Sheila Williams opens the issue with an essay "Poet of Mars" reflecting on the recent death of Ray Bradbury and all he meant to her and the world as an inspiration. Robert Silverberg has an extended essay on the relationship between established and up and coming writers, in particular John Cheever and John Updike as he begins the piece. I found it pretty interesting. There are also other columns, a couple poems and book reviews.

Six stories represent the fiction content of the issue, two novelettes and four short stories. I liked that the sound of two of the titles struck me as Bradburyish: "They Shall Salt the Earth With Seeds of Glass" and "The Family Rocket." Coincidence? Overall I thought this was a weak issue. The stories are:

They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass • by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Family Rocket • by James Van Pelt
Over There • by Will McIntosh
Mithridates, He Died Old • by Nancy Kress
The Legend of Troop 13 • by Kit Reed
Hotel • by Suzanne Palmer

Some brief comments:

"They Shall Salt the Earth With Seeds of Glass" by Alaya Dawn Johnson is a story to really get involved in. The topic will be controversial for some readers. Earth is under the boot heel of a very alien alien invasion. The sister of the narrator wants/needs an abortion which they cannot obtain in the village where they live. (The aliens seem to target Doctors and healers among their random nastiness) After an excellent set up, the story follows the sisters' journey away in which they are captured by the alien's drones and later liberated by resistance fighters. There is much more depth to the story than this brief overview. Despite some big picture things not making a lot of sense, I thought the story was well told. I could see this one developed into a novel.

"The Family Rocket" by James Van Pelt is a short story I didn't care for. Mildly interesting idea with an extremely unreliable narrator that spoils whatever enjoyment there might have been.

Whoa. Will McIntosh's "Over There" is a wildly different story. Three students are doing an experiment which splits reality in half apparently. The story itself splits in two with two columns to the page simultaneously relating what is happening in each side of the split world. Each side is cognizant of the other, seeing and feeling both sides at once. Ai-yee I think my head started to explode. Despite trying hard I had trouble keeping track of the two stories. I just could not keep them straight and characters were dying on one side or the other. The story comes to an end but it doesn't have a finish. Very strange. For me the experiment didn't work - for others it might.

"Mithridates, He Died Old" by Nancy Kress had some mild interest for me. Margaret has been run over by a car and apparently suffered severe brain damage that has left her in a coma and more or less without hope. She is given an experimental drug that rebuilds connections. It also seems to have a strong effect on memories and as the drug goes to work she revisits events in her past as a mother and teacher where she has perhaps made some poor decisions and she is able to confront things and see alternatives. She wakes up at the end.

"The Legend of Troop 13" by Kit Reed is not a science fiction story. I think it tries to be a funny horror story, but it is neither funny or horrific. I'd just call it stupid. A real dud.

As a general rule I dislike "funny" mixed with my science fiction. I just don't think it works very well. I've certainly read some that has, but most fall flat for me like the "Legend of Troop 13" story. Suzanne Palmer goes for humorous science fiction in "Hotel" and this time the comedy more or less works. I'll never be a fan of this sub-genre but the spy vs. spy vs. spy vs. spy vs. the Martian cops in a Martian hotel where it seems everyone wants to kill somebody had some entertainment value. ( )