There’s a bit of a Steampunk feel to our colossal April/May double issue. A journey of discovery is related in Alexander Jablokov’s complex and compelling cover story about a pair of intrepid twins. On “The Day the Wires Came Down,” this enchanting twosome uncovered a few remarkable secrets about the overhead tramlines that crisscrossed the upper reaches of their city. The darker side of the Steam Age is explored in Christopher Barzak’s surreal look at life in “Smoke City.”

ALSO IN APRIL/MAY
DOUBLE
ISSUE

A young woman awaits her fate on a ship stranded in deep space in Hugo Award winner Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s suspenseful new novelette, “Becalmed”; Philip K. Dick Award winner Rudy Rucker continues his exploration of the wonders of biological nanotech in his short story about “The Fnoor Hen”; Nebula Award winner Esther M. Friesner weaves together more than one SF trope while spinning the risqué tale of “The One Who Got Away”; Hugo and Nebula Award winner Michael Swanwick’s bittersweet new short story takes a look at all the possibilities to be found in “An Empty House With Many Doors”; complex military maneuvers, competing human constructs, and scheming groups of aliens are all a part of Tom Purdom’s latest novelette, “A Response from EST17”; a painful parent and child reunion is accomplished in Hugo and Nebula Award winner Mike Resnick’s “The Homecoming”; Jack Skillingstead flies us to the far future to investigate the truth behind “The Flow and the Dream”; Bram Stoker finalist Nick Mamatas marks his first appearance in Asimov’s with a vivid reminiscence about a traumatic night with “North Shore Friday”; and, in “Clockworks,” William Preston tells a new tale about the younger days of the heroic character featured in his March 2010 story about “Helping Them Take the Old Man Down.”

The distinguished Grand Master, James Gunn, takes a charming look at the life of the magazine’s founder in the April/May Thought Experiment: “Celebrating Isaac.” Since Robert Silverberg couldn’t cram everything into one Relections column, we’ll learn some additional secrets when he reveals yet “More About the Plot Genie”; Norman Spinrad examines both Steampunk and the New Weird in “On Books: Urbi et Orbi”; plus you’ll find an array of poetry you’re sure to enjoy. Look for our April/ May double issue on sale at your newsstand on March 1, 2011. Or you can subscribe to Asimov’s—in paper format or in downloadable varieties—by visiting us online at www.asimovs.com. We’re also available individually or by subscription on Amazon.com’s Kindle, BarnesandNoble.com’s Nook, and ebookstore.sony.com’s eReader!