Retention, by Alec Nevala-Lee

[Analog]

★★★★☆ Persist with this one; there’s more here than meets the eye.

(SF Thriller) It all started when Perry tried to call customer service to cancel his account, but the online system was amazingly persistent in finding ways to discourage him from that. (2,731 words; Time: 09m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

At the Fall, by Alec Nevala-Lee

[Analog]

★★★★☆ An incredible journey by an intrepid adventurer.

(Robot Adventure) A little robot travels thousands of miles underwater trying to return information to her creator, whose project seems to have lost the funding to return to the site she and her “sisters” were studying. (10,926 words; Time: 36m)

The Spires, by Alec Nevala-Lee

[Analog]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Historical SF) In depression-era Alaska, a desperate bush pilot accepts an illegal charter from a couple who want to look for a legendary mirage in Glacier National Park. (11,489 words; Time: 38m)

The Proving Ground, by Alec Nevala-Lee

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(Hard SF) Haley hopes the "colony" on Bikini island will let her people survive sea-level rise, but a problem with local birds presents an unexpected threat. (17,649 words; Time: 58m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Exciting Hard-Science Adventure

Recommended By: RHorton:5

Stonebrood, by Alec Nevala-Lee

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(Hard SF) A near-future story about a team in Pennsylvania trying to put out a fifty-year-old underground coal fire using swarms of mosquito-sized drones to try to map the extent of it. But there are worse things down there than toxic gasses, and the most dangerous things aren't buried at all. (11,453 words; Time: 38m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average