I picked up my paperback copy of this anthology at LTUE this year, and immediately set about collecting all of the signatures from the authors that I could find. I’ve currently got everyone except for Nancy Fulda, Wulf Moon, Beth Buck, and Julia H. West. Once I have acquired these last four signatures, it will transform at last into a mighty book of power!
So I only gave this anthology three-stars on Goodreads, but that’s not because it’s a bad book. Rather, it’s because my Goodreads rating philosophy is different from my Amazon rating philosophy. A three-star on Goodreads is more like a four-star on Amazon: not terrible, but not super great either. I reserve my five-stars on Goodreads for the best of the best, the truly life-changing books that will forever leave their imprint upon me.
Anyways. Overall, I’d say that the anthology was pretty even-keel. There weren’t any amazing stories in it, but there weren’t any stinkers either. My favorite was “The Road Not Taken” by Sandra Tayler, about a starliner passenger who was subject to a freak anomaly that created a duplicate of the ship. One of them got the husband and the family, while the other got the career, and they meet up once a year to see how the other is doing. No matter what they say, you really can’t have it all.
I also really liked “Angles of Incidence” by Nancy Fulda. The aliens were really fascinating. Deep sea lava vent dwellers with knobby shells, but the really interesting part was the development of their language and how that factored into the story. Also, a slumbering god-queen who devours anyone who dares to wake her. Fun times.
Brad Torgerson’s and Kevin J. Anderson’s stories appealed to my inner twelve year-old, as did David Farland’s (though it had a rather slow start). “Cycle 335” by Beth Buck had a twist that I really enjoyed. The ending of “Neo Nihon” by Paul Genesse was also very satisfying, though wow—what a dark story!
Those were the ones that really stuck with me. The others weren’t bad—like I said, there weren’t any real stinkers. For a benefit anthology, it was pretty good. I’m looking forward to picking up the next one at LTUE 2020, as well as collecting the last four signatures and turning this into a book of power! Bwahahahaha!
