David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer’s The Space Opera Renaissance, a 941 page mammoth volume from 2006, is divided into six sections. I’ve already reviewed Section 1 (you can read my review here) and you can read my review of Section 2 here.
I’m a fan of David Brin’s Uplift Series and “Temptation” returns to an early episode in the series where intelligent dolphins are left on a planet full of water so they can reacclimatize after their years in space. Two of the dolphins kidnap a female as they begin to lose the Uplift aspects and revert to their more primitive sensibilities. But the Uplift female has other ideas… GRADE: B+
David Drake is one of the best military SF writers in the genre. “Ranks of Bronze” tells the story of a Roman Legion that has been “collected” by aliens to fight other aliens (on the same technological level as the Romans) on various planets. If you crave action, here it is! GRADE: B
Lois McMaster Bujold made a big splash in the 1980s with a series of books about Miles Vorkosigan, a physically handicapped young man who is the son of a Space Admiral. His diminutive size causes many of the military staff who work with Miles to underestimate him.
In “Weatherman,” Miles is sent to an arctic base on a frosty planet because his commanding officer feels Miles needs a 6-month stint to learn “how to get along with others.” Miles’ brilliance causes him to rub the other soldiers the Wrong Way. Almost immediately, Miles is almost killed by the hostile environment. He later finds a dead body and gets involved in a political incident. Miles is always up to something! Fun and exciting! GRADE: A
Iain M. Banks died too soon. But he left us a marvelous series of novels and short stories about The Culture, a post-scarcity future full of Artificial Intelligences and danger. In “A Gift from the Culture,” a man who has gambling debts is offered a deal: use a Culture weapon to shoot down a starship and the gambling debts will go away. GRADE: B
I enjoyed the diversity and variety of these four stories. You would, too!
Section 3: Transitions/Redfiners (Late 1970s to Late 1980s)
* 207 • Temptation • [The Uplift Series] • (1999) • novella by David Brin
* 243 • Ranks of Bronze • [Ranks of Bronze] • (1975) • short story by David Drake
* 251 • Weatherman • [Miles Vorkosigan] • (1990) • novella by Lois McMaster Bujold
* 297 • A Gift from the Culture • [Culture] • (1987) • short story by Iain M. Banks
I probably should give Banks’s work another chance, but THE WASP FACTORY had such a contrived “mystery” at its core that it annoyed me to no end…perhaps in part because it was among the novels I tend to think of as British Stupid, where a good-to-brilliant ability to make a story seem real is used in service of an agressively stupid narrative, Just For Swank. Brian Aldiss would do this more, perhaps, than anyone else I’ve read. Reminded of Charles Grant and Banks in the last ten minutes, in terms of being cut off in middle age.
Todd, you should give Banks’ Consider Phlebas a try. If you don’t like that novel, then you won’t like the rest of The Culture series.
I haven’t had any luck with Banks either.
I was able to put the ebook edition on hold at the Cloud Library, so I should have it in a couple of weeks.
Jeff, Banks is an acquired taste…and one that many readers don’t like.