Theme and Variations

The Nuzoom corporation chooses talented custodian Paco Cohen to create popular music to improve the morale of the transplanted workers of Mars. But Paco, the nanoblock that turns the workers purple, and the nanohudu that’s terraforming Mars, have other ideas. Paco becomes a myth, but also a man in the process. This story appeared in a variant form in the April 2001 issue of Analog. [Explicit language]

Ernest Hogan is the author of the novels Cortez on Jupiter, High Aztech, and Smoking Mirror Blues, and some infamous short fiction.

Additional music composed and performed by Jack Mangan.

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A musician loses her ability to hear music in an accident. When an experimental technology promises to restore it, what else will she lose?

Michelle M. Welch is the author of the Five Countries trilogy of fantasy novels and various speculative fiction stories.

Additional music from Dvorak, Symphony No. 9, Largo, and Mozart, Serenade No. 13, Romanze, arranged and performed by the author.

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She Shall Have Music, by Keyan Bowes
Little Tina is emitting music, bewildering her worried parents Philip and Elaine. What can it possibly be? “She Shall Have Music” appears in the forthcoming print anthology Cheer Up, Universe.

Keyan Bowes is a writer of fantasy and speculative fiction and a graduate of the 2007 Clarion Writers’ Workshop.

Additional music by Beethoven, performed by Anisha.

Knell, by Lejon A. Johnson
A church bell rings in a dying community, heralding the fate that awaits it.

Lejon A. Johnson lives quietly in Arizona, writing in his spare time, and is sometimes assisted by his wife and cats.

Sound effects by the author and by Blastwave FX, Justine Angus, Celso Cano, and Sofa Sound at soundsnap.com.

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A hot inner city night. Betrayals, lovers, and dark plans. The music reveals all secrets when brothers and friends take the stage at the Twelve Bar. [Explicit language]

Jack Mangan is the host of the Deadpan Podcast and author of numerous published stories published in print and audio formats, including the #1 Podiobooks title, Spherical Tomi.

Additional music composed and performed by the author.

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In a fortress built of shipwrecks, a young singer searches for the courage to defy a wizard’s voice. “Song for the Sea” is a prequel to the novels The Singer’s Crown, The Eunuch’s Heir, and The Bastard Queen (forthcoming). A version of this story first appeared as an Amazon Short in 2006.

Elaine Isaak lives in New Hampshire and you do not want to be her hero.

Sound effects by J.R. Fountain and Rob Bridgett at soundsnap.com.

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A young boy’s love of music brings hope to a post-apocalyptic world.

Caroline Rhodes has had stories published in Tales From the Great Turtle from Tor Books, and Crafty Cat Crimes.

Additional music by Caroline Rhodes, arranged and performed by Jack Mangan.

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When depression takes a physical form, flautist Maricel must defeat the monster before it can defeat her.

Rick Novy is an Arizona speculative fiction writer with over thirty-five published short stories.

Additional music composed and performed by the author.

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Dougie Franz loves his lifetrack, the motivational implant that rewards him with scents and sounds for a job well done. When he moves up to management, though, he finds he can’t go without it. A trip to the black market programmer solves that problem, but is the solution even worse? This story originally appeared in Spacesuits and Sixguns magazine, October 2008.

Lon Prater is an active duty Naval officer by day and writes odd little stories by night.

Sound effects by SFX Bible, Bubaproducer, and Blastwave FX at www.soundsnap.com.

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