Authors in This Issue

“Cicada” By Will McIntosh & Matt Mikalatos

Will McIntosh is a Hugo award-winner and finalist for the Nebula and other SF/F awards. Along with ten novels, Will has published a bunch of short stories in Asimov’s (where he won Reader’s Awards for best story in 2010 and 2013), Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Science Fiction and Fantasy: Best of the Year, and elsewhere. He lives in the Seattle area with his wife and their twins. Matt Mikalatos is the award-winning author of more than twenty books, including the The Crescent Stone, the first book in a YA fantasy trilogy. He’s also a screenwriter and producer, with shows in development at AMC and Warner Brothers. He lives in the Portland, Oregon, area with his wife, three daughters, and a giant rabbit named Bruce. Their first collaboration explores a peculiar sort of alien invasion: Humanity knows exactly when the next Cicada attack will be, but not where, or what the invaders will look like this time around.

“Sort” By Alice Towey

Alice Towey is an author of science fiction and fantasy based in Northern California. She is a graduate of the Viable Paradise writing workshop. More information about her writing can be found online at alicetowey.com. When she’s not writing, Alice works as a Civil Engineer specializing in water and natural resources management—themes that often find their way into her fiction. Her latest story is about a trash sorting robot who goes out of its comfort zone to help a young girl escape a dangerous situation.

“Remnant” By William Preston

William Preston’s first published fiction, “You Will Go to the Moon,” ran twenty years ago in Asimov’s; he has appeared in Asimov’s a dozen times since then. He writes fiction of various lengths and styles from his home in Syracuse. You can find him online at @williampreston.bsky.social. The last time readers saw this Martian investigative team, in “Aftermath” (July/August 2025), the characters learned how beings from both future and past could touch their present minds. In this story, the buried past comes with unknown intent.

“A Soul Unearthed” By Gregory Marlow

Gregory Marlow (He/Him) is an associate professor, animator, and writer living in East Tennessee with his wife, Amanda, and dog, Sadie. He has animated on over a dozen video game titles, and his short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, PodCastle, Strange Horizons, Flash Fiction Online, and the LeVar Burton Reads podcast. You can find him online at gregmarlow.com. This is Greg’s second story for Asimov’s and combines his childhood obsessions with heavy construction equipment, giant robots, and digging in the backyard with a spoon (he didn’t have cable TV). It explores the things we unearth if we are brave enough to keep digging.

“The Water Gods’ Treasure” By Anya Ow

Anya Ow is the author of Ion Curtain and Cradle and Grave, and is an Aurealis Awards finalist. Her short stories have appeared in publications such as F&SF, the Year’s Best Fantasy, Lightspeed, and more. Born in Singapore, Anya has a Bachelor of Laws from Melbourne University and a Bachelor of Applied Design from Billy Blue College of Design. She lives in Melbourne with her cats as a graphic designer, and can be found on bluesky or instagram @anyasy. Her latest for Asimov’s explores a too-warm, watery future where a key dehumidifier system has just broken down.

“Nothing I Like To Do Pays Well” By Peter Wood

Pete Wood is an attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he lives with his very patient wife. This is his fifteenth story for Asimov’s. One of his big pet peeves about science fiction is the fallacy that somehow humans will change along with our technology. He disagrees. People have been grappling with the same conflicts and worries since Genesis. Future humans will stress over the same basic issues as medieval peasants, frontier settlers, and prehistoric hunter gatherers. Even after the interstellar drive, the workplace will still be just as annoying, as one woman finds out light-years from Earth when she ponders why.

“Rocket Jock” By Nick Wolven

Nick Wolven’s science fiction has appeared in Wired, Analog, Clarkesworld, and various other magazines and collections. In this story, he imagines a world where fabulous technologies have become drearily routine—but no less wondrous to young girls who find themselves enthralled.

“…Even Kings.” By John Richard Trtek

Retired physics teacher John Richard Trtek is still juggling gardening, reading, writing, and movie watching in retirement, and is currently half-finished with a Christmas play he hopes a local theater group will find of interest. In this new story, he takes up the classic science fiction theme of alien invasion. Spoiler Alert: Earth is saved by an ancient terrestrial power.

“Night Beach” By Mercurio D. Rivera

Mercurio D. Rivera’s short fiction has appeared in markets such as Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lightspeed, Nature, and numerous anthologies and “year’s best” collections. His mosaic novel, Wergen: The Alien Love War (NewCon Press 2021) was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. You can find him online at mercuriorivera.com. His latest story for Asimov’s, set in the same universe as “Filaments” (Sept/Oct 2021), explores the impact of an alien message on the lives of a man and his two daughters, who search for answers on a tidally locked world.

“How To Write A Suicide Note” By Leah Cypess

Leah Cypess is the author of the Sisters Ever After series (for ages 9–14), Future Me Saves the World (And Ruins My Life) (for ages 8–12), and the Miriam’s Magical Creature Files series (for ages 5–8). She is a four-time Nebula Award finalist and a World Fantasy Award finalist. This near-future novella, like Leah’s last story for us, is a murder mystery—in this case, a near-future whodunit featuring a private investigator who used to be a psychopath before an innovative medical technique cured her. Or did it? That’s one of the things her current investigation might uncover.