Lady Be Good - John G. Hemry

Published in Analog Magazine, April 2006

"There's a place, they say, where sailors go when their last voyage ends, when their ships come apart among the drifting reefs of an asteroid belt or vanish in the great dark between the stars that light worlds. A place where the engines never falter and the hull never cracks, where particle storms never rage in sudden fury that pierces shielding to shred the workings of machines and men and leave lifeless wrecks in their wake. A place where every sailor has a safe posting and a fair wage and every Captain sees a decent profit from a hard run. A place where the bars are cheap and honest, the planet-tied greet sailors with open hands and hearts, and every ship finds welcome and a safe berth."

and the author says:

"MilSciFi: "If you had a chance to write one story just because you wanted to, and didn't have to worry about if it would sell or not, what would it be about?

Hemry: "Actually, I ended up writing that story, and it did end up eventually selling. LADY BE GOOD, an old-fashioned tale of a tramp freighter in space which is about choices and chances."

MilSciFi: "What is your favorite story you have ever written and why?"

Hemry: "LADY BE GOOD. It felt like Leigh Brackett was standing beside me as I wrote, telling me what to say.""


4 out of 5

http://www.milscifi.com/files/inter-JGH-BTH.htm