Welcome!

I'm very proud to present another five compelling stories for your entertainment. The issue begins with "They Breed Like Flies" by Jeff Walden, a fun, detailed look at the social behaviors of an alien society. The story focuses on a creature at the edge of adulthood as he navigates his own cultural institutions and encounters a human first contact party (8000 words). The second story in our line-up is darker than we normally publish; Rich Larson's "We Are Destroyers" is a story about an AI-controlled commune that is attacked by religious fanatics (2700 words). Our third story is also an AI story: "All That Is Solid" by Chris Barnham. The story is about an emergent empathetic AI that is dismantled out of concern over potential repercussions (4330 words). Next we have "The Little Gods" by Jamie Wahls, a story about what it's like for parents to watch their enhanced child become vastly more intelligent and capable than them. It's a nice short story with a nice ending (1700 words). Our last story, "Down and Out" by Ken Wharton, is a fascinating piece of world-building. The narrative revolves around members of an alien water-dwelling species as they make incredible discoveries about their world (6600 words). "Down and Out" is excerpted with permission from "Science Fiction by Scientists: An Anthology of Short Stories" published by Springer Science + Business Media.

We'll be back with more stories in February. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy Compelling Science Fiction, I urge you to both contribute and tell your friends about us. Your patronage keeps the magazine alive and stimulates the creation of great science fiction. You can also buy issue 1, issue 2, issue 3, or issue 4 from the Kindle Store.

Take care, my friends!

Joe Stech
Editor

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Compelling Issue 4

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