This issue also features two long-time veterans of the SF field. The bigger name is a very big name indeed: Ray Bradbury. His latest story is "The Laurel & Hardy Alpha Centauri Farewell Tour," about recreations of the famous comedians used to keep space travellers and colonists from depression. Sadly, I wasn't impressed. The central idea is unconvincing, to say the least, and the execution is tedious.

I was also disappointed with the contribution from the other veteran, Charles Harness. Harness loves to play games with time paradoxes, and in "A Boost in Time" he tells of a strangely motivated plot to destroy the human race by going back in time and diverting the dinosaur-killer asteroid. (That way, the mammals will never take over, see?) Naturally, things go a bit wrong, and it's easy to see exactly how from the start. This story lacked surprise, and believable characters, and even believable science.

For all Bradbury's well-earned stature, the name that jumped out at me from the table of contents was Robert Reed, based on his recent production. His story here is called "In the Valley of the Giant Quail," which certainly doesn't sound terribly serious. Indeed it's not: the problem is, it's not really funny or terribly inventive either. It's about the relationship between a pair of brothers, the rich genius who does things like invent giant quail, and the more modest narrator. It's done well enough, but I found myself wondering, "What's the point?"

So far I'd have to call this a disappointing issue. Essentially, all the "names," all the "draws," have not contributed anything special. Happily, among the four stories by more obscure writers, there is some stuff of interest. I thought the best story was "Requiem with Interruptions," by G. Scott Huggins. This is another in a very long line of stories, throughout the history of the genre, about humans meeting aliens, with the misunderstanding that results proving fatal. But that theme, old as it is, is still interesting, and indeed important, and Huggins' specific idea is new enough, and his resolution just enough different from the ordinary, to make this story memorable. It tells of a doctor who treats an injured alien in all innocence, not knowing that her treatment is dangerous to the alien, and to herself, and of the alien "priest" who comes finally to understand the humans enough to help both species. (The story is, coincidentally, mildly reminiscent of the Star Trek story in this issue.)

The other three stories aren't quite as good but they all have points of interest. Douglas Lain's "Selling Jesus" goes on a bit too long, but the basic conceit, of a door-to-door Bible salesman with a new product, a VR Jesus, is solid, and the central character is well-depicted. "The Reign of Rainbow Stars" by Christian L. Campbell has a very different central idea, presented in a logical but somewhat off-putting fashion. (The basic idea is that our reliance on orbital satellites and the universal "net" they provide becomes so complete that we become totally shut off from the outside universe.) The plot, however, is not believable, so the story doesn't quite work. And "Reality Slough" by Kent Robinson is a humorous story on the subject of wormholes causing complete disintegration of the fabric of reality. There's a lot of imagination displayed here, but no real coherence, and the humour didn't click for me at all.