The Galaxy Chronicles (The Future Chronicles) is a collection of science fiction short stories by several newer authors. The stories have a contemporary feeling to them, with characters that behave much as Americans do today, and with themes that we can extrapolate.
As with any anthology there were stories I like better than others.
Enjoyable Winners
Keep Off The Grass by Felix R. Savage has a young Catholic man of Japanese ancestry mining (aka poaching) on a water-bearing comet. His primary, exterior missiion is to bring the Gospel to the solar system, but desperate to bring water to his home on a Venus Trojan where the water recycling unit has broken, he lands on a comet and begins to gather water. The other group on the comet is an apocalyptic bunch who expects to reach the Oort cloud eventually.
The story moves along and the characters are interesting and well done.
Earth Fall by Raymond L. Weill is the only story in the bunch where I had previous experience with the author. I enjoy just about all Mr. Weill’s books as he tells a great story, moves it along, has fun and interesting characters and settings. My quibble is that dialogue sequences with aliens tend to be wooden and good guy/bad guy straightforward.
I hope he develops this into a full novel or series.
Ser Pan Comido by Matthew Alan Thyer is very different from the usual sci-fi adventure. The main characters are a trio of poor street kids on a planet ruled by despotic oligarchs, the secret police captain and the pilot attached to/time locked into star ship.
Pretty Good
The Stars that Bind by Nick Webb is set in the far, far future where man has spread to thousands of galaxies that are united and whole. It’s so far in the future that the universe expansion is causing pieces to fall off, too far to reach. The idea is intriguing.
Multiply by Nicolas Wilson also has an intriguing story line. Comet and Walter are AIs charged with preparing a base for their humans. Sent off from the main ship they crash land on an asteroid and must build from scratch. I liked the characters.
The Imortals: Kronis Valley by David Adams has a terribly wounded military man nearly disintegrate upon return home. The author did a fine job with characters.
The Rest
All the stories were readable with interesting characters or ideas. They didn’t catch my imagination as did the ones mentioned. I am not fond of stories that turn assassins into heroes, which is why a couple of them dropped down here.
Summary
If you enjoy science fiction and like to discover new(er) authors then I highly recommend The Galaxy Chronicles (The Future Chronicles). Right now it’s available only as an E book ($1.99 Kindle).
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