Critic Rich Horton: "Tenbrook of Mars,” by Dean McLaughlin, for AnLab Award

In providing an analysis of the 2008 issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine in his LiveJournal,
SF critic Rich Horton writes:

“The best novella by far, and the best story in Analog
in some time, was Dean McLaughlin's "Tenbrook of Mars" (July/August). This is a very moving story of
a Martian colony marooned for 20 years, and the engineer who becomes the leader, and pulls them through against all odds until help can arrive. It's very old fashioned, yes, and thoroughly effective.
... My Anlab votes: "Tenbrook of Mars" -- and the other three could go in any order. This year there is really truly no contest for first place.”

Fábio Fernandes concluded in a review at The Fix: Short Fiction Review that McLaughlin’s novella “is an entrancing story regarding the logistics of survival and a page-turner, even though the ending is predictable and has a certain deus ex machina flavor that almost smacks as cliché, but the story works well in spite of that.”