Robert Silverberg's monthly column is a reflection on re-reading Clifford Simak's classic novel "City". He really makes me want to re-read the book myself. He notes that one should not be put off by the simple, somewhat nostalgic beginning of the story. He finishes his essay with this: "The world in which we live today was born in the grim years of WWII and the atomic explosions that concluded it. Reading City once again, I see it still as one of the finest works of science fiction of its period, a haunting fantasy that is still capable of speaking to us today."

There are several other columns, poems and book reviews. The book column by Paul Di Filippo this time, seemed more interesting than usual with the books it covered and discussion. The story fiction is represented by a novella, three novelettes and one short story. There are, for me, a couple of weak stories here, and KKR's big novella in this issue isn't one of her better ones from my view. There is some good reading here, though.

• Rereading Simak • essay by Robert Silverberg
• Stone to Stone, Blood to Blood • novelette by Gwendolyn Clare
• Arlington • novelette by Jack Skillingstead
• The Ex-Corporal • shortstory by Leah Thomas
• Lost Wax • novelette by Gregory Norman Bossert
• The Application of Hope • [Diving Universe] • novella by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Some brief comments on the stories:

I thought "Stone to Stone, Blood to Blood," was an excellent novelette by Gwendolyn Clare. This is rather too complex to be described briefly. It is a story about two boys, one of whom (Duyi) is half brother to an older sister who is the regent of the planet. They each are the only ones who possess an ability that is of great value to the planet. The regent has had another boy (Feng) bonded to her half-brother as a companion/guard but their relationship grows so that they consider each other as brothers. Duyi wishes to escape and Feng battles/balances his duty and friendship to aid and protect his "brother." I really liked this.

“Arlington,” by Jack Skillingstead, is another good story. A teen-aged boy on a long solo flight gets lost over the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State in a fog bank and a strange cloud he flies into is a gate to an alternate reality. The story jumps back and forth between 1982 when this happened and 2012 when he is 46 years old and dying. There is also a brief but important event in 1997. There are curious things in the world he lands in, and when he escapes back through the cloud things are better but still wrong. I found the story quite intriguing as he tries yet again to get back to his real version of Earth before dying.

“The Ex-Corporal,” by Leah Thomas is a sad story as a young girl and her brother try to take care of their father who has developed epilepsy. When he has a seizure a soldier who is dying, the ex-corporal, transfers into the father's body and the time he stays varies. Things go downhill as time goes on.

Gregory Norman Bossert's "Lost Wax" was much too complex for a novelette. I didn't want to struggle to try and understand what was going on and quickly lost interest.

The novella, “The Application of Hope,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, was another disappointment. This is we are told part of KKR's "Diving Universe." We are given a lot of backstory here which seemed to disrupt the story too much. And again, I was confused with what some of the stuff was all about, probably since I have not read previous stories in this series. Although this is long it felt like an extract from a novel, and I didn't really get caught up in this. The space war going on here didn't interest me and I'll probably avoid these stories in the future. ( )

[a:Kristine Kathryn Rusch|43989|Kristine Kathryn Rusch|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1316664630p2/43989.jpg]'s "The Application of Hope" was the first Diving story I have ever read and I enjoyed it a lot. [a:Jack Skillingstead|2765759|Jack Skillingstead|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg] offers a great piece in "Arlington" that really had me glued to the end. "The Ex-Corporal" from [a:Leah Thomas|6470568|Leah Thomas|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1369533228p2/6470568.jpg] was a good story as well. I just couldnt get into [a:Gregory Norman Bossery|7133741|Gregory Norman Bossery|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg]'s "Lost Wax". So overall a great four star effort from the folks at Asimov's this time out. ( )

[a:Kristine Kathryn Rusch|43989|Kristine Kathryn Rusch|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1316664630p2/43989.jpg]'s "The Application of Hope" was the first Diving story I have ever read and I enjoyed it a lot. [a:Jack Skillingstead|2765759|Jack Skillingstead|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg] offers a great piece in "Arlington" that really had me glued to the end. "The Ex-Corporal" from [a:Leah Thomas|6470568|Leah Thomas|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1369533228p2/6470568.jpg] was a good story as well. I just couldnt get into [a:Gregory Norman Bossery|7133741|Gregory Norman Bossery|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg]'s "Lost Wax". So overall a great four star effort from the folks at Asimov's this time out. ( )