I have mixed emotions about the writings of Kate Wilhelm. She's brilliant and a joy to read, even if you don't like the story. The problem is you often don't like the story. This collection and Vol.1 are hard to compare to her later Courtroom Drama novels, which I quite like. These are early, short Sci-Fi/Horror/Mentally-disturbed stories. I'm a big fan of classic Sci-Fi so I appreciate her efforts.

Her stories focus more on people and the impacts of events on their psychological state and stability rather then the events themselves. She also likes to use her character's dreams, illusions and loss of reality as the focus of her stories. They are more "psychological dramas" then Sci-Fi. Many of them are horror and/or fantasy. She is fascinated with mentally disturbed characters sliding to mental oblivion. Most of her stories will have characters who need a psychiatrist or want to be a psychiatrist. None of her characters ever get better or are helped by a psychiatrist but she still believes they are gods. There is a lot less of this in her Courtroom Dramas.

This volume and volume 1 are her stories published in the 1960s-70s ORBIT story collections edited by Damon Knight. Many of these were nominated or won awards at the year of first publication. I believe it is because she has so many original ideas and her writing style is so comfortable to read.

Both volumes are available in one big audio book if preferred.

This volume contains:

The Fusion Bomb
On the Road to Honeyville
The Red Canary
The Scream
A Brother to Dragons, a Companion of Owls
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Ladies and Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis
State of Grace
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