In "A Glimpse of Eternity" by Jonathan Ruland, ever since his wife’s death, Mike Werner has been a man with a vision: to put a ring of light, made of diamond dust, around the earth.  It will be a symbol of hope, a symbol of love, his last great contribution to Art.  But before he can complete his vision, he must overcome corrupt politicians, protesters, and even his own closest friend. 
 
The story aimed high, and for the most part, it succeeded, although it dropped down into heavy-handed telling in a few places.  Mike’s character was well-drawn, and I could feel the compulsion that drove him to create his masterpiece. 
 
"Dyson’s Planet" by Gary Madden could be the writer’s rulebook on how not to write a short story.  From the first modifier-laden sentence to the final, meaningless ending, the story left me with two questions: Why should I even care? and How did this get published?    Not exactly the questions you want to linger once the story is finished… 
 
Phil Dyson’s spacecraft has malfunctioned.  He’s crash-landed on a desert planet. "Apparently," the author tells us, "the sole native inhabitant of this world was an odd sort of land crab, a ghostly gray creature with stalked eyes, spidery thin legs, and threateningly large pincers."  Phil goes from one bit of bad luck to another, always rescued from certain death by some happy accident, right up to the final unlucky moment and the final lucky coincidence. 
 
In pleasing contrast, "Being Infinite" by Paul Bristow is an example of a story that sets out to show an alien culture decidedly different from ours—and succeeds beautifully.  While it is a little heavy on the telling, and Kirin does spend a little too much time explaining her people’s religious beliefs, the story is nevertheless ripe with otherworldliness.  It’s hard to tell anything about the story without telling everything about the story, but "Being Infinite" is definitely worth the read. 
 
In "Return to Eden" by Mike Wever, the two robots Adam and Eve have been searching for Eden, where their parts will be mechanically removed and restructured to form a new robot.  The human race is extinct, having already killed themselves off.  And the process by which robots create children has dwindled their numbers until Adam and Eve are the last; there will be no more after their child is formed.  But Eve, with more emotional programming than Adam, is still able to feel hope. 
 
Adam, the POV character, has limited emotional programming; he thinks more logically, which gives us a chance to observe the differences between his logical thought and Eve’s more emotional thought, without unnecessary telling.  The characters speak harshly of the humans, but the author gives us our true look at human nature through the differences in these two robots. 
 
Ted Easley has died and gone to Heaven in Justin Absher‘s "Next in Line," but heaven is nothing like he had imagined.  Instead of the Pearly Gates, he finds himself in what can only be described as hellishly long lines.  One delay after another leads to one line after another, and Ted, never a patient man in life, has had just about as much as he can take. 
 
"Next in Line" has no deep purpose except to give some slight sense of satisfaction to those of us who’ve had to stand in too many lines before, but nevertheless it’s a fun read. 
 
"Why Take a Chance" by Joseph DeRepentigny is a light, fun story much like "Next in Line," although with a completely different premise.  A group of retired space pilots decides to pick on a new cadet fresh out of flight school.  Of course he doesn’t believe the stories they tell him, but then again, why take a chance? 

I felt as though I was missing some crucial bit of information while reading Terofil Alexander Gizelbach‘s "Special Delivery."  Although the writing style was concise and engaging, the format of the story was odd, difficult to follow, and I’m still not entirely sure, three readings later, what the story was about. 
 
Duncan MacDuff is a soldier in the British army in Bruce Durham‘s "Missing in Action."  His regiment is wiped out at Isandlwana, and by rights he should be dead—but recruit seekers from about three hundred years in his future have other ideas.  MacDuff can help them, but it will mean giving up the world he knows for one of high-tech destruction. 
 
The story didn’t quite work for me, not as well as it could have.  MacDuff seemed too quick to accept that he had just been dragged three hundred years into his future.  At the same time, however, his final decision is understandable and realistic.