false 101640 3 It's not merely a task that's thankless--it's impossible. How can you hope to pick out the best of anything, let alone from such a contentious category as SF (and military SF, at that)? But this 13-story collection really <I>does</I> pull together at least <I>some</I> of the best short stories penned for the genre in the last century. Thanks to editors Harry Turtledove and Martin H. Greenberg, you'll find some of science fiction's biggest names--and most influential shorts--in this expertly chosen anthology.<p> Chronologically, the entries range from '50s pieces like Philip K. Dick's "Second Variety" and Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" to more modern ruminations on war like "The Scapegoat" by C.J. Cherryh and "To the Storming Gulf" by Gregory Benford. But rather than quality (all these stories are of inarguable pedigree) or even breadth, what might recommend these most to readers new to them are the ideas and other works they later inspired: Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" both gave rise to phenomenally successful series, Joe W. Haldeman's "Hero" preceded <I>The Forever War</I>, and Philip K. Dick's "Second Variety" became the SF thriller <I>Screamers</I>. The collection also gives you a glimpse of what dark thoughts were rattling around the heads of prolific writers like David Drake and George R.R. Martin in the '70s. <I>--Paul Hughes</I> 97995 book 1 5 2001 Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century total:32|5:9|4:12|3:10|2:1| 32 125 54 9 4 1 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 08:00:31 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 24 06:39:29 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Apr 30 18:23:08 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 30 18:23:54 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Mar 13 11:51:58 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 13:47:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 12 14:30:38 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 14:31:32 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 19:39:32 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 09 11:50:40 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Jul 31 21:58:49 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 22:12:56 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Fri Mar 07 01:25:43 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 01:28:11 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jul 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 10:04:02 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 18:43:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Nov 11 09:45:51 -0800 2009 Tue Sep 01 22:51:13 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 11 09:45:51 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 08:03:47 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 08:03:47 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Sep 29 12:49:14 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 12:49:14 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Sep 17 11:52:33 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 11:52:33 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 30 18:49:27 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 18:49:43 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Aug 15 21:44:34 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 21:44:49 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 03 11:23:17 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:23:17 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 12 20:36:07 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 20:36:07 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jul 22 08:01:29 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 20:35:08 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 08:01:29 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Apr 15 21:03:38 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 21:03:38 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Mar 19 10:32:22 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 10:32:22 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Mar 01 09:09:58 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 09:10:04 -0800 2009 1 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=101640