Three big novelettes form the centerpiece of our August issue, perfect for the beach or poolside, (and the cabana, if you don’t care for the sun). The first features the return of recent Asimov’s discovery Gregory Norman Bossert and his “Slow Boat”—the boat here is on its leisurely way to Mars containing a most unwilling passenger, a young woman threatened with interplanetary exile for her hackerly ways. Can she, with little but her own wits, turn the tides on her mysterious captors? Next, in “Crimes, Follies, Misfortunes, and Love,” Ian Creasey takes us to the not-so-distant future, where our poor post-semi-apocalypse descendants must sift through old blog entries and internet detritus to uncover their cultural heritage. We can only hope they won’t find 4Chan somewhere down there. . . . You won’t find anything harmful or offensive in Alexander Jablokov’s latest—quite the opposite, in fact, as everything in this particular world carries a “Warning Label,” which can nevertheless cause some significant problems for progressive politicians.

ALSO IN AUGUST

Acclaimed historical novelist Alan Wall makes a surprising and welcome Asimov’s debut with “Superluminosity,” a literate and amusing tale of a man thrown far back in time through a beautifully rendered past London; Carol Emshwiller, gives us a disturbing look at a moral conflict between the truly alien and a crew of unsupecting humans in “The Lovely Ugly”; Pamela Rentz, making her Asimov’s debut, with a wistful alternate history in which Native Americans hold a much different place in the American narrative, one in which they are able to participate in “The Battle of Little Big Science”; Julia Sidorova, making her Asimov’s debut, “The Witch, the Tinman, the Flies,” describes the unfortunate travails a group of geneticists must persevere while working behind the iron curtain of Communist Russia; and Nick Wolven follows the tragic tale of a prisoner whose valuable talents are exploited by his captors in “On the Horizon.”

Robert Silverberg’s Reflections explores some recent SF scholarship in “Brave New Words”; James Patrick Kelly, not to be outdone, explores “Brave New Worlds” in On the Net; Peter Heck contributes “On Books”; plus an array of poetry you’re sure to enjoy. Look for our August issue on sale at newsstands on June 22, 2010. Or you can subscribe to Asimov’s—in classy and elegant paper format or those new-fangled downloadable varieties, by visiting us online at www.asimovs.com. We’re also available on Amazon.com’s Kindle!

New stories by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick, Tom Purdom, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sara Genge, Robert Reed, Will McIntosh, Eugene Mirabelli, Geoffrey A. Landis, and many others!