From Amazon.com
Robert Reed is blessed with a wide-ranging imagination. In this retrospective of his work to date--which includes several
Hugo- and
Nebula-nominated stories--readers will find a multitude of themes, voices, and futures. A predator on the hunt crosses over to our Earth from an alternate universe, AIs gently shepherd humanity on an aeons-long postapocalyptic trip through the galaxies, and a truly bizarre tale examines the real connection between aliens and...corn. As impressive as his ideas is Reed's ability to form believable characters; the scope of the story never overwhelms the crucial human element. Reed succeeds admirably in both building complete, new worlds and in showing us an existence that is just one step away from our own. In "The Utility Man," a social outcast at a factory hopes to find a friend in the newest employee, an alien from Tau Ceti, while in "Sowing Good" a woman returns, changed, to her home and friends on the moon after years of forced labor on a ravaged Earth.
These stories thrum with tension, character, and shadow.
"Phillip remembers the touch of hands, claws dimpling the skin of his neck and the breath close, warm and damp and steady. And he remembers the face inches from his face, smiling black eyes staring at him, the voice deep and rough and strange as it said: 'Bless the meat.' Then: 'Run.' Like never in his life, the meat runs."
The Dragons of Springplace offers the perfect introduction to what one customer calls "the best modern SF author you never heard of."
--Jhana Bach
From Publishers Weekly
Like Reed's 1997 novel Beneath the Gated Sky, these 11 short stories, all written since 1993 and originally published in Asimov's or the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, soar into boldly realized starscapes and plunge into profound human heartaches. With clean, convincing story lines, Reed moves easily from near-future encounters with alien visitors, as in his ingenious treatment of crop circles in "To Church with Mr. Multhiford" and the ominous avian roadrunner from an alternative Earth in "Stride," to humanity's far-future cosmic voyages, as in "Chrysalis," "Guest of Honor," "Aeon's Child" and "The Remoras." Sympathetic characterizations of underdog heroes and alien or android antagonists alike flesh out the common theme of this collection: a victimized outsider survives and prevails not by cunning or brute strength, but through compassion. Reed is particularly adroit at conveying the stupidity of war, another of his major concerns, and the sadistic collective urge to destroy weak, sick or merely "different" members of the human pack, as in the remarkably poignant "Waging Good," a startling glimpse of post-nuclear devastation. "Aeon's Child" falters slightly because of a conflict almost too vast to imagine, but most of these stories turn expertly upon a gasp of epiphany, the recognition that in undreamed-of futures, galactic deeps or a neighboring cornfield lies undeniable truth about what makes us human.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
