David A. Hardy's spectacular December cover illustrates a story as hard to capture in a single image as it was to imagine in the first place: "Formidable Caress," the latest of Stephen Baxter's "Tales of Old Earth." Old Earth, you may remember (though you don't have to) is a most peculiar place where time is layered, running at different rates at different altitudes. That's what makes it possible to experience a drama on such a colossal scale that it would at first seem intrinsically beyond the scope of individual human lives--but both author and artist succeed admirably.

We'll also have a new entry in H. G. Stratmann's "Paradise" series (about another quite peculiar place), plus stories by Carl Frederick and (in a seasonal vein) Jerry Oltion. Richard A. Lovett's fact article, "Plate Tectonics, Goldilocks, and the Late Heavy Bombardment" sheds new light on why the Earth isn't Mars or Venus. And G. David Nordley continues the "peculiar place" theme with the mind-stretching conclusion of To Climb a Flat Mountain.

CONTENTS:
Reader's Department: EDITORIAL: CONTROL by Stanley Schmidt
Novelette: FORMIDABLE CARESS by Stephen Baxter
Science Fact: PLATE TECTONICS, GOLDILOCKS, AND THE LATE HEAVY BOMBARDMENT: WHY EARTH ISN'T MARS OR VENUS by Richard A. Lovett
Probability Zero: A FLASH OF LIGHTNING by Robert Scherrer
Short Story: THE JOLLY OLD BOYFRIEND by Jerry Oltion
Reader's Department: THE ALTERNATE VIEW: OPUS 150: DARK FORCES IN THE UNIVERSE by John G. Cramer
Short Story: THE UNIVERSE BENEATH OUR FEET by Carl Frederick
Novelette: WILDERNESS WERE PARADISE ENOW by H. G. Stratmann
Reader's Department: IN TIMES TO COME
Serial: TO CLIMB A FLAT MOUTAIN: CONCLUSION by G. David Nordley
Reader's Department: THE REFERENCE LIBRARY by Don Sakers
Reader's Department: BRASS TACKS
Reader's Department: UPCOMING EVENTS by Anthony Lewis