In the March 2005 issue of Asimov?s Science Ficiton, I find an excellent story by Esther M. Friesner, great stories by Lori Selke, Nary Rosenbaum, Gene Wolfe (of course), Matthew Hughes & Bud Sparhawk and very good stories by David D. Levine, Steven Utkey and R. Neube.

As I comment in my review of the March 2005 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, no one writes a funny story like Esther Friesner. Well, in the March 2005 issue of Asimov?s Science Fiction, Friesner shows with "The Fraud", that she can write a great serious story, too. Set in early 19th century England, this tells how people deal with a young woman?s story about being impregnated by a unicorn. She is not the ?fraud? of the title and the end of this story will send a chill up your spine. This is a story that will make my Hugo nomination list for the best of 2005.

The issue has some other great stories, too. ?The Dodo Factory? by Lori Selke tells about a project to bring back the dodo and the shape just such a project might take. ?Green Shift?by Mary Rosenbaum tells about a young woman who sets out to avenge the murder of her brother and what happens to her on the way to that goal. ?Bright Red Stone? by Bud Sparhawk tells of a rescue mission of a different kind. ?The Devil You Don?t? by Matthew Hughes tells what Winston Churchill might do with foreknowledge. ?The Card? by Gene Wolfe is about a man reactions when he finds out how his life might have been.

Other stories include: ?Tk,tk,tk? by David D. Levine (a saleman?s difficulties on another world), ?The Wave-Function Collapse? by Steven Utley (a Schrodinger?s Cat story) and ?Organs R Us? by R. Neube (an unusual detective story). All in all, another issue worth getting!

(Source: Penny Press)