ORBIT 14

Knight's Orbit keeps orbiting -- almost a magazine in frequency but of considerably higher than pulp quality. In Joan D. Vinge's inventive and moving retelling of a fairytale, the tin soldier becomes a cyborg and the ballerina a spacer. Lafferty spins another of his wonderfully shaggy tales, this one about the elixir of life. Le Guin's story of an exiled astronomer who seeks stars underground is a stunningly written example of the flexibility of current SF. Gene Wolfe has what may be the definitive word on corporate and other varieties of alienation. Plus fine work by others and a couple of provocative potpourris of quotes assembled by the editor.