Analog is the highest-circulation and longest-lived science fiction magazine on the market today. Its first editor of note, John W. Campbell, channelized much of what we think of as traditional science fiction, publishing authors like Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. (He also believed L. Ron Hubbard was onto something with Dianetics).
Campbell’s successor, Ben Bova, helmed the magazine through the ’70s, and acquired over twenty stories nominated for Hugos before the end of the decade.
Stan Schmidt edited the magazine from the early ’80s into the 2010s. After I discovered it as a teenager on the magazine rack at the local supermarket, my science fiction addiction had a new focus. (Along with Hooked on Books on S. Campbell Road in Springfield). Under Stan, Analog published stories that still resonate in my memory. (The Plague Star by George R. R. Martin is one of my favorite sf novellas of all time). I also inflicted my first, very poor attempts at writing science fiction on Stan. (More accurately, whoever read slush for him in the late ’80s).
From all this, it’s been a great honor to have several appearances in Analog here in the ’20s, under the editorship of Stan’s successor, Trevor Quachri. (With Emily Hockaday doing yeoman’s work wrangling authors to get their galleys in on time. Senior managing editors are the offensive linemen of publishing: they get no glory but without them no one can move the ball downfield).
My latest Analog story is on newsstands now! Look for “Aalund’s Final Mission” in the March/April 2023 issue. In case you’re wondering, it’s not part of any my other fictional universes. At least, not yet.
A captain, a commissar, and the ultimate crisis at 0.99 c: If your propulsion system goes off-line, how can you slow down?
