Isaac Asimovs Solar System [Paperback]

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This anthology takes us on an sfnal tour of our home system, with a
story for each planet, plus one for the Sun. It's a solid collection, with
no really weak stories, and a couple of outstanding ones. All are
reprinted from Asimov's SF magazine. This collection should lay to
rest any lingering doubts of whether Asimov's prints hard-SF.
Recommended.

The stories:

The Sun Spider (1987), by Lucius Shepard. Sex, violence & weird
behavior on Helios Station. My rating: "B", but YMMV. Previous
reprints: Orbit SF Yearbook 1987, David Garnett; World's Best SF
1988, Donald A. Wollheim; Barnacle Bill the Spacer and Other
Stories, Lucius Shepard, 1997.

Cilia-of-Gold (1994), by Stephen Baxter. Hard-bitten miners meet the
eponymous heroine, a native Mercurian. An "A" story, one of the two
best here. Previous reprints: Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelfth
Annual, Gardner Dozois, 1995; Vacuum Diagrams, Stephen Baxter,
1997.

Dawn Venus (1995), by G. David Nordley. Romance amidst a land-
rush on a terraformed Venus. Lots of Neat Ideas, a nice Cordwainer
Smith reference, and some plausibility problems: A-.

Touchdown (1990), by Nancy Kress. A scavenger hunt on a devastated
future Earth. Nice but a downer: B+. Previous reprint: The Aliens of
Earth, Nancy Kress, 1993.

The Difficulties Involved in Photographing Nix Olympica (1986), by
Brian Aldiss. A slight and quirky vignette: B. Previous reprint: Best
SF Stories of Brian W. Aldiss, 1988.

The Very Pulse of the Machine (1998), by Michael Swanwick. A surreal
but unconvincing close encounter on Io: "B" for me, but well-liked by
others. Previous reprint: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth
Annual, Gardner Dozois, 1999.

Ex Vitro (1995), by Daniel Marcus. War-clouds mar a research-station
romance on Titan: B or B+, depending on your taste for bleakness.

Into the Blue Abyss (1999), by Geoffrey Landis. Explore the world-
ocean of Uranus wth miniature rocket-subs! Neat ideas, wooden
characters: B/B+ .

Second Skin (1997), by Paul McAuley. After the Quiet War, a trade
delegation from Earth visits Neptune's satellite Proteus -- but is the
war really over? Twisty, tasty and very nice: "A". Previous reprint:
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual, Gardner Dozois,
1998.

Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe (1977), by John Varley. A classic Eight
Worlds tale from Asimov's premiere issue. Piri is spending his
second childhood in the Pacifica disneyland, under construction
inside Pluto -- but he can't stay a child forever. Nice, if a bit hokey: A-.
Previous reprints: The Barbie Murders, John Varley, 1980 -- a
wonderful collection, but hard to find. Get this book back in print!
Better yet, how about a "Complete Short Fiction of John Varley"?
NESFA, are you listening?

-- and in Dozois' recent anthology The Good New Stuff.

review copyright 2000 by Peter D. Tillman

This anthology takes us on an SFnal tour of our home system, with a story for each planet, plus one for the Sun. It's a solid collection, with no really weak stories, and a couple of outstanding ones. All are reprinted from Asimov's SF magazine. This collection should lay to rest any lingering doubts of whether the magazine publishes hard-SF. Recommended.

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