Otherworlds: Anthology of Short Fiction

Otherworlds: Anthology of Short Fiction

I wish that I wasn't the first or only review here because I found this anthology to be fairly lack-luster. Most of the stories seemed half-formed, more vignettes, perhaps, than stories.

In Georgi, homeless people take in a stranger, who turns out to be an alien. The alien helps to resolve conflicts and shares his technology.

In Life After, the colonists on another planet are losing their technology, leading to tech-stealing and tech-hoarding, particularly when it comes to medical technology. There is a murder and these elements play an important role.

The Angles of New York is not really science fiction and not really a story. Basically, it's about a rock band from Mississippi that finds their dreams dying in New York. Not a bad bit of writing, but, again, not a science fiction short story.

In The Ghosts of Jeong, a young boy, Jeong, meets a younger girl. She's a ghost. He helps her communicate with her parents and find closure. Again, it's a nice story, but have seen this kind of things innumerable times. Watch any episode of The Ghost Whisperer.

The characters in Wrangel Island receive a message from the climate wrecked future. They then imitate Greta Thunberg in warning the world.

The Electoral College Professor offers a post-Trumpian leftist fantasy where the Electoral College as a group has taken over the job of selecting the presidents of the United States. A college professor with a specialty in “Memetic Engineering” offers advice to a faction. This one had some interesting insights into “immunomemes” and the like. It wasn't a bad story, but, again, nothing special.

Dragonangel - An alien from a dying neutron star falls to Earth and act as a body guard/guardian angel for a priest in Mexico.

Mad as a Rocketeer had an interesting steampunk space exploration angle. In the 19th century ships are put into orbit with a cannon that fires the spacecraft, after which the craft is propelled upwards by other cannon shells striking the craft. This, obviously, requires good marksmanship. When one gun misfires, it is up to our hero to rescue the doomed craft. Oddball but fun. Not really science.

Salt Water - Fairy creatures live among humans with their own handicaps. A faun helps his girlfriend's mother, a mermaid, with her medical problem. Not a bad story, but a tad predictable. The setting though should be developed by the author.

Learning Curve - What if there was a planet of transexuals? What if a normal human being fell in love with someone from that planet before they knew what sex it would turn into. LeGuin had something like this going in Left Hand of Darkness. The story idea is not bad; the story development is a bit heavy handed. Unfortunately, in the present environment, the story feels preachy.

Patterns of Breath and Blood - I didn't understand this story. There were some interesting ideas, but the setting didn't come together.

Tails - This was another story I didn't understand. I also didn't see it as science fiction.

Soldier Z - This is a time-travel story. It had some decent elements, but like other stories, it felt like it had been done before.

When Harry Met Bob - Two older single guys meet up on a tour, visit the sites, and decide to prank the humans. Not a bad story, but it just needed a bit more something to work. The ending seemed kind of a weak joke for the build-up.