OUR DECEMBER ISSUE
David A. Hardy’s spectacular December cover illustrates a story as hard to capture in a single image as it was to imagine in the first place: “Formidable Caress,” the latest of Stephen Baxter’s “Tales of Old Earth.” Old Earth, you may remember (though you don’t have to) is a most peculiar place where time is layered, running at different rates at different altitudes. That’s what makes it possible to experience a drama on such a colossal scale that it would at first seem intrinsically beyond the scope of individual human lives—but both author and artist succeed admirably.
We also have a new entry in H. G. Stratmann’s “Paradise” series (about another quite peculiar place), plus stories by Carl Frederick and (in a seasonal vein) Jerry Oltion. Richard A. Lovett’s fact article, “Plate Tectonics, Goldilocks, and the Late Heavy Bombardment” sheds new light on why the Earth isn’t Mars or Venus. And G. David Nordley continues the “peculiar place” theme with the mind-stretching conclusion of "To Climb a Flat Mountain".
IT'S ANLAB TIME AGAIN!
Submit your Analog Readers' Award Ballot
