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War and Space: Recent Combat
Conflict: a basic human instinct, helping humankind evolve even while threatening the very existence of the species . . . an instinct that will be as much a part of the future as it is now and always has been. For all the glories of war-the defeat of evil, the promise of freedom, justice, protection of the innocent, the righting of wrongs, technological innovation, heroism-there are also the horrors: individual grief, mass destruction, the elimination of entire cultures and great achievments, injustice, villainy, the annihilation of the innocent, and pain beyond bearing. War and Space offers the ultimate speculation on the future of warfare-stories of insectoid anguish, genetically-engineered diplomats who cannot fail, aliens plundering humanity, a weaponized black hole-scenarios of triumph and defeat, great heroism and vile depravity . . . and more.
384 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2012
13 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
About the author
Sean Wallace
160 books26 followersSean A. Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an award-winning American science fiction and fantasy anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for his work on Prime Books and for co-editing two magazines, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine. He has been nominated a number of times by both the Hugo Awards and the World Fantasy Awards, won two Hugo Awards and one World Fantasy Award, and has served as a World Fantasy Award judge.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 14, 2023
I only read Surf, by Suzanne Palmer from this collection, and I am happy to say that it was pretty good.
Space hijinks, a little mutiny, and a quick job. It flowed rather well and I admit I thought it would be fairly fun as a series.
Space hijinks, a little mutiny, and a quick job. It flowed rather well and I admit I thought it would be fairly fun as a series.
June 17, 2014
Too many disappointments with only a handful of good ones scattered in.
Twenty tales of science fiction with all having a central theme of war and space.
Of the stories, I gave four of them 5 stars. Sadly, I gave three of them 1 star, something I had never done before. The average rating ending up at 3.05 stars. So why only the two star rating?
I picked up this book at my local bookstore based on the cover and blurb. My expectation was to find 20 short stories centered around war and space. Unfortunately, there were too many stories where war got passing mention at best and sometimes so did space. With eight of the stories rating only 2 stars or less, it's just too high a percentage to give the book a rating of 3 stars.
If you chance on a copy, the gem of the bunch, in my opinion, is The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis
"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359? by Ken MacLeod. For the opening story of a collection of 20 sci-fi shorts, the editors could have picked a better one to start with. This tale is downright silly, from the inane descriptions of things to the absolute ignorance of the protagonist. He doesn't even know what a planet looks like. It was an embarrassing read. 1 star"
"Surf by Suzanne Palmer. Wow, I felt a surge of relief after the horrible first story to encounter this thoroughly enjoyable one. Intelligent, and detailed, this is a well played story with enough unanswered questions leaving you pining for more. 5 stars"
"Another Life by Charles Oberndorf. Somewhere in the background, there is a war going on but this story has very little to do with the war. I found the story dragged and wasted too much on boring sexual exploits. 2 stars"
"Between Two Dragons by Yoon Ha Lee. The Asian background to the story gave it some character but the tale being told by someone who you never discover who she is distracts from the story. 3 stars"
"Scales by Alastair Reynolds. Short, and laced with lots of big words, this flash through the different stages of one man's continuing adaptation to fight a war is fun, though somewhat predictable. 4 stars"
"Golubash, Or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy by Catherynne M. Valente. The sale of contraband wine during wartime in space is the setting and done with flair. An enjoyable piece. 5 stars"
"Leave by Robert Reed. This story left a few things unclear, but the way it was told was mesmerizing. 5 stars"
"Mehra And Jiun by Sandra McDonald. Same tired territory where a human is held prisoner by an alien and they become friends. Although the tale is okay, this format has been done too many times. 3 stars"
"Her Husband's Hands by Adam-Troy Castro. Prior to this collection of sci-fi shorts, I had never given one star. Now I am at two. This is the most inane, silly, story I have ever read. I kept hoping something intelligent would come out of it, but that never happened. 1 star"
"Remembrance by Beth Bernobich. This is not the first story in the collection to be themed on sex, not sci-fi and definitely not War & Space. Too often I find sci-fi writers using the genre to play out their sexual fantasies. 2 stars"
"Palace Resolution by Tom Purdom. An interesting debate over political style. I enjoyed how it focused on subtleties. 4 stars"
"The Observer by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Standard juiced future soldier stuff. Not much to it. 2 stars"
"The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis. An intelligent piece set around two machines engaged in a chase across the cosmos. The internal debate of the protagonist is enjoyable. 5 stars"
"Art Of War by Nancy Kress. The concept was unique, I'll give it that. The delivery of it left some to be desired. 3 stars"
"Have You Any Wool by Alan DeNiro. I read through this twice. A very difficult read and even more so to follow. I think I understand what the author was trying to do, but it came across as way too convoluted. 1 star"
"Carthago Delenda Est by Genevieve Valentine. This short had a difficult start. It was hard to sort through the first couple of pages and I had to read them twice. I hate that. Clones in space waiting for something. That's it. 2 stars"
"Rats Of The System by Paul McAuley. Intelligent robots, fanatical creatures and humans populate this story about a desperate attempt as solving the robots. 4 stars"
"The Political Officer by Charles Coleman Finlay. More of a novelette than a short story at 56 pages. This tale of subterfuge and competing government departments reads like a spy novel. Considering its length, I was hoping not to have any unanswered questions at the end, but that was not to be. 4 stars"
"Amid The Words Of War by Cat Rambo. Aliens ants, or something like them, at war with humans. The start was hard to follow. 3 stars"
"A soldier Of The City by David Moles. The tale tries to follow a solitary soldier caught in a space war. It is written in a disjointed way that made it difficult to follow. 2 stars"
Twenty tales of science fiction with all having a central theme of war and space.
Of the stories, I gave four of them 5 stars. Sadly, I gave three of them 1 star, something I had never done before. The average rating ending up at 3.05 stars. So why only the two star rating?
I picked up this book at my local bookstore based on the cover and blurb. My expectation was to find 20 short stories centered around war and space. Unfortunately, there were too many stories where war got passing mention at best and sometimes so did space. With eight of the stories rating only 2 stars or less, it's just too high a percentage to give the book a rating of 3 stars.
If you chance on a copy, the gem of the bunch, in my opinion, is The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis
"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359? by Ken MacLeod. For the opening story of a collection of 20 sci-fi shorts, the editors could have picked a better one to start with. This tale is downright silly, from the inane descriptions of things to the absolute ignorance of the protagonist. He doesn't even know what a planet looks like. It was an embarrassing read. 1 star"
"Surf by Suzanne Palmer. Wow, I felt a surge of relief after the horrible first story to encounter this thoroughly enjoyable one. Intelligent, and detailed, this is a well played story with enough unanswered questions leaving you pining for more. 5 stars"
"Another Life by Charles Oberndorf. Somewhere in the background, there is a war going on but this story has very little to do with the war. I found the story dragged and wasted too much on boring sexual exploits. 2 stars"
"Between Two Dragons by Yoon Ha Lee. The Asian background to the story gave it some character but the tale being told by someone who you never discover who she is distracts from the story. 3 stars"
"Scales by Alastair Reynolds. Short, and laced with lots of big words, this flash through the different stages of one man's continuing adaptation to fight a war is fun, though somewhat predictable. 4 stars"
"Golubash, Or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy by Catherynne M. Valente. The sale of contraband wine during wartime in space is the setting and done with flair. An enjoyable piece. 5 stars"
"Leave by Robert Reed. This story left a few things unclear, but the way it was told was mesmerizing. 5 stars"
"Mehra And Jiun by Sandra McDonald. Same tired territory where a human is held prisoner by an alien and they become friends. Although the tale is okay, this format has been done too many times. 3 stars"
"Her Husband's Hands by Adam-Troy Castro. Prior to this collection of sci-fi shorts, I had never given one star. Now I am at two. This is the most inane, silly, story I have ever read. I kept hoping something intelligent would come out of it, but that never happened. 1 star"
"Remembrance by Beth Bernobich. This is not the first story in the collection to be themed on sex, not sci-fi and definitely not War & Space. Too often I find sci-fi writers using the genre to play out their sexual fantasies. 2 stars"
"Palace Resolution by Tom Purdom. An interesting debate over political style. I enjoyed how it focused on subtleties. 4 stars"
"The Observer by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Standard juiced future soldier stuff. Not much to it. 2 stars"
"The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis. An intelligent piece set around two machines engaged in a chase across the cosmos. The internal debate of the protagonist is enjoyable. 5 stars"
"Art Of War by Nancy Kress. The concept was unique, I'll give it that. The delivery of it left some to be desired. 3 stars"
"Have You Any Wool by Alan DeNiro. I read through this twice. A very difficult read and even more so to follow. I think I understand what the author was trying to do, but it came across as way too convoluted. 1 star"
"Carthago Delenda Est by Genevieve Valentine. This short had a difficult start. It was hard to sort through the first couple of pages and I had to read them twice. I hate that. Clones in space waiting for something. That's it. 2 stars"
"Rats Of The System by Paul McAuley. Intelligent robots, fanatical creatures and humans populate this story about a desperate attempt as solving the robots. 4 stars"
"The Political Officer by Charles Coleman Finlay. More of a novelette than a short story at 56 pages. This tale of subterfuge and competing government departments reads like a spy novel. Considering its length, I was hoping not to have any unanswered questions at the end, but that was not to be. 4 stars"
"Amid The Words Of War by Cat Rambo. Aliens ants, or something like them, at war with humans. The start was hard to follow. 3 stars"
"A soldier Of The City by David Moles. The tale tries to follow a solitary soldier caught in a space war. It is written in a disjointed way that made it difficult to follow. 2 stars"
July 20, 2018
3.5 stars.
Amongst the 20 stories in this collection, there were some I really enjoyed, and some which for me, missed the mark. Curiously, the stories by Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds and Paul McAuley, which were the original reason for picking the volume out from the library were not the strongest, whilst some lesser known writers really stood out.
The theme of the collection is 'Wars and Space', and fortunately, is marked by the complete absence of tedious screeds of weaponsporn which sometimes bedevil 'military' SF. Instead the effect of combat and wars on the participants, and on those left behind are the focus.
My favourites were 'Surf' - Suzanne Palmer ; 'Golubash, Or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy' - Catherynne M Valente; 'Have You Any Wool?' - Alan De Niro; 'Art of War' - Nancy Kress and 'Amid the Words of War' - Cat Rambo. Strong contributions also from 'The Long Chase' - Geoffrey Landis and the very disturbing 'Her Husband's Hands' - Adam Troy-Castro.
All things considered a worthwhile and reasonable well assembled anthology/
Amongst the 20 stories in this collection, there were some I really enjoyed, and some which for me, missed the mark. Curiously, the stories by Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds and Paul McAuley, which were the original reason for picking the volume out from the library were not the strongest, whilst some lesser known writers really stood out.
The theme of the collection is 'Wars and Space', and fortunately, is marked by the complete absence of tedious screeds of weaponsporn which sometimes bedevil 'military' SF. Instead the effect of combat and wars on the participants, and on those left behind are the focus.
My favourites were 'Surf' - Suzanne Palmer ; 'Golubash, Or Wine-Blood-War-Elegy' - Catherynne M Valente; 'Have You Any Wool?' - Alan De Niro; 'Art of War' - Nancy Kress and 'Amid the Words of War' - Cat Rambo. Strong contributions also from 'The Long Chase' - Geoffrey Landis and the very disturbing 'Her Husband's Hands' - Adam Troy-Castro.
All things considered a worthwhile and reasonable well assembled anthology/
July 23, 2025
Like all anthologies some stories appealed to me. Some were excellent and a few were interesting but not my style.
The strength of this book is the unusual take some writers have developed with the theme. I found it more about the effect of war on the characters and not necessarily human characters. In that sense I enjoyed most of the chapters. But it is worth reading to be surprised, appreciate the skill and the variations on the theme by the authors.
That said, if you are wanting something like Jack Caampbell's fleet actions and lots of close combat like Tanya Huff then steer away from this book.
The strength of this book is the unusual take some writers have developed with the theme. I found it more about the effect of war on the characters and not necessarily human characters. In that sense I enjoyed most of the chapters. But it is worth reading to be surprised, appreciate the skill and the variations on the theme by the authors.
That said, if you are wanting something like Jack Caampbell's fleet actions and lots of close combat like Tanya Huff then steer away from this book.
August 3, 2016
Individual stories rated as follows:
5* - A classic.
4* - A really good story, recommended reading.
3* - A decent story
2* - Not a good story, something seriously inhibited any enjoyment
1* - Unreadable and/or a complete waste of time
Horton, Rich: Introduction *
I usually don’t rate introductory or prefacer pieces, but this one just begged for comment. I should have realized what I was getting into, what this editor considered “good writing”, after reading this. If this was an eighth grade composition assignment I would grade it a C. A complete waste of the page and a half it fills.
McLeod, Ken: Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359? ***
Palmer, Suzanne: Surf **
Regurgitated pulp writing.
Oberndorf, Charles: Another Life **
I think this one could have been a good story had the author shifted his focus to the emotional emptiness of the protagonist instead of his sex life. I get that the sex life is indicative of the emotional emptiness, but these reads like really bad erotica.
Lee, Yoon Ha: Between Two Dragons ***
Reynolds, Alastair: Scales ***
Valente, Catherynne M: Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War Elegy ***
Reed, Robert: Leave ***
McDonald, Sandra: Mehra and Jiun ***
Castro, Adam-Troy: Her Husband’s Hands **
I usually enjoy Castro’s writing, but this reads like bottom-drawer stuff – like a treatment for an episode of The Twilight Zone that wasn’t good enough to be picked up for production.
Bernobich, Beth: Remembrance **
Extremely soft-core porn, nothing else.
Purdom, Tom: Palace Resolution **
Purdom’s been writing SF for a long time, and this story shows that. Would have fit right in a 1952 issue of IF, but definitely not up to modern standards.
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: The Observer **
Another author whose work I usually enjoy, another failed TV script treatment. This could have worked with a little more work.
Landis, Geoffrey A: The Long Chase ***
I almost gave this one four stars, coming as it did as breath of fresh air after a lot of stale and some downright smelly stuff, but then I realized that this one is a bit two derivative for me. I know I’ve read this story twice before, under different titles and by different authors. I won’t mention them right here because I’m not able to verify that info right at the moment. A well-written story, nonetheless.
Kress, Nancy: The Art of War ***
DeNiro, Alan: Have You Any Wool ****
Easily the best story in this volume. DeNiro here is unafraid of unleashing his imagination onto the page.
Valentine, Genevieve: Carthago Delenda Est ***
McAuley, Paul: Rats of the System **
More pseudo-pulp.
Finlay, Charles Coleman: The Political Officer **
The protagonist alters between being sympathetic and unsympathetic for no reason whatsoever. I don’t like this character and I wanted him to lose. Author would have been better off using the Ensign as the POV character – the story would still have been completely unoriginal, bust at least she is sympathetic.
Rambo, Cat: Amid the Words of War ***
Moles, David: A Soldier of the City ***
Finally, a note on the book itself: the number of typographical errors is astounding for an allegedly professional publication. I’m talkin’ some strange ones, too: “It’ll” for “I’ll”, “knows” for “known”, etc. For disturbing and took away from any enjoyment that may have been there to start with.
5* - A classic.
4* - A really good story, recommended reading.
3* - A decent story
2* - Not a good story, something seriously inhibited any enjoyment
1* - Unreadable and/or a complete waste of time
Horton, Rich: Introduction *
I usually don’t rate introductory or prefacer pieces, but this one just begged for comment. I should have realized what I was getting into, what this editor considered “good writing”, after reading this. If this was an eighth grade composition assignment I would grade it a C. A complete waste of the page and a half it fills.
McLeod, Ken: Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359? ***
Palmer, Suzanne: Surf **
Regurgitated pulp writing.
Oberndorf, Charles: Another Life **
I think this one could have been a good story had the author shifted his focus to the emotional emptiness of the protagonist instead of his sex life. I get that the sex life is indicative of the emotional emptiness, but these reads like really bad erotica.
Lee, Yoon Ha: Between Two Dragons ***
Reynolds, Alastair: Scales ***
Valente, Catherynne M: Golubash, or Wine-Blood-War Elegy ***
Reed, Robert: Leave ***
McDonald, Sandra: Mehra and Jiun ***
Castro, Adam-Troy: Her Husband’s Hands **
I usually enjoy Castro’s writing, but this reads like bottom-drawer stuff – like a treatment for an episode of The Twilight Zone that wasn’t good enough to be picked up for production.
Bernobich, Beth: Remembrance **
Extremely soft-core porn, nothing else.
Purdom, Tom: Palace Resolution **
Purdom’s been writing SF for a long time, and this story shows that. Would have fit right in a 1952 issue of IF, but definitely not up to modern standards.
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: The Observer **
Another author whose work I usually enjoy, another failed TV script treatment. This could have worked with a little more work.
Landis, Geoffrey A: The Long Chase ***
I almost gave this one four stars, coming as it did as breath of fresh air after a lot of stale and some downright smelly stuff, but then I realized that this one is a bit two derivative for me. I know I’ve read this story twice before, under different titles and by different authors. I won’t mention them right here because I’m not able to verify that info right at the moment. A well-written story, nonetheless.
Kress, Nancy: The Art of War ***
DeNiro, Alan: Have You Any Wool ****
Easily the best story in this volume. DeNiro here is unafraid of unleashing his imagination onto the page.
Valentine, Genevieve: Carthago Delenda Est ***
McAuley, Paul: Rats of the System **
More pseudo-pulp.
Finlay, Charles Coleman: The Political Officer **
The protagonist alters between being sympathetic and unsympathetic for no reason whatsoever. I don’t like this character and I wanted him to lose. Author would have been better off using the Ensign as the POV character – the story would still have been completely unoriginal, bust at least she is sympathetic.
Rambo, Cat: Amid the Words of War ***
Moles, David: A Soldier of the City ***
Finally, a note on the book itself: the number of typographical errors is astounding for an allegedly professional publication. I’m talkin’ some strange ones, too: “It’ll” for “I’ll”, “knows” for “known”, etc. For disturbing and took away from any enjoyment that may have been there to start with.
April 24, 2014
A collection of stories all focusing on, surprisingly enough, war, and space. Usually both in the same story, although a few take place entirely on Earth and deal with those left behind, or those on the fringes of war, or the aftermath. Still, it's safe to say that this is a fairly well-titled analogy (the subtitle "Recent Combat" is a little iffy, considering it all takes place in the future, but why quibble?).
As an anthology, it's, by nature, a mixed bag. Some stories will grab you, some will leave you cold, and two different people reading it will often disagree on which stories fall into which category. For my tastes, my favorite was *The Long Chase* by Geoffrey A Landis, but most were solid... a few would have been great if not for some weird decision made for stylistic reasons that makes no logical sense at all (like technology that stores consciousness and allows severed body parts to be reanimated with the 'soul' of the person who mostly died, but apparently can't be connected into an artificial voice box and let them speak). But those moments were few, my main complaint was simply that some stories didn't interest me as much, but even they usually had some good idea or image I could smile over for a moment.
Single-theme anthologies can sometimes run the risk of burnout, where you lose interest in the theme and thus don't enjoy it as thoroughly as you would an anthology that takes you all sorts of different directions... and this is no exception, but it's a reasonably mild problem here.
As an anthology, it's, by nature, a mixed bag. Some stories will grab you, some will leave you cold, and two different people reading it will often disagree on which stories fall into which category. For my tastes, my favorite was *The Long Chase* by Geoffrey A Landis, but most were solid... a few would have been great if not for some weird decision made for stylistic reasons that makes no logical sense at all (like technology that stores consciousness and allows severed body parts to be reanimated with the 'soul' of the person who mostly died, but apparently can't be connected into an artificial voice box and let them speak). But those moments were few, my main complaint was simply that some stories didn't interest me as much, but even they usually had some good idea or image I could smile over for a moment.
Single-theme anthologies can sometimes run the risk of burnout, where you lose interest in the theme and thus don't enjoy it as thoroughly as you would an anthology that takes you all sorts of different directions... and this is no exception, but it's a reasonably mild problem here.
May 28, 2014
I especially liked Genevieve Valentine's "Carthago Delenda Est". A very subtle story, and it's one that will separate the careful readers from the quick. I had to read it twice, then look up a translation of the title. Then the story's true meaning really came through.
I'm not saying this one story makes up for the average-to-good quality of the entire book, but it was a nice surprise to find a story strong enough to make me want to find more writing by the same author. She writes reviews of TV shows for avclub.com, but I'll try to find some fiction too.
I'm not saying this one story makes up for the average-to-good quality of the entire book, but it was a nice surprise to find a story strong enough to make me want to find more writing by the same author. She writes reviews of TV shows for avclub.com, but I'll try to find some fiction too.
November 20, 2012
Uneven, but don't let that bother you because there are some excellent stories in this collection. A rush job would leave you with these must reads: Alastair Reynolds' "Scales," Catherynne Valente's "Golubash," America's short fiction master Robert Reed's "Leave" and Adam-Troy Castro's unnerving "Her Husband's Hands." I had already encountered Charles Coleman Finlay's excellent "The Political Officer" in F&SF, but would list it among the top-rank.
June 4, 2014
Like most anthologies, this one was a mixed bag for me. Some stories were very enjoyable and intriguing, some were tedious, a few were practically incomprehensible. There are some stories that I would call "military" SF, but certainly not all, as you might think from the title. On the whole, if you like hard SF at all, you'll likely find it worth your while.
May 23, 2012
The stories were all wildly different, and for the most part, good. One or two I didn't care for, but that's pretty much inevitable in any sort of anthology.
A good read for when you have a short attention span.
A good read for when you have a short attention span.
September 9, 2012
Good collection that ventures beyond the standard war tropes.
Word of warning, this isn't the first printing of many of these stories, so if you follow other collections/magazines you may get some repeats.
Word of warning, this isn't the first printing of many of these stories, so if you follow other collections/magazines you may get some repeats.
September 8, 2013
I couldn't finish this book. Why? Because it was huge let down! I was hoping for amazing star-spanning epics like "Star Wars", "Star Trek", or BSG, and "Space Battleship Yamato". WRONG! It had space...but not much war! I was just bored by it.
July 19, 2012
Fantastic anthology - review is forthcoming. Lots of standout stories in this one.
Want to read
June 28, 2012- saw on library teaser shelf
August 2, 2012
Pedantic note: Edited by Rich Horton and Sean Wallace; Ms. Valentine is one contributor.
Why I didn't rate this higher: I seem to be burned out on military science fiction, no matter how good.
Why I didn't rate this higher: I seem to be burned out on military science fiction, no matter how good.
February 9, 2013
A book of recent science fiction short stories about warfare. None are memorable, some are distasteful.
January 1, 2015
a mixed bag.
April 25, 2013
3.5 star book. Had a few really good, interesting stories and a couple that were just okay. Overall a enjoyable read but nothing overwhelming. Made for a nice light and non-serious read.
October 8, 2013
4/5. Pretty good for $5 book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews