Customer Reviews

Microcosms (Daw Book Collectors)

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Contributions by Jack McDevitt, Stephen Baxter, Sheckley and other notables in the field provide a powerful collection which examines basic concepts of hard science physics in considering futures in which worlds have been created by man. The thirteen stories comprising Microcosms range from accounts of physicists who act as God in a variety of small microcosmic worlds to a God who decides to put a stop to man's creation efforts. A satisfyingly fascinating read.

Fans of movies like Fantastic Voyage or The Incredible Shrinking Man/Woman will appreciate this collection of thirteen tales set in a wide variety of microscopic realms. Each tale is unique, but share in common that the perspective of micro is in the eye of the beholder. Using advances in physics that make the previously mentioned movies seem dated; the anthology furbishes the audience with delightful tales that run the gamut from micro-creator to sentient atoms. Besides strong interesting tales, the key to the collection is that these tiny worlds seem real due to physical symmetry in their design, no mean feat for any contribution let alone a Baker's dozen. Fans of existing acceptable state of the science in their fiction will appreciate each contribution that not only provides effective insight into current theories and knowledge of inner space, but also does so within powerful tales that makes these realms seem so real.

Harriet Klausner

This anthology was mixed. There were a couple of very good stories in it, and some that lacked enough imagination to give more than a quick read before moving on to the next one. If you're looking for some escape fiction to pass the time, interspersed here and there with noteworthy ones, get this volume. But be warned ahead of time that the quality is not consistent.