An Eye For An Eye, by Jerry Oltion

[Analog]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(First Contact; The Ascension) The crew is well-practiced at first-contact situations, but they’re not sure what to do when the alien representative plucks off an eyeball and hands it to them—and expects something in return! (9,263 words; Time: 30m)

This directly follows the action of “Ascension,” and although you can read this one without reading that one, this story does have spoilers for the earlier one.

The Ascension, by Jerry Oltion

[Analog]

★★★★☆ Weird and Creepy but Very Impressive

(Alien SF; The Ascension) On a world where memories are passed when one creature eats another, a child offered to the ruler tries to prove its worthiness to be eaten. (2,500 words; Time: 08m)

Recommended By: 👍GTognetti+1 👍RSR+1 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Sicko, by Jerry Oltion

[Analog]

Not Rated No Speculative Element

(Mainstream) Marty makes a point of spreading disease wherever he goes because he knows people’s immune systems need the workout. (825 words; Time: 02m)

A Tinker's Damnation, by Jerry Oltion

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(SF Colony) When the nanofab failed seventeen years ago, it condemned the colony to slow decline as their high tech wore out and they switched to iron-age methods. Young Henry wants to fix it and be a hero. (4,912 words; Time: 16m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Interesting, Moving, and Surprising

The Tattling Tats, by Jerry Oltion

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(SF Humor) All the cool kids got programmable tattoos from their parents, but Evan is sure there's a catch. (957 words; Time: 03m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆, Average

Why the Titanic Hit the Iceberg, by Jerry Oltion

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January/February 2015; ~6,200 words
Rating: 2, Not recommended

Some decades from now, Tony leaves a dying, overheated Earth to take a job on an enormous rotating space habitat, but he's unhappy that it mainly caters to the wealthy.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

The political message is very heavy, and you can't get away from it. But the worst is that the heroes are simply going to kill all the rich people--presumably including children as well as other staff who didn't get the message. Perhaps the story is meant as a metaphor for the Earth itself. How the rich people use it up while the downtrodden can't think of anything better than blowing it up, but, even if so, it's not very good as a story.