Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January/February 2006

• Serial Novel (3 of 4): Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder - Schroeder gives a new spin on a free-fall world in the tradition of Larry Niven's Integral Trees and Smoke Ring.
• Novella: "The Night Is Fine," The Walrus Said, by John Barnes - A fine installment set in John Barnes's Springer universe. Our pal Giraut dodges assassination attempts, gains a greater understanding of artificial intelligence aintillects, and begins to question his unwavering loyalty to OSP.
• Novelette: The Balance of Nature, by Lee Goodloe - Wardmistress Deesa Nelfro learns that the platitude "Take care of Nature, and She'll take care of you" is a lie. Sometimes nature tries to kill you with lava.
• Novelette: Dinosaur Blood, by Richard A. Lovett - A spoiled rich girl celebrates her twenty-first birthday by burning the last of the world's gasoline on a cross-country trip in a Hummer.
• Novelette: Written in Plaster, by Rajnar Vajra - Thirteen-year-old Danny Levan comes face to face with what appears to be a large purple golem that protects him.
• Short story: Mop-up, by Grey Rollins - Janitor Elsworth Smith negotiates with the alien Nolroy when all of Earth's top diplomats and ambassadors fail.
• Short story: Kamikaze Bugs, by Ekaterina Sedia and David Bartell - A bitter old scientist dying of lung cancer creates and releases a locust designed to eat tobacco.
• Short story: Report on Ranzipal's Plus-Dimensional Carry-all, by Mark W. Tiedman - A carry-all bag allows a man to carry items without feeling the weight; the "carried" item is actually slipped into another dimension, and retrieved through the bag any time it is needed.
• Short story: Change, by Julian Flood - In a future world where mankind uses trees for everything from food to firewood to building material, a few scientists discover that by using grass seed (such as wheat) they can grow more food. More importantly, they can finally cut down some trees. Earth has too many trees and they are upsetting the balance of the atmosphere.
• Science fact: Pollution, Solutions, Elution, and Nanotechnology, by Stephen L. Gillett, Ph.D. - Can we use nanotechnology to separate one kind of atom or molecule from others?
• Science fact: From Fimbulwinter to Dante's Hell: The Strange Saga of Snowball Earth, by Richard A. Lovett - A brief discussion of how and why a planet (namely, Earth) enters and leaves ice ages.
• Special feature: Why Do Readers Always Ask...?, by James P. Hogan - The most irritating and intriguing question is "Where do you get your ideas?" James Hogan tells us how he got the ideas for his novels.