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Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
April 2002

This month's issue of Asimov's features a Reflections column by Robert Silverberg who, after going through a struggle to get his computer printer working again, grumbles at 'smart-alec' programmers who insert 'Easter eggs' and other stuff into computer software in order to 'bite' at innocent computer users.

Stories featured in this issue are:

"Ring Rats" by R. Garcia y Robertson. An exciting story that throws together two unlikely characters; a young girl who hires herself to transport a cargo ship and a crewmember of a liner who witnesses a pirate hijacking said cargo ship. They get thrown together and must struggle to survive and escape recapture.
"At the Money" by Richard Wadholm. A story that looks at a possible future and culture for financial speculators in an exotic minerals market. Details on such speculative dealings get mixed up with a story of people trying to unload strange elements and isotopes found in a the remains of a supernove found on a wrecked ship.
"When the Night is Cold (and the Land is Dark)" by Peter T. Garratt. An interesting story set in an alternate history where Emperor Arthur rules Britannia. Spring is late and a cold winter is grips the land. An Enchantress is given the task of finding out why the world is still cold but events may overtake her even as she discovers the reason for the overlong winter.
"Drumlin Boiler" by Jeff Duntemann. In this amazing, inventive story set on a world where usual metal is scarce, people depend on a strange material known as 'drumlin'. Drumlin is generated by drumming several 'drums' in a sequence to make a known (or unknown) alien object. In a race between two trains, one made of metal, one made of drumlin, the mainly unknown features of drumlin will become important and change the society on the planet.
"Hanuman" by Kage Baker. A story set in Baker's Company stories about historians who travel through time, this one has one cyborg who is recovering from a nearly fatal historical trip who meets up with, for all appearances, an intelligent Australopithecus who strikes up a conversation that ultimately leads to background history to why they are they way they are.

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Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine April 2002

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
April 2002