Three from Asimov's

THREE FROM ASIMOV'S
Three novelettes from the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine:
The Path of the Transgressor, Research Project, Civilians

Tom Purdom likes to quote Frederik Pohl’s definition of a good science fiction story: “Interesting people doing interesting things in an interesting future.” In this 40,000 word mini-collection, he has assembled three of his own attempts to fulfill that ideal. Civilians and The Path of the Transgressor combine psychological and social themes with fast action plots. Research Project looks at the relationship between scholars and their society in two different cultures—a future human society and the culture created by aliens who evolved from tool-using herbivores. Rich Horton called The Path of the Transgressor one of the best stories of 2003 in his short fiction column for Locus Magazine.

The hero of The Path of the Transgressor has given himself a wife who has been genetically and psychologically modified to fulfill his personal needs. Now, on a world humans are just beginning to populate, Davin has to save his wife from a deadly attack—and collide with some basic truths about his wife’s feelings and the attitudes of the people around him.

Civilians is one of Tom Purdom’s “military brat” stories—stories that draw on his own childhood as a navy brat. In orbit over Mercury, the civilian members of a group of military families face a dangerous situation—and confront a fundamental question about their true nature. Are they civilians or soldiers?