Zohar Jacobs discusses the role of religion in science fiction—and how its portrayal can be improved—while outlining the origins of “Tohu Bohu,” her latest story, found in our [May/June issue, on sale now!] Analog Editor: What is the story behind this piece? Zohar Jacobs: I can’t say I wrote it voluntarily! At Viable Paradise in 2022, we were expected to produce a 2,000 word story during the workshop. I’m a perfectionist, a slow writer, and don’t enjoy writing to prompts, so I was pondering how to approach “The Horror That Is Thursday” even before I arrived. I adopted the philosophy that got m ..read more

by Kelly Lagor Learn how an adventure in meal-kit cookery and a Neil Gaiman poem inspired Kelly Lagor’s latest Analog story, “Making Gnocchi at the End of the World,” now available in our [May/June issue, on sale now!] Stories often come together in surprising ways, and “Making Gnocchi at the End of the World” was no exception. The story’s heart really evolved out of a particular image I got stuck in my head. The first half came from an experience I had, a decade ago now, with my very first delivery meal kit. I’d placed an order so a friend of mine could get a free box for her family, but sinc ..read more

by Karen Heuler Spam calls and emails remain an unfortunate feature of modern life. But what opportunities, ideas, experiences could be lost as we defend ourselves from the constant deluge of spam? Karen Heuler reflects on this question as well as her experience dealing with spam. Read Heuler’s latest story, “Potential Spam,” in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] When I was a kid, there were no personal computers, and the only phones were landlines. We got marketing calls occasionally, usually during dinner hours—though even that was rare.  There were only human marketers then. Then lo ..read more

by Naim Kabir Naim Kabir makes his Analog debut with his short story “Ramanujan’s Goddess” in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] Here, Kabir discusses the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that dogma influences scientific research Dogma’s a razor. Think more Occam and Hanlon and less Gillette—it’s a philosophical razor, meant to shave off rhetorical split-ends. I grew up with a tinny azan blaring from a speaker five times a day and mandatory memorization of the Word, so I know this power well. Dogma eliminates the unnecessary: no hesitation in charity, no fear of death, and—here’s the bit that ..read more

by Romie Stott Romie Stott’s “A Reclamation of Beavers,” appears in our [March/April issue, on sale now!]. For this blog post, Stott discusses the various influences, from her work as a closed captioner to wetland reclamation, behind the AI she conceived for her latest short story. “Writer” is in my job title, the same way “reporter” is in the job title “court reporter”—I’m a Voice Writer, a specific subcategory of closed captioner for live television. For more than a decade, for many hours a week, I’ve broadcast real-time text transcripts to millions of televisions during live sports games, c ..read more

In our [March/April issue, on sale now!], we’re thrilled to bring you Deborah L. Davitt’s “A Long Journey Into Night,” the follow-up to her 2021 AnLab-winning story “A Shot in the Dark.” In our Q&A Davitt herself, find out why she prefers to leave current events out of her fiction, and what inspired her to write a sequel to her award-winning novelette. AE: How did this story germinate? Was there a spark of inspiration, or did it come to you slowly? DLD: This story is a direct sequel to my first Analog appearance, “A Shot in the Dark,” which appeared in January/February 2021, and which won ..read more

by Kedrick Brown Discover how research investigating the vastness of the universe helped inspire Kedrick Brown’s latest story, “Bereti’s Spiral,” from our [March/April issue, on sale now!] In “Bereti’s Spiral,” my second Analog story, I try to convey my sense of wonder about the universe and reflect on the challenges and triumphs that accompany scientific progress. I find that it is very difficult to appreciate the complexity of the universe by thinking about numbers alone. For example, what do estimates [1] that the universe has about 100 billion to 2 trillion galaxies actually mean? Assuming ..read more

Mike Muegel, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWe’re pleased to publish this very special Q&A with legendary SF novelist and screenwriter David Gerrold, who shares with us his history with Analog as well as his early inspirations. Check out David’s novella “Ganny Goes to War” in our [March/April issue, on sale now!] Analog Editor: What is your history with Analog? David Gerrold: I have a long personal history with Analog. My first year of high school was at Van Nuys High. The library was a good place to hang out at lunch time and they had a subscri ..read more

by Martin L. Shoemaker Martin L. Shoemaker discusses the conception of the fictional slug species featured in “Sluggish,” his eleventh Analog story, now available in our [January/February issue, on sale now!] Like any good scientific investigation, the natural history of Quijote Orragi (the Orrago 5 slugs from “Sluggish”) has many roots. While you don’t have to know this history to enjoy the story, I thought you might appreciate a look into how it came to be. The first and most obvious root is the incident that inspired me, first as humor and then more seriously, to write this story. A few yea ..read more

by Madeline Barnicle What happens when science fiction investigates the possibilities of “alternate mathematics”? Find out in the essay below, where Madeline Barnicle discusses the role of mathematics in SF across a few notable examples, from Cixin Liu’s “The Circle” to “Division by Zero” by Ted Chiang. You can also read read Barnicle’s short story “Barreira do Inferno” in our [January/February issue, on sale now!] The genre of alternate history posits a “turning point”—what if this battle had a different outcome? what if this historical figure hadn’t died when they did?—and then imagines the ..read more