Bewildering Stories

What’s in Issue 77

(N.B. Don does the blurbs, but I'll try to fill in here...)

Serials

Michael J A Tyzuk strikes again. In this issue, Mike starts a sequel to “The Dilemma,” which concluded in issue 60. The new story is entitled “Ordered To Retrieve.”

Tala Bar’s Ya’el continues with chapter 4, “Festival of Wine and Love.”. Don’t miss it: Ya’el’s adventures are building up to a very surprising but quite logical resolution!

Short Stories

Lou Antonelli returns with a neat little piece that explains the mystery and misspelling of “S.P.P.A.M.”. We've missed Lou and are pleased to have him back.

Donald Sullivan gives us a short story that is, on the surface, a joke. However, it’s also a textbook case study in “first contact”; that is, how not to do it. You’re sure to get a wry grin out of The Deer Hunters.

Alternate History

Thomas R. sent us a neat piece of Alternate History, but due to my many shortcomings, it will appear in next week's issue.

Challenge

No official Challenge in this issue, just Bewildering Stories’ best wishes for a Happy New Year! We figure that’s challenge a-plenty. This week we turn the Challenge over to our frequent contributor and webzine-editor colleague John Thiel, who appears in Challenge76 Response and challenges us!

Departments

In The Reading Room the ever-semi-prolific Jerry Wright reviews Orson Scott Card's The Crystal City. The editorial deals with a different perspective on learning.

In Times to Come

In issue 78, Ásgrímur Hartmannsson will serve up some dark humor — on wry. We’re looking forward to Thomas R.’s alternate history story — hey, Jerry, I haven’t even seen it yet! — and to the continuation of Michal Tyzuk’s space opera. His heroes seem to go from one “dilemma” to another; how on Earth — or in space — will they ever resolve them all? Tala Bar’s heroine, Ya’el, will resolve some dilemmas of her own, and quite ingeniously, too. Remember the shrine of Oshrat, back in issue 74? The beginning and end of the story will come together in grand style. Finally, yours truly (Don) will take a critical look at Robert J. Sawyer’s novel Calculating God in a review article.

New Links

This is a repeat, but well worth it...

We recently arranged a link swap with two websites:
Center for the Study of Science Fiction. It’s a very pretty website at the University of Kansas. It specializes in the history of science fiction, literary criticism and current events.
Whispers of Wickedness features “dark atmospheric art and fiction”; it is regularly updated and has a “quarterly print ’zine and chapbook publication.”
Our links page has also been reformatted for easier reading.

That's all you get from me, but Don may come in and do some remodeling...

Just added a few things. You’ve held up well when I couldn’t get on line. Now, have you actually won one of those weird games you were telling us about in the editorial? The “cultural lessons” in computer games — as well as others — is a fascinating topic, as Mr. Spock would say.

Readers’ reactions are always welcome. Please write!

Welcome to Bewildering Stories !

Return to the issue index

Copyright © 2003 by Bewildering Stories

Home Page