Frank Schurter’s illustration for “Extremophile” by Robert Harpold.

Table of Contents

About the Cover

Our cover is by Frank Schurter and accompanies Robert Harpold’s Hard SF tale “Extremophile.”  Frank’s art is meticulous and its level of detail uncompromising. As a boy growing up in Columbus, Ohio, Frank read a lot of Ray Bradbury short stories, watched a lot of Star Trek and Twilight Zone , and wanted desperately to draw comic books. He discovered the joys of digital illustration while earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Illustration at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Space Heater

By Angela Yuriko Smith

Angela Yuriko Smith reminds us that we all want to be more than a heat signature, a momentary rebellion against entropy. We can be the creators that dream the world.

The Ghost of a Smile

By John Jos. Miller, Illustrated by Elizabeth Leggett

If there are spirit guides for the living, let them be as John J Miller envisions them, given form by the written word and empowered by a belief that grows out of love.

Beyond Our Hidden Stars

By Sally Wiener Grotta, Illustrated by Jane Noel

Imagination, community, and belonging are the keys to survival in any age. Nowhere will they be needed more than among the asteroids, those cold rocks we must mine to build new worlds.

Cessation of Civilization

By Marie Croke, Illustrated by Jane Noel

In this “if at first you don’t succeed” tale, Marie brings home the point that life, and civilization, are an ongoing experiment, a work of art, and an exercise in craftsmanship.

The Last Petal

By Anna Madden, Illustrated by Jane Noel

Beauty and the Beast is not always a love story, nor is the true beast always the one against whom the villagers turn their wrath. In partnership lies survival.

Hot Times at Shady Pines

By Gary Kloster, Illustrated by Cheryl Ceol

The age of eternal youth and the banishing of decay is not far off, but what about those left behind? Even in our time, the young have little use for geezers.

Autoimmune

By Kurt Pankau, Illustrated by Fiona Jayde Media

What happens when you travel back in time to save your grandfather and stop a plague, only to be confronted by yourself, and yourself, and yourself!?

Extremophile

By Robert Harpold, Illustrated by Frank Schurter

Robert Harpold has operated spacecraft, designs trajectories for the Orion missions, and has been to some very cold places. It all comes together as he imagines a discovery on Europa.

DreamForger

By Donald S. Crankshaw, Illustrated by John Blumen

Once a master craftsman of nightmares, Nordri labors under a curse of empathy. The curse has tangled around his soul and linked him to those suffering from the dreamforger’s art

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