I’ve been buying Analog Science Fiction and Fact for over 40 years. Remarkably little has changed in that time. It’s still a digest magazine. It still has interior art by Vincent Di Fate. And I still read “Probability Zero” first. The July’August issue has a big novella by Martin L. Shoemaker, “Not Far Enough,” featuring the return of Captain Nick Aames, Carver, and Smith, who’ve previously appeared in the pages of Analog in “Murder on the Aldrin Express” (September 2013),…

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Howard V. Hendrix is experiencing a bit of a comeback in the pages of Analog magazine. He launched his career with a well-respected SF trilogy in the late 90s [Locus Award nominee for Best First Novel Lightpaths (1997), Standing Wave (1998), and Better Angels (1999)], but he hasn’t published a novel since Spears of God in 2006. But since September 2007 he’s published no less than eight stories in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, including two novellas: “Palimpsest ” –…

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The cover story this issue is “Nexus,” by Michael Flynn, with cover art by Tomislav Tikulin. A series of coincidences brings a time-traveler, an immortal, a group of aliens mostly passing as humans, a secret military android, a telepathic private-eye, and an alien invader all together. It has a lot of plates spinning, and looks a little silly packed into that last sentence, but Flynn pulls it off. The nonfiction article this issue is “Sustainability Lab 101, Cuba as a Simulation…

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I’m getting used to Analog and Asimov’s new bimonthly publication schedule. For one thing, the magazines have added an additional 16 pages, which is a substantial bonus. Here’s Analog editor Trevor Qachari on the impact of the change, and what we can look forward to in the March/April issue. Effective immediately, with the very magazine you hold in your hands, Analog will be publishing only double issues — six of them per year. Right off the bat, you’ll see more novellas,…

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As 2017 dawns, we enter a new era for the oldest continuously published science fiction magazine, Analog Science Fiction and Fact (which has been around since January 1930, when it was called Astounding Stories). With this issue it switches to a bimonthly publication schedule, following The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and its own sister magazine, Asimov’s Science Fiction. The cover story is “The Proving Ground,” a novella by Alec Nevala-Lee, whom I first met when he was moderating a…

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People have been watching Trevor Qachari’s rein as the new editor of Analog pretty closely. It’s been four years exactly since he took over from Stanley Schmidt in September of 2012, plenty of time to get a sense of his editorial taste. One thing I’ve noticed is that Trevor is a bit more experimental than Stan, especially in his willingness to blend genres a little. The October issue features a pair of stories that playfully mix SF and pulp thrillers, including…

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I love these big double issues of Analog. Chiefly because they have space for longer stories — and indeed, the latest double issue, July/August 2016, has two big novellas by Arlan Andrews, Sr. and Brad Torgersen. In fact, this issue has several nice surprises, including fiction by Ian Creasey, John Shirley, Nick Wolven, and James Van Pelt — and a brand new short story by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, “Story Night at the Stronghold.” On top of that, there’s…

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