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Intergalactic Mercenaries
These exciting tale of powerful, interstellar gunslingers feature such bestselling and awrad-winning authors as Gordon R. Dickson, Edward Bryant, Ben Bova, Frederik Pohl, Timothy Zahn, and Lois McMaster Bujold.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Sheila Williams
287 books67 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form.
Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts. Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis. She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.
She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing). In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.
Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. Most recently she has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams."
She has been nominated for 4 Hugo Awards as editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
See also Sheila Williams's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form.
Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts. Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis. She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.
She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing). In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.
Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. Most recently she has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams."
She has been nominated for 4 Hugo Awards as editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
See also Sheila Williams's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 1, 2021
This is an anthology of Military SF/Space Opera tales edited by Sheila Williams and Cynthia Manson, published by ROC at 265 pages. It contains a short introduction by Williams and six stories, all by well known authors in the SF field. It's hard to give a star rating to a collection of stories, since you don't really judge an anthology like this "overall." However, I'm going to go with 4 stars since the quality of the individual stories takes us around to that level.
Overall, the package felt a little misleading to me because the title and cover suggest hardcore military SF while there are very few such stories actually in the collection. Each story does contain a character who might be considered a mercenary but none of them really fit the standard bill for such a character. The introduction is short and sweet, with a little commentary on warfare, but mostly the collection lets the stories speak. A nice element that I liked very much was a brief introduction to the authors at the front of each tale.
The stories are: 1). "Call Him Lord" by Gordon R. Dickson. This was the only one I'd read previously and is justifiably known as an excellent story. 4 stars. 2). "Pilots of the Twilight" by Edward Bryant. I typically think of Bryant as a fantasy/horror writer but this is a solid SF piece. It's the best written tale in the book as far as the prose goes, and has the coolest title. Unfortunately, the ending is telegraphed way too early and that took almost all the suspense out of the last half of the story. 3 stars. 3). "Sepulcher" by Ben Bova. Maybe the best pure story in the book. With some interesting reveals on character and the most emotional ending. 4). "The High Test" by Frederik Pohl. I think I might have read this before too but can't be sure. A humorous piece told in an epistolary style. Kind of ridiculous if you look too closely but fun anyway. 3 and a half stars. 5). "When Jonny Comes Marching Home" by Timothy Zahn. This was the most military of the tales in the collection. It's an old chestnut, about soldiers coming home from the wars and not fitting in. Only, here, they've been enhanced for futuristic combat so the adjustment is harder. Although this has been done many times, this story was successful. 3 stars. 6). "Labyrinth" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I have mixed feelings about this one. One the pro side, it had great characters and a lot of heart. For the story itself, it was my favorite one in the book. However, it took way too long it seemed to me to get going and I was close to giving up on it before the interesting stuff started to happen. It definitely seemed to me it should have been shortened, especially in the opening sequence. 4 stars.
There you have it. My opinions. Yours might differ.
Overall, the package felt a little misleading to me because the title and cover suggest hardcore military SF while there are very few such stories actually in the collection. Each story does contain a character who might be considered a mercenary but none of them really fit the standard bill for such a character. The introduction is short and sweet, with a little commentary on warfare, but mostly the collection lets the stories speak. A nice element that I liked very much was a brief introduction to the authors at the front of each tale.
The stories are: 1). "Call Him Lord" by Gordon R. Dickson. This was the only one I'd read previously and is justifiably known as an excellent story. 4 stars. 2). "Pilots of the Twilight" by Edward Bryant. I typically think of Bryant as a fantasy/horror writer but this is a solid SF piece. It's the best written tale in the book as far as the prose goes, and has the coolest title. Unfortunately, the ending is telegraphed way too early and that took almost all the suspense out of the last half of the story. 3 stars. 3). "Sepulcher" by Ben Bova. Maybe the best pure story in the book. With some interesting reveals on character and the most emotional ending. 4). "The High Test" by Frederik Pohl. I think I might have read this before too but can't be sure. A humorous piece told in an epistolary style. Kind of ridiculous if you look too closely but fun anyway. 3 and a half stars. 5). "When Jonny Comes Marching Home" by Timothy Zahn. This was the most military of the tales in the collection. It's an old chestnut, about soldiers coming home from the wars and not fitting in. Only, here, they've been enhanced for futuristic combat so the adjustment is harder. Although this has been done many times, this story was successful. 3 stars. 6). "Labyrinth" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I have mixed feelings about this one. One the pro side, it had great characters and a lot of heart. For the story itself, it was my favorite one in the book. However, it took way too long it seemed to me to get going and I was close to giving up on it before the interesting stuff started to happen. It definitely seemed to me it should have been shortened, especially in the opening sequence. 4 stars.
There you have it. My opinions. Yours might differ.
February 2, 2013
In my personal opinion, science fiction is the hardest genre to write the short story form. These are all older stories but they don't seem to embody the same strength of the great works of the past. The characters in some of the stories weren't fully developed, motivations weren't explained, plots moved too fast, etc. I remembered parts of some of the stories, but didn't remember anything that happened, so I had obviously read the book before but it never made any impression and nothing stuck with me.
October 17, 2016
Great short stories. The Dickson and Bova pieces were especially great.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews