Another combat anthology, this time edited by David Drake.
- Or Battle’s Sound (Harry Harrison): already read in Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow and Body Armor: 2000.
- Liberty Port (David Drake): already read in The Complete Hammer’s Slammer’s Volume 1.
- Straw (Gene Wolfe): steam punk mercenaries in a future which is more like the past. A good read.
- Tomb Tapper (James Blish): this one has a nice twist at the end, although I found the underlying premise of the story hard to believe.
- A Relic of War (Keith Laumer): already read in The Compleat Bolo.
- Basic Training (Mark L Van Name): this one is a bit sad. Well, all of the stories in this book are sad, but I find this one a bit harder than others because the main character is about the age of my kids.
- Witch War (Richard Matheson): an interesting little tale which doesn’t end up at all like you expect.
- Transstar (Raymond Banks): I didn’t think this story was all that good when I was reading it the other night, but its the one I kept thinking about for the next day. There are lots of interesting issues raised here — arrogance, response, the cost / benefit of aggression.
- Time Piece (Joe Haldeman): this story is very much like a small summary of The Forever War, which makes it disappointing in a way… The book is better, and this story glosses over many of the issues.
- Clash by Night (Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore): this story is interesting because it prompted a sub-genre all of its own about mercenaries in the future. However, this story is entertaining by not earth shatteringly great.
[isbn: 0446610895]