Best Poem: Escape Pod by S. L. Johnson: “Books are spacecraft racing through the storms…” yes the best way out of and into anywhere

Best nonfiction: The Alternate View: Intelligent Computation to Improve aLIGO by John G. Cramer: great overview of the next steps in LIGO

20) Jiggity Jog by Don Mark Baldridge: time traveller goes back in time and messed up timeline. Point unclear

19) Iron Star Swing by Kate Orman: elementary particles waging war on the dying sun scheme against each other. Too complicated and long

18) A Future Full of Glaciers by Peter Medeiros: advance party of aliens resides at bottom of glacier lake pulling strings on humanity. Rambling. Didn’t get it . POV hopping hard to follow

17) And She Is Content by Frank Ward: AI consciousness running a city realizes she’s actually leftover from a generation ship, always reliving the start of the city. Unclear

16) Like Father, Like Son by Theodora Sutcliffe: a few lucky infertile parents granted right to have enhanced kids, then deal with consequences. Bewildering

15) A Chatbot’s Guide to Self-Respect by Jo Miles; despondent chatbot A turns to bot B and gradually realizes B needs as much help as A.Straightforward.

14) Artificial Cupidity by Hayden Trenholm: US President, now an AI program, selfishly and petulantly seeks more friends, with disastrous consequences until chief of staff convinces it to back off. Good start but not sustained.

13) Jack Cade’s Rebellion by Philip Brian Hall: Jack, possibly sole human without a smartphone, matches wits with android asking him to register nonexistent smartphone. Cute

12) Unsung by Derrick Biden: genetically gifted Banner, reduced to just his brain and upper body, fights evil aliens in solar system again and again. Multiple resurrections and backstabbing plans bewildering, but great grit

11) Flag Lamp by Jonathan Olfert: maintenance technician on satellites farming ice from Saturn rings breaks free from oppressive corporation. Vivid

10) Silver Hands by E. L. Mellor: gifted violinist wonders whether to have hand cut off and replaced by better prosthesis. Thoughtful questioning on meaning of beauty

9) Still Cold, Still Losing Air by Sean Monaghan: tech on Mars surface nearly dies due to defective suit and his own errors, but recovers long enough to be saved by partner. Good tension and setting

8) Recognition, Memory by @benjaminckinney.com : Founder of consciousness-control-and-recall company acts as guinea pig for his own service as he dies. Resurrected with imperfections, he attempts to navigate world and relationships. Innovative, confusing at start, but rewarding at end

7) A Goodbye at the End of the Universe by Ian Baaske: ship stumbles into black hole. Messages manage to get through and crew see time-accelerated goodbyes of their loved ones. Unusual premise but works well. Bittersweet

6) You Who Sought the Stars’ Distant Light by Stewart C. Baker: scientist creates mind meld technology, Scientist’s child kidnapped and has consciousness melded to ship. Scientist breaks every rule to attempt a release. Touching

5) Salary Man by Matthew McHugh: cog in insurance corp bureaucracy tweaks decisions and helps sustain lunar colony. Uplifting.

4) Monkey Trap by Geoffrey Hart: ex-Navy explorers prospecting distant planet stumble onto an abandoned alien base, staying ahead of creditors, navy, aliens, and all others. Great pace and characters

3) Sin Eaters by @markwt.bsky.social : aliens arrive on Earth, establish diplomatic relations. Their kids are kidnapped, then freed. Aliens won’t press charges. Finest human minds struggle to understand why. Good exploration of guilt, atonement, motives

2) The Origami Man by @dougfranklin.bsky.social: fisherman finds shape shifting extraterrestrial in Alaska waters and must manage the consequences on his home town and his family. Powerful, thoughtful

1) Linka’s Out by Rich Larson: Nocti’s girlfriend Linka is imprisoned by evil corporation after she joins a strike. When she is released he goes to prison to bring her back. Her condition is appalling. Brutal, vivid tale. Memorable.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February 2026. Ranking of Stories follows

5) The Show Must Go On by D. A. D’Amico: twins- conjoined via an umbilical - escape cruel circus and werewolf overseers. Good passion but a little long at times

4) Half Lives by Alan Dove: physics grad student uncovers time travel plot and escapes evil government control through cleverness. Flows well

3) Find Your Voice by Jake Stein: kid receives guidance from storyteller on how to find their Voice and succeeds in the forest. Good zoomorphic escape

2) Hats by Christopher Mattravers-Taylor: office drone forced to wear mind control hat discovers it was hacked by anarchists and launches revolution. Great mix of The Matrix X Fight Club

1) Full Nova by Phillip E. Dixon: Charlie repeatedly heads to speakeasy for time travelling drinks allowing him to revisit episodes with his dead girlfriend in star struck relationship. Well crafted

Electric Spec Volume 20, Issue 3 August 31, 2025. Ranking of stories follows

Best nonfiction: Decoding Animal (And Alien?) Language by Gunnar De Winter: instructive overview of language challenges and current knowledge

7)Between Here and Everywhere by Robert Reed: lovers and others, all of many species, scheme on generation ship to unknown destination Confusing and ponderous

6)The Hole by Ferenc Samsa: rogue golem hunted down by palace police. Didn’t get it

5)Tomorrow. Today. By R.T. Ester: dad almost loses son at age 2, then gets him a new age-appropriate body every couple of years. Kid at adolescence not happy about whole situation but then again teens often unhappy anyway. Good, novel take on father-son dynamics

4) Home Grown by Madeleine Vigneron: sister wins coin toss and leaves dying Earth in generation ship. Regrets consume her but she restores order in her world. Serene

3) This Sepulchral Aegis by @robgillham.bsky.social : Leander, leader of generation ship, awoken from sleep by Jocasta, shipwrecked survivor from advanced civilization, who teaches him truth, while he teaches her sibling love. Tense, passionate.

2) Imperfect Simulations by @michellezj.bsky.social : augmented boy Killian grows up to be whiz at accurately determining probability of events big and small. As his world collapses, he weighs different outcomes. Great mix of the rational and not

1) The Cold Burns by @annewilkins.bsky.social : Jacob learns truth about footprint-obsessed Utopia and its ghastly human freezing truth. Takes matters into his own hands. Tight. Brilliant.

Clarkesworld 231. Ranking of stories follows

Best nonfiction: Needing to Make Sense of the World with R.T. Ester by Arley Sorg: great discussion on writing processes and background

7)Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World by Chisom Umeh: mega corporation creates simulated worlds of what people in the past thought the future would like. Future backfires. Good start but end abrupt and preachy

6)The Fire Burns Anyway by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: builder of dream worlds lives paycheque to paycheque. Contemplates quitting but hangs on as there’s nowhere else to go. Good take on silent naive perseverance

5)Ratlines by @brentbaldwin.bsky.social : intelligent rebel has consciousness stripped from body and injected into ship to become pilot. Avenges self from those who did this. Driven

4)Trees at Night by @ramirosanchiz.bsky.social trans Sue Burke:kids afflicted w/ disease go down to cavern where they join writhing mass of humanity but from which emerge poor copies of the kids which fool those wanting to be fooled.Bewildering,bleak,takes effort to follow,but worthwhile in the end

3)Jade Fighter by @spires.bsky.social: Ling enters virtual dojo for taichi and other arts. She befriends an NPC that dreams of gaining agency and breaking out into the real world. Pleasant mix of reality and ethereality.

2)The Apologists by @tadethompson.bsky.social: detective investigating murder of mother and daughter uncovers truth of parallel universe and of self resulting from alien obliteration of humanity. Gripping

1)The Stone Played at Tengen by R. H. Wesley: the gods, through celestial phenomena, challenge the emperor of Japan and his advisers to a game of go. The gods of course win, but the splendour is in the playing. Profound

Clarkesworld 230. Ranking of stories follows

Best nonfiction: Out of “Some Warm Little Pond,” Part II: BIOS and the Last Universal Common Ancestor by Kelly Lagor: good insight into the investigation

19)One Step Away by Lance Robinson: negotiator at 2045 environmental conference tries to get other countries to agree. Too preachy

18)With Lanterns Borne Aloft by Mark W. Tiedermann: small town council head deals with small minded locals opposed to outsiders. Too slow