Contents
In the Autumn of the Empire (Jerry Oltion)
A cautionary tale about why scientific misconceptions can be
important. This story will also be appearing in Analog soon.
Keywords: The seasons. Misconceptions.
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End of the World (Alma Alexander)
Nothing is forever, not even the earth and sky. Keywords:
Evolution of the sun.
Read
The Freshmen Hook Up (Wil McCarthy)
An exploration of how the elements are built in stars using the
antics of college freshmen as a metaphor. Keywords: Stellar
nucleosynthesis.
Read
Galactic Stress (David Levine)
You think your life is stressful? How about having to deal with
the entire universe? Keywords: Scales of the Universe.
Read
The Moon is a Harsh Pig (Jerry Weinberg)
Robert Heinlein’s novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
about a revolt on the Moon was a landmark novel of the 1960s.
Jerry’s story is also educational. Keywords: Phases of the Moon,
Misconceptions.
Read
The Point (Mike Brotherton)
What is the meaning of life in an expanding universe? This story
previously appeared at www.mikebrotherton.com. Keywords: Cosmology
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Squish (Dan Hoyt)
How would you like a whirlwind tour of the planets? Keywords:
The Solar System.
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Jaiden’s Weaver (Mary Robinette Kowal)
So many things about life on Earth depend on the cycles of the
sky, from the moon and tides to seasons and more. Well, what if the
sky were different? How would humans adapt to life on a world with
rings? Keywords: Planetary rings
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How I Saved the World (Valentin Ivanov)
The movies Armageddon and Deep Impact featured
nuclear bombs to divert asteroids headed for Earth, but this is
really not the best way to deal with this threat. This story was
originally published in Bulgaria, in the annual almanac
“Fantastika”, the 2007 issue. Publisher: “Human Library
Foundation”, Sofia. ISSN 1313-3632. Editors: Atanas P. Slavov and
Kalin Nenov. Keywords: Killer asteroids
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Dog Star (Jeffrey A. Carver)
It permeates space and has a subtle but important effect on our
existence. What if the effect were not so subtle? Keywords: Dark
Energy
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The Touch (G. David Nordley)
Life in the Milky Way can be harsh depending the neighborhood
you live in. You should hope you have helpful neighbors when the
times are harsh. This story originally appeared in The Age of
Reason, edited by Kurt Roth, at SFF.net in 1999. Keywords:
Supernova (type 1a)
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Planet Killer (Kevin Grazier and Ges Segar)
And sometimes the times are harsh but you have to depend on
yourselves. It helps if you have a little unlikely but useful
faster-than-light starships as in Star Trek. Keywords:
That would be telling!
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The Listening Glass (Alexis Glynn Latner)
What’s the future hold for astronomy and astronomers? What would
it be like to work on the moon? An earlier version of the story was
first published in the February, 1991 issue of Analog Science
Fiction/Science Fact. Keywords: Radio astronomy, the Moon
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Approaching Perimelasma (Geoffrey A. Landis)
A sophisticated tale about the ultimate journey. Previously
published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Jan. 1998. Keywords: Black
holes
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