Editor: Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Genre: science fiction / space opera
Price: $29.95 (hardcover) $17.95 (trade paperback) $6.99 (ebook)
Publisher: Every Day Publications
ISBN: 978-0-9881257-5-9
Point of Sale: various retailers via publisher's website
Reviewed by: Chris Gerrib
I have to admit, when I was handed a copy of Raygun Chronicles, I was a bit daunted. At 360 pages, the book would appear to make a fine doorstop. Usually in such a broad anthology, I only end up finishing half the stories. Not so with Raygun – I finished and enjoyed every single one!
Raygun Chronicles is the brainchild of Bryan Thomas Schmidt, and is an outgrowth of his now-defunct webzine Raygun Revival. Basically, the book is a “best of” anthology with a few original stories added. Since I hadn’t heard of Raygun Revival, everything in the book was new to me, and as I said above, really very good.
In general, what I liked about the stories was the characters. In the serious stories (the bulk of the book) the characters were realistic and I found myself caring about them. In the four humorous stories, the characters were just enough “off” to be believable in the context of the story. Some specific stories that stood out for me:
Frontier ABCs: The Life and times of Charity Smith, Schoolteacher by Seanan McGuire: The lead-off story, this is a Firefly-inspired tale of a schoolteacher one should not trifle with. It’s set in our Solar System, with the bulk of the action taking place on a terraformed Ganymede.
Rick the Robber Baron by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: This was an interesting story in which the female lead starts by being tied to a wooden post on her own ship. To make matters worse, the person who did the tying was somebody who had had a fling with our heroine. It’s complicated, to say the least, but enjoyable.
Sword of Saladin by Michael S. Roberts: In this tale an enemy tells the captain of the Earth battlecruiser Himalaya that she should have sex with herself. She thinks that’s a fine idea – on the bridge of his ship!
Holly Defiant by Brenda Cooper: The titular character is one heck of a singer. She also appears to be the target of some evil men, and our narrator decides to help. There are several turns in this tale, none of which I saw coming.
The Slavers of Ruhn by Rob Mancebo: This is another Firefly-inspired story, in which a woman’s dress proves critical to saving the day.
The Heiress of Air by Allen M. Steele: A rich young woman is kidnapped, and our daring band goes forth to save her. Again, things are not what they seem.
9/10