Plugged In features two stories of feminist science fiction by WisCon 32 Guests of Honor L. Timmel Duchamp and Maureen McHugh. In "Kingdom of the Blind," Sydney, one of the codemonekys who maintain DMS, the software system that keeps the physical plants of the Benevola Health Network running, suspects the recent outages in the system may be a sign of the system¿s sentience rather than due to simple corruption of its code. Her fellow geeks view the reset button as a possible if drastic solution for restoring the system¿s integrity, but Sydney fears it might be a much too Final Solution. In L. Timmel Duchamp¿s "The Man Who Plugged In," Howard Nies becomes the first male to plug into a Siemens Carapace. And as an ad in the February 2013 issue of The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology notes, the Siemens Carapace is "a prenatal cradle of caring" at the cutting edge of technology, "made of the finest, strongest, most lightweight materials ever produced. Its clean, round lines and soft, silvery matte finish can¿t fail to reassure both the parents and the gestational carrier who wears it that the child within is getting better care and protection than any naturally gestated child.
Three of our contributing editors brought in amazing tales. Barb Goffman presents Jason’s Half’s “The Last Ferry,” Cynthia Ward brings us “Quinn’s Deal,” by L. Timmel Duchamp, and Michael Bracken offers “A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy,” by N.M. Cedeño. Two are mysteries and two are science fiction. I leave it to you to figure out which is which. (No cheating and checking the list of stories below…unless you absolutely can’t help yourself!) We have three fantasies this time, too—Larry Tritten returns with a story featuring a djinn and a man with a hankering for travel. Everil Worrell has a date with Death. And in Curios, a short story collection by Richard Marsh, we find 7 short stories featuring a pair of rival curio collectors—with some most unusual items! And, of course, there are some classic tales—A Sharper’s Downfall is a mystery novel featuring Nick Carter, Stephen Wasylyk has a vintage mystery short, and we have rip-roaring science fiction tales from Paul W. Fairman and Malcolm Jameson. And of course we couldn’t forget a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles. (Yes, it’s a Halloween solve-it-yourself. I should have included it in one of the October issues, but messed up. Doh! You’ll just have to live with it.) Here is the complete lineup: Mysteries / Suspense: “The Halloween Costume Caper,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “Ten Dollar$ a Week,” by Stephen Wasylyk [short story] "A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy," by N.M. Cedeñov [short story] "The Last Ferry," by Jason Half [Barb Goffman Presents short story] A Sharper’s Downfall, by Nicholas Carter [novel] Curios, by Richard Marsh [fantasy and mystery collection] Science Fiction & Fantasy: Curios, by Richard Marsh [fantasy and mystery collection] “Leonora,” by Everil Worrell [fantasy short story] “Travels With Harry,” by Larry Tritten [fantasy short story] "A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy," by N.M. Cedeñov [science fiction short story] “Quinn’s Deal,” by L. Timmel Duchamp [Cynthia Ward Presents science fiction novelet] “Traitor’s Choice,” by Paul W. Fairman [science fiction short story] “Blockade Runner,” by Malcolm Jameson [science fiction short story]
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