Starbound: An Anthology Gathered by Audrey Faye
Not long ago, Golden Age of the Solar Clipper author Nathan Lowell posted in his Facebook feed that he was included in an anthology along with a number of other authors that had written some good Sci-Fi stories. If Nathan says it’s good, it most likely is and Starbound delivers in spades. I have always enjoyed short story collections and loved this one.
Audrey Faye asked the authors included in this volume to contribute stories that centered on strong female characters. Most of the stories included are prequels to works that also include, in the author’s words “dragons, smugglers, vampires, aliens, a street ruffian mathematical genius, a princess desperate to save Earth, and more.”
Here is a rundown of the stories included:
Passage Out by Anthea Sharp: A young woman and her friend have given up hope of escaping Earth, but thanks to her talents of observation, she finds a better life.
Blood Ties by Christine Pope: Just trying to make a living, Miala and her father take commissions from shady customers for computer software, this latest one has some surprising consequences.
Raising The Dragon by Sara Reine: Aja Skytoucher takes an alien refugee home with her and soon learns that raising a dragon can be both difficult and rewarding.
Exile by Nathan Lowell: Set in his Golden Clipper universe, Nathan writes about a two young women that are on the run almost before their Academy graduation party is finished.
Arcturus 5 by Debra Dunbar: Xella finds herself in a life threatening situation while trying to mediate a trade dispute that goes terribly wrong.
A Tale Of Two Ships by Audrey Faye: A newborn baby and her mother crash on an out of the way planet, later another ship also crashes and a woman discovers her purpose in life.
Carl Sagan’s Hunt For Intelligent Life In The Universe by C. Gockel: In this story, a young girl grows and is watched over an alien intelligence for her entire life without knowing it.
Blue Light by Phaedra M Weldon: An investigator stumbles into a situation that could leave her burned.
Treason’s Course by LJ Cohen: A soldier finds herself in a quandary when treason might save an entire civilization.
Silent Witness by Colleen Vanderlinden: Aria is set to become the ruler of her people who Witness and record events of other beings. When a planet that she has been Witnessing is about to be obliterated, she faces a difficult choice.
The Final Sunrise by Shawntelle Madison: When her spaceship is invaded by thieves, a single vampire is faced with saving her ship and surviving.
All of the stories are short enough to read in a single sitting, the longest, as I recall, is just a little over an hour of reading time. All are well written and for me were quite compelling. Every story in the collection is annotated with a bit of information on where to locate further stories in the series that follow.
If my recommendation is not enough, the price of .99 cents on Amazon for the Kindle edition should be even more of a motivation to give this collection a look.
Well, there it is…
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