Jul 16 2011

New story in the October Analog

Published by at 3:07 pm under Writing

My author’s copies of the October issue of Analog just arrived (early!), containing my Probability Zero story “The Sock Problem”. This is kind of a sequel to “Light Conversation” in that both stories feature a major appliance and the first-person narrator is a bit of a tinkerer. My son Robert is urging me to do a whole series of humorous appliance stories. We’ll see.
Cover, October Analog

Also in this issue is Brad Torgersen’s “The Bullfrog Radio Astronomy Project”. This is kind of a thrill for both of us; back in 2009 at one of Kris’n’Dean’s writing workshops, before he had had anything published and only my “Snowball” had been sold but wasn’t yet in print, we’d joked about one day both having stories in the same issue of Analog. Well, two years later and here we are. (Hey, Brad, one day we’re going to be on the Hugo awards stage together, right? ;-))

Should be on the stands in a couple of weeks, electronic versions possibly before that. Enjoy!

5 comments so far

5 Responses to “New story in the October Analog”

  1. Debson 19 Jul 2011 at 1:06 am

    Congratulations, Alastair. Analog is a wonderful venue.

  2. Brad R. Torgersenon 19 Jul 2011 at 8:28 am

    Hah, it didn’t take us long to turn a (somewhat joking) dream into reality, did it Al? “The Sock Problem” was excellent, as usual. I bow to your skill at short-short form. I wouldn’t have the foggiest, trying to tell an engaging tale at that length. Nicely done. As for Hugos, well okay then, it’s a date! (grin)

    My only issue with the current issue (I got mine yesterday too, as you say, very unexpectedly early) and I am wondering about the smudged-out lines of text in the bottom-right portion of the cover. Were there some last-minute changes that somehow had to be digitally sand-blasted off? Very curious.

  3. Alastairon 25 Jul 2011 at 10:29 pm

    Thanks all.

    Yeah Brad, the smudges look like some text was blurred out. Just got my subscription copy, it’s the same.

    The first draft of “The Sock Problem” was a bit longer, but I decided to spare everyone the infodump on how AC motors work 😉

  4. Daniel Vejilon 13 Sep 2011 at 10:17 pm

    Alastair, Thank you very much, for tackling This problem in a story. For years (since 1989) while listening to Analog, I have found that other authors like to make objects disappear into a Parallel Universe, as an easy explanation of where something goes, when it is not under Direct Human Observation. Once I had finished the piece, I called my Wife in to give it a listen as well, and she thought that the last line in the story was the funniest one in the entire story. Without the rest of the story to explain why socks began suddenly appearing in the reversed dryer though, it wouldn’t have made any sense. What A Concept!

  5. Alastairon 10 Oct 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Daniel, thank you for your kind words, I’m glad that you and your wife enjoyed the story. (I suspected I was on to something when I let my wife and kids read the first draft and they were all laughing out loud. In fact my son Robert — not Isaac, I have twin boys Arthur and Robert — suggested the Tardis line.)

    And, let me apologize for the delay in approving your comment and responding to it. Things have been hectic here of late with deadlines and the like.