laffingkat's review
4.0
If you enjoy speculative fiction short stories, this is a great collection. The stories are well-written, original, often surprising, and sometimes challenging. While I enjoyed some stories more than others, I appreciated the variety of settings, styles, and themes. One thing I would have preferred would be more optimistic stories. To be fair, it's not as though these stories are without hope or filled with overwhelming doom, gloom, and violence, but at the same time, there aren't too many laughs and happy endings.
"Anderson's Necessaries" by [a:Jon Etter|15000329|Jon Etter|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was probably my favorite story in this collection. This was a sweet, whimsical romantic fantasy in a small town setting that reminded me of a Rockwell painting. The characters (which include the titular shop) were charming and funny, and I was genuinely delighted by the ending.
"Rakka Surprise" by [a:Bey Deckard|7855471|Bey Deckard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1496688582p2/7855471.jpg], a humorous space opera, also deserves special mention. The banter here was really cute, and the ending was sweet.
[a:P.K. Tyler|14678447|P.K. Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1448410086p2/14678447.jpg]'s "Ecumenical Outpost 732" was probably the most emotional read for me. I was quickly drawn in to this short scifi story set in Tyler's Jakkattu Universe, and I felt gutted by the ending. This story works just fine as a stand-alone read, but if you want to learn more about this setting, I highly recommend the first novel, [b:The Jakkattu Vector|31393528|The Jakkattu Vector (Jakkattu, #1)|P.K. Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470764747s/31393528.jpg|52083267], or the first of her Jakkattu shorts, [b:Avendui 5ive|31328100|Avendui 5ive (Jakkattu shorts, #1)|P.K. Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470756938s/31328100.jpg|52002160].
The story I found most thought-provoking and have been discussing with many of my friends is the cyberpunk short "The Rite" by [a:Christopher Godsoe|5126629|Christopher Godsoe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314143842p2/5126629.jpg]. I was intrigued by the dilemma the heroine of this story faces, and I suspect I'll continue to think about this story for a long time to come.
I received a free ARC of this book from one of the authors and volunteered to review it. The version I reviewed was generally well written, well edited, and cleanly formatted. I noticed only a few typos.
"Anderson's Necessaries" by [a:Jon Etter|15000329|Jon Etter|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was probably my favorite story in this collection. This was a sweet, whimsical romantic fantasy in a small town setting that reminded me of a Rockwell painting. The characters (which include the titular shop) were charming and funny, and I was genuinely delighted by the ending.
"Rakka Surprise" by [a:Bey Deckard|7855471|Bey Deckard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1496688582p2/7855471.jpg], a humorous space opera, also deserves special mention. The banter here was really cute, and the ending was sweet.
[a:P.K. Tyler|14678447|P.K. Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1448410086p2/14678447.jpg]'s "Ecumenical Outpost 732" was probably the most emotional read for me. I was quickly drawn in to this short scifi story set in Tyler's Jakkattu Universe, and I felt gutted by the ending. This story works just fine as a stand-alone read, but if you want to learn more about this setting, I highly recommend the first novel, [b:The Jakkattu Vector|31393528|The Jakkattu Vector (Jakkattu, #1)|P.K. Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470764747s/31393528.jpg|52083267], or the first of her Jakkattu shorts, [b:Avendui 5ive|31328100|Avendui 5ive (Jakkattu shorts, #1)|P.K. Tyler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1470756938s/31328100.jpg|52002160].
The story I found most thought-provoking and have been discussing with many of my friends is the cyberpunk short "The Rite" by [a:Christopher Godsoe|5126629|Christopher Godsoe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1314143842p2/5126629.jpg]. I was intrigued by the dilemma the heroine of this story faces, and I suspect I'll continue to think about this story for a long time to come.
I received a free ARC of this book from one of the authors and volunteered to review it. The version I reviewed was generally well written, well edited, and cleanly formatted. I noticed only a few typos.
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