I was a bit busier this week than last and only managed to read five stories, all of them from the first of issue of the year of either Analog or Asimov’s.
My favorite story was a five-star read from Analog entitled “And She is Content” by Frank Ward. It tells of a sentient AI that manages a space ark delivering colonists to their new home on a new planet. Every one hundred years, she wakes up the crew in order to exercise them before putting them back into hibernation. But as she wakes them up this time, she notices something very different. This is a touching story of caretaking and relationships.
And for the first time this year, I didn’t finish a story I started. This one was also from Analog: “Iron Star Swing” by Kate Orman. It seemed to be trying to do something clever about what happens near the event horizon of a black hole. It definitely didn’t work for me. I never really could understand what was happening and tapped out just passed 12% in the story.
