The Stories
"The 120 Hours of Sodom" - by Jim Grimsley (Novelette) 22 pages
"Angel Kills" - by William Sanders (Novelette) 14 pages
"Two Old Women" - by Kage Baker (Short Story) 12 pages
"Parachute Kid" - by Edd Vick (Short Story) 10 pages
"Polyhedrons" - by Robert A. Metzger (Novelette) 18 pages
"Dead Men on Vacation" - by Leslie What (Short Story) 10 pages
"Oxygen Rising" - by R. Garcia y Robertson (Novelette) 30 pages

The February 2005 issue of Asimov's has a striking cover of a man in complicated looking white body armour and a sidearm, looking off into the distance. I don't think it has anything to do with a story, as the only one it could is "Oxygen Rising" and I don't recall an image like this in that story. Still, it is very cool. The stable of writers is also quite the draw, as it has both a Kage Baker and an R. Garcia y Robertson story in it. I have found myself really liking Robertson's stories, be they science fiction or fantasy, and this one was no exception. Some of the stories have powerful images, some have vivid characterization, but all of them have a little something to attract you to them (though the hard SF "Polyhedrons" almost let me go, it would be good for the right fan). Overall, this is a pretty strong issue.

"The 120 Hours of Sodom" - by Jim Grimsley
It's the far future, and Figg is having a birthday. His friend, Sade (self-named after the ancient Marquis de Sade for his exquisite tastes) decides to throw him a party. Figg is particularly entranced by the bloom slave girl at a local restaurant who is slowly being eaten away by the plant she's attached to, so Sade decides to hire throw a party over multiple days that will feature a young girl poisoning herself and wasting away, to die at the climax of the party (something he sees as worthy of his namesake). Figg does not want a party, and as the party goes on, he finds himself increasingly disenchanted with Sade and his tastes, despite having shared a few of them himself. The end of the party isn't quite what anybody suspected. This is a rather gruesome tale, as you could probably guess (it carries a disclaimer about disturbing scenes, and rightly so). Basically, it's a story about the extent to which human depravity can reach, even more so than it can now because biotechnology allows it to in the future. The story was mildly intriguing, but you have to have at least some interest in the Marquis de Sade's writing (or at least an interest in reading about the subject matter) for the story to make much of an impression on you. Even so, the imagery is quite striking, and Grimsley tells the tale well. Especially interesting is watching Figg's reaction to all this, as he begins the story just as bad as Sade, and you never quite sympathize with him. Instead of being good and slipping down that slippery slope to evil, we get a rather evil character falling down that slippery slope to goodness. Possibly. Disturbing, but interesting is the best way to sum it up.

"Angel Kills" - by William Sanders
Weird aliens called "angels" are taking down airplanes around the world. Only able to fly so high, they usually attack when the planes are taking off or landing. Thus, some world governments have formed semi-military air forces that are designed to protect incoming jets. The angels seem to be vulnerable to types of laser beams. Lewis, a new recruit, joins the force and the narrator has to bring him up to speed. Nobody knows what the angels are or why they do what they do, but that's nothing for them to worry about. They just know they have to stop them. Lewis' first flights go well, as no angels show up. But when Lewis joins Carmody, the leading killer of these aliens, a first encounter might be the last. This story feels like part of a novel, and thus has an incomplete feel to it. Nothing about the aliens is explained, which does add to the mystery but makes it a little unsatisfying. There is a nice bit of foreshadowing near the beginning when the narrator explains to Lewis that these aliens are called "angels," but the rest of the story is rather pedestrian. I didn't get much of a sense of the characters and I found the story a bit predictable. The novel that could surround it might be extremely interesting, but this snippet just kind of sits there.

"Two Old Women" - by Kage Baker
An old woman who lost her husband at sea years ago has designs to bring him back, using an ancient magic. It's All Souls Night, when the dead may come back for a visit. But what happens if the living won't let the dead go back? The old woman's sister and her family realize that something's up and come around to find out what it is. When they discover what happened, an argument ensues where the sister explains that the sea will always demand payment for whatever it gives up, and the old woman's desires are causing a lot of hardship for the town around her. But when something similar happens to another family member, we find out that even seeing the results of somebody's actions doesn't ensure that you won't make the wrong decision. This story is not part of any of Baker's milieus, but instead is a story of a woman so in love with her husband that she'll do anything to spend the rest of her life with him, even if it's a captive existence and not real. It's very tragic. The personalities of the two women are in sharp contrast when they're arguing about what the first woman has done, and the dialogue is great. The rest of the family members, minor character though they may be, are still given the proper dimension to make them interesting. Compelling at times, with a wonderful sense of foreboding at the end, of lessons that have gone unlearned.

"Parachute Kid" - by Edd Vick
Sam and his friend Lee are in class when Immigration Services comes for Lee. Sam goes and visits him at home when he gets out of school, and asks Lee to stay with him secretly while they get things sorted out. When a strange man shows up, though, Sam reacts out of gut instinct and "shifts," or jumps in time to get away. These jumps apparently are drawn to fire, either as the fire is happening or shortly before. Sam has to make a few jumps to get back to his house, and he discovers that, when he arrives, he's been gone for two days and Lee's at the hospital. When he tells Lee his secret, he also eventually agrees to help him as much as his time-jumping allows. This is an interesting, if at times confusing, story about a convoluted family tree. Sam was saved and raised by his older self, and he's apparently been a "time firefighter" all his life. He's the ultimate "parachute kid," dropping in when he's most needed. All the pieces of the story apparently fit together, which is sometimes hard to do with a time-travel story. The story is pretty lightweight, but it's fun and Sam is likable. It's also short, which means it doesn't drag on past its expiration date. We see just enough of the world to intrigue us.

"Polyhedrons" - by Robert A. Metzger
This is a hard SF story for those who like their science. A man continues to relive a day in a strange world bounded by "the Edge," said world consisting of a street or two, and Bobby, who is continually seen digging a hole next to a damaged Dodge Dart. With each iteration, the Dart is deteriorating, and Bobby is getting further and further into the hole. Bobby tries to explain to him what's going on, but he never can seem to understand. As the iterations become more and more chaotic, the sense of urgency grows. Can they get out of this weird world? And what awaits them over the Edge? This story almost blew my mind, as I am not a fan of hard SF, but it held me just enough to keep me going. It was mostly the mystery of the Edge and why everything seemed to be deteriorating that absorbed me. While the lessons on quantum mechanics were slightly interesting, physics was never one of my better subjects so these wouldn't have been enough. Unfortunately, the resolution of the story didn't grip me as much as the mystery did, and I found myself counting the pages until the end

"Dead Men on Vacation" - by Leslie What
It's the Riga Ghetto during World War II, and Jews are being rounded up by the Nazis every day. Wilhelm and his friend Heinrich, along with Heinrich's family, think that they're going to be next. They are carted away in a dark truck. Instead of being murdered, though, they are set free in the custody of a bunch of Russian soldiers. Unable to deal with this freedom when Wilhelm had already been looking forward to death, he wrestles the sidearm from an unsuspecting soldier and shoots himself. Unfortunately, while his life ends, his torment doesn't. He neither goes up nor down, but instead to a kind of purgatory. He finds that he has an existence, just no corporeal body, and that he can also move in time. He stumbles upon Heinrich and his family as the Germans are approaching Riga and Heinrich is resisting sending his youngest daughter to the United States to escape the oncoming Germans. He wills himself into existence just long enough to convince Heinrich to force his wife to agree to his decision to send her away. He then goes and finds the elderly Nazi colonel as he wastes away in an old folks' home in the United States, tormenting him to get his revenge. Unsatisfied with this, he then goes elsewhere, and discovers that his actions without thought at the beginning of the story may have some horrible consequences. This is a very poignant story of the Holocaust and the despair that many of the Jews felt as they lived in continual fear of what would happen to them. Wilhelm can't live with his new freedom because he's already dead inside, but he realizes that his actions were very selfish. The power of this story is in the imagery and the characterization. One logical flaw mars an otherwise excellent piece, though. Wilhelm thinks that his thoughtless suicide made him abandon somebody who really needed him. However, there's a paradox involved as he wouldn't have been around to save that person to begin with if he hadn't committed suicide. I had to stop and think for a moment, throwing me out of this wonderful story, and then I finally had to just move past it as I realized it didn't really make that much sense. I wasn't going to let that mar what was otherwise a great story. It was annoying, though.

"Oxygen Rising" - by R. Garcia y Robertson
Derek is a human negotiator trying to save the lives of various humans on Harmonia from the "Greenies," aliens who have landed on Harmonia and claim it for themselves. Most of the rebels are surrounded in a domed city, and Derek has to go and get them to surrender before the Greenies nuke them. He manages to get the women and children to leave, and then the dome is obliterated. Included with the women and children is Tammy, a female soldier who Derek flirts with as he is waiting to meet with the rebel general. Tammy has discarded her uniform and comes out with the others, much to Derek's pleasure, but is she coming out just to avoid getting killed? Derek's Greenie girlfriend, Mia, seems to like the idea of Derek sleeping with Tammy, but that's because Greenie women are incredibly open. Derek recruits Tammy to work with him in further negotiations, but one negotiation takes Derek on a mission he never thought he'd be on. Can he trust anybody anymore? Wow, Robertson has two stories published in the same month, and they both have sex scenes in them. Who would've thought? Still, this story is a thrilling adventure from beginning to end. Derek is interesting right from the beginning, and every page seems to reveal something new about him. He has an interesting code of ethics that makes him good at his job. Tammy is also multi-layered, always making you wonder exactly why she's doing what she's doing, and you can't always predict what that reason will be. Especially cool, though, is Leo, the SuperCat, a felinoid creature genetically engineered to be an efficient fighter. He is Derek's friend and employer, and he's always fun when he's in the scene. Alternating between exploring the future society that Robertson has created and rollicking space adventure, "Oxygen Rising" can't help but entertain.

The Articles
"Reflections" - by Robert Silverberg Grand Masters, the sequel. Where Robert Silverberg discusses becoming a Grand Master of the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America)

"On the Net" - by James Patrick Kelly
Kelly discusses the "darknet," and the DRM (Digital Rights Management) law

"On Books" - by Peter Heck
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman
Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan
Prisoner of the Iron Tower by Sarah Ash
One King, One Soldier by Alexander Irvine
Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic
The Kid Who Named Pluto by Marc McCutcheon