A great ezine that contains a mixture of new and reprinted science fiction stories. Edited by Mike Resnick (a fantastic writer himself), it is worth a read.
Fiction
• "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress. 1985.
"So I’m filling the catsup bottles at the end of the night, and I’m listening to the radio Charlie has stuck up on top of a movable panel in the ceiling, when the door opens and one of them walks in. I know right away it’s one of them—no chance to make a mistake about that—even though it’s got on a nice suit and a brim hat like Humphrey Bogart used to wear in Casablanca."
• "Sisters" by Nick T. Chan
"In the still moments before dawn, when all is as dark as the bottom of the sea, I turn my head from my sister and dream—and in my dream we are not conjoined. We are not fused from breast to stomach. I am not destined to cast spells until Isabella dies. Instead, I walk straight. I do not crab-scuttle with her. Alone and proud, I am with the love of my life. When I wake, I can’t remember his face."
• "Correspondence With a Breeder" by Janis Ian. 2005
"I am hoping we can communicate via satelnet
• "The Prayer Ladder" by Marina J. Lostetter
"The ladder stretches up and up before me. Into the sky, past the clouds—past the sun, perhaps. I cannot see the top, but I know it ends in Heaven."
• "Amazingland" by Tom Gerencer
"In retrospect, what happened next was probably predictable, but hindsight only counts if time runs backwards, and in that case, there’d be funeral cake, and restroom visits would be frightening."
• "Good News From the Vatican" by Robert Silverberg. 1971.
"This is the morning everyone has been waiting for, when at last the robot cardinal is to be elected pope. There can no longer be any doubt of the outcome. The conclave has been deadlocked for many days between the obstinate advocates of Cardinal Asciuga of Milan and Cardinal Carciofo of Genoa, and word has gone out that a compromise is in the making"
• "I Am Lonely" by Ed McKeown
"I am lonely. I have been so for a long time. This all started so differently when I was shiny and new, the height of human science and innovation. Everyone loved me. Humanity would speak to the universe and to time itself through my high-tech hull. I was Hermes, messenger from Earth, come to carry the word 'We are here.'"
• "Nekropolis" by Maureen McHugh 1994.
"I have been with my present owner since I was twenty-one. That was pretty long ago, I am twenty-six now. I was a good student, I got good marks, so I was purchased to oversee cleaning and supplies. This is much better than if I were a pretty girl and had to rely on looks. Then I would be used up in a few years. I’m rather plain, with a square jaw and unexceptional hair."
• "Garuda Superior" by Jeff Calhoun.
"The garuda climbed high and banked once more before swooping in to release its spear like a guided missile. The monoceratops kicked up a dust cloud in a futile effort to escape. The spear plunged into the horned reptile’s flank and through it to its innards, knocking the herbivore on its back. Six feet pawed the air helplessly before falling eternally still."
• "The Pro" by Edmond Hamilton. 1964.
"“God, yes.” Burnett moved his shoulders, half grinning. “Creepy, and proud. I invented that thing. Thirty years ago come August, in my ‘Stardream’ novel, I designed her and built her and launched her and landed her on Mars, and got a cent a word for her from the old Wonder Stories.”"
• "Dark Universe (Part 4)" by Daniel F. Galouye. 1961.
"Hardly aware Mogan was no longer with him, Jared welcomed the intimate security of the passageway’s walls as they closed in about him once more. The zip-hiss that had accounted for the Zivver leader’s absence was only an insignificant memory against his greater dismay."
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