Favorite stories: "Flowers for Minla" (Alistair Reynolds) and "Art of War" (Nancy Kress) ( )

I love space opera. Big galactic wars, spaceships as big as cities, empires that stretch across galaxies, big ideas, and fun to read in a light popcorn summer-movie way.

Unfortunately to many of these short stories aren't space opera at all - merely mediocre science fiction stories.

There are a few standouts; Dan Simmons does his usual terrific job at short fiction with "Muse of Fire" - who knew that Shakespeare will save us all in the future? Alastair Reynolds "Minla's Flowers" details how to advance a civilization in short order to advert a disaster - with unintended consequences. And my favorite "The Emperor and the Maula" written by the master Robert Silverberg that is a future retelling of the legend of Sheherazade beautifully written. ( )

Favorite stories: "Flowers for Minla" (Alistair Reynolds) and "Art of War" (Nancy Kress) ( )

The trouble with reading a 515 page book of short stories is that by the time I finish it I can't remember all of the plotlines. I was sure that if I just marked the ones I enjoyed as I went along it would be sufficient enough to at least remember those. No. So I give you a list of the ones I marked, and the one story that did stand out enough for me to choose it as my favorite.

SAVING TIAMAAT - Gwyneth Jones
WINNING PEACE - Paul J. McAuley
MAELSTROM - Kage Baker
WHO'S AFRAID OF WOLF 359? - Ken Macleod
MINLA'S FLOWERS - Alastair Reynolds
REMEMBERANCE - Steven Baxter
THE EMPORER AND THE MAULA - Robert Silverberg
THE WORM TURNS - Gregory Benford
ART OF WAR - Nancy Kress

And the winner is: SPLINTERS OF GLASS - Mary Rosenblum. This fast-paced story is set on Europa, where there are cities carved in the ice underground. A wonderfully written chase scene on powered "boards" had me on the edge of my seat! ( )

Good roster of authors often showing great imagination, but in the end producing stories that are rather ordinary. ( )