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Sandra McDonald

Genevieve Valentine

War and Space: Recent Combat Paperback – May 8, 2012

by Rich Horton (Editor), Sean Wallace (Editor)

12 ratings

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Conflict: a basic human instinct, helping humankind evolve even while threatening the very existence of the species . . . an instinct that will be as much a part of the future as it is now and always has been.
For all the glories of war-the defeat of evil, the promise of freedom, justice, protection of the innocent, the righting of wrongs, technological innovation, heroism-there are also the horrors:
individual grief, mass destruction, the elimination of entire cultures and great achievments, injustice, villainy, the annihilation of the innocent, and pain beyond bearing. War and Space offers the ultimate speculation on the future of warfare-stories of insectoid anguish, genetically-engineered diplomats who cannot fail, aliens plundering humanity, a weaponized black hole-scenarios of triumph and defeat, great heroism and vile depravity . . . and more.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Prime Books
Publication date

May 8, 2012
Dimensions

6 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches
ISBN-10

1607013371
ISBN-13

978-1607013372
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prime Books (May 8, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1607013371
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1607013372
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,015,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11,917 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
- #29,940 in Military Science Fiction (Books)
- #49,619 in Short Stories Anthologies

Customer Reviews:
12 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		7%
4 star		32%
3 star		35%
2 star		7%
1 star		20%

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Top reviews from the United States

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M. M. Linder Jr.

Solid and sometimes haunting collection

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2012

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The reader looking for straight up "military sci-fi" writing will probably walk away from this book disappointed. However, to do so is to miss the point of the collection entirely, and there are nearly endless options out there for the reader who wants to read Jerry Pournelle or David Drake clones. (I myself enjoy those authors and their colleagues.)

Rather, this collection has been put together to collect mostly unusual or non-standard sci-fi war stories that focus primarily on the "human" (or non-human as the case may be) element rather than out-and-out combat narration. Indeed, very little actual combat appears in these pages. Instead, the editors present you with thoughtful, sometimes profound, and memorable stories dealing with such diverse themes as the emotional effect on a soldier of the ability of both him (and others in his life) to be reincarnated after each "death," how secret recruiting of human soldiers for an alien war (which may not even be a war as we understand it) might work, how advanced interdimensional warfare could become a self-sustaining enterprise, and so forth.

Some stories are more engaging than others, but there is not a clunker in the group and the collection is a welcome respite from standard interstellar war narratives.

7 people found this helpful

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G. Budrikis

An OK set of SF short stories

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2013

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A mixed bag really. I basically bought the book because it had Nancy Kress' name on the cover and her story did not disappoint. Some of the others were good. Others were basically parallel universe stories, which for mine is a bit lazy. Still others seemed to be all about alien exotic sex, which I found stupefyingly boring.

Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2014

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I enjoy the "short" story as it requires the author to get to the point and develop the storyline. Short stories allow one to peruse different styles and then go to the author for more in depth stories.

Helpful

Michael Drakich

Too many disappointments with only a handful of good ones scattered in.

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2014

Twenty tales of science fiction with all having a central theme of war and space.

Of the stories, I gave four of them 5 stars. Sadly, I gave three of them 1 star, something I had never done before. The average rating ending up at 3.05 stars. So why only the two star rating?

I picked up this book at my local bookstore based on the cover and blurb. My expectation was to find 20 short stories centered around war and space. Unfortunately, there were too many stories where war got passing mention at best and sometimes so did space. With eight of the stories rating only 2 stars or less, it's just too high a percentage to give the book a rating of 3 stars.

If you chance on a copy, the gem of the bunch, in my opinion, is The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis

"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359? by Ken MacLeod. For the opening story of a collection of 20 sci-fi shorts, the editors could have picked a better one to start with. This tale is downright silly, from the inane descriptions of things to the absolute ignorance of the protagonist. He doesn't even know what a planet looks like. It was an embarrassing read. 1 star"

"Surf by Suzanne Palmer. Wow, I felt a surge of relief after the horrible first story to encounter this thoroughly enjoyable one. Intelligent, and detailed, this is a well played story with enough unanswered questions leaving you pining for more. 5 stars"

"Another Life by Charles Oberndorf. Somewhere in the background, there is a war going on but this story has very little to do with the war. I found the story dragged and wasted too much on boring sexual exploits. 2 stars"

"Between Two Dragons by Yoon Ha Lee. The Asian background to the story gave it some character but the tale being told by someone who you never discover who she is distracts from the story. 3 stars"

"Scales by Alastair Reynolds. Short, and laced with lots of big words, this flash through the different stages of one man's continuing adaptation to fight a war is fun, though somewhat predictable. 4 stars"

"Golubash, Or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy by Catherynne M. Valente. The sale of contraband wine during wartime in space is the setting and done with flair. An enjoyable piece. 5 stars"

"Leave by Robert Reed. This story left a few things unclear, but the way it was told was mesmerizing. 5 stars"

"Mehra And Jiun by Sandra McDonald. Same tired territory where a human is held prisoner by an alien and they become friends. Although the tale is okay, this format has been done too many times. 3 stars"

"Her Husband's Hands by Adam-Troy Castro. Prior to this collection of sci-fi shorts, I had never given one star. Now I am at two. This is the most inane, silly, story I have ever read. I kept hoping something intelligent would come out of it, but that never happened. 1 star"

"Remembrance by Beth Bernobich. This is not the first story in the collection to be themed on sex, not sci-fi and definitely not War & Space. Too often I find sci-fi writers using the genre to play out their sexual fantasies. 2 stars"

"Palace Resolution by Tom Purdom. An interesting debate over political style. I enjoyed how it focused on subtleties. 4 stars"

"The Observer by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Standard juiced future soldier stuff. Not much to it. 2 stars"

"The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis. An intelligent piece set around two machines engaged in a chase across the cosmos. The internal debate of the protagonist is enjoyable. 5 stars"

"Art Of War by Nancy Kress. The concept was unique, I'll give it that. The delivery of it left some to be desired. 3 stars"

"Have You Any Wool by Alan DeNiro. I read through this twice. A very difficult read and even more so to follow. I think I understand what the author was trying to do, but it came across as way too convoluted. 1 star"

"Carthago Delenda Est by Genevieve Valentine. This short had a difficult start. It was hard to sort through the first couple of pages and I had to read them twice. I hate that. Clones in space waiting for something. That's it. 2 stars"

"Rats Of The System by Paul McAuley. Intelligent robots, fanatical creatures and humans populate this story about a desperate attempt as solving the robots. 4 stars"

"The Political Officer by Charles Coleman Finlay. More of a novelette than a short story at 56 pages. This tale of subterfuge and competing government departments reads like a spy novel. Considering its length, I was hoping not to have any unanswered questions at the end, but that was not to be. 4 stars"

"Amid The Words Of War by Cat Rambo. Aliens ants, or something like them, at war with humans. The start was hard to follow. 3 stars"

"A soldier Of The City by David Moles. The tale tries to follow a solitary soldier caught in a space war. It is written in a disjointed way that made it difficult to follow. 2 stars"

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

JPS

Original and mostly good collection of short stories

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2013

This is a collection of some twenty short stories around the themes of war and space. What makes them original is the way these themes are treated, even though most of the stories may have been published in various specialized magazines. The point here, as other reviewers on Amazon.com have mentioned, is that these stories are not about battles, fighting and heroics. There is very little of these in the stories so that the book's subtitle ("Recent Combat") is somewhat misleading.

What you get instead is a collection of views about how humans and non-humans alike adapt (or try to adapt) to the various circumstances of war. Some of the stories are about preventing wars. They show to what extremes (including sacrifice, murder and sabotage) the characters can go in order to ensure that it does not happen. Several are about revenge, power plays or the economic causes, such as enforcing a monopoly, which provoked the outbreak of war.

Most, however, are about the incomprehension and the consequences, in particular the various and wide range of traumas, mutilations and losses brought by war. Unsurprisingly in a collection of twenty, you will have preferences and you will like some of the stories more than others. Some of them are quite emotional and/or moving. Most of them are rather grim. A number of stories unsurprisingly bear the traces of - or are somewhat inspired by - the recent conflicts in Irak and Afghanistan and the "war on terror".

Four stars.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

JPS

Original and mostly good collection of short-stories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a collection of some twenty short stories around the themes of war and space. What makes them original is the way these themes are treated, even though most of the stories may have been published in various specialized magazines. The point here, as other reviewers on Amazon.com have mentioned, is that these stories are not about battles, fighting and heroics. There is very little of these in the stories so that the book's subtitle ("Recent Combat") is somewhat misleading.

What you get instead is a collection of views about how humans and non-humans alike adapt (or try to adapt) to the various circumstances of war. Some of the stories are about preventing wars. They show to what extremes (including sacrifice, murder and sabotage) the characters can go in order to ensure that it does not happen. Several are about revenge, power plays or the economic causes, such as enforcing a monopoly, which provoked the outbreak of war.

Most, however, are about the incomprehension and the consequences, in particular the various and wide range of traumas, mutilations and losses brought by war. Unsurprisingly in a collection of twenty, you will have preferences and you will like some of the stories more than others. Some of them are quite emotional and/or moving. Most of them are rather grim. A number of stories unsurprisingly bear the traces of - or are somewhat inspired by - the recent conflicts in Irak and Afghanistan and the "war on terror".

Four stars.

robert

Good collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Some really nice pieces amongst it

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