This volume is a set of short science fiction stories. In the forward, Strahan tells us how it started as a hard SF volume and slowly, as with reality, it developed into the volume you see here. But what you see here is a beautiful testament to the constant refining and redefining that SF has undergone in the last few decades.
Some of these tales take place in the crushingly near future, so close you can see it happening this year. Others take place down a shadowy corridor of time we didn’t explore. Still others are a glimpse of the possibilities of the far future. All of them are well-crafted and most of them require some thought afterwards. The thought afterwards is a sign of a good story, also one of the reasons I recommend reading this at your leisure, take a few days so that the messages sink in.
The authors that contributed to this volume reads like a who’s who of current SF. Stross, Rusch, Baxter, and Benford are just the first to catch my eye on the cover. The stories are varied and range from finding ourselves on the sidelines as two races war among the solar system to downloaded psyches in robot bodies slowly deteriorating from radiation to the world facing destruction from the “angels” we created to help us.
Finding a favorite would be like finding a favorite food, it would depend on what you want at the time. I will look for some of the works of the authors I was unfamiliar with prior to reading this book. My mind is officially blown.
Very highly recommended ~~ Bob LaPierre
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