Sheila Williams writes an enjoyable essay on the "Perils of Time Travel." I also really enjoyed Robert Silverberg's essay on "Looking For Atlantis" and the native peoples of the Canary Islands, the "Gaunches." He has me convinced that they are/were likely the last remnants of Cro-magnon man. There are also three poems, other columns, and interesting book reviews.

I thought this was a better than average issue, especially with the good non-fiction content this month. For fiction, it has a novella, a novelette and four short stories. The stories are:

And Then Some • novelette by Matthew Hughes
The New Guys Always Work Overtime • shortstory by David Erik Nelson
Outbound from Put-In-Bay • shortstory by M. Bennardo
The Golden Age of Story • shortstory by Robert Reed
Best of All Possible Worlds • shortstory by John Chu
The Weight of the Sunrise • novella by Vylar Kaftan

Some brief comments on the stories:

“And Then Some” is I think the first story I have read by Matthew Hughes. I'll be looking forward to reading more by him. This is a planetary space opera novelette that caught my interest from the start and did not falter. Erm Kaslo is a deputized operative who comes to the planet Cheddle. He contacts the local police who have no interest in helping him arrest the man he is seeking. Instead the stun him and he awakens in a prison camp. Erm is very resourceful and the story goes on from there. Very enjoyable.

I'm not sure what to make of “The New Guys Always Work Overtime” by David Erik Nelson. Factories in the future bring workers from the past through a time portal to work for minimum wage. For one day only. I didn't like it at first and then I did. It started funny and then got very serious.

M. Bennardo's “Outbound from Put-in-Bay” seems to be an alternate history piece with the underlying divergence occurring about 100 years ago when a new ice age began with a vengeance. The United States has fractured, Canada has joined with the UK, and the action centers on what was once Lake Erie but is now just a minor remnant. Smuggling is the main occupation it seems since there is an oppressive export tax from Canada. A very strong female main character and narrator gives us a view on this dystopian landscape. Very well done.

“The Golden Age of Story” is by Robert Reed. I've read quite a few of his stories over the years. He is incredibly prolific. I generally like them although some get just a bit too strange for me. This one is almost in the "too strange" category. Very inventive idea for a story of 5 chained stories within, but for me it wasn't successful. Or maybe I just really dislike liars.

John Chu's “Best of All Possible Worlds” seems aimed at a niche audience those who love science fiction AND musicals - in this case the operetta "Candide." I suppose if you had seen Leonard Bernstein put it on nearly half a century ago or played in a high school musical you might squee with delight. Otherwise, there is some interesting stuff in here but it did not make any sense to me. Since I couldn't understand why the strangeness was happening this story was a definite miss for me.

By far the outstanding piece for me in this issue was the novella “The Weight of the Sunrise” by Vylar Kaftan. What a tale. This is an alternate history story that reimagines the Incas. It is a story told by an old man to his grandson, recounting an experience that began in 1806. I found it very immersive and well told. In this story the Incan Empire was not conquered and vanquished by the spanish; they persevered and rebuilt their empire over two hundred years. Yet they still suffer from smallpox.

Americans come with a smallpox vaccine which they offer to trade - the price of the trade is very high. The old man telling this story was the translator for the Incan God-Emperor to the American delegation. An excellent story. ( )