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Three Great Authors--Three Great Science Fiction Stories A Strand In The Web New York Times Bestselling Fantasy Author Anne Bishop makes her U.S. debut in Science Fiction with this engaging futuristic novella. The Restorers travel the universe fulfilling a purpose handed down through the generations. They live and die aboard city-ships, never knowing the worlds they create and save. What begins as a disastrous training exercise in creating and balancing ecosystems becomes an unexpected fight for survival. The only hope may be the secret project of an untried Restorer team. A Host Of Leeches Award winning author James Alan Gardner pens a wonderfully imaginative tale, in which a young woman wakes to find herself the sole human on an orbiting, mechanical space station. To find a way home, she must navigate the dangerous politics of war between opposing robot leaders. Stranded Popular urban fantasy writer Anthony Francis (Dakota Frost, Skindancer series) explores the clash of ethics and survival when a young, genetically engineered centauress from the ultra-advanced Alliance lays claim to a rare, strategic garden planet, only to find herself captured by a band of rag-tag Frontier refugees who've crashed their vintage ship on her unexpectedly hostile world.… (more)
User reviews
I highly enjoyed Bishop and Gardner's stories. I found Francis' tale a bit harder to get into. Overall, this collection features some fascinating work. I would love to read a series set in Bishop's world (of course she is my favorite author). I think sci-fi fans will highly enjoy this book and its interesting ideas.
A Host of Leeches was intriguing and well-written. I felt that this was a story that could have benefited by being expanded, but I enjoyed the idea of the war robots dealing with the aliens that they invited in the first place.
Like others, I couldn't get into the last story, Stranded. The Lord-of-the-Flies teenagers vs. the adventuress Centauress didn't work for me as well.