Okay, now that I finally got my hands on this issue, I'm gonna react to the content that especially interested me.
"A Trial Most Acceptable": This was hands-down not only my favorite story in the issue by a long shot, but it might be my favorite story I've read in BattleTech in years. I'm a sucker for the Hell's Horses, so I was immediately drawn in. I LOVED the dive into ProtoMechWarriors and how they work in practice, something we haven't seen since Randall's "Tears of Blood". As an LGBT player, I appreciated the brief touch on the Clan view of sexuality, and how casual they were not only about sexual relations in general but with *same-sex* relations, something we've all long theorized about but never had many concrete examples of. I really, really enjoyed this story a LOT.
Thank you! I really felt - and wanted to show - that Clans, since reproduction is separate from sex, don't care who bangs who. More than that, I also wanted to show respecting of boundaries: "oh, you don't want to have sex with me? Cool, cool, let me introduce you to my friend, you might like them instead."
Thank you as well for the kind words about the ProtoMechs: I really wanted to make them unique, and intresting to both readers and future writers.
and, finally, like your review said, there is a TON of great stuff in that issue: cover to cover, It's one of my faves (if not my TOP FAVE) of all the issues published so far!