The issue contained a number of book reviews as well as a film and science column. The science column by Greg Benford on meteor/comet impacts in our solar system and what, if anything, we should do about it was pretty interesting. Seven fiction stories and they are:

The Promise of God • shortstory by Michael F. Flynn
Just Ask • shortstory by Steve Perry
Ketamine • novelette by Sally Caves
Traffic • shortstory by Robert Onopa
As You Sow • shortstory by K. D. Wentworth
Maureen Birnbaum at the Looming Awfulness • novelette by George Alec Effinger
The Holo-Man • novelette by Leonard Rysdyk

"The Promise of God" is a flat out fantasy story that confused me with the gender confusion it keeps throwing at the reader as well as the rest of it. And yet this story made it into Dozois's 13th Annual Year's Best Science Fiction collection. This is not science fiction. It is magic and fantasy. It is also a good story. "Just Ask" was a bit of fluff. "Ketamine" is a strange thing about a woman with a cat obsession. "Traffic" I found quickly turned boring, like being stuck in traffic for the rest of your life as the characters were.

"As You Sow" was my favorite of the issue by far. A man raises a flock of flamingoes which only he seems to appreciate. Very clever. The Maureen story is apparently one of many stories about a valley girl turned barbarian. Perhaps it was funny in 1995. Perhaps not. The final story, "The Holo-Man" was a rather humorous inter-planetary virtual reality tale with some twists.

Overall for me this was a rather weak selection of stories. ( )