Asimov’s, May/June 2025
“The Hunt for Lemuria 7” by Allen M. Steele
“Quantum Ghosts (Part II)” by Nancy Kress (serial, not reviewed)
“The Passage” by John Richard Trtek
“The Fight Goes On” by Harry Turtledove
“The Tin Man’s Ghost” by Ray Nayler
“Trial by Harry” by Michael Libling
“In the Forest of Mechanical Trees” by Steve Rasnic Tem
“The Humming of Tamed Dragons” by A.M. Dellamonica
“Woolly” by Carrie Vaughn
Reviewed by Mina
The stories may have been fewer in number in this issue but the quality was not reduced. This issue features a collection of stories where motive is the driving force.
“The Hunt for Lemuria 7” by Allen M. Steele is a sequel to “Lemuria 7 Is Missing.” The story is a mosaic of various sources piecing together the efforts to find the missing crew of six like a lunar Mary/Marie Celeste. Merlin Feng is determined to find out what happened to his mentor and his mentor’s daughter and former girlfriend, Amelia. He designs robotic rovers with advanced AI systems to investigate the site of their disappearance and other sites where Transient Lunar Phenomena have been observed.
Five years after the disappearance, Amelia turns up at the Great Wall of China. All she can say is that she has been sent back to warn others not to set foot on the moon. However, the mission to land the rovers on the moon goes ahead. Before all the rovers go dark, one sends images of structures that seem to be an observation post for aliens. Merlin talks to Amelia then decides to join a Space Force expedition to the moon.
The story just about stands on its own. There’s no real ending, suggesting that the author is planning another sequel. I prefer stories that truly stand on their own.
“In the Forest of Mechanical Trees” by Steve Rasnic Tem is a thoughtful and thought-provoking story about a world living with climate change and other environmental ravages. An elderly couple run a theme park in the ever-growing Arizona desert. The park includes trees that soak up carbon dioxide and sculptures to commemorate the growing list of extinct species. The park’s staff are determined in their fight against the elements and it’s curiously not a depressing story. But it is a sobering reminder of the direction humanity is heading in.
“The Fight Goes On” by Harry Turtledove imagines a Sarajevo in 1914 filled with time travellers: some trying to stop the murder of Franz Ferdinand; some trying to ensure it happens. We follow the attempts of one time traveller. It was well-written and amusing but didn’t grab me.
In “The Tin Man’s Ghost” by Ray Nayler, we meet Sylvia Aldstatt again: the agent who can speak with the dead with the help of alien technology. We are in the McCarthy era but in a world changed by the use of technology reverse engineered from a crashed flying saucer. Sylvia’s mission this time is to talk to the ghost of a robot (also referred to as a war machine or the Tin Man by others, as a “mechanical” by itself). Sylvia discovers that all mechanicals were given the memories of one man, Alvin Greenly, but that they diverged over time. And she discovers that mechanicals are capable of courage and sacrifice. Sylvia also meets Oppenheimer but that is not the main focus of the story; the main focus is on stopping, or at least slowing down, the development of the atomic bomb. The mechanical, Bill, worms its way into our hearts, giving the last line of the story its full poignancy.
It’s an excellent novelette that stands on its own, even if we revisit familiar characters. A cautionary tale that tells us: “One of the awful things about technology is that it destroys distance. It allows us to know things we have no business knowing, go places we have no business going, and do things we have no business doing.”
“The Humming of Tamed Dragons” by A.M. Dellamonica follows Huan following the progress of an AI she co-developed as it is put on a mission at an airport. The aim is to hold back and see if the AI successfully stops a child being kidnapped by their father. But remembering the trauma of her own kidnapping as a child makes it hard for Huan to hold back. The AI has been programmed to think and act like a child to gain the trust of the child it is protecting. But it must learn to make independent decisions in moments of crisis. An opportune mishap helps to distract Huan. A simple but entertaining tale.
“Trial by Harry” by Michael Libling is ultimately a horror story. A new drug is on trial for older people in a vegetative state. Harry is visited faithfully by his two surviving children as he slowly comes back up from the bottom of a deep well. We see his memories as he recovers them and slowly we realise that Harry was not a good man. The title takes on a chilling double meaning as you reach the end of the story.
“Woolly” by Carrie Vaughn is a warm tale. Joy runs a rescue farm for abandoned, genetically modified, mini-woolly mammoths. When the government decides to put them all down, Joy needs to win more time to fight the decision in court. The tale ends on a light note, with the reader rooting for Joy and her charges.
In “The Passage” by John Richard Trtek, a ship is transporting just one passenger, Sanjay. He is a scientist who will travel from his destination port to the world of the aliens who are helping humans repair the damage caused by climate change on Earth. Sanjay is watched by the captain, Carrington, as well as an evaluator, Asra. It is her job to confirm whether Sanjay is ready for the journey to another world. Although it is Sanjay who is the “pilgrim”, Asra and Carrington are also changed by the passage and their dealings with each other. The world-building is very good and the story may seem like a quiet pool but it has unexpected depths. Even the motives of the alien “benefactors” bear thinking about. A pleasure to read.