Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Irresistable Forces; ed. C. Asaro

This is a short story anthology edited by Catherine Asaro, published in 2006 by Signet. There are 6 short stories, 3 by romance authors & 3 by sci/fi or fantasy authors. I was most impressed by the Lois McMaster Bujold story, of Miles & Ekaterin's wedding & of an interesting romance between a human & a bioengineered human. It's unnecessary to read the Miles saga ahead of time, but you may be left trying to glom her other Miles books.

I am totally blown away by Jo Beverley's sci fi based romance though. I've always liked her romances, but this one left me wishing she'd write some sci fi stuff too. An earth colony is under attack from a mysterious entity that reduces mammals & humans to ashes. Certain people residing on the planet have mental powers to destroy these beings, but only at great cost. Thus ensues a wonderful story about the limitations of power: political, personal, media & the morality of use of power. Loss, grieving, how war changes both the soldier & those left behind. What price do we all pay? Fascinating & wonderful stuff happening here.

There are also pieces here by: MJP, Catherine Asaro, Deb Stover & Jennifer Roberson. All of which were good, but none caught my attention as thoroughly as the two mentioned above.

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