Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 2006

I haven't decided if I'm a Harry Turtledove fan, but I enjoyed The Scarlet Band. The rest of the stories in this issue are forgettable.

• Serial (1 of 4): A New Order of Things, by Edward M. Lerner - After decades of interstellar communication with other races, mankind is treated to a genuine first contact. The species called Snakes arrive in an antimatter-powered spaceship, but their ship is damaged and needs to be refueled. But the untrustworthy Snakes are hiding something.
• Novella: The Scarlet Band, by Harry Turtledove - A Sherlock Holmes story set in Turtledove's Atlantis alternate world where the east coast of North America is separated from the mainland and is the continent of Atlantis.
• Novelette: Farmers in the Sky, by Rob Chilson - An asteroid farmer studying at university on Earth falls in love with an Earth boy, but he's unwilling to live in the belt and she won't move to Earth.
• Short story: Lazy Taekos, by Geoffrey A. Landis - A fairy tale of a boy named Taekos who tries to marry a rich girl whose evil uncle requires suitors to jump through impossible hoops.
• Short story: Slide Show, by Jerry Oltion - An astrophotographer is appalled when the film companies stop making slide film, so he decides to start a new fad that uses slides.
• Science fact: The Terrestrial Search for Extraterrestrial Life, by Catherine Shaffer - Exotic forms of life live on Earth, deep under the ground and under the sea.