Science Fiction: Bridging Infinity

(Drivebycuriosity) - I like science fiction. Unfortunately most science fiction novels disappoint. Often a writer has an interesting idea which carries a story about maybe 100 pages or less, but when she stretches the plot the story gets thinner and thinner and the text has too many fillers.  Just a minority of authors is capable to keep the tension over hundreds of pages. Therefore I usually skim collections of science fiction short stories in order to find some gems.

I just finished reading the anthology  "Bridging Infinity" edited & curated by Jonathan Strahan (amazon). The editor writes: "science fiction, or at least the sort of science fiction that was typical in American pulp magazines  from the 1930s to the 1950s, was founded on a belief that problems are solvable, and that those problems are solvable using technical or engineering solutions". He had asked his authors to deliver him stories which more or less follow this motto. The result are 15 stories by different authors covering a variety of ideas & styles (this is a spoiler free blog).

My favorite is "Mice among Elephants" by Gregory Benford & Larry Niven, two top stars of contemporary science fiction. The story is really for the lovers of very hard science fiction. It is soaked with science, especially astrophysics & evolution. And - what is rare in the usually prudish genre - there is also an explicit sex scene.

I also enjoyed:

 "Rager in Space" by Charlie Jane Anders about two cool girls who endeavor a hilarious space. It is a funny but also a dark & somewhat philosophical story about humans & artificial intelligence (AI).

"Ozymandias" by Karin Lowaches. A man takes a one man job on a small space station, a kind of beacon, which leads to some surprises. A cynical story about AIs, humans & criminals.

"Cold Comfort" by Pat Murphy & Paul Doherty about a scientist who developed a method to fight global warming in the Arctic.

The rest of the stories contains also interesting ideas and may cater different tastes. In the moment of writing the kindle version of the book costs just $5,38.