Sol's Children

by Jean Rabe, Martin H. Greenberg, Various (Editor)

No need to shoot for the stars when some of the greatest tales of the universe are right here in our very own solar system. Take a tour through these new, original stories with such acclaimed interplanetary guides as Timothy Zahn, Brian A. Hopkins, Jack Haldeman, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick, Roland Green, Michael A Stackpole, and others.

315 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

When I am not writing, I toss tennis balls to my cadre of dogs. My house is filled with books and dogs, you can smell both when you walk in the front door. It's a good smell.

I have 36 published novels and am currently writing in the mystery genre. My latest mystery, The Dead of Winter, was a finalist for the Claymore Award and is the first in the Piper Blackwell series.

I live in a tiny town in the middle of Illinois that has a Dollar General, a pizza place with exceedingly slow service, a veterinarian (good thing, eh?), and train tracks...lots of train tracks.

Reviews

[Steve Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The theme (gimmick?) of this anthology of commissioned stories is that all of the stories are set in the solar system. This isn't too much of a constraint: it just means none of the stories are set in interstellar space, or in distant star systems. The stories are set on a variety of planets, moons, rocks and ships.

The thematic touch is nice, but the problem with an anthology of all-new stories is that you get what what the authors delivered. The writers are writing on assignment, rather than from their heart. The main character in Brian M. Thomsen's "The Grand Tour" (a writer with a martyr complex) sums this up nicely: "I hadn't chosen this assignment. They were going to get what they paid for. No more. No less."

Overall, it was a reasonably entertaining collection, but not inspiring. I got what I paid for. No more, no less.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of short sci-fi stories each about 15 pages long, and I'd say about half were decent. The rest weren't terrible but they made me impatient to get through them to reach a different (and hopefully better) tale. Over all, it was just okay but if you saw it in a used bookstore I wouldn't discourage you from picking it up.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked “Patience” by Donald J. Bingle and “Least of My Brethren” by Michael A. Stackpole

[Donald J. Bingle]

"Patience," my story in this anthology, has one of my favorite first lines for stuff I wrote: Clifford Hurling used more dental floss than anyone else on the Moon." Find out where the story goes from there.