Our April issue will also feature an unusual science-fictional mystery by Thomas R. Dulski, plus a wide variety of entertaining and thought-provoking stories from such writers as Jerry Oltion, Stephen L. Burns, Craig DeLancey, Donald Moffitt, and newcomer William Gleason--and, of course, the climax and finale of Joe Haldeman's novel Marsbound.

EDITORIAL: MIRRORS AND MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS by Stanley Schmidt
GUARANTEED NOT TO TURN PINK IN THE CAN by Thomas R. Dulski
NUCLEAR AUTUMN: THE GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES OF A "SMALL" NUCLEAR WAR by Richard A. Lovett
THE BEETHOVEN PROJECT by Donald Moffitt
AMOR VINCIT OMNIA by Craig DeLancey
RIGHTEOUS BITE by Stephen L. Burns
GOOD MORNING, CLASS.... by Robert Lundy
THE ALTERNATE VIEW: THE HOSPITAL OF THE FUTURE by Jeffery D. Kooistra
HOW I SAVED THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION by Robert Scherrer
INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT by William Gleason
THE ANTHROPIC PRECIPICE by Jerry Oltion
MARSBOUND by Joe Haldeman
THE REFERENCE LIBRARY by Tom Easton
BRASS TACKS
UPCOMING EVENTS by Anthony Lewis
IN TIMES TO COME

Our lead novella for May is David Bartell's "Test Signals," a novella very different from the author's earlier stories here, but engaging and disturbingly thought-provoking. Disturbingly, because while the concepts explored may seem far-fetched to some, they're solidly rooted in questions beginning to be raised here and now. Some of a person's most bankable assets are now things far more ... personal than the ones we've tended to think of in the past, but the law has only begun to consider who actually owns them. This, or something like it, could happen to you....

Edward M. Lerner's novelette "The Night of the RFIDs" also has origins uncomfortably close to home. In addition, we'll have a mixed bag of other stories, in a wide range of flavors, from authors including Dave Creek, Ronald L. Lambert, Carl Frederick, and Sarah K. Castle (a newcomer who recently made a splash here with "Kukulcan").

The fact article comes from linguist Henry Honken, continuing his campaign to expand our linguistic horizons. The title "Strange Croaks and Ghastly Aspirations" is not his personal aspersion, but rather an early European observer's impression of the South African "click" languages, on which Honken has himself done some recent research--which will surely stretch almost anyone's understanding of just how widely languages can vary, even among humans!