Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact. November 1978
ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION / SCIENCE FACT. NOVEMBER 1978
RATED 83% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE: 3.83 OF 5
6 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
Every so often I feel inspired to read the science fiction magazines that came out in the month and year of my birth: November 1978. I’ve done this twice before with rather poor results. Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. November-December 1978. (57% Positive) and Galaxy. November/December 1978. (75% Positive). This issue of Analog was, by far, the most successful.
The issue opens with Ben Bova announcing his retirement from editing the magazine and poking a bit of fun at the incoming editor, Stanely Schmidt, and the fans. Joe Haldeman is here with a long piece of nonfiction about the space shuttle which I read by do not review. Lester del Ray sounds pretty crotchety during his book review about the expectations of science fiction reader.
What is also common in these single issue reviews is the inclusion of a serialized novel. This was the conclusion of Stardance II by Spider and Jeanne Robinson, which made up part of the novel Stardance. As usual, I neither read nor reviewed this segment.
For the first time, a story from November 1978 makes the All Time Great List:
Hunter's Moon • novelette by Poul Anderson
A superb novelette with more than enough invention, drama, and action to make a full novel or a great movie. On a distant planet, a married couple study the two very different, sentient races. The husband and wife are using a special technology that allows them to literally ride inside the minds of their subjects. The two races have started a war - attempted genocide really - after one race embraces a new religious pilgrimage that the other believes is causing sterility.
ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION / SCIENCE FACT. NOVEMBER 1978
6 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
Hunter's Moon • [Medea] • novelette by Poul Anderson
Great. A superb novelette with more than enough invention, drama, and action to make a full novel or a great movie. On a distant planet, a married couple study the two very different, sentient races. The husband and wife are using a special technology that allows them to literally ride inside the minds of their subjects. The two races have started a war - attempted genocide really - after one race embraces a new religious pilgrimage that the other believes is causing sterility.
Accord • short story by Lord St. Davids
Good. Please story about a man who receives a piece of rope from an alien(?) that allows him to remember everything about his own life and others who touch the rope. He uses this to acquire wealth and power.
Maximum Security • short story by Thomas Sullivan [as by Tom Sullivan]
Average. A diamond thief is in a futuristic prison. The warden gives him a drug that rapidly ages his body, so he can get clemency and get access to the diamonds of the warden.
Endgame • novelette by D. C. Poyer
Good. In the future of 1979, nuclear war began between the USA and USSR. Less than a decade later, most of the world is dead and destroyed. This story is a tense battle between a USA sailing vessel (more sophisticated ships don’t exist anymore) and the last USSR submarine over sunken nuclear weapons.
Killing Children • [Tales of Capitol] • novelette by Orson Scott Card
Average. A young man is undergoing treatment for the murder of his lover who he thought was his mother. He escapes across a perilous terraformed world and has an encounter with the dangerous native species. A bit too Freudian for me.
The Plague • short story by Michael C. Kohn
Good. A Soviet scientist is banished to the moon for his role in creating a plague that killed much of the Earth. He discovers something amazing, but will anyone trust science again.
