I missed one story from my review yesterday of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, July/August 2025. It was the last, and in my opinion, the best story in the issue. It was also the longest as the only novella. That story is…

“The Chronolithographer’s Assistant” by Suzanne Palmer (30,507 words) — A young man from a fishing family, terrified of the sea, seeks to become the assistant to an artist in a nearby cottage. A touching coming of age story with a twist. (My rating: 5/5)

Another post where I give my brief summaries and ratings for the stories in one of the magazines I read.

“Most Things” by Rich Larson (13,570 words) — Something from the quantum realm called the Slip has escaped and is searching for a scientist. Zany fun that reminded me of Cheech and Chong or Bill and Ted. (My rating: 4/5)

“In the Halls of the Makeshift King” by Tobias S. Buckell (4,928 words) — A pilgrim to the Alcove Above is made Makeshift King and has a big decision to make. The shaft is described slowly and in a way I found hard to picture, but the civilization-level decision foisted on one individual is intriguing. (My rating: 4/5)

“Another Mother on Mars” by Dominica Phetteplace (9,916 words) — A scientist on Mars longs to have a baby, specifically a clone. Nothing really new here for me. Well written but nothing grabbed me. (My rating: 3/5)

“Worm Song” by Derek Künsken (6,060 words) — An augmented human finds herself alienated from her wife and drawn to the worm song on a gas giant planet where dragons are in danger of going extinct. (My rating: 4/5)

“Aftermath” by William Preston (6,763 words) — An investigator and his team look into strange events. Inspired by Ray Bradbury. The writing kept me turning the pages but was still somehow a little too opaque for me. (My rating: 4/5)

“In the Gardener’s Service” by Michèle Laframboise (14,243 words) — The Questor for the Emperor is tasked with preserving the empire by coming to the rescue of a young girl. Fascinating world. The main character species is an animal that also photosynthesizes. (My rating: 4/5)

“Pirates of Highship” by Stephen Case (8,121 words) — The son of a very wealthy mother uses her money to experiment with trying to talk to a planetary mind. Very much a brief thriller with a fascinating premise (a sentient planet). Calls back to Stanslaw Lem’s Solaris. (My rating: 5/5)

“Perri’s Fate” by Robert Reed — This is a story in a world that I have never read any. It is a long novelette that I chose not to read. (No rating)

“The Courier” by Lavie Tidhar (4,292 words) — A courier makes her rounds on Mars. Nothing special here. Likable characters. Maybe you need to have read the other stories in the series. (My rating: 3/5)

“Vivienne” by E. H. Lipton (164 words) — A lover talks to his lover about a what if. Says a lot in few words but lacks some clarity and direction. (My rating: 3/5)

Average story rating: 3.77/5

One note. Going forward, I am only reading magazines where the stories are available to read for free online. This means that I will no longer be reading either Analog or Asimov’s. Neither of these magazines makes their stories available to read online. That is a pity. They have some really great fiction. Another reason I am choosing to no longer read these is that the epub formats continue to be poorly laid out. At first it seemed that they only ran their PDF through a converter and didn’t proofread it. Now, with the new owners, they are doing a poor job of properly managing the layout in the CSS file resulting in italics where they don’t belong and a lack of italics where they are needed, inconsistently. It makes reading them less than the pleasure it should be. So you can look forward to reviews of each issue of these magazines that I am now subscribed to and reading:

• Apex
• Clarkesworld
• Lightspeed
• Uncanny

And I am still reading novels and non-fiction that will also be reviewed from time to time. The schedule for these will continue to be on weekends at noon with short posts about my highest rated short stories to read coming out weekdays at noon.