Welcome to Issue 45 of IGMS.

This issue's cover story is "Gemma Barrows Comes to Cooperstown" by Jamie Todd Rubin. Jamie has been a regular IGMS-contributor for many years, having made his first-ever pro sale here, and it's a pleasure to put him on our cover. "Gemma" is touching story about a great pitcher, a woman who made her way to baseball immortality through grit and determination. And as with all of the best baseball stories, it is about so much more than just bats and balls, runs and outs -- which is a good thing, because when the story opens, Gemma has already passed away.

"The Cloaca Maxima" is Rob Steiner's second tale about Natta Magus, a man betrayed and stranded in ancient Rome from an alternate timeline other than the one we know, a timeline where magic is real. In the follow-up to last issue's "Oath Breaker's Daemon," "Cloaca Maxima" drops Natta Magus into Rome's sewers to fight a monster, a monster summoned by the very man who stranded him in the past in the first place.

"The Species of Least Concern" by Erica Satifka, provides us a look at a future where birds and mammals are dying off in a great extinction event. Fortunately, there's nothing to worry about; corporations have the ability to manufacture replacements and will save the day!

Christian Heftel's "Lost and Found" is an Orson Picks. It's been a long time since our distinguished publisher found a story that caught his eye, but Uncle Orson has discovered a tale that thematically reminds me of "The Monkey's Paw," and we're pleased to present it to you to make a wish of your own.

"Electricity Bill for a Darkling Plain," is written by H.G. Parry, another author who has become an IGMS regular. In "Darkling Plain," it's not that this band of roommates can't die, they just keep coming back. And coming back. And keeping up with whose turn it is to pay the electric bill is the least of the challenges they have to face as two of their number grow increasingly desperate to find a final release.

This issue's audio production is "The Robot Who Couldn't Lie," written by Sunil Patel and read by Stuart Jaffe. It's the story of a robot who's manufactured by a dying woman to serve as a bridge between her memories and the daughter she's going to leave behind. But first the robot has a few things to learn.

I'm also pleased to announce that Hugo and Nebula award-nominated author and small-press publisher Lawrence Schoen is joining the Medicine Show team. His official title will be Reprint Editor, and as such he will be conducting all of our interviews, as well as arranging reprint stories from the interviewed authors. We thank Darrell Schweitzer for his many years of service and many great interviews, and simultaneously look forward to Issue 46, which will begin the ongoing adventure with Lawrence.

Edmund R. Schubert
Editor, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

P.S. As usual, we've collected essays from the authors in this issue and will post them here on IGMS along with our other free columns. Feel free to drop by and catch The Story Behind The Stories, where the authors talk about the creation of their tales.