When I picked up this anthology, I somewhat feared that the stories would become repetitive even though the theme itself intrigued me. Instead, I found that the fourteen stories here are all utterly distinct and original, each one written by a talented author whose writing made a whole world come to life within only 10-15 pages. It's rare that I can say I truly enjoyed every story in an anthology, but in this case, it's true. Although there were two or three where I didn't love the writer's style, even those stories were so vibrant and original that the reading experience itself was more than worthwhile. An added bonus is that most of these authors were new to me, and now I'm looking forward to looking up the novels that they've written.

Some of my favorites in the collection were: "Ganbold and the Best Drone in Mongolia" by Dana Berube, "This Cold Red Dust" by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, "Traveling Hopefully" by Jacey Bedford, "Brewing Insurrection" by Jose Pablo Iriarte, "Sassi's Last Ride" by Alethea Kontis, and "Beneath the Pall" by Edward Willett.

I would absolutely recommend this anthology to lovers of science fiction. ( )