The Stories
"The Edge of Nowhere" - by James Patrick Kelly (Novelette) 18 pages
"The Ice Cream Man" - by James Van Pelt (Short Story) 11 pages
"Martyrs' Carnival" - by Jay Lake (Short Story) 12 pages
"Bad Machine" - by Kage Baker (Novelette) 23 pages
"Rainmakers" - by Ruth Nestvold (Short Story) 15 pages
"The Little Goddess" - by Ian McDonald (Novella) 33 pages

June's Asimov's is another great issue, with only one story that didn't really grab me. A couple of others had their misfires, but the overall quality of the stories was very high. Ian McDonald's "The Little Goddess" has to be considered the best, though. We're given a nice mixture of other worlds, stories set in different futuristic Earths, as well as some interesting science fiction concepts. Add to that an interesting examination of the singularity as a literary device and another great article by Robert Silverberg about the hazards of censorship, and you've got another great issue.

"The Edge of Nowhere" - by James Patrick Kelly
Rain is the proprietor of the Very Memorial Library in a small town, but this isn't just any small town. It's surrounded by fog, thought to be the "cognisphere of humanity." One day, she gets an unusual request for a book. The first unusual thing is that the request is made by three dogs created by the cognisphere, not humans who have been revived to be live in the town. Secondly, unlike most book requests that she can fulfill by pulling the book out of the cognisphere, this book hasn't even been written yet. Her boyfriend, Will, is currently writing it. This request causes both her as well as Will to question everything they've been told about their existence. This is quite the surreal story, but Kelly manages to make it all convincing. The humans have come from different times and places as they were put in suspended animation until they are revived in this town, and we get a good sense of how these memories (or, more often, the lack thereof) shape how they interact. The dogs are quite well done, with a nice combination of doggish traits as well as human. Probably the best character, however, is Chance Conrad, the person who procures everything from the cognisphere that the inhabitants ask for. He flirts with Rain, but you can tell that he also cares about her. He helps Rain understand what might be going on with all of these weird events. He's a philosopher as well, and I found him the most interesting of the bunch. This story is a great way to open the issue.

"The Ice Cream Man" - by James Van Pelt
Keegan is the ice cream man in a world where mutations have gone horribly wrong. No child has been born in years, and mutants are live in separate conclaves than the ordinary humans. Keegan is friends with both sides, a pacifist who just wants help everybody. He drives his truck around, dispensing ice cream in exchange for weapons or any other item that might be needed. There is a war going on between the two sides, though, and soon Keegan might get caught in the middle. This is a very tender story, with Keegan being disfigured but well-liked by both sides. He's just a man who wants to serve his ice cream and wants the world to be a safe place for everybody. When he learns of a human hunt for the mutants commencing that night, it is almost heartbreaking watching him try desperately to warn the mutants of their impending doom. Will he be able to save anybody? You'll have to read the story. Van Pelt's characterization of Keegan is wonderful, and you'll really be glad that you read this story.

"Martyrs' Carnival" - by Jay Lake
Adkins is the sheriff of Gypsum Flats, a small mining town in Dryland, where rain is almost non-existent. A group of Christians have taken their religion to a wild extreme, celebrating the upcoming Easter holiday by crucifying three willing martyrs on metal crosses. Adkins is determined to keep this from happening, and forces them to move outside the city walls, not allowing them in until their martyrs are taken down, despite the fact that noone can survive outside for long in the blistering heat. The plan backfires when they congregation refuses to come inside even when the ban is lifted, no matter how many might die. Adkins soon finds herself the target of a population sympathetic to the martyrs. Some may see this story as anti-Christian, and it perhaps could be. However, it also contains a Wiccan character who is sympathetic to the plight of the Christians and willing to put his life on the line to protect what he feels is their right to do what they are doing. To me, the story is more about taking any belief system (even the secular system espoused by Adkins) to an extreme and how people who do that almost pervert what it is they are said to believe. Lake give us an interesting protagonist in Adkins as well as an intriguing situation, but the story drags in the middle and the ending leaves a little something to be desired. It has an explosive finale, and then just kind of peters out. It's still worth a read, though.

"Bad Machine" - by Kage Baker
Another story set in the future of "The Company" novels that Baker has written. Alec Checkerfield is a 16-year-old boy exploring his sexuality with various girls in his class. This is causing some questions among the bureaucrats, especially the buying of prophylactics by somebody underaged. Captain Morgan, the artificial intelligence that Alec programmed when he was a boy, catches wind of these inquiries and sets out to put a stop to them. It's amazing what super-intelligent computers can do to people when they put their minds to it. Alec is swiftly learning that sex does not necessarily bring love while Morgan is busy doing his thing. Neither one appears to know what the other is doing, and Morgan finds himself having to reassure Alec when he finds out that there may be another reason why all these girls are willing to sleep with him. This story isn't bad (it's by Kage Baker!), but it is kind of pedestrian for an Alec story. Some of this ground feels like it's been covered already in The Life of the World to Come. We don't learn anything really new about either Captain Morgan or Alec. It is perfectly understandable and interesting for those not familiar with the world of the Company, so it would serve as a good entry into the series, but that's about it. Well-written, as Baker's stories usually are, this one's enjoyable but not outstanding.

"Rainmakers" - by Ruth Nestvold
Chepanek is a world with a population led by "rainmakers." The world has a weird orbit which requires mass migrations from one hemisphere to another during certain times. The rainmakers are the ones who tell the rest of the population when to do this. Unfortunately, human colonies have been stealing these rainmakers and trying to modify the world to stabilize the weather patterns. The natives give the colonists an ultimatum: get the technology off of the planet by a certain time, or the technology will be removed forcibly. Rekaya is called in to mediate, but she isn't told that her sexuality (being a lesbian) will have a negative effect on the natives if it is found out. Negotiations do not go well, and Rekaya begins to wonder if they were even supposed to. She finds out more about herself as she tries to figure out what her next step should be. The ending to this story is quite abrupt, leaving the reader to wonder what the next step will be. I'm sure the ambiguity is intentional, but it didn't really work for me. When Rekaya discovers what her secret truly is, it changes everything, but no indication is given as to what Rekaya can do to solve the conflict between the natives and the colonists. Also, I found myself not really caring that much for any of the characters. The situation Nestvold puts them in is interesting, but the combination of dull characters and the abrupt ending make for a less than satisfying story.

"The Little Goddess" - by Ian McDonald
It's India and Nepal in the future, and the two countries has been divided into numerous little nations. Nepal has returned some of the old ways, and a little girl is installed as the latest goddess of her people. The requirements for this are to laugh at pain, blood, and death, and she's the one who passes the test. Given two "mothers," who help train her in what she needs to do, she will retain the position until she "bleeds" for the first time. Most of the time, this "bleeding" is caused by the onset of puberty, but one of the mothers is giving her drugs to keep puberty at bay. That is, until something else happens, forcing the girl to leave her sheltered life and go out into the world. She gets involved in the world of arranged marriages where men buy their brides, as well as the smuggling of artificial intelligences across national borders. Told in first person from the girl's point of view, we get to see a large portion of the girl's life, as well as a vivid world with a mixture of the futuristic and the historical. McDonald has created an interesting set of societies, with all of the different nations that India has broken in to. The ending, however, makes this story really worthwhile, as young Devi uses what she's left with to install herself as her own little goddess. McDonald makes her an interesting character to read about, and the pages just fall away effortlessly as the reader gets wrapped up in what's happening to her. Certainly the best story in the entire issue.

The Articles
"Reflections" - by Robert Silverberg
Revisting some horrible cases of censorship, almost going into the realm of "thoughtcrime," that have happened recently.

"Thought Experiments" - by Cory Doctorow
An interview with Ray Kurzweil, futurist inventor who believes the Singularity is more than a literary device. He sees it coming in the relatively near future. The Singularity, to quote the article, "describes the black hole in history that will be created when at the moment when human intelligence can be digitized.

"On Books" - by Peter Heck
Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
The Green & the Gray by Timothy Zahn
The White Rose R. Garcia y Robertson
Lost and Found by Alan Dean Foster
Davy by Edgar Pangborn
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil De Grasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith