Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors Dell Magazines www.dellmagazines.com Copyright ©2010 by Dell Magazines NOTICE: This eBook is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution to any person via email, floppy disk, network, print out, or any other means is a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines and/or imprisonment. This notice overrides the Adobe Reader permissions which are erroneous. This eBook cannot be legally lent or given to others. This eBook is displayed using 100% recycled electrons. 2 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors Cover art for "The Mechanic" by Donato Giancola 24" x 36" oil on panel © 2009 Donato Giancola 3 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors CONTENTS Department: EDITORIAL: AFFECTING ETERNITY II by Sheila Williams Department: REFLECTIONS: SHOWING AND TELLING by Robert Silverberg Department: ON THE NET: THE PRICE OF FREE (PART ONE) by James Patrick Kelly Novelette: HELPING THEM TAKE THE OLD MAN DOWN by William Preston Poetry: MARBLE PEOPLE by Bruce Boston Short Stories: CENTAURS by Benjamin Crowell Poetry: CRAZY MAN by Mark Rich Novelette: BLIND CAT DANCE by Alexander Jablokov Short Story: TICKET INSPECTOR GLIDEN BECOMES THE FIRST MARTYR OF THE GLORIOUS HUMAN UPRISING by Derek Zumsteg Poetry: OUR CANINE DEFENSE TEAM by Vincent Miskell Short Story: THE SPEED OF DREAMS by Will Ludwigsen Department: NEXT ISSUE Novelette: THE TOWER by Kristine Kathryn Rusch Department: ON BOOKS by Paul Di Filippo Department: SF CONVENTIONAL CALENDAR by Erwin S. Strauss * * * * Asimov's Science Fiction. ISSN 1065-2698. Vol. 34, No.3. Whole No. 410, March 2010. GST #R123293128. Published 4 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors monthly except for two combined double issues in April/May and October/November by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications. One year subscription $55.90 in the United States and U.S. possessions. In all other countries $65.90 (GST included in Canada), payable in advance in U.S. funds. Address for subscription and all other correspondence about them, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for change of address. Address for all editorial matters: Asimov's Science Fiction, 267 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10007. Asimov's Science Fiction is the registered trademark of Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications. © 2010 by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. All rights reserved, printed in the U.S.A. Protection secured under the Universal and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction or use of editorial or pictorial content in any manner without express permission is prohibited. All submissions must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope; the publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Periodical postage paid at Norwalk, CT and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER, send change of address to Asimov's Science Fiction, 6 Prowitt Street, Norwalk, CT 06855. In Canada return to Worldcolor St. Jean, 800 Blvd. Industrial, St. Jean, Quebec J3B 8G4. 5 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION Sheila Williams: Editor Brian Bieniowski: Managing Editor Mary Grant: Editorial Assistant Victoria Green: Senior Art Director Lynda Meek: Graphic Production Artist Laura Tulley: Senior Production Manager Jennifer Cone: Production Associate Abigail Browning: Manager Subsidiary Rights and Marketing Bruce W. Sherbow: Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing Sandy Marlowe: Circulation Services Julia McEvoy: Manager, Advertising Sales Advertising Representative Robin DiMeglio: Advertising Sales Manager Phone: (203) 866-6688 ext. 180 Fax: (203) 854-5962 [email protected] (Display and Classified Advertising) Peter Kanter: Publisher Christine Begley: Vice President, Editorial and Product Development Susan Kendrioski: Vice President, Design and 6 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors Production Isaac Asimov: Editorial Director (1977-1992) * * * * Stories from Asimov's have won 50 Hugos and 27 Nebula Awards, and our editors have received 18 Hugo Awards for Best Editor. * * * * Please do not send us your manuscript until you've gotten a copy of our manuscript guidelines. To obtain this, send us a self-addressed, stamped business-size envelope (what stationery stores call a number 10 envelope), and a note requesting this information. Please write "manuscript guidelines" in the bottom left-hand corner of the outside envelope. The address for this and for all editorial correspondence is Asimov's Science Fiction, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. While we're always looking for new writers, please, in the interest of time-saving, find out what we're loking for, and how to prepare it, before submitting your story. 7 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors Department: EDITORIAL: AFFECTING ETERNITY II by Sheila Williams Last month, I looked back at two of the people who mentored me in my early days at Asimov's. I found the title for the editorial in Henry Adams's observation that, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." In this editorial, I thought I'd change directions and write about some of the people who have spent time at Asimov's as college interns. Anyone who interns at Asimov's also interns at Analog, our sister magazine. Due to our small staff size, interns get their hands in almost every aspect of magazine production. As a result of their experience with us, our interns may get a greater overview of magazine publishing than they would have at an internship with a much larger publisher. Interns get to do some proofreading, read through piles of unsolicited manuscripts, work on our Readers' Award poll, help us shepherd the magazine through the various stages of production, and myriad other tasks. They don't get the final word on submissions or the proofreading, but they do get to read a lot of interesting stories. Of course, they also get exposed to a lot of boring aspects of the job as well. With any luck, the internship helps young people decide if publishing is the field for them or if it's actually the last thing they'd ever want to do. We look for people who are deeply interested in SF and/or fantasy. Ideally, they are conversant with modern authors as well as the classics. When we 8 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors interview an intern, we are always careful to describe the duller aspects of the position along with the fun. Twenty years ago after an interview with Tina Lee—then Analog's managing editor and a former intern herself—and me, Scott Calvin told a friend, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is I got the job. The bad news is I got the job." In a recent email, Scott, who is now a physics professor at Sarah Lawrence College, said, "It seemed like the bulk of the interview consisted of being told what a lousy job it was! Fortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case." Some of our interns, like Tina, Paul Stevens, and Shelley Frier, were eventually hired for full-time positions at Asimov's and Analog. Many moved on to jobs at other publishing houses. Paul is now with Tor Books, Shelley worked at Avon Books for several years before moving to Baltimore, Maryland, and Tina became the director of editorial production at Berlitz Publishing. Josh Starr is an associate editor at DAW Books. Liz Scheier, who worked at Random House and Penguin, is now the director of publishing relations at ScrollMotion, the company that makes the Iceberg e- reader application for the iPhone. Like Liz and Scott, many of other interns have moved further afield. David Sandner is now assistant professor of Romanticism and Children's Literature at California State University, Fullerton. Meredith Bennett is in law school. She's doing an "externship" for the Environmental Protection Bureau of New York's Attorney General Office, and hopes to go into environmental law once she graduates. Brittany Trogen works in a molecular biology lab during the day. After 9 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors hours, she moonlights as a director of a "new (and very small) science communication company called Science in Seconds, Ltd. Our main goal is to increase science literacy in the general public." Brittany has also sold stories to a couple of Canadian speculative fiction magazines. I've lost touch with many of our interns, but every so often one will resurface to update me on his or her career trajectory. Jacob Weisman—the publisher of Tachyon Publications—is the intern I hear from most regularly. Tachyon is a highly regarded small press. It has published award-winning writers like Peter S. Beagle, Michael Moorcock, Nancy Kress, Tim Powers, Cory Doctorow, and Harlan Ellison. Recently, Jacob recounted how his time at our magazine affected him: Interning at Asimov's changed my life. Yes, Sheila. All those papers you gave me to file, all those envelopes I had to open, all those story notes I wrote up for the art department, all of it. I know you don't really believe it, but it did. I met Isaac Asimov exactly once; I enjoyed a memorable lunch with you, Jack Dann, and Lucius Shepard in which some very minor hijinx ensued; and Jim Frenkel [a book editor who dropped by] made fun of the way I dressed. But mostly there was work to be done and I learned that that came first. I was exposed to the work of many fine writers, including Jack McDevitt, Michael Swanwick, 10 Asimov's SF, March 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors and James Patrick Kelly (all of whom I went on to publish years later at Tachyon).