Product Description
Edited by John Joseph Adams, editor of Wastelands and The Living Dead. From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition, and herein you will find a mix of all-new, original fiction, alongside selected reprints from authors whose work exemplifies what interstellar SF is capable of, including Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, George R.R. Martin, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Alastair Reynolds, Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg and Harry Turtledove. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Mixed bag but worth the read
This book has quite a diverse array of stories and, yes, most of them fall into the category of space opera. Some of these stories will be passed by without so much as a second glance but the rest of the stories are thought-provoking on many levels. While many of the authors are well known (most contributed excellent examples of their craft) some authors (of whom I had never heard) produced such outstanding stories that I have added more of their work to my reading list.

A few stories are quite disturbing because they make you think rather seriously about how human society might endure the next few thousand years. Others fill you with hope, providing a hopeful peek at what a bright and positive future might be like. Though some of the stories are bland, this is an anthology produced by a group of experienced storytellers and is well worth the read.

Most boring anthology I (sadly) own!
This was one of the very first items I bought for my new Kindle - and boy, do I regret it! Moreover I had to spend more than $13,- for it, being located in Europe, and quite frankly, I feel ripped off.

There was hardly any story I liked or found even slightly interesting, apart from the known dignitaries, like Card, McCaffrey, Bujold etc. who delivered okay, but not outstanding work.

I was totally baffled that a writer like Bradford was considered good enough to contribute to this volume. Her story reads like it was written by a ten year old. The things (cannot even call them stories) with the hamster and the throne rooms - you've got to be kidding me, hu?!?

All in all, I can only recommend to not buy this thing in any way, shape or form - but especially not as an eBook, because first you cannot resell it and second you cannot even use it as a doorstop.

good space operatic anthology
In many ways, I've started to come to believe that you can't go wrong with a John Joseph Adams' collection.Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse was incredible, The Living Dead was great, and Federations...?Also very very good.

The "dust jacket description" of this anthology pretty much sums it up...It collects a few different modern takes on the classic science fiction trope:What does it take; what does it mean for a civilization to be interstellar and/or pan-galactic?

My take of Federations, it gets a composite rating of 3.9130 (individual stories below)

* "Mazer in Prison" (Orson Scott Card): 3/5
» About what you'd expect from Card.So it doesn't disappoint but it doesn't exactly thrill, either.
* "Carthago Delenda Est" (Genevieve Valentine): 4/5
* "Life Suspension" (L. E. Modesitt, Jr.): 2.5/5
* "Terra-Exulta" (S.L. Gilbow): 3/5
» Reminds me a bit of that Stephen King piece that opens Wastelands.The letter-writing format is a tough one to write in and I appreciate the effort here.And I don't dislike this piece but it seems... too short? or just that its hand is tipped too early and that kind of blows the ending a bit?
* "Aftermaths" (Lois McMaster Bujold): 4/5
* "Someone is Stealing the Great Throne Rooms of the Galaxy" (Harry Turtledove): 2/5
» Not terribly intriguing, and a little puerile/juvenile.To me... I can see why it was included (for the variety and for the perspective it brings) but it just doesn't do it.Not for me.
* "Prisons" (Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason): 2.5/5
» So much potential, and almost good; but why did I wind up feeling like it needed to be more subversive? (E.g., so many heteronormative relationships!--if the prison revolt leader had been lovers with another man, well now maybe that might have been a little more intriguing.)
* "Different Day" (K. Tempest Bradford): 5/5
* "Twilight of the Gods" (John C. Wright): 4/5
» The Tolkien-esque language can be a little off-putting at first but it really starts to make sense after you get about a third of the way in.
* "Warship" (George R. R. Martin and George Guthridge): 5/5
» I can't imagine why it took so long for Martin to shop this piece--unless Guthridge really brought that much to it.The execution is very spot-on.
* "Swanwatch" (Yoon Ha Lee): 4/5
» I want to like this more.It's beautiful but a bit oblique--and that's fine but somehow it doesn't jump to where it needs to be.
* "Spirey and the Queen" (Alastair Reynolds): 5/5
» Awesome.Did you like Watts' Blindsight?Did you like Sterling's "Swarm"?A little bit like that.(Only robots.)
* "Pardon Our Conquest" (Alan Dean Foster): 3.5/5
* "Symbiont" (Robert Silverberg): 4.5/5
» Highly disurbing; more so than I thought it would be.(Just read this one; skip the introduction.)
* "The Ship Who Returned" (Anne McCaffrey): 4/5
* "My She" (Mary Rosenblum): 4.5/5
» Brilliant.Nicely subversive and almost perfect.
* "The Shoulders of Giants" (Robert J. Sawyer): 2.5/5
* "The Culture Archivist" (Jeremiah Tolbert): 5/5
» This one is funny in the way that "Someone is Stealing..." (vida supra) could/should have been.
* "The Other Side of Jordan" (Allen Steele): 4.5/5
» Serves a little bit as a reminder that one of the things you're going for (when you're going for sci-fi) is the "deep milieu".This has got it.And I love it for it.
* "Like They Always Been Free" (Georgina Li): 4/5
» Very dense; worthwhile.
* "Eskhara" (Trent Hergenrader): 5/5
» The allegory bits are obvious but rather than detract, they make it all very worth while.
* "The One with the Interstellar Group Consciousnesses" (James Alan Gardner): 4/5
» Cute, and a bit novel, but kind of like an artisan soda:not really bad for you but not really necessary but damn tasty but kind of a cloying aftertaste?
* "Golubash, or Wine-War-Blood-Elegy" (Catherynne M. Valente): 4.5/5
» A little on the oblique side but the framing for the story is absolutely killer. ... Read more

Product Description
Harold Bloom is one of the most influential—and controversial—of contemporary Shakespeare critics. These essays examine the sources and impact of his Shakespearean criticism. Through focused and sustained study of this writer as literary icon and his Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, the essays address a wide range of issues, from the cultural role of Shakespeare to the ethics of literary theory and criticism.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Bloom still controversial

This anthology was recommended to me by someone who loved Bloom's huge
book Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human. The recommender hadn't
read it, but thought it would be a celebration of Bloom.It partly is, but mostly
it takes up the controversy over Bloom's role in the literary reception of Shakespeare over the last twenty years.Most of the essays are very readable and enjoyable. Particularly good are essays by Hawkes, Fahmi, Desmet, and Charnes. Linda
Charnes' concluding essay "The Two Percent Solution: what Harold Bloom forgot" is
a knockout, a tour de force on what's wrong, and right, with Bloom, and with literary criticism in general these days.Anyone interested in the controversy over Bloom and the Bard would greatly enjoy reading through the essays in this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Jumping thru the Window into a Parallel Universe!
Jumping thru the Window into a Parallel Universe!
"Hominids" is the first novel I've read from Robert Sawyer and certainly will not be the last! He won deservedly the Hugo Award with it!
Ediciones B, thru its collection Nova is performing a great service to Spanish speaking sci-fi fans. Many new titles from top genre writers are being published. More so, some are printed in Argentina, making it easier and cheaper for us to buy them.

The premise on which is constructed this novel is the existence of Parallel Universes.
A miraculous accident allows their intersection.
Our own universe is at it is: overpopulated, polluted, violent, competitive and ... dominated by Cro-Magnon descents.
The parallel one is: peaceful, underpopulated, clean and ... in Neanderthals descents hands.
This scenery is more than enticing and Mr. Sawyer captivates readers' attention almost from the first page.

The story starts with the accident that ejects Ponter Boddit into our world. As soon as he is hospitalized doctors realize he is a Neanderthal. A small protective group is constituted around him: a medical doctor, a physic scientist and a biologist specialized in DNA analysis. Thanks to them Ponter is able to survive and adapt to our environment.
The novel develops on two main lines, one in each universe that will converge at the end. Both of them keep you looking ahead for what will happen.

The readers get in touch with an entirely different civilization. Characters are credible and well developed. The author explores many deep issues thru them, making this not a simple sci-fi novel, but a book that will arouse questions within you.
Sawyer emphasizes on sociological topics especially on violence, religious beliefs and family organization. The Neanderthal family model is ingenious and allows examining homo and hetero relationships from a different standpoint.

First step of a trilogy that I look forward to complete reading!
Reviewed by Max Yofre. ... Read more

Product Description

"A sense of wonder that hasn't prevailed in American SF since the days of Heinlein."-Books in Canada

This new collection by the man Anne McCaffrey calls "an absolutely marvelous writer" includes Hugo Award nominee "Shed Skin," Nebula Award nominee "Identity Theft," and Aurora Award winner "Ineluctable." In these pages, you'll discover the dark secret of the only priest on Mars, revisit H.G. Wells's Morlocks, and learn what really happens when aliens beam us the Encyclopedia Galactica.

"Sawyer's fans will be gratified to find many of his favorite themes amply represented here, from evolution gone awry to sentient dinosaurs to the perilous loopholes created by quantum physics. He has a gift for casting jarringly original ideas in lucid, sharp-edged prose that mainstream-fiction as well as SF readers should appreciate."-Booklist

"Sawyer has a way of taking familiar ideas, looking at them from new angles and in greater depth than almost anybody before him, and tying them together to create extraordinarily fresh and thought-provoking stories."-Analog

"Sawyer writes my favorite kind of science fiction: interesting characters, fast-paced plotting, science threaded elegantly into the prose - he does it all with grace and style. I am constantly amazed by the depth of Sawyer's characters - their humanity, their failings and their instincts."
-Rodger Turner on SF Site

... Read more