fate of Mice by Susan Palwick
The King of Where-I-Go by Howard Waldrop
The Policeman's Daughter by Wil McCarthy
Bliss by Leah Bobet
Finished by Robert Reed
The Inn at Mount Either by James Van Pelt
Search Engine by Mary Rosenblum
"You” by Anonymous by Stephen Leigh
The Jenna Set by Daniel Kaysen
Understanding Space and Time by Alastair Reynolds
CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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