I Dreamed You Were a Spaceship, by Ron Collins

[Analog]

Not Rated No Speculative Element

(Prose Poem) An old man has a dream. (1,103 words; Time: 03m)

When the Rain Comes, by Ron Collins

[Analog]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Post-Apocalypse) Cubro keeps operating the station at the top of the Needle, even though it’s been a while since she heard from anyone outside. (1,385 words; Time: 04m)

Often and Silently We Come, by Ron Collins

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(Non-human SF) X-jin captures aliens to dissect and for his students to study. He has secret suspicions about the value and morality of this work, though. (4,088 words; Time: 13m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

The Blue Lady of Entanglement Chamber 1, by Ron Collins

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(SF) Izna wants to write a story about how Selma died on the first quantum drone flight, but she also wants an excuse to investigate what really happened. (5,851 words)

Rating: 2, Not Recommended

 

After, by Ron Collins

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2015; ~500 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story

Short-short, in which a mechanical problem traps a crew member outside the spaceship and the rest of the crew try desperately to save him/her.

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

Pro: Interesting message, that the doomed crew member never really appreciated how beautiful the universe was until he/she was about to leave it.

Con: It's hard for a short-short to say very much.

Daily Teds, by Ron Collins

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, April 2015; ~5,500 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story

Fun story about Ted, a slacker grad student in physics who discovers that his professor's "gamma gun" has unexpected properties.

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

Pro: The story is only mock-serious--it's clearly meant to be light-hearted. Some of the physics is quite serious, and the silly bits are clearly meant to evoke a smile. The arguments between the daily TEDs and the AV are amusing, as is the attempt to prove that the copy of the cat is the same cat.

Con: Even with his earliest results, you'd expect him to be rushing to publish. Complex equipment like this burns a lot of energy and doesn't get run with no one knowing about it. Especially not repeatedly.

The Odds, by Ron Collins

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, June 2015; 1,100 words
Rating: 4, Recommended

What are the odds that two species at roughly equal levels of development would meet in space and learn to trust each other?

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

Pro: In just 1,000 words, the story develops the background for a genocide and makes it real enough to hurt. We're not even sure if human beings are committing the genocide or if we're the victims of it. It packs a big punch, and it lingers.

Con: This isn't actually a story, in the usual sense. No characters, no dialogue, etc.

Tumbling Dice, by Ron Collins

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2015; ~5,700 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story

A space gambler meets a girl he's got to have--even though he knows she's on the make.

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

We kind of like Jupe. He takes life as it comes to him, and he's happy when he lucks out. We like it that this girl means something to him. It's silly of him, but at least it's a goal. We don't like her quite so much, but we're still happy to see them get together.

This is very soft SF. The author tosses buzzwords around (e.g. Oort Cloud) without seeming to know what they mean. Jupiter's motivations, such as they are, are obvious to us, but Kaatji's motivation to be with Jupe is a lot harder to credit. What does she see in him?