The Year’s Best Military SF & Space Opera - David Afsharirad (editor)

The Year’s Best Military SF & Space Opera

David Afsharirad (editor)

Baen, Jun 2 2015, $15.00

ISBN 9781476780580

“Codename: Delphi” by Linda Nagata.  The handler directs the unit in a war 5000 miles away.

“Persephone Descending” by Derek Künsken.  Sabotage forced the crash on toxic Venus.

“The End of the Silk Road” by David D. Levine.  The P.I. returns to Venus for a client he hates who married the woman he loves.

“Picket Ship” by Brad R. Torgersen.  Schumann needs to warn Earth the mantis queen ordered human extermination.

“Decaying Orbit” by Robert R. Chase.  The Dominion finds an abandoned TransHumans vessel.

“Morrigan in the Sunglare” by Seth Dickinson.  LaPorte and Simms struggle mentally to adjust to fighting “monsters”.

“Light and Shadow” by Linda Nagata.  Sakai refuses to wear the skullcap that dulls war’s horrors.

“Icarus at Noon” by Eric Leif Davin.  Obsessed Santiago wants to beat the robots to Icarus.

“Soft Casualty” by Michael Z. Williamson.  Two U.N. soldiers eat at a Freehold of Graine diner until they realize what the meat is.

“Palm Strike’s Last Case” by Charlie Jane Anders.  Palm leaves Earth for a new home that needs his superhero skills.

“Brood” by Stephen Gaskell.  On Mars Lena never believed the Slicers existed until she meets them in a hellhole.

“Stealing Arturo” by William Ledbetter.  Kooper hopes to end slave labor on an asteroid starting with a child.

“Rules of Engagement” by Matthew Johnson.  The implants keep hybrid warriors from wrongful acts in combat; but the soldiers are home.

“Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind)” by Holly Black.  As a smuggler you learn your parents were right that there are bad things off Mars.

“War Dog” by Michael Barretta.  Reverend-Inspector threatens the veterans in love.

This is an interesting anthology containing exciting, enjoyable entries including several thought-provoking.

Harriet Klausner