Books: Tuesday Toofer

In light of me having anything interesting to say, here's two short fiction previews:

• "In the Autumn of the Empire," Jerry Oltion. Analog: Science Fiction and Fact (Oct. 2009) - We all know that world leaders can be pretty stupid. But what if they had absolute power to correct all of their blunders? Oltion spells out a fun story chronicling an emperor who can't wrap his head around that axial tilt thing, and goes to extreme means to cover up his ignorance.
  

• "The Hanged Man," William Gleason. Analog: Science Fiction and Fact (Oct. 2009) - Moral of the story: don't leave a friend behind on a planet with sketchy natives and a propensity for revenge. They might convince your pal to, you know, hunt you down and kill you. Or something. Worth checking out, but I'm still not 100 percent sure what Gleanson was going for with this one ...