Star Colonies

When we think of humans exploring and colonizing outer space, each of us has his or her own ideas about what it might be like. This collection of thirteen stories gives some very different perspectives from some top-notch writers.Some of the entries are better than others, to be sure, but none of them is bad. Even if you find one not to your taste, it's short enough that you don't have to put up with it for very long.One advantage to this sort of book is that it can give an introduction to a writer with whom you may be unfamiliar--and it's a lot cheaper to buy a collection like this than it is to buy 13 separate novels!

A good collection of stories. We start off with the obligatory Looking-to-the-Future Introduction by one of the editors, which I could have gone without. Must we start every science fiction short story collection by an introduction that mentions the moon landing, Isaac Asimov, and Mars, and tells us to keep dreaming? I mean really. At least it's kept short.Which is good because it lets us get to the 13 stories in the book, none of which suck, and some which are inspired. Most of the stories are amusing even if they are given dark elements. `The Muffin Migration', `Eden Star', and `Full Circle' are all told with a light narrative even when creepy and disturbing things occur. I like this.The worst story in the collection and the one that seems to fit least is `The Vietnamization of Centauri V'. The Message is so obvious and heavy-handed (as I'm sure the title gives away) that it distracts from the story, as you continue making the obvious connections between Centauri and Vietnam. The question I have is since the story is Vietnam set on an alien planet, why not just make it about Vietnam? The other strategy would be to make the connection less obvious and let the reader come to it on his own. The way it is now simplifies it all too much. Not a bad story at all, and there is some nice dialogue about God, but just the worst in this collection.`The Dream of Venus' is one of the better stories if only because it takes the concept of terraforming Venus and gives it the story a fresh point of view. This, along with `The Shoulders of Giants' and `Full Circle' are stories that could have seemed trite or cliched if they weren't written so well.Even if you're not a fan of sf, this collection should still be enjoyed. If you strip away the sf elements you're left with well-written stories about people. The collection doesn't insult your intelligence and it's solid.

Star Colonies is an anthology of thirteen science-fiction short stories. The theme of this collection is (obviously) human colonies on other worlds. Some deal with human interaction with natives of various forms, some deal with planet-wide superminds, but all are well written and thought provoking. Sadly, unlike many anthologies I have read, this book contains no one story that leaped out at me because to its excellence. But, the stories are all solidly written and enjoyable to read. Overall this is a very good book, and I recommend it to you.