Locus 2010 Year in Review - Anthologies

In a previous blog post, I wrote that my co-edited anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, Daw Books, June 2010) had made the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List (RRL).

I observed after the RRL was posted, that there was mixed feelings from those whose work appeared on the list. Many, like myself, were pleased/excited/grateful/overwhelmed (select appropriate word depending on the individual's emotional level at the time) whereas others couldn't have cared less.

So I thought I would take this opportunity to share some thoughts as to why I was pleased upon learning that IAOT? was on the list.

Since I no longer subscribe to Locus magazine¹, Felicity Shoulders, one of the contributors to the anthology, graciously provided me with all the relevant information in the February 2011 issue.

Here is Locus's introduction to the Anthologies category for the 2010 year in review:

We're recommending a total of 19 anthologies, down from last year's 26. We received 121, up from last year's 101. [FULL DISCLOSURE: People on our reviewing panel have edited some of these anthologies. They were not allowed to vote for their own books and received no special treatment.]

We split the anthologies in the way we list them, though not in the voting, between original, reprint, and Year's Best categories.

Original anthologies are the most important in that they are a major source of new short fiction. This year's 9 is a significant drop from last year's 13.

— Francesca Myman & Amelia Beamer

Nineteen recommended anthologies out of 121 received: that's less than 16% of the total -- and that total represents 20 more anthologies than were considered last year. So more anthologies were received this year than last, and yet only 9 original anthologies have been recommended over last year's 13 recommended titles. I realize I'm simply reiterating what Locus stated above, but I'm trying to emphasize my point here: Is Anybody Out There? is one of these 9 original anthologies -- the only mass market paperback -- and is listed among such heavyweights as The Way of the Wizard (John Joseph Adams), The Beastly Bride (Datlow & Windling), Black Winds (S. T. Joshi), Warriors (George R. R. Martin), Godlike Machines (Jonathan Strahan), and Swords & Dark Magic (Strahan & Lou Anders), among others -- and this is just the original category and doesn't include the year's best volumes and other reprint anthologies.

So, yes, I'm pleased that IAOT? was recognized by the powers that be at Locus, such that the anthology was included in the RRL. My hope is that more readers will learn about the anthology through Locus -- and Locus online -- and consider reading the stories contained therein.

Of course, in the "year in review" columns, each reviewer chooses his/her own way of recognizing any particular title. Sometimes the book garners a complete sentence, more often a phrase within a sentence, and occasionally the book is listed as merely one of a number of titles that the reviewer acknowledges. With that in mind, here is what each individual reviewer had to say about my co-edited anthology:

Francesca Myman & Amelia Beamer: "The search for intelligent alien life is examined in Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern (DAW): from Paul McAuley's introduction: 'the truth is likely to be far stranger than anything we can imagine and that's why it's important to imagine everything we can.'"

Gary K. Wolfe: "Other anthologies, usually theme-based, seemed designed to see what writers could do with some of the field's most time-tested conventions:...first contact (Is Anybody Out There?, Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern)...."

Gardner Dozois: "Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern, featured good work by Pat Cadigan, Jay Lake, Alex Irvine, Matthew Hughes, and others."

Jonathan Strahan: "These were not the only worthwhile anthologies of 2010, though. I also happily recommend...Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern's Is Anybody Out There?..."

Rich Horton: "DAW cut its schedule of original anthologies quite a bit in 2010 -- of those that appeared, the clear winner is Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern, an anthology of Fermi Paradox stories."

This last entry is from Locus online, Lois Tilton's 2010 Short Fiction Reviews in Review:

The "Fermi Paradox" anthology Is Anybody Out There? had David Langford's neat "Graffiti in the Library of Babel."

So there you have it. The Locus 2010 Year in Review as it pertains to anthologies, and specifically IAOT?

If you are new to this blog:
Right below the More Red Ink header logo at the top of the blog, you'll find a tab entitled "Is Anybody Out There?" that leads directly to a dedicated page. This page links to and summarizes all my blog posts on the anthology. Amongst these blog posts you will find the complete text to six of the stories included in the anthology -- the stories by Michael Arsenault, Pat Cadigan, Sheila Finch, Jay Lake, David Langford, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. If you haven't already done so, I hope you'll take the time to read these stories, either now or later. But if you've gotten this far and wish to check out the stories now, here's the page link. Enjoy!

---------------
Footnote

¹ I subscribed to Locus for more than 20 years, but increasing philosophical differences with the magazine's content and disagreement with how the Locus Awards were managed compelled me to allow my subscription to expire a few years ago; nevertheless, this in no way detracts from my appreciation of and respect for the magazine's (and staff's) dedication and contributions to the sf/f/h communities. When I have requested information and photographs from Locus, over the years, for use on dust jackets and in this blog, the staff has always been forthcoming, for which I am grateful.

Is Anybody Out there? and the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List

Since I'm obviously not in this business for the big bucks... (What, you ask? No big bucks? Sorry, no, but it's not that I wouldn't like big bucks!) ...I have to hope that my efforts at least -- and those of my contributing authors -- gain some recognition within the genre after the book is published. My anthology Is Anybody Out There? which I co-edited with Nick Gevers (Daw Books, 2010), has been selected as one of 9 original anthologies on the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List. The list has just been officially posted today on Locus online.

All 8 of the other anthologies were either published in hardcover or trade paperback; and there are indeed some fine original anthologies on that list. I'm in the company of editors Lou Anders, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Gardner Dozois & George R. R. Martin, and Jonathan Strahan, to name just six. Whew! There is a lot of anthology fire power behind just those names alone.

Is Anybody Out There? is the only mass market paperback on that list. I believe this is due, in part, to two reasons: first, few publishers publish mass market paperback anthologies; and of those who do, the stories typically tend to be less substantial, with IAOT? fortunately being the obvious exception to the rule. So I wish to thank both Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton for reviewing IAOT? in Locus magazine. I'm certain that their detailed, concientious reviews had an impact on the anthology -- and three of the anthology's stories (see below) -- being included on the 2010 Recommended Reading List (hereafter known simply as The List). The links on Gardner's and Rich's names will lead you (eventually) to their respective reviews.

In addition to the anthology as a whole, three of the stories are included in the short story category on The List. All three stories were previously posted in their entirety on More Red Ink; I don't know if posting those stories for free here helped influence their inclusion on The List, but it obviously didn't hurt. What is sad is that none of the other stories made The List...

That said, the three stories are "The Taste of Night" by Pat Cadigan, "Permanent Fatal Errors" by Jay Lake, and "Graffiti in the Library of Babel" by David Langford. The links on the story titles will jump you to the individual stories themselves for your reading pleasure (assuming, of course, that you haven't already read them). I have a blog page set up for Is Anybody Out There? that includes links to three additional stories -- by Michael Arsenault, Sheila Finch, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch -- plus more reviews and news.


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David Langford's Story Is Also One of the Best

I received an email from David Langford, informing me that his short story "Graffiti in the Library of Babel" will be included in the Year's Best SF 16 anthology, which is co-edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and forthcoming from HarperCollins/EOS in May. No cover art is available as yet, but the book can now be preordered.

"Graffiti in the Library of Babel" was originally published in Is Anybody Out There? -- an anthology of original stories on the Fermi Paradox -- which I co-edited with Nick Gevers, and was published by Daw Books in June 2010.

Six stories, including "Graffiti in the Library of Babel," have previously been posted on this blog in their entirety. If you are new to More Red Ink, the following link will take you to the main IAOT? page from which you can access all six stories, plus details on the book's genesis, reviews, and information pertaining to the Fermi Paradox and the SETI program. Or, if you just wish to read David Langford's story at this time, you can click here: "Graffiti in the Library of Babel."

And if you haven't read "Graffiti..." please do so; it's a wonderful story of alien contact via a library's database.

And now that the nominating has begun for the 2011 Hugo Awards, please do consider the stories included in Is Anybody Out There? In addition to David Langford's story being accepted for the Hartwell and Cramer Year's Best SF 16, Pat Cadigan's story, "The Taste of Night" -- also from Is Anybody Out There? -- was accepted for both Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection and Strahan's The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 -- which I also blogged about and you'll find links to these as well on the IAOT? page.


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Pat Cadigan's Story Is Again One of the Best

I am once again pleased to announce that Pat Cadigan's short story, "The Taste of Night," originally published in my co-edited anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, from Daw Books, June 2010), will be included in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection, forthcoming in July 2011 from St. Martin's/Griffin. The Dozois volume is available for preorder, but it's still too early in the publishing process and thus no cover art is as yet available.

"The Taste of Night" (along with five other stories from IAOT?) has previously been posted on this blog in its entirety. The following link will take you to the main IAOT? page, from which you can access all six stories as well as additional details on the anthology. If, however, you just wish to read Pat Cadigan's story at this time, you can click here: "The Taste of Night."

I do hope you'll take the time to read this wonderful story, if you haven't already done so.

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Pat Cadigan's Story Is One of the Best

I am pleased to announce that Pat Cadigan's short story, "The Taste of Night," originally published in my co-edited anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, from Daw Books, June 2010), will be included in Jonathan Strahan's The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Five (which, by the way, I will also be copyediting), to be published by Night Shade Books in March 2011.

"The Taste of Night," along with five other stories from IAOT?, has previously been posted on this blog in its entirety. The following link will take you to the main IAOT? page, from which you can access all six stories as well as additional details on the anthology. If, however, you just wish to read Pat Cadigan's story at this time, you can click here: "The Taste of Night."

If you haven't read this story yet -- and why haven't you? -- please take the time to do so. Now. Please.

[Pat: You are awesome! -- me]


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Is Anybody Out There? -- Recent Reviews

As I've posted previously, and you may have read elsewhere, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the SETI program: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. And unlike movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind or E.T. or Independence Day, scientists have as yet discovered no sign, good or ill, of extraterrestrial intelligence. But now that 50 years have passed with no such sign, these very same scientists are beginning to rethink their methodology.

"Alien hunters should look for artificial intelligence" is the title of an article by Jason Palmer, a science and technology reporter, for the BBC News. (via @daj42) The article includes an audio link to a 3-minute, 30-second recording by Dr. Seth Shotak on "what form 'aliens' may take." Dr. Shostak is a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and he "argues that the time between aliens developing radio technology and artificial intelligence (AI) would be short....that the odds favour detecting such alien AI rather than 'biological' life."

This comment on "alien AI" brought to mind one of the stories included in my co-edited anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, from Daw Books, June 2010), which includes the story "A Waterfall of Lights" by Ian Watson. In the story, ophthalmologist Roderick Butler (who teamed up with an artist to create an experimental project at the Museum of Modern Art), says to the visitors on opening night: "...let me introduce you to the aliens in our midst, the super-intelligent evolved immortal creations of aliens from another cosmos which preceded ours! They are in your very own eyes! We don’t see the aliens in our universe because it is through those alien intelligences that we perceive!"

To paraphrase Walt Kelly's Pogo comic strip, "We have met the aliens, and they are us."

Last month, Ray Vukcevich (@rayvuk), one of the contributors to the anthology, sent me a link to yet another BBC News article, which revealed the Top 10 "unanswerable" questions. The data was based on approximately 1.1 billion queries made on the Ask Jeeves search engine since its launch in 2000. Amongst questions like "What is the meaning of life?" (#1) and "Do blondes have more fun?" (#4) and "What is love?" (#7), can be found question #5: "Is there anybody out there?"

* * *

Is Anybody Out There? plus more on SETI

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the SETI program -- the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is why we've seen far more than the usual number of articles, interviews, and new books and their corresponding reviews on the subject.

In fact, not too many months ago -- April 25, to be exact -- the UK's Sunday Times Online ran an article on Stephen W. Hawking's (pictured above) new Discovery Channel documentary, with the following quote from the physicist: "The aliens are out there, and Earth had better watch out." Now, in a new audio recording with Big Think, Professor Hawking warns us that humanity's survival depends on inhabiting the stars: "I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load." And, of course, while we're at it, we need to be wary of ET! The Big Think piece is quite compelling; Hawking states that he is an optimist, but his outlook for the human race is very bleak. And there are more than 50 Comments to the article, some as intriguing as (if not more so than) the article itself.

This past weekend, the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, hosted SETIcon, a convention that brought together representatives from science and research (Frank Drake), space exploration (Astronaut Rusty Schweickart), television & media (producer Andre Bormanis, actor John Billingsley), literature (authors Mary Roach & Robert J. Sawyer), music (Mickey Hart), and many others, and was open to the public. Speaking at the convention, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, said: "I actually think the chances that we'll find ET are pretty good....Young people in the audience, I think there's a really good chance you're going to see this happen." (quote courtesy of msnbc.com)

Of course the big questions continue to be: "How will we discover ET?" and/or "In what form(s) will we discover ET?" -- which was touched on in my previous blog on "50 Years of SETI" -- but if you haven't figured out where I'm headed with this then you haven't been reading my blog regularly.

Is Anybody Out There? and 50 Years of SETI

Henry Thomas stars in Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
(courtesy of Universal/Everett)

The Daily Galaxy (@dailygalaxy) posted an article online on June 20, 2010, entitled "Invisible Extraterrestrials? World Leading Physicist Says 'They Could Exist in Forms We Can't Conceive.'" The physicist to whom the article refers is Lord Martin Rees, president of Britain's Royal Society and astronomer to the Queen of England. Earlier, in May, Lord Rees hosted a National Science Academy Conference -- "The Detection of Extra-terrestrial Life and the Consequences for Science and Society" -- at which he stated that he believes the existence of extraterrestrial life may be beyond human understanding. To quote Rees directly:

"They could be staring us in the face and we just don’t recognize them. The problem is that we’re looking for something very much like us, assuming that they at least have something like the same mathematics and technology.

"I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains."

Also participating in this conference was noted SETI-founder Frank Drake (of the Drake equation fame), who presented an interesting theory on how the "digital revolution" is making humanity invisible to aliens by cutting [to the vanishing point] the transmission of analog TV and radio signals into space.

The article goes on to define three propositions to explain why "there is no direct and/or widely apparent evidence that extraterrestrial life exists." If you're intrigued with all of this, then by all means please read the entire Daily Galaxy article, including the Comments section, in which a reader suggests a fourth proposition.

Last week, while visiting "the mom" in a medical rehab facility (see blog post dated Friday, July 23, 2010), I managed to steal away for a few hours to meet my friend -- and author -- Bruce McAllister for dinner. The last time we got together (during the Thanksgiving holiday last year), the anthology Is Anybody Out There? was still a work in process. But now that it has been published, I was able to chat with Bruce about the many reviews, in addition to the Readercon book launch. Then, a few days ago, on July 27, Bruce sent me an email with only a lone link attached -- to a TIME online piece entitled "Listening for Aliens: What Would E.T. Do?"

The article focuses on the work of Gregory Benford, professor of physics at the University of California at Irvine and an award-winning science fiction writer, his twin brother James, and James' son Dominic. The Benfords have been rethinking the SETI project, which now marks its 50th year.

After exhaustive analysis, the Benfords believe that aliens who want to be detected would most likely send out short, powerful bursts every so often rather than continuous transmissions. Unfortunately, these "Benford beacons" would be easy to miss if scientists weren't listening right at that exact time.  The article concludes with an extrapolation:

"Of course, all the new work [on SETI] may be unnecessary, since it's just possible we've spotted E.T. already. Several times over the past 50 years, searchers have picked up radio signals that flashed once or twice, then disappeared. The best known of these is called the 'Wow' signal, because that's what an astronomer who picked it up wrote on a printout from a radio telescope at Ohio State University in the 1970s. SETI searchers went back to the star in question immediately, but heard nothing. It may well be, suggests Benford, that we detected extraterrestrials more than three decades ago — and because we weren't taking into account what E.T. would do, failed to confirm it."

All this is great stuff: food for thought, grist for the mill, and confirmation that we -- all the contributors -- done a good thing with the publication of Is Anybody Out There? to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the SETI project.

Is Anybody Out There? -- Book Launch

The official book launch for my anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, from Daw Books, June 1) is now set for Readercon.

The book launch -- scheduled for Friday, July 9, at 2:00 pm -- will be one of the programming events at Readercon, the Boston area's annual "imaginative literature" convention, held at the Burlington Marriott, July 8-11.

In addition to myself, these other Readercon regulars will be participating in the event: Paul Di Filippo, Yves Meynard, and James Morrow; though not a scheduled Readercon guest this year, Alex Irvine is hoping to attend the convention as well, and will also be participating in this event. (I'm counting on you being there, Alex!) If you will be attending Readercon next month -- or just happen to be in the neighborhood of the Boston/Burlington Marriott on Friday, July 9 -- please do join us at 2:00 pm in Room ME/CT.

I just realized that the six stories I posted online from the anthology were not written by any of the authors who will be participating in the book launch event. Interesting how that worked out! Totally unplanned, honest! So this is a great opportunity to meet each of these authors, hear them talk about the genesis of their stories, and then read a snippet from their stories as well. And if you just happen to have copies of Is Anybody Out There? in hand, the five of us will gladly sign those copies for you. [Copies of the the anthology will be available for purchase in the Dealers Room from Larry Smith; copies will also be available for purchase at the event itself.]

This year at Readercon, the Guests of Honor are Charles Stross and Nalo Hopkinson. Charlie's newest Laundry Files novel -- The Fuller Memorandum -- will be available within a couple weeks. As readers of this blog may recall from an earlier post of mine entitled "Charles Stross: On Her Majesty's Occult Service," I had a wee bit of a hand in the editing of this very fine book. It will be great to see Charlie once again (the last time was in 2002 at ConJosé, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention), and hopefully we will be able to spend some time chatting together. (Charlie is currently working on the next Laundry Files novel, The Apocalypse Codex, but don't let him know I told you!)

But all that aside, I hope to see you at Readercon on Friday, July 9, at 2:00 pm, for the official launch of Is Anybody Out There? If you are new to this anthology, if you haven't been reading about it on this blog, if you haven't read the six stories I have posted from the book, then the best place to begin is right here -- a dedicated page I've set up on which you'll find links to all the blog posts, including the stories.

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"Residue" by Michael Arsenault

The following story -- "Residue" -- will be the sixth, and final, story to be posted here from my co-edited anthology (with Nick Gevers) Is Anybody Out There? recently published by Daw Books. I hope these stories have intrigued you enough to purchase a copy of the book -- either the mass market paperback edition or the Kindle ebook edition, or both! The anthology contains an additional 9 original stories, by (in order of appearance) Alex Irvine, Yves Meynard, Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn, Paul Di Filippo, Ray Vukcevich, Matthew Hughes, Ian Watson, Felicity Shoulders and Leslie What, and James Morrow (a nearly 9,000-word story), plus an introduction by Paul McAuley. So there is a lot more reading to be had in the book, and I believe you'll find the quality of these stories easily warrant multiple readings. But enough of the promotion....

In 2002, while working on the Witpunk anthology, co-editor Claude Lalumière sent me a story entitled "A Halloween Like Any Other," written by Michael Arsenault, an author with whom I had no familiarity, or even knowledge of, at the time. Claude asked that I consider the story for our anthology, which I did, and the story was accepted. I learned much later that Claude had attended a party at which Michael had "performed" (Michael's word) the story; that's how Claude came by the story initially.

So, if not for Claude, Michael and I would never have met -- virtually speaking, that is -- and I wouldn't have invited him to contribute a story to the anthology Is Anybody Out There? and Nick and I would not have seen this wonderful little gem of a story -- "Residue."¹

About "Residue," Michael writes: "While on a camping trip, I decided to take a late-night canoe ride. I paddled out to the middle of the lake and then looked up at the sky. It was hard not to notice the difference between this view and the one I had back in the city. Out here I could actually see the stars. Back at home, even on a cloudless night, I'd be hard pressed to spot more than a dozen, but that night, on that lake, I could see thousands twinkling up there. In order to take it all in, I lay down on the bottom of the boat and looked up. Positioned like that I had an unobstructed view, and this, coupled with the gentle rocking of the canoe in the water, began to make me feel weightless. As if gravity had let go of its hold on me and I might start floating up at any moment -- an entirely new sensation for me. One I didn't care for even a little. My stomach churned and my sense of balance abandoned me completely. Frankly, it was a miracle I managed to hang on to my dinner. In the end, at least one good thing came of that experience: it inspired the mood and setting of my story 'Residue.' Not the lake part, nor so much the feeling ill part, but the general sense of wonder and awe that comes with proper stargazing. So maybe, hopefully, all that queasiness was worth it in the end."

Residue

by Michael Arsenault

      They went outside, lay down on the grass, and looked up at the stars.

      Everything was quiet for about a minute, and then:

      "So…"

      "So?"

      "So what are we doing out here?"

      "We're… Nothing. We're just out here."

      "Why?"

      "I don't know. If you really need a reason I guess we could say we're communing with nature. Or something."

      "Since when do we do that?"

      "Since…tonight. Since right now."

      "This doesn't sound like you. Why are you being weird?"

      "I just want to be outside for a little while, okay? Out of the house and away from distractions."

      "What distractions?"

      "Lots of things. Television, for instance."

      "What's wrong with TV?"

      "Nothing, just God forbid it should ever be turned off while we're conscious."

      "You're touchy all of a sudden."

      "Look, I just want to lie here, have a moment of peace, and see if I can connect with something. Stare up into the sky, and, I don't know…ponder the meaning of the universe. What's so weird about that?"

      "It's not like you."

      "Fine. It's not like me. I'm different now."

      "I think I feel bugs crawling up my legs."

      "Maybe you should just go back inside."

      "Don't be so --"

      "No one's forcing you to stay out here."

      "I'm not…"

      "You're not what?"

      "I'm doing my best, okay? I'm trying."

      "I guess."

      "…Do you…?"

      "Do I what?"

      "Don't bite my head off. I was just going to ask if you know any of their names."

      "Whose names?"

      "The stars. The planets. The…whatever those patterns are called."

      "The constellations?"

      "Yeah."

      "No. Don't really know their names. I mean, of course I know some of them, but I don't know which is which."

      "Me neither. I never really thought much about it before, but now that we're here looking up I feel kind of ignorant."

      "You're not ignorant."

      "I feel that way. Ignorant. Not to mention insignificant."

      "Looking up at the sky can do that to a person."

"Where Two or Three" by Sheila Finch (Part 3 of 3)

Where Two or Three

by Sheila Finch

[Continued from Part 2]

The sun was setting as they entered the outskirts of Palm Springs, a fuzzy red beach ball sinking into hazy waves of low-lying smog. Maddie was tired from driving in heavy traffic. Sam had slept most of the way. Now he woke and struggled upright.

"You want to eat something?" she asked as they passed a coffee shop.

"No. Go on through the city."

"How much farther are we going?" The Tesla was new enough to have an efficient fuel cell system, but there was still a limit on how far it could go without a recharge. Since she'd never had the chance to drive it this far, she had no idea what that limit was. The battery's indicator bars remained in the safe zone, but for how much longer?

"Just outside the city, you're going to make a left."

And then what? She kept the thought to herself because he obviously wouldn't answer anyway. She gazed at the people strolling from boutiques where golden light spilled out onto the sidewalk to restaurants whose banners pronounced them award-winning. Maddie retracted her window and the car filled with the aroma of barbecue and garlic and the faint sounds of music. Her stomach rumbled.

"Oblivious," Sam said. "All of them. It's going right through them and they're oblivious!"

"What?"

"You too. And me. And worst of all, NASA and SETI. Turn left at the next light."

The lights and sounds of Palm Springs fell away as they took the narrow dirt road across the desert floor rising slowly toward the nearby hills. The sky was filled with misty rose and lavender light, and the tops of the Little San Bernardinos looked as if they'd been draped in glowing chiffon.

"Pull off here."

Tiredness flooded through her. This was without question the stupidest thing she'd done in her life. Sam scrambled out of the car without help, yanking the duffel bag behind him. In the twilight, he looked spidery and strange, like an alien himself. She yawned and reached to turn off the engine.

"Leave it running," he said. "I need a power supply."

He rummaged through the bag, pulling objects out and setting them down on the sand. She got out of the car.

"Here." He handed her a pair of field glasses. "You might as well look at the stars while I'm getting set up."

She took the glasses out of their case. She could see Venus in the west already, and other pinpricks of light were beginning to show against the rapidly darkening sky. Her father had taught her to recognize the major constellations and nebula clusters and most of the minor ones too.

"Easier at night," Sam said.

"What is?"

"Listening."

Did he mean the kind of signals SETI was listening for? That would be dumb, she thought; the stars were there even when we didn't see them. "What difference does darkness make to messages coming from way across the universe?"

"I meant for us!" he said testily. "Less distractions."

"Where Two or Three" by Sheila Finch (Part 2 of 3)

Where Two or Three

by Sheila Finch

[Continued from Part 1]

She couldn't stop thinking about Sam. Of course Daddy would find out if she took him for a ride in the car! And even if she did get the keys, she certainly shouldn't be driving all the way to Palm Springs, the only part of the desert she knew how to get to. By Monday morning she was roaming around the silent house as antsy as if it were the first day of school in a new place.

Who did that old guy think he was, anyway?

That was a question she could find the answer to.

Daddy had gone to the airport on his way to a two-day SETI conference on the east coast; Mom had driven up to Santa Barbara to see Grandma, who'd suddenly taken ill, and she planned to stay the night. Maddie was on her own.

She went into the study to use the computer. It didn't take long to learn that Samuel Coulter Ferenzi had once been famous. And that there was something really odd about the dates.

He'd been the first astronaut to rendezvous with an asteroid, she read, a feat no one else had repeated in the twenty years since. She skipped over the voyage and its mission. When the crew came back to Earth, there'd been a huge welcome parade. Ferenzi had given speeches at universities. He'd cut the ribbons opening Air & Space Museums. The tabloids had buzzed over his romance with a movie star. Then things had apparently gone wrong.

The phone beeped. She touched the pad for the study extension. "Parker residence."

"What're your plans for today, Madison?" her father's voice asked.

Just like that, she thought. No: How are you, sweetie? No: I hope you're not bored all by yourself? that anybody else's dad might've asked. Sounded like he'd given up on her already; she really resented that. "I'm putting in my hours at the hospice like I'm supposed to!"

He'd taken her cell too, as if he thought she'd be putting in a call to her supplier.

"Don't get snarky with me, young lady!" Daddy said. "Be home before dark."

"Sure."

"My plane's boarding. See you in a couple of days."

Maddie turned the phone off before he put any more conditions on her. It wasn't fair. Maybe she should've done something that would really deserve it, not just a couple of puffs off a joint someone handed her. And it hadn't even given her much of a buzz!

She turned her attention back to the monitor. Ferenzi had started acting strangely. Several hospital stays had followed; one article mentioned psychiatric care. On the tenth page of citations, she found a tabloid headline: Spaceman sees aliens. Bride calls off wedding. The date was puzzling, only a little more than twenty years ago. Too recent to fit the old man in the hospice bed.

Maddie exited the program and thought about what she had just read. Chances were, Sam was crazy. Why did he want to go to the desert? And more important, why should she risk being grounded for the entire school year to take him there? She'd be as crazy as he was to do it.

A flicker of movement on the computer's monitor attracted her attention; the screen saver had activated. She stared at the ballet of spinning galaxies and soaring cloudlike nebulae her father had installed. He was involved with the SETI program at JPL, but it wasn't something he talked about much. Not because it was secret, Maddie knew, but because the results were so disappointing. She wondered if he knew about Sam Ferenzi. Her father thought people who claimed to have seen aliens cheapened the real search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

The old man seemed so lonely. At least she could take him for a short drive around Pasadena. Maybe the change of scenery would do him good.

She knew where her father had put her car keys. He never locked his desk drawer, trusting the members of his household. She felt a twinge of guilt as she retrieved her keys.

# # #

"Where Two or Three" by Sheila Finch (Part 1 of 3)

And another story follows from Is Anybody Out There? (Daw Books, June 1), my co-edited anthology with Nick Gevers. If reading these stories has motivated you to purchase a copy of the anthology, please feel free to post a comment and let me know; or, if you've chosen not to purchase a copy of the anthology after reading the four (so far) posted stories, then please comment on that too. By the way, an ebook edition of Is Anybody Out There? is also available in the Kindle format.

I began freelancing for Jacob Weisman's Tachyon Publications in 2002. In the first part of 2003, Jacob contacted me about a new project: Sheila Finch's novel Reading the Bones. The book was an expansion of Sheila's Nebula Award-winning novella of the same name, originally published in the January 1998 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The novella is part of the author's Xenolinguist (aka "lingster") series of stories. The expanded novel -- to snag a few words from the book's PR -- follows xenolinguist Ries Danyo, and sisters Lita and Jilan Patel, to their pivotal role in shaping the future of the alien Frehti.

Reading the Bones was published in September 2003, just in time for Tachyon's eighth anniversary party held at Borderlands Books in San Francisco on September 14. Sheila Finch was on hand to celebrate the publication of her book, as were Tachyon authors Peter S. Beagle, Grania Davis, Richard Lupoff, Pat Murphy, and Michael Swanwick. Other authors included Kage Baker (a future Tachyon author), Mark Budz, and Marina Fitch.

At the anniversary party, I had the opportunity to meet Sheila Finch¹, and to introduce myself as the person responsible for the editorial work done on Reading the Bones. Fortunately, Sheila was quite pleased with my work on the book, and thus I was able to breathe a sigh of relief, since this was my first major project for Tachyon Publications, and I was hopeful there would be more projects in the future.

And the anthology Is Anybody Out There? again provided me with an opportunity to work with Sheila Finch. With a series of stories dealing with linguistics and alien communication, Sheila, I knew, would add a unique perspective to the Fermi Paradox theme -- and she did not disappoint.

About her story "Where Two or Three," Sheila writes: "I've long thought we're putting the cart before the horse in our search for messages from ET. We haven't solved the difficulty of translating reliably between the languages on Earth, let alone knowing how to communicate with other sentient creatures on our own planet -- cetaceans, for instance. Musicians and music lovers learn to listen to more than one instrument's voice at a time, appreciating that the effect of harmony is more than just the sum of its parts. I initially explored these ideas years ago in 'Sequoia Dreams,'² and have touched on them frequently in the Guild of Xenolinguists series; this story was a chance to come at them from a different angle. And volunteering in a hospice, I hear some pretty amazing stories!"

Where Two or Three

by Sheila Finch

The charge nurse barely paused in her fast trot down the hospice hallway. "Seventeen needs his water jug refilled. Can you get it?"

"I'll get it." Maddie turned back the way she had come. It was her second day as a volunteer -- What a joke! She hadn't volunteered for anything -- but already she was getting the routine. Here, the charge nurse was boss.

She picked up a full plastic jug of ice water from the kitchen and walked back to room seventeen. Like most of the other rooms, it contained a hospital bed with a white coverlet, a straight-back visitor's chair, a battered chest of drawers that had hosted too many patients' belongings. Unlike the others, the occupant or his family hadn't made an effort to personalize the room with family photos, art work, or flowering plants. They hadn't replaced the old 2-D, which probably didn't work any more, with a newer Tri-D either. The hospice cat, a large orange tabby, jumped off the bed when she came in as if his shift was over once a volunteer showed up.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Maddie. I brought your water."

The skinny old man on the bed didn't open his eyes. "Haven't seen you before."

"Only my second day."

He had the most wrinkled skin she'd ever seen, and his face was blotchy as if he'd had a bad sunburn and skinned recently. He had to be at least a hundred, she thought. There was a smell in the room too, not really bad but odd, sort of baby-powdery and musty at the same time. She picked up the empty jug. She definitely did not want to spend time in here.

"Why're you here if you don't like it?"

Maddie jumped. "Would I be here if I didn't?" Lying again, she thought. One of these days she was going to have to break the habit.

He turned his head away from her. The back of his neck was scrawny as a chicken's, and the skin was patchy here too. "Sit and visit."

She sat gracelessly on the edge of the chair by the wall and stared at the old man's neck. "So, what did you used to do?" she asked brightly. Most of the older ones liked to talk about the old days, the younger ones not so much.

"Astronaut," he said.

"Astronaut? You mean, like space and stuff?"

"Space," he said to the wall. "And stuff."

"Have I heard of you?" she asked cautiously.

"Probably not. Name's Sam." He rolled back to face her, surprisingly agile for someone who looked so old. His eyes were a pale, washed-out blue, same color as the jeans she was wearing. "And how did you get sentenced to this place?"

Maddie felt her cheeks grow warm. "I'm a volunteer."

"Crap. Person your age has better things to do than visit old coots like me."

"All right. Here's the truth. I got busted for doing drugs at a party. One rotten joint -- and if I'd been eighteen already like everybody else it would've been legal anyway. So the judge gave me community service."

"Good," Sam said. "I don't have time for lies. What would you rather be doing -- besides being stupid?"

"You really are unpleasant, know that?" she snapped.

He chuckled -- at least she thought that was what he was doing. Maybe he was choking or something. "Didn't they tell you you're supposed to humor me?"

"I'm in high school. I'll be a senior starting next month. I don't get much time to do what I'd rather be doing. But when I do, I play the flute."

"A musician," he said. "Will you play for me?"

"I didn't bring it with me."

"How about next time you come?" He gazed at her with the washed-out eyes. The edges of his lipless old mouth creased up. "Please?"

Why not? The staff encouraged volunteers to entertain the residents any way possible. "Well, maybe when I come back on Friday."

"And maybe I'll tell you about space. And stuff."

Maddie got out of the room before he could say anything else. In the hallway, she passed the charge nurse again.

"Glad to see you spent some time with Mr. Ferenzi. He never gets any visitors." The charge nurse smoothed the pink tunic over her white slacks. "He used to be famous. But something happened to him, and he was never quite right afterwards."

Even if it wasn't true, she thought, it beat spending time with the old biddies here who only wanted her to play cards with them.

# # #

"The Dark Man" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Part 3 of 3)

The Dark Man

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Continued from Part 2] 

The alarm brought her out of it a moment later -- or so it seemed. Five a.m. looked the same as midnight had, same darkness, same feel. She got up, turned on the lights, and took a quick shower.

Then she grabbed her equipment bag and headed back to the Spanish Steps.

The morning was cool, comparatively speaking. It had to be about 80 instead of the 100 that had stifled Rome for the past few days. She wondered whether fall would ever show up -- and if it did, whether or not she would recognize it as a brand new season.

She trudged up to the Spanish Steps, noting as she went how many merchants were already up, cleaning the small sidewalks in front of their shops, and rearranging the wares in the window. She bought a pastry from a cart vendor she'd never seen before and ate as she walked, decided that the pastry was so good the vendor probably sold out long before she normally got up.

The carts at the top of the Spanish Steps were still shuttered. The professional beggars hadn't arrived yet. The restaurant tables, full and covered with food when she had left them, were stacked one on top of the other near the restaurant's doors.

A small group of people hovered near the top of the steps, staring at the city unfolding before them. The thin light of dawn seemed brighter than an average day in Colorado, and made Condi feel like she was very, very far from home.

She walked past the group, not seeing anyone she recognized, and headed down the Steps until she was only a few yards from the spot where the figure would turn up.

She set up the video camera she brought, turning it on so that she would get the moment of appearance. She would also make a recording on her phone as a backup.

The rest of the equipment remained in the bag. She would only remove it if she needed it.

She sat on her perch, the travertine steps surprisingly cool through her khaki pants, and waited. She wanted the figure to appear. She needed it to appear. She didn't want to wait several more days for some kind of phenomenon that, until this point (at least for her), had only existed in artists' renderings.

Then Giuseppe sat down beside her, too close as usual. He wore a cologne as peppery as the wine had been the night before, and just as strong. Clearly he had just gotten up as well.

"So," she said, irritated that he was sitting so close, irritated that he had frightened her the night before, irritated that he continued to bother her, "you guys think this is aliens, huh?"

He looked at her in surprise. She had a hunch that was the first unguarded expression she had ever seen on his face.

"You think I can't do research?" she asked. "I had simply thought you guys were a rumor until last night."

She didn't want to tell him she hadn't heard of his group until he had talked to her a few hours ago.

He didn't say anything. She pulled out her phone, cupping it in her right hand.

"What do you think this is," she asked, "some kind of portal and the aliens send one guy to it every ten years or so? Is this an invading army that hasn't quite got the concept down?"

She didn't try to cover the sarcasm in her voice.

"Not aliens," he said. "Alien."

"The Dark Man" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Part 2 of 3)

 The Dark Man

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Continued from Part 1]

She started down the Steps. They were slightly worn from nearly three centuries of constant use. She stopped just above the landing. The air felt chillier here. It always did, at least to her, and she knew that had nothing to do with the actual air itself, but her own frame of mind.

Just like the little shiver that ran through her the three times she had actually walked across the steps where the figure would eventually appear had nothing to do with the figure, and everything to do with her own irrational fear of what she might find.

"You know when it will appear."

He stopped behind her, too close like Italian men always were. She didn't move away. She didn't worry about him picking her pocket -- she only had a few Euros on her. Her credit card and identification were tucked into a money belt hidden beneath the waistband of her pants, practically invisible, or so her hotel mirror told her every morning.

She had to tilt her head to see his face. He stood one step above her. The light from below reflected off his skin. He was older than she had thought, with fine lines beneath his eyes and around his mouth. Laugh lines, her mother would have called them.

But he wasn't smiling now.

He was looking down on her like an avenging angel, the Church of Trinità dei Monti shadowing him from behind.

"Are you speaking to me?" she asked in her haughtiest Italian.

"You know that I am," he said. "Just like you know I have been watching you since you first came to the Steps."

She could have denied it, she supposed, although she saw no point. Just like she saw no point in backing away from him. That would only let him know he had power over her, power to startle her, power to unnerve her, power to make her worry for her own safety.

"You are waiting for it," he said, "just like I am."

She realized that anyone else listening to the conversation would hear that last comment as vaguely threatening, maybe even as something with sexual overtones.

But she knew there weren't any sexual overtones -- at least, not intentional ones. She wondered briefly if he was one of those men who knew how handsome he was and used that knowledge subconsciously to control the people around him.

She had a hunch he did.

"Who do you work for?" she asked.

His eyes half closed, shielding their expression from her. She felt a surge of adrenaline. He didn't want her to know that piece of information.

"Are you one of those -- what do you call it in English? Psychic investigators?" He used the English words for that last part, and he didn't try to hide his contempt.

"I'm not psychic," she said, "but I am hungry. Join me?"

She went around him, climbing back up the steps to the little restaurant on the Piazza. She didn't wait to see if he followed; she knew he would eventually.

She flagged down a waiter, let him seat her at a table near the flowers, and watched as the man crossed the Piazza.

He handed the waiter a credit card, then gestured toward the table. The waiter smiled as if they had shared some kind of secret, then he disappeared into the restaurant itself.

The man sat down across from her. "I have ordered wine and bread. The waiter shall bring menus in a moment."

"The Dark Man" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Part 1 of 3)

Continuing my celebration -- and promotion -- of the publication of Is Anybody Out There? (Daw Books), my co-edited anthology with Nick Gevers, another story from the book follows -- after this non-commercial interruption:

As an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy short stories (I'm referring to the 1980s at this point), I subscribed to/purchased regularly a number of periodicals: Aboriginal SF, Amazing Stories, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Fantasy & Science Fiction, OMNI, Weird Tales, and probably one or two others. So when I learned that a new publisher, Pulphouse Publishing, would begin publishing a "hardback magazine" entitled Pulphouse, well, I was ready to sign up. Each issue was genre themed, and the first issue, published in 1988, was all Horror.

The two people behind Pulphouse Publishing -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith -- won the 1989 World Fantasy Award / Non-Professional for their work on the magazine, and it was at that World Fantasy Convention in Seattle that I first met Kris and Dean.  I recall that convention vividly because it was held shortly after the Loma Prieta earthquake (October 17, 5:04 PM), which rocked my San Jose home more than I ever care to remember. And 10 days later, in a plane over San Francisco on my way to Seattle, I saw a site that I hope to never see again -- nothing! All the lights on the two major San Francisco bridges -- the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge -- were out. Very eerie...to say the least.

Then, later that year, during Christmas break, my wife and daughter and I made a trip to Eugene, Oregon. Diane and I had met in Eugene, and we decided that at age 7, Lindsi was old enough to appreciate the sites and sounds as we visited some of our old haunts, and where Diane and I had lived and worked.¹ During our few days in Eugene, we visited with Kris and Dean at the Pulphouse Publishing office, and the following day we all met for lunch at an eatery across the street from the Eugene post office. (K&D had to check their mail!) Also joining us for lunch were Kevin J. Anderson and Nina Kiriki Hoffman. A good -- and noisy -- time was had by all.

I would see Kris and Dean at many a convention in the intervening years, and I kept track of their writings and recognitions. So it was only natural that, shortly after joining Golden Gryphon Press, I contacted Kris in early 2000 about publishing her first short story collection. Entitled Stories for an Enchanted Afternoon², the book contained all of Kris's award-winning and award-nominated fiction (at that time), including two of my favorite stories: "Skin Deep" and "The Gallery of His Dreams." The book's dust jacket featured stunning wraparound art by Thomas Canty, in which scenes from some of the stories were depicted in the quilt squares that lay across the woman's lap.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that whenever I'm involved in an anthology project, Kristine Kathryn Rusch is always on my list of invitees.

About her story "The Dark Man," in Is Anybody Out There? Kris writes: "In 2007, I went to Rome with the writer Adrian Nikolas Phoenix. She was researching a book on Keats. I was along for the ride. We spent a lot of time near the Spanish Steps (Keats died near there), and I was struck by how old Rome really is. The Spanish Steps are 'new' -- only a few hundred years old. For years, I've been thinking about that -- what's old to some cultures is new to others -- and also about our perception of the world around us. After all, creatures in our world have a different way of perceiving life -- dogs, for example, with their amazing sense of smell. What if they perceive time differently too?"

The Dark Man

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Condi stepped out of the internet café, an ice-cold bottle of Coke in her hand. The street was dark except for the light spewing out of the café's door. Motorcycles were parked to her left, squeezed between Smart Cars that had slid bumper-first into slots too small for a regular car.

In America, this would be called an alley, if someone deigned to dignify it with a designation at all. Crooked, covered with uneven cobblestone, winding uphill between darkened and graffiti-covered buildings, the street felt more like a path between main roads.

The internet café didn't help. It was the only business still open at 11 o'clock at night, still open and still doing business. The hotel across the way locked its doors promptly at nine, something she thought unfair in Rome, which like most Mediterranean cities, remained awake and active long past midnight.

Fortunately, Condi was staying in a slightly more upscale place on the Via Purificazione, another alley-like side street in a slightly more desirable neighborhood near the Via Veneto. She wasn't there for the shopping; she wanted to be as close to the American Embassy as possible without paying Westin Excelsior prices.

Not that money was an object. The Organization of Strange Phenomenon Ancient and Modern was paying for everything, including the tiny, expensive bottle of Coke resting damply in her right hand. She had an unlimited expense account, and a salary fifty times higher than her going rate as one of the Rocky Mountain News's best reporters -- back when there had been a Rocky Mountain News.

Condi glanced over her shoulder. Inside the café, which wasn't really a café at all -- just three narrow rooms of computers and two vending machines -- the waif who ran the place was surreptitiously checking the information Condi had left on her computer screen.

The waif, with her big brown eyes, round cheeks, black-black hair, looked like a cute Italian kid straight out of La Dolce Vita, or at least she did until you factored in the piercings, the tattoos, and the leather bustier, which seemed just too hot to wear in this strange 100-degree Roman autumn. Condi had already clocked out, leaving the screen on a UFO social networking site filled with wackos.

The waif always captured that last screen, missing the important stuff -- or so Condi hoped. She tried to check her e-mail several times per day on her iPhone, but the AT&T connection in Rome was spotty at best -- hell, all wireless connections were spotty here -- and she was afraid she lost a lot of information.

She waited until the waif stopped checking the screen capture. Then Condi sighed and stepped onto the cobblestone street, heading up hill to the Via Sistina. Ahead, she could hear music and laughter. Behind her, she heard the whisper of shoes against cobblestone.

She didn't have to turn around to know he was following her again.

# # #

Is Anybody Out There? -- Second Locus Review

Locus subtitles itself: The Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Field. According to its entry in Wikipedia, "As of 2008, Locus has won the [Hugo] award for Best Fanzine 8 times, and the award for Best Semiprozine 21 times (in the 25 years the award has been given). " [I feel like I should place the preceding close quotation mark inside the ending period in memory of the late Charles N. Brown....]

So I couldn't have been more pleased to learn that Is Anybody Out There?  (Daw Books, June 1), my co-edited anthology with Nick Gevers, would be reviewed in Locus not just once -- by Gardner Dozois in the May issue -- but a second time by Rich Horton in the June issue. Gardner's review was relatively short and was included in his monthly short fiction review column. Rich Horton's review (which follows), however, was printed under the "Reviews by Divers Hands" heading and is quite lengthy, with comments covering 9 of the 15 stories included in the anthology. I suspect that the majority of mass market paperback anthologies from Daw Books do not garner two reviews, regardless of length, within the pages of Locus. So, as I said, I'm thankful for the two reviews, and for the positive, encouraging words both reviewers had to say about the anthology.

In an email I received just yesterday from Rich, he brought me up-to-date on his own edited Best of the Year anthologies: "I have Best of the Year books from 2006 through 2008 in the original form -- one for SF, one for Fantasy -- and from 2009 and 2010 combined [all from Prime Books]. Also Unplugged [Wyrm Publishing], the best SF/Fantasy from the Web, in 2009, and some hope that a new Best of the Web volume will appear this year..." Rich is a bit behind on updates to his website, but even so, he lists links to more than 100 of his online book reviews. Now, he has another to link to: