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Crosstime Traffic | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Lawrence Watt-Evans | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
Short story anthologies are generally very good - when they're themed. The editors have dozens of stories to look through and can chose only the best. But anthologies by a single author are often a little more uncertain. Even the best author has written a stinker or two; put enough of them in the same collection and even in the small doses an anthology delivers it could become hard to take. Thankfully, this is not at all the case, here. There are nineteen stories here, and I couldn't find a bad tale among them.
The stories are generally pretty short - most are less than twenty pages, and there's a few that are only two or three. They range from high fantasy ("The Rune and the Dragon") to adventures in a fantasy Carribean ("The Final Folly of Captain Dancy") to hard science ("Science Fiction"). Many of the stories, though, focus on the idea of parallel worlds and alternate histories. A full third of the stories revolve in some way around that theme, including the Nebula-nominated and Hugo-winning, "Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers." Which, I daresay, deserves all the accolades it received.
And, as a sort of bonus, the author's introduction to the book is long and involved, telling much of Watt-Evans' writing history. How he came to be a writer, how he came to be published, some advice for those who want to enter the trade, and a bit of the story behind each story in the book. Most books, if they give any of that information, place it directly in front of each story, and it's only a sentenceor two. This is far lengthier and more involved. The introduction almost qualifies as a twentieth story in itself.
This is a wonderful little book for those who have a few minutes to pass while waiting for their doctor's appointment. Or a couple of hours as they wait for the plane. Some stories are, of course, better than others, but none of them could be labeled bad. If you like this author, if you like short SF/F stories, and especially if you like those involving parallel worlds, then get this book if you see it. I can almost guarantee you won't regret it.
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