In "Set in Stone," Grand Master Andre Norton follows a slave who, pushed ahead on dangerous new-world landings, is transformed on a too-alien world. Alan Dean Foster's "Chauna" tells of a famous man kept alive past his time who risks mutiny in the search for ultimate beauty. In "Traces," by Kathleen Massie-Ferch, a geologist discovers alien relics that refute her government's one-intelligent-race dogma. Robert Sawyer's "Star Light, Star Bright" visits colonists on a Dyson sphere rediscovering records of their homeworld. The agricultural colony Demeter is so automated that new arrivals disdain learning traditional farming in "Down on the Farm," by Julie Czerneda.
Robin Wayne Bailey's "Angel on the Outward Side" invites us to follow a mercenary who helps a woman locate her sister, who's been kidnapped by an unbearably beautiful alien. Jane Lindskold's "Ruins of the Past" tells of a woman driven by financial extremity into the fabled ruins of an alien civilization--from which none return alive. In "The Last Bastion," by Lawrence Watt-Evans, humans pressed to the galaxy's edge by the all-consuming Link encounter a surprising willingness to negotiate. Homesteaders on a harsh colony world deal with pecuniary incursions in Marc Bilgrey's "Home World."
An old man in search of his memory finds solace in Peter Schweighofer's "Forgotten." "The Cutting Edge," by Janet Pack, inaugurates nanosurgery on humans, with unforeseeable consequences. In "Dreamlike States" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a dream researcher tries to visit the dreams of his twin brother. And Terry England's "Out of the Cradle" suggests that a society whose members turn into energy at a certain age might harbor some unwilling to surrender bodily pleasures.
The human condition, writ small
Several stories featured in Far Frontiers are intriguing and even provocative, illuminating the capacity of short fiction to succinctly encapsulate singular ideas.
For a book dedicated to SF frontiers, there's some familiar ground here: Closed-minded techno-theocracies, cantina-frequenting mercenary rogues, planet-hungry collectives and lost colonies have been part of SF parlance since the pulp era. Yet the storytelling is generally fresh and the characters and situations interesting. For example, Dr. Sehkar, the geologist in "Traces," reacts honestly to the realization that her discovery wouldn't be enough to change the system. The chagrin of the Link representative lends her humanity in "The Last Bastion." In "Star Light, Star Bright," it's cheering to read of a father's simple pride on learning his son has reached their legendary homeworld--its name translated from old documents as Dirt.
"Star Light" is also among those stories that tweak cliches to create new frontiers; after all, whoever heard of anyone living outside a Dyson sphere? Many SF societies have aspired to the energy network in "Out of the Cradle," yet few have dealt with an obvious side effect: laggards who delay "crossing over" not because they're Luddites but because they're understandably loath to relinquish the youthful stimulations.
Other stories strike a little further afield. "Forgotten" is an affecting reminder that speculative fiction is not limited to gizmos and rocket ships--any journey beyond the known and the safe is game. "Chauna," meanwhile, features an ancient of sounder mind and failing body, asking, compellingly, What would matter to a 162-year-old plutocrat? "Dreamlike States" lets Carter Monroe explore the perils, not of nightmares, but of dreams shared with someone he thought he knew.
Far Frontiers does not blaze many new trails in the wilderness; but it reaffirms the power of short fiction to tell good stories well. -- Mark
