15 short stories by 14 authors. Think of this as a scifi magazine, only longer. This is NOT a themed anthology but a wide spread of tales on topics from hard to soft scifi. It starts with ‘iCity,’ a new twist on nanobot-virtual-real-reality for instant urban design, with an old theme of the battle of the sexes. It ends with ‘Point of Contact,’ a truly negative story of modern Earth’s first visitation by aliens. The whole world knows, but nothing much happens, which leaves the author a very long list of science fiction clichés to refute. ‘Mathralon’ has a bleak sense of wonder to it, an objective description of a far-future mining colony isolated by contact with automated shipping-delivery. The narrator wonders if anyone else is alive out there, and I wonder how much has changed in that industrial relationship.
Well, make that a dozen short stories: there’s a 40- and 50-pager, plus Michael Moorcock turns in a 72-pager, ‘Modern Times,’ 35 separate bits which make a coherent New Wave novelette. Here’s a clue: it’s in three parts: ‘The Golden Age,’ ‘Katrina Katrina!’ and ‘The Wheels of Chance.’ It’s about time that we got to see antihero Jerry Cornelius in 2007 as he winds his way back home to the 1960s.
Variety and talent, you betcha. Well worth it. ~~ Mike Griffin
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