I opened up the Kindle App on my iPad 2 minutes ago to discover that my copy of the October 2012 Analog had arrived. My friend Juliette Wade has the cover on this one, for her story “The Liars” which you now must go out and read at once. This cover, by the way, is by none other than the great Michael Whelan.
Juliette first told me about this story when we had lunch more than a year ago at Austin Grill in downtown Washington, D. C. when she was out here visiting family. It was the first time we’d met in person and it was a little surreal. I was fascinated by what she told me about “The Liars” and I think I may have even joked with her that when the story came out, I’d be able to brag that I sat with her in a restaurant when she first told me about the story. And so I have. I think this is Juliette’s fourth story in Analog and it’s her second cover. Seriously: even if you don’t normally read Analog, go find yourself a copy and read this story.
Also in this issue are stories by Carl Frederick and Jay Werkheiser, the two fellows with whom I shared my first editor lunch (with Stan Schmidt) back in the fall of 2010. Come to think of it, I have shared a meal with more people in this issue than any other issue of a magazine I’ve seen thus far. There was my lunch with Juliette; my lunch with Carl, Jay and Stan. And two years ago, at the 2010 Nebula Awards banquet, Kelly and I were seated with Michael Whelan and his wife. What a crazy coincidence!
Also arriving today, the September issue of Asimov’s with a new Robert Reed novelette and a Reflections piece by Robert Silverberg on “Anthologies.”
How lucky I am to be a science fiction fan–and writer!