Editorial

An Evening In Soho
by Sheila Williams

Writing this editorial in early fall of 2024 for an issue that will be in sale in the winter of 2025 makes me feel a bit like I’m slipping through time. We held an authors’ reading in celebration of Asimov’s and Analog in New York City on a warm August evening a few weeks before the unofficial end of summer. It was our third time hosting an event at the beautiful Housing Works Bookstore. Housing Works, which was founded in 1990, advocates for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The bookstore is located on Crosby Street in a historic SoHo neighborhood. To reach the store, you can stroll down a cobblestone street, just as someone might have done in the nineteenth century. The store is lined with mahogany bookshelves and the balconies are reached via cast iron spiral staircases. The bookstore is the perfect location for an event celebrating the written word.

Our event was open to the public and the place was packed. I was gratified to see that the staff had to bring out extra chairs for the attendees several times. The bookstore includes a cash bar that serves beer, wine, and soft drinks, and which contributed to the party atmosphere. After a brief delay due to technical difficulties, we opened with two Asimov’s readers, followed by three readings from Analog. All were winners or finalists for the 2023 Readers’/Anlab Awards.

Analog readers included Christina de la Rocha, who traveled from Europe to present her award-winning fact article, Victoria Navarra, who read from her finalist short story, and the energetic co-writing duo Jay Werkheiser and Frank Wu, who read from their Award-winning novella.

Asimov’s was represented by Sam J. Miller, who read from “Planetstuck,” his bittersweet novelette, and Timons Esaias, who read an array of his delightful poetry. Both Sam and Timons were finalists for the Asimov’s Readers Awards. Sam’s heartbreaking 2016 story “Calved” was also a finalist for our award. Timons’ 2005 poem “Newton’s Mass” won the award as did his breathtaking 2021 short story, “Go. Now. Fix.”

One of our audience members, Professor Jason Ellis, hosts the Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction at City Tech College. The symposium celebrates the school’s enormous science fiction collection. Some of the writers in attendance included Matt McHugh, Gregor Hartmann, Louis Evans, and Kris Dikeman, who have all been published in Analog. We were also joined by Hugo and Nebula finalist Mimi Mondal.

There were a number of other Asimov’s authors in the audience, too. These Included Gay Partington Terry, Sam Schreiber, Mercurio D. Rivera, Alice Sola Kim, and Alaya Dawn Johnson.

There were also two newcomers to our magazine. Anthony Ha’s first story for Asimov’s will be appearing in our next issue—March/April 2025. Matthew Kressel’s first  Asimov’s story, “Five Hundred KPH Toward Heaven,” appears in this issue. You can find out more about Matt by turning to page 39.

The evening was expertly arranged by senior managing editor, Emily Hockaday. After the reading, Emily, Analog’s editor Trevor Quachri, our editorial assistant Kevin Wheeler, and some of the authors and other attendees all ambled down the cobblestone streets to the SoHo Park—Beer Garden & Street Food restaurant. I spent the rest of a fun night in lively conversation with Tim Esaias, Mimi Mondal, Christina de la Rocha, and my daughter, Irene Bruce.

 

Copyright © 2024 Sheila Williams