Analog, July/August 2025

“North Station Blues” by David Gerrold

“The First Velodrome on Mars” by Marie Vibbert

“Desert Soul” by David Gullen

“Hidden Achievement” by Shane Tourtellotte

“Patient Was the Doctor” by Victoria N. Shi

“Last Dam Standing” by Dawn Vogel

“If the Algorithms Are Gentle” by Bernie Jean Schiebeling

“Low-Tide Salvage” by Matthew Claxton

“ESRI” by James Dick

“Jennifer Does Pushups” by Joseph Weber

“Imaginary” by Daniel D. Villani

“Your Entry to Paradise^tm Memorial Experience” by Robert Morrell Jr.

“The Marks We Leave” by M. Ian Bell

“Ready For New Arrivals?” by Sean Monaghan

“Under the Moons of Venus: A Tale of a Princess Altivolant” by Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

The narrator of “North Station Blues” by David Gerrold works at an interstellar transfer station on an asteroid orbiting an unstable star. The facility also manufactures valuable objects than contain vacuums within impermeable containers. The star flares during a visit by a wealthy businessman and his entourage, requiring them to seek shelter. The opportunity arises for the narrator to make a deal with the visitor that will benefit both of them.

The author’s style is very smooth and readable, with an enjoyably cynical narrator. The background is interesting, with a great deal of intriguing speculative content. However, the story ends quickly, in an undramatic fashion. This is a novelette that one wishes had been expanded into a novella, in order to realize its full potential.

The protagonist of “The First Velodrome on Mars” by Marie Vibbert is obsessed with building the bicycling racetrack named in the title. He goes so far as to neglect his work, his marriage, and his health.

The main character, who is supposed to be a skilled scientist, often acts in a foolish and immature manner, angrily refusing aid from a rival and putting his own life in danger. If the point is that people should not try to be entirely self-reliant, it could have been conveyed in a subtler way.

“Desert Soul” by David Gullen takes place at a time in the far future when the artificial intelligences that allowed for easy interstellar travel went insane, resulting in the loss of an immense number of lives. A much less efficient and more difficult way of journeying among the stars is still possible, making use of suspended animation. A visitor from space hires a boatman to take her down a river hidden under a desert wilderness, in order to find and destroy the last rogue AI.

This novelette is pure science fiction, but it has the feeling of a tale of sword-and-sorcery. The plot involves an old map, ancient artifacts of great power, a desert full of deadly creatures (created by the AI), and a secluded sanctuary full of danger. The AI is the most interesting character, much more so than the humans. Fans of exotic fantasy adventures will best appreciate this technological variation on the theme.

In “Hidden Achievement” by Shane Tourtellotte, two people separately make use of an online solo roleplaying game that simulates dating. The game becomes more personalized the more they use it, eventually sending them to nearby locations in the real world. Both wonder about the motivations of the mysterious designer behind the game.

The technology involved in the game is highly plausible, and the story could take place in the modern world. The characters have realistic character flaws, but remain sympathetic. The game can be seen as a gentle form of therapy, allowing them to learn about dealing with relationships. Although the resolution of the plot may not be entirely unpredictable, it brings the story to a fully satisfying conclusion.

The narrator of “Patient Was the Doctor” by Victoria N. Shi is a psychologist specializing in end-of-life counseling. He is hired by the government to work with an octopus-like alien, wounded and dying, that was shot down by the military. Meanwhile, the narrator and his wife deal with their struggle to have a child.

These two disparate plotlines come together at the end, in a symbolic fashion. The psychologist is an emotionally unstable character himself, which may be the point of the title’s double meaning. He acts in ways that make it seem unlikely that the government would retain his employment. The alien’s connection to Earth also strains plausibility.

“Last Dam Standing” by Dawn Vogel takes place at a time in the future when ocean levels have increased to an extreme. When the rising water threatens the only remaining dam on a river, the inhabitants of the region contact a retired engineer, living in self-sufficient seclusion in a world where society is breaking down, for help.

The most interesting aspect of this story is the fact that it offers no easy answers to the problem. On the other hand, some readers may find the lack of a full solution frustrating. Either way, this is a realistic story with dramatic action but an anticlimactic ending.

In “If the Algorithms Are Gentle” by Bernie Jean Schiebeling, several artificial intelligences witness a red panda feeding from an abandoned ice cream stand. They learn about the animal as they observe it.

This brief tale can be read as a slice of life set in a world without people. There is little or no plot, so it is best appreciated as a mood piece.

“Low-Tide Salvage” by Matthew Claxton takes place in a future world where rival groups use highly advanced biotechnology against each other in a struggle to control the ecosystem. People who live outside these groups earn extra income by selling artifacts they find from one group to another. The plot deals with a father and daughter fighting to raise one such highly valuable object from the ocean during a heavy storm.

The author creates a short story with the complex background and intricate plot of a much longer work. The scenes of struggle against the sea create a great deal of suspense. There is much speculative technology, all of it imaginative and interesting. The relationship between the groups and the outsiders is an intriguing mixture of disdain, envy, and respect.

The title of “ESRI” by James Dick refers to a probe sent to the surface of Europa, a moon of Jupiter. A previous probe that appeared in an earlier story sank into the satellite’s icy surface after about a month. Much stranger is the fact that multiple replicas of the spacecraft, formed from ice, appeared after the probe vanished. In an attempt to solve the mystery, ESRI is supposed to take samples of the ice and return them to Earth before it disappears like its predecessor. The presence of rival probes from other nations adds complications.

Despite the fact that the author attempts to add human interest in the form of the relationship between the lead scientist on the project and her dying mother, much of this novelette reads like a nonfiction account of a future event. The enigma of the ice statues is interesting, but remains unresolved. An afterword promises another story. Perhaps it would be best for readers to wait until it is available before delving into the series.

The title character in “Jennifer Does Pushups” by Joseph Weber lost both her parents and suffered severe injuries as a teenager in a hovercar accident. During her long, intense, and extremely expensive recovery, physicians discovered that her intestinal lining regrew at an incredibly high rate. Transferring it into the bodies of other people allows them to keep slender and healthy.

As a grown woman, she undergoes multiple surgeries in order to sell her intestinal lining, thus reducing her immense medical debt and allowing her to lead a comfortable life. An encounter with one of her clients threatens to end her source of income.

I have provided a lengthy synopsis because I found the premise fascinating and worthy of detailed discussion. The author is careful to make this biological speculation plausible. In addition to this, the title character is a complex creation, fully developed with multiple characteristics, both admirable and questionable, that make her seem very real. Her dilemma and the way she reacts to it are also believable.

“Imaginary” by Daniel D. Villani begins with the eighteenth-century scientist Herschel experimenting with the spectrum of sunlight and detecting evidence of the existence of invisible infrared light. It then jumps to a scene of a scientist detecting particles with imaginary mass.

There is not much to this very short story other than the comparison between (real) infrared light and (fictional) particles with imaginary mass. The point seems to be that scientists need to be open to things that have not yet been imagined. The work reads like a very lightly fictionalized essay.

Less than two pages long, “Your Entry to Paradise^tm Memorial Experience” by Robert Morrell Jr. describes a descent in a space capsule, part of the heat shield of which is made from the ashes of the father of the woman inside it. The idea is that the light show created by entry into the atmosphere acts as a memorial to the deceased.

I found the premise unique but unlikely. The use of second person narration adds little.

In “The Marks We Leave” by M. Ian Bell, humanoid aliens make changes in human history over an immense length of time, apparently in an attempt to ensure humanity’s survival after an impending cataclysm. Sometimes they create simulacra of people to take the place of their originals. The main character, who has lost a beloved friend in an accident, uses this power to ease the pain of people with similar losses, in a way that goes against the orders of his superiors.

I may have explained the premise badly, as I found parts of the story difficult to follow. The themes of mourning, empathy, and recovery from grief are clear enough, but the speculative content is often opaque.

The aliens are very human, so details like six-chambered hearts and wishing each other “an aromatic day” stick out as awkward attempts to add an exotic touch. The story has emotional appeal, but could use more clarity.

In “Ready For New Arrivals?” by Sean Monaghan, a pair of astronauts tethered together explore a crater on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. One falls into a deep hole. The other struggles to rescue him while remaining alive herself.

The author creates a large number of challenges for the protagonist to face, increasing the suspense. One major plot development, which I have not described in order not to give too much away, is particularly dangerous. It also serves as a deus ex machina during the climax. In this way, it raises the tension but then suddenly reduces it. It also strains credibility in what is otherwise a very realistic tale of survival in deep space.

Whether by accident or design, the novella “Under the Moons of Venus: A Tale of a Princess Altivolant” by Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu is the second story in the issue to feature a cameo appearance by the famous scientist Herschel. In this case, he encounters a fellow who discusses an upcoming transit of Venus across the surface of the sun as seen from Earth. This will settle, once and for all, whether or not Venus has a pair of moons, which have been seen by some observers but not by others. This serves merely as an introduction to the real story, which begins when the man who talks to Herschel translates a manuscript written in hieroglyphics.

It seems that ancient Egyptians were taken to Venus (supposedly by the god Thoth) to dwell in floating cities. Two artificial moons serve to provide oxygen and a protective magnetic field. (A lengthy afterword from the authors explains how this works.)

Against this background, the plot involves the young heir to the throne of one of the cities after the death of her mother, the former queen. She has to deal with pirates, some of whom may be allies rather than enemies, a treacherous regent and his minions, and the possibility that the protective moons may fail, making it necessary to return to Earth.

This is an action-packed, swashbuckling yarn, firmly in the tradition of the planetary adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as explicitly stated in the authors’ afterword. Despite attempts to justify the story’s rather outrageous premise in scientific terms, it reads much more like science fantasy of the sword-and-planet variety than hard science fiction. Readers nostalgic for pulp adventure fiction set on exotic worlds will best enjoy it.

Victoria Silverwolf wasn’t sure whether to refer to Herschel as William, Frederick William, or Friedrich Wilhelm (usage varies), so she just used his last name.