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Between Worlds
One of the great themes of science fiction is the exploration of other worlds in our galaxy and beyond. As Robert Silverberg writes in his introduction to Between Worlds, “an essentially infinite universe offers essentially infinite scope for the imagination.” Traveling distant realms of time and space, storytellers design vast interstellar and planetary landscapes, assemble alien anatomies and cultures, and grapple with astonishing new ideas — following the laws of science, of course.
For this volume — an SFBC creation — Silverberg asked some of today’s best sf writers to take a fresh look at this inexhaustible theme, and they came up with a collection of dazzlingly original tales. All the novellas here encapsulate the star-faring theme with an intriguing twist: characters in transit between worlds are undergoing internal transitions as well.
Contents:
Introduction (2004) • Robert Silverberg • ix
Between Worlds (2004) • Stephen Baxter • 1
The Wreck Of the Godspeed (2004) • James Patrick Kelly • 61
Shiva In Shadow (2004) • Nancy Kress • 123
The Colonel Returns To the Stars (2004) • Robert Silverberg • 179
Keepsakes (2004) • Mike Resnick • 245
Investments (2004) • Walter Jon Williams • 299
For this volume — an SFBC creation — Silverberg asked some of today’s best sf writers to take a fresh look at this inexhaustible theme, and they came up with a collection of dazzlingly original tales. All the novellas here encapsulate the star-faring theme with an intriguing twist: characters in transit between worlds are undergoing internal transitions as well.
Contents:
Introduction (2004) • Robert Silverberg • ix
Between Worlds (2004) • Stephen Baxter • 1
The Wreck Of the Godspeed (2004) • James Patrick Kelly • 61
Shiva In Shadow (2004) • Nancy Kress • 123
The Colonel Returns To the Stars (2004) • Robert Silverberg • 179
Keepsakes (2004) • Mike Resnick • 245
Investments (2004) • Walter Jon Williams • 299
398 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Robert Silverberg
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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 2, 2021
This anthology of six never before published novellas edited by Silverberg is an original brought out by the Science Fiction Book Club, which used to be much more of an influence in the sf publishing field. (The book was printed in 2004.) I didn't care for the lead-off story by Stephen Baxter. The stories by Mike Resnick and Silverberg himself are both fine, old-fashioned sf adventures, enjoyable but not especially memorable. The stories by Nancy Kress and James Patrick Kelly are also similar, and are both excellent hard-science stories with great characterization and challenging puzzles. My favorite was the final piece, a short novel by Walter Jon Williams, Investments. It's a story that features Martinez from the Dread Empire books, and shows what he's up to after the end of the (first) war. It has a good hard-science-puzzle, too. I'm not sure if I liked it best because I was familiar with the universe after reading a couple of thousand Praxis pages previously... I might have preferred Shiva In Shadow by Kress otherwise, but in any event it's a very good anthology, and those three stories all really stood out for me.
December 31, 2013
Acclaimed author Robert Silverberg collected a set of novellas from authors he admire, to write about humans exploring space. This formed the anthology Between Worlds.
The first story is Between Worlds from Stephen Baxter's Xeelee universe. It mostly takes place in a ship at the galactic core, with a reluctant messiah figure, a priest, a ships captain and a woman with a bomb, threatening to blow them all up. While this all sounds a bit much, Baxter's writing makes it all real. A winner of numerous awards, he breathes life into every character, and makes you wish the story was longer. 3,5 stars.
The second story is The Wreck Of The Godspeed by James Patrick Kelly. We follow Adel Ranger Santos, a rookie space traveller on his very first trip. What immediately sets him apart for the reader, is that he's a delibertarian, which means he has an inner voice implant with one positive side (plus) and one negative side (minus). So that whenever he has to make a choice or respond to something, we get to hear both his negative and positive thoughts. The ship is manned by several interesting characters, but this story is specifically about their ships artificial intelligence starting to act strangely, eventually leading up to the dramatic finale. Kelly gets a bit lost in characters though, and an interesting idea, isn't as well executed as it could have been. 3 stars.
The third story is Shiva In Shadow by Nancy Kress. A hard science fiction drama with a love triangle on a scientific mission, alternating between two mirrored stories, one on the actual ship with the human versions, and one on a one way probe with three uploaded copies of the characters Kane, Ajit and Tirzah. The story was nominated for Gardner Dozoiz' Year's Best Science Fiction. It was interesting to read a story from two angles, and how stress and work changes what happens between the same three people. Kress writes well, and the story gets really interesting as it reaches its climax. 3,5 stars.
The fourth story is The Colonel Returns To The Stars by Robert Silverberg. This is about an old diplomat, that is asked to go on a final mission, decades after his retirement, because a man who betrayed him on his final mission, has finally reappeared, as the leader of a world intending to break out of the Imperium (all planets humans have populated after earth). The colonel eventually travels to the planet Hermano, disguised as someone else. After long diplomatic talks, he finally gets a meeting with his former apprentice, who immediately recognizes the colonel. When the two men meet, sparks fly, and they discuss both the current situation with Hermano, and what happened on their last mission together. In a fairly short story Silverberg spends a lot of time building the world, and the result is that not a lot of actually happens. He writes well, but doesn't seem to have enough space to create something truly memorable. 3 stars
The fifth story is Keepsakes by Mike Resnick. We follow two interstellar human cops, a veteran and a rookie. That is an interesting premise, but Resnick inserts elements and personalities into the story which makes it a lot less engaging. The two are hunting criminals they call the Star Gypsies. The criminals can appear in whatever human or alien form they wish, and catching them is nearly impossible. Eventually the veteran and the rookie clashes, as they end up with opposite views to the entire problem. The premise of the story is so weak, that it's hard to care about it at all. 1 star
The final story is Investments by Walter Jon Williams. It's a story from the Dread Empire's Fall series, and it doesn't fail to engage the reader. If you are familiar with the series, it is a delight to once again follow Martinez around in new adventures. Hoping for an easy job to spend more time with his family, Martinez has accepted the position as Inspector General of Chee, a newly-settled world. He then discovers both widespread corruption and a threat to all life on the planet. The only tragedy here is that there aren't more books in the Dread Empire's Fall series, but this is still a great short story to add to the overall story. 4 stars
The first story is Between Worlds from Stephen Baxter's Xeelee universe. It mostly takes place in a ship at the galactic core, with a reluctant messiah figure, a priest, a ships captain and a woman with a bomb, threatening to blow them all up. While this all sounds a bit much, Baxter's writing makes it all real. A winner of numerous awards, he breathes life into every character, and makes you wish the story was longer. 3,5 stars.
The second story is The Wreck Of The Godspeed by James Patrick Kelly. We follow Adel Ranger Santos, a rookie space traveller on his very first trip. What immediately sets him apart for the reader, is that he's a delibertarian, which means he has an inner voice implant with one positive side (plus) and one negative side (minus). So that whenever he has to make a choice or respond to something, we get to hear both his negative and positive thoughts. The ship is manned by several interesting characters, but this story is specifically about their ships artificial intelligence starting to act strangely, eventually leading up to the dramatic finale. Kelly gets a bit lost in characters though, and an interesting idea, isn't as well executed as it could have been. 3 stars.
The third story is Shiva In Shadow by Nancy Kress. A hard science fiction drama with a love triangle on a scientific mission, alternating between two mirrored stories, one on the actual ship with the human versions, and one on a one way probe with three uploaded copies of the characters Kane, Ajit and Tirzah. The story was nominated for Gardner Dozoiz' Year's Best Science Fiction. It was interesting to read a story from two angles, and how stress and work changes what happens between the same three people. Kress writes well, and the story gets really interesting as it reaches its climax. 3,5 stars.
The fourth story is The Colonel Returns To The Stars by Robert Silverberg. This is about an old diplomat, that is asked to go on a final mission, decades after his retirement, because a man who betrayed him on his final mission, has finally reappeared, as the leader of a world intending to break out of the Imperium (all planets humans have populated after earth). The colonel eventually travels to the planet Hermano, disguised as someone else. After long diplomatic talks, he finally gets a meeting with his former apprentice, who immediately recognizes the colonel. When the two men meet, sparks fly, and they discuss both the current situation with Hermano, and what happened on their last mission together. In a fairly short story Silverberg spends a lot of time building the world, and the result is that not a lot of actually happens. He writes well, but doesn't seem to have enough space to create something truly memorable. 3 stars
The fifth story is Keepsakes by Mike Resnick. We follow two interstellar human cops, a veteran and a rookie. That is an interesting premise, but Resnick inserts elements and personalities into the story which makes it a lot less engaging. The two are hunting criminals they call the Star Gypsies. The criminals can appear in whatever human or alien form they wish, and catching them is nearly impossible. Eventually the veteran and the rookie clashes, as they end up with opposite views to the entire problem. The premise of the story is so weak, that it's hard to care about it at all. 1 star
The final story is Investments by Walter Jon Williams. It's a story from the Dread Empire's Fall series, and it doesn't fail to engage the reader. If you are familiar with the series, it is a delight to once again follow Martinez around in new adventures. Hoping for an easy job to spend more time with his family, Martinez has accepted the position as Inspector General of Chee, a newly-settled world. He then discovers both widespread corruption and a threat to all life on the planet. The only tragedy here is that there aren't more books in the Dread Empire's Fall series, but this is still a great short story to add to the overall story. 4 stars
November 28, 2019
VERDICT: Passing grade (3+ stars). You won't love 'em all, but that's how short story collections usually go.
August 6, 2023
I liked "Between Worlds" by Stephen Baxter
July 21, 2011
OF COURSE the Resnick story was the clunker bringing the entire anthology down.
June 8, 2015
The first story was spectacular, but they all went downhill from there.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews