After finishing the entire volume, I can honestly say that I enjoyed every single one of the stories in this volume! There are several that I would like to see full-length novels (the worldbuilding was that good), and I would like to see all of the characters from all of the stories make appearances in later volumes in this universe.
The Long Crawl of Jonas Kanadee by Van Allen Plexico was an interesting start to this volume. "I dangled limply over the opening to the pit of Hell" really grabs you and pulls you into the story, but it turns out that he starts with the middle of the story, backtracks to the beginning, and powers through to the end. Moral of the story? If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is, and you accept it at your peril!
Kevin Steverson writes the second offering "The Repair Jobby". It's a classic treatment on what happens when honorable professional soldiers are thrown together after a war of essentially mutual destruction, and find themselves facing the real enemy who are not honorable at all. The story really resonated and I found myself looking forward to these professionals reappearing later in the series.
Next up, we have "When No One Else Will" by Chris Kennedy. Two teenagers decide to take their game playing skills to the next level and confront the aliens attacking their planet, with some unexpected results at the end of the story (and I'm interested to see how that plays out if they make a return visit to a later book).
Probably my favorite of the entire book (and, honestly, that's really difficult, because I liked all of them a lot) was "Traitor's Moon" by Christopher Woods. This story is just full of amazing worldbuilding with incredible detail. There is perhaps an homage to Firefly and/or your favorite old western, with the plucky leader of the rebels who loses the war but not his dignity nor his honor, and finds a new cause worth backing. By the end of the story, you really, REALLY want to know what happens next - and I've asked both Chris and Kevin to please make this one into a full length novel!
Kevin Ikenberry follows up with "No Room for Error". What happens when armor and aviation companies need to work together against an overwhelming enemy in a last stand, without unifying leadership? When the leaders of the contingents are honorable, it works out well and there's a very unexpected twist at the end that again plays into wanting to know what happens next!
Robert E. Hampson contributes "The Suit". We start with teenage aliens working on maker merit badges by repurposing and reusing salvaged items of equipment to come up with functional new devices of value to local society. One of the teens helps the others without an idea of what to do for his own project, but ends up finding and fixing a suit that turns out to be of incredible value to the galactic society, not just local. Filled with absolutely plausible biomechanical terminology, you're struck with the possibility that this story could really happen in the (hopefully near) future. The suit would be immensely valuable to our present society!
Mark Wandrey provides a fascinating tale called "Desperation". It starts to answer that old conundrum of "what happens when your vessel emerges from alter space (hyperspace/wormhole/whatever) into normal space at the same time and in the same place as another vessel"? The question has been asked throughout science fiction (I remember it in the Lensmen series by Doc Smith), but never really answered. Mark provides a very realistic and thought provoking answer to not only what happens, but what would you do about it if it did?
"Akalla Nights" by Ian J. Malone gives us another story about "if it's too good to be true", although in this case the protagonists went in with their eyes wide open expecting it to be a trap. It was, but not really in the way that they were expecting, with a real "left turn out of nowhere" twist at the end that really just cries out for a sequel.
"Venatrix" by Marisa Wolf is funny, poignant and topical. A salvage crew leader likes to go after "things", which seem to always lead to problems and repairs (but they seem to always end up better off at the end). They go into a system suspecting that increased pirate activity will lead to a better risk/reward profile, and end up with an interesting offer and assistance from an unexpected person. At the end of the story, there's another unexpected twist and yet another "thing"!
John G. Hartness gives us a humorous tale called "Have Spacecat Will Travel", a story of a feline alien running away from being a slave, only to fall in with a plucky band of individuals in the fastest ship in the sector (this one is just FULL of references to science fiction movies, which is a hoot). This group ends up going after the slavers, but at a level that our protagonist didn't expect.
"What's Our Ship's Name?" is a classic coming-of-age revenge story by KC Johnston, but told in an interesting and engaging way. In some ways, it's an homage to classic vampire hunter stories, with a twist at the end that I really didn't see coming at the beginning.
Alex Rath wrote "Death of a Traitor", which skips right over "snakes on a plane" and answers the question "what would happen if snakes went into space?". The protagonist species in the story are intelligent snakes, based in large part on snake species as they exist on earth, with punctilious honor and a really good look at how would it work to have a species with no hands become space faring? But at the end, the story is really about honorable combatants.
"Symeon" by David Alan Jones is fascinating. What happens if a dominant race is essentially destroyed by a galactic accident and then the remaining refugees are destroyed by enemies who then subjugate the children (who were in stasis)? An artificial intelligence from the past joins one of the children to make a difference and look for ways to save both his people and the enemies. Another where I'm really hoping to read much more of this story!
"Salvage: The Judas Gambit" by Brad R. Torgersen tells of two different council members (one presented as scheming and venal, one as dedicated to the ruling family) and one heir to the ruling family who set out on a voyage to determine why the previous heir has apparently began to attack the colonies of the people in the story. There are any number of twist and turns, and then when they finally find the previous heir, they learn a secret that turns the entire story up on end. Fascinating interplay of politics, military culture and personalities - a masterful addition!
The last story is "Vorwhol Dishonor" by Quincy J. Allen. It starts as a story about a classical war game used for bragging rights by clans in the world, but ends up as a history lesson and again a way to show that honor and professionalism are always of value. Another group that I hope to read about later in the universe!
I really liked all of these. They all tended to be quite unpredictable and left me not wanting to put the book down, but in small to medium sized bites (many of which I'd like to see grow into full-size novels). They were very well told, and demonstrated the absolute quality of the various authors. Some of the authors I've already read in other books, but I will be looking for new works from all of them. You won't be disappointed in picking this one up!
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