Dark Expanse: Surviving the Collapse

by Alex Shvartsman (Editor), William Snee (Editor), Ken Liu (Contributor)

For millennia, an enigmatic alien race called the Zyxlar had ruled the galaxy.

They seeded the cosmos with life, transplanting vast numbers from among the species they had enslaved, like so many chess pieces. They terraformed planets and extinguished stars, uplifted and destroyed intelligent life. They patiently shaped the galaxy toward the purpose known only to them.

And then, one day, they disappeared without a trace.

The period of calamity that came next is known as the Collapse. Billions of sentient beings were suddenly free from their masters - free to fight among themselves for dominance over their town, their world, their star system. Interstellar economy crashed as the shipping lanes shut down. Inhabitants of many worlds rioted and starved.

Over time, new political structures had emerged. Like-minded leaders forged alliances and federations to defend against their neighbors. Jump gate technology allowed allies access to friendly star systems while keeping out the aggressors. Galactic politics entered the new age of shifting alliances, sabotage missions, and only an occasional war.

Within this volume, you'll find eighteen short stories that flesh out this universe. From humorous to bone-chilling, from the time of the Collapse itself to several hundred years later, these tales explore different aspects and periods of the Dark Expanse storyline. You'll meet heroes and villains, space pirates and black ops operatives, mad telepaths and crusading zealots.

CONTENT

"Castles in the Sky" by Nancy Fulda
"Dominoes Falling" by Alex Shvartsman
"The Ten Suns" by Ken Liu
"Betrayal, Clear as Kanzai Glass" by Deborah Walker
"The Price of Escape" by David Walton
"Hellfire Unleashed" by Simon Kewin
"Breaking Down" by Michael Haynes
"They Cannot Scare Me With Their Empty Spaces" by Deborah Walker
"A Small and Secret Freedom" by Matt Mikalatos
"Lightspeed Back to You" by David Wayne
"Escape from Planet Error" by Michael Greenhut
"Jump" by Deborah Walker
"Loud for All the Stars to Hear" by Alex Kane
"To Soar on Winds of War" by David Wayne
"Fires of Night" by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
"Gorlack the Destroyer’s All You Can Eat Adventure" by Robert L. Russell
"Ghost Ship" by Nancy Fulda
"The Shadow Conspiracy" by Nancy Fulda

Dark Expanse is good, old-fashioned space adventure fun, explored by some of the most talented modern science fiction writers, such as Hugo and Nebula Award winner Ken Liu, Philip K. Dick Award winner David Walton, Hugo and Nebula nominee Nancy Fulda, and a slew of others whose names regularly grace prestigious science fiction magazines.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 19, 2014

About the author

Alex Shvartsman is a writer, editor, and translator from Brooklyn, NY. He's the author of The Middling Affliction (2022) and Eridani's Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Kakistocracy, a sequel to The Middling Affliction, is forthcoming in 2023.

Over 120 of his stories have been published in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and many other venues. He won the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a two-time finalist (2015 and 2017) for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction.

His collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories and his steampunk humor novella H. G. Wells, Secret Agent were published in 2015. His second collection, The Golem of Deneb Seven and Other Stories followed in 2018.

Alex is the editor of over a dozen anthologies, including the Unidentified Funny Objects annual anthology series of humorous SF/F.

Reviews

[J.A. Ironside · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC copy given in exchange for an honest review.

A great selection of sci-fi short stories, all of which are set within the same universe and influenced by the same massive upheaval in the social and economic structure - the disappearance of the Zyxler 'over lords'. While we never quite get to find out who the Zyxler really are, we can gauge their impact on other species and are left very much to make up our own minds. Of the other sentients, there is the usual motley crew but all treated in prose in a way that made them if not sympathetic at lest understandable. There's the sycophantic Vilicus - self styled high priests of the 'holy' Zyxler; Saurians - think dinosaurs with opposable thumbs living Klingon culture and you won't go far wrong; Terrans - of course, us comparatively weak little earthlings, Chitters - large, intelligent insectile species, both possessed of individuality and a hive mind (interesting choice), Silicates - er...rock people is a bit simplistic but you get what I mean, Kanzai - aquatic, tentacled telepaths and various other little critters.

The interaction between what is inherently a series of rich and well built worlds and cultures is both fascinating and enjoyable. Overall the writing was sound and in many places, extremely accomplished. I think this has more to do with subjectivity on my part, but a couple of the stories seemed dry, and devoid of the necessary emotional depth and connectivity with the characters. Other readers may well love those ones and dislike my favourites. There was only one story I just could not finish - got halfway through and had to give up. It may well really work for some one else. I found the present tense actually impeded the action rather than made it more immediate and got in the way of sympathizing with the character. This may well be someone else's favourite story, it just wasn't for me.

Ok, favourites; The Ten Suns - Ken Liu ; This had a wonderful future legend feel to it. An interesting MC and some great world building.

Betrayal, clear as Kanzai glass - Deborah Walker ; I won't say this held any narrative surprises for me but I didn't care. It was entertaining, fabulously well built world and an MC you grow to care about. Also some rather nasty cultural habits.

The Price of Escape - David Walton ; This managed to just stay on the right side of sentimental. I think the ending was perhaps a bit too much about 'wish fulfilment' but it was a really 'feel-good', intelligently written story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

They cannot Scare me with their empty spaces - Deborah Walker (I seem to be a fan of this author); loved the MC in this story. Not an academic thinker, naive, well intentioned, probably in the wrong job but ultimately not as stupid as he says. The Voice was bang on. This was definitely number two in my top three stories.

Escape from Planet Error - Michael Greenhut; This is my number one favorite. It had pretty much everything I look for in good sci-fi - humour, cholor, great characters, excellent world building, antagonists that are fully fleshed and believe in what they're doing and successful end with a dark underbelly. Definitely one to read.

Gorlack the Destroyer's all you can eat adventure - Robert Lowell Russell; this gets the number three spot in my top three. Very funny with a gentle satire prodding at genre sci-fi tropes and mores. Unfortunately I caused a disturbance on the plane, as I was reading this while travelling, and forgot where I was, laughing rather raucously at the bit with the heads.

The quiet intelligence of A small and secret freedom and Fires of night also intrigued me. And I couldn't help smiling at the slightly sappy but very enjoyable Lightspeed, back to you.

Overall, a great selection of short stories - well worth the price of admission. Highly recommend this to all sci-fi/ spec fans.

[Matthew Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know very little of gaming, and am not familiar with the Dark Expanse universe. As it turned out, this was no disadvantage whatsoever. Reading 'Surviving The Collapse' was an experience no different to reading any collection of space opera stories, and a superior collection it is too. The stories are stronger for their close thematic links. I found that each story tended to illuminate aspects of others that I had read earlier; while, as with any collection of stories, I had favourites and those I responded less well to, the book stands as a whole and deserves to be read in its entirety for this reason.

The aspect that I found most appealing about 'Surviving The Collapse' was the exploration of what happens when a sophisticated empire suddenly falls. In this case, the disappearance of a mysterious species that is not just top of the food chain but has shaped the development of a string of other sentient species who are suddenly left without the Lords and Masters. Naturally, some individuals and societies react better to this than others, and it's fascinating to see how some fall back to a pre-industrial state, while others turn to organised crime, and some even retain hi-tech civilisation.

The stories variously explore the breakdown of relationships between and among species, the difficult birth of new myths and cultures out of the ashes, the inevitable filling of power vacuums with religion, crime and warfare. Hellfire Unleashed by Simon Kewin explores the former from two very different perspectives; humans subverting liberation theology into a species-ist crusade and the insectoid Chitters attempting to resolve the contradiction inherent in their half-individual, half-collective consciousness - and what happens when the two collide. They Cannot Scare Me With Their Empty Spaces by Deborah Walker shows the mineral-based Silicate species' growing pains from post-abandonment nationalism into something more pragmatic, through the eyes of a wonderfully credulous narrator. Escape From Planet Error by Michael Greenhut humorously chronicles the unlikely friendship between a human and a reptilian Saurian stuck on a planet where errant sentients are 'morally corrected' by the Vilicus, the priesthood, police force and enforcers for the now-vanished Zyxlar.

It's to the editors' credit that the stories all hang together remarkably well despite - or possibly because of - the range of tones, styles and voices. If I had a complaint it's that the formatting on some stories jarred a little, and there were some typographical inconsistencies - 'dreadnought' warships were 'dreadnaughts' in some stories, for example. Overall, this is a brilliantly readable collection recommended for all fans of spacefaring fiction. 

[William Snee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not believe I can rate a book in which I was involved with the story selection. However, I will say that Dark Expanse was lucky to find and have a number of award winning authors create phenomenal short stories within its universe. The stories range from action, thought provoking, to humorous with both human and alien viewpoints.

Each story provides a unique insight into the universe that is Dark Expanse.

[Jim Edmiston · Rating 5 out of 5]

So... this is what happens when the gods desert you. In the case of Dark Expanse – a series of eighteen short stories shedding light on the internet game of the same name – the omnipotent, controlling Zyxlar have inexplicably abandoned the many races of the universe to cope as best they can.
Award-winning authors describe with originality and mastery of the genre how Terrans, Silicates, Saurians, insect-like Chitters, mind-reading Kanzai, gaseous Methenes and the powerful Vilicus all rub along in the ensuing chaos. Suspicions are fuelled or overcome, alliances brokered and broken, with piracy and opportunism rife. There’s action, political strategy and personal relationships.
If, like me, you prefer dialogue to express emotion and character, rather than point at outlandish, dream-like technology, you will enjoy the skills of Nancy Fulda and David Wynne. Simon Kewin and Matt Mikalatos both explore religious belief and moral dilemmas: the Kewin in Hellfire Unleashed, where life-forms are destroyed if they are sentient and hence dangerous; and Mikalatos in A Small and Secret Freedom, where believers discover that the stories surrounding their saviour are untrue and that he’s now a slave. In The Price of Escape, David Walton’s comically bumbling hero stumbles from one terrible situation to another before coming out on top.
Some of the authors on board, as you might expect, have a greater facility when it comes to describing action, landscape, conversation and character. But you will be drawn into this universe, where good and evil is not black and white and, convincingly, reflects familiar political realities and social relationships. Game-player or not, if you like science fiction, you will enjoy the Dark Expanse.

[Timothy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read book for lovers of short stories tied together with a common theme. The theme comes from an online mulitplayer computer game, Dark Expanse, which provides enough back story, races, planets and ideas, to feed the classic sort of what if. What if the dominant species of a galaxy suddenly vanishes ?

Each story is well written, well presented and stands alone. Each one gives us a feel for the Dark Expanse universe and what it would be like to live in it, and belong to each of the races in it.

You do not need to have played the game, or know anything about it. Like all good scifi books, the first few chapters (or stories in this case) introduce the new and unknown, and as they go along, you feel more and more comfortable in this "brave new world". Each new story builds on the one before it, to create a universe for you to explore and experience.

If you choose what to read based on how well it is written and presented, this book is top notch. If you choose what you read based on new and interesting worlds and situations, this book is up there with the best.

[Ann Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a gamer, and had never heard of Dark Expanse, but the offer of a free copy tempted me to dip into this universe. I wasn't disappointed. The stories come from all angles, and all captured the atmosphere and the characters well. I would have preferred to have them in roughly chronological order as it got a bit confusing figuring out when I was. It didn't get 5 stars because I thought two or three stories in the middle were rather silly. Maybe it depends on your sense of humour.

[Xan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nunca he jugado a Dark Expanse, en realidad ni siquiera sabía que era un juego cuando compré el libro. Superada la sorpresa inicial he ido descubriendo las características de este universo mirando a través de las pequeñas aberturas que son estos cuentos. Cada historia va dando forma a las relaciones entre las distintas especies en lucha por la superviviencia y al final se consigue un libro muy equilibrado.
No me quedo con ningún relato en particular, pero me han gustado los de Nancy Fulda porque cierran el libro con elegancia.

[Brian Wilkerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul M. Joy Jr, the Head of Community Relations Deorc Enterprise, asked me to read an anthology of science fiction stories. It is called Dark Expanse, Surviving the Collapse and it's a collection of stories that share a background and setting but are otherwise unrelated. A race of beings known as the Zyxlar created this vast interstellar empire and then disappeared without warning. Being the micro managers they were, this caused quite a shake up. I will examine plot, characters and polish and then assign a grade.

PLOT

Being an anthology, there is no overall plot. A couple of them reference the myth arc of why the Zyxlar disappeared, where they went and what they're planning, but that is all. As it becoming standard, I will only discuss a couple in brief and give my opinion of the work as a whole.

Most of these are great. They have this solid plot that is quickly set up, built up, executed and resolved satisfactorily. It's not easy to do that in a short story format. There are some exceptions, stories that leave too much hanging for once thing, or stories that feel too thin/flat on characterization, or too bareboned in their plots. However, these are indeed exceptions.


Some of them feel like complete stories ("Dominos Falling" and "Fires of Night") and others like the start of a story ("Hellfire Unleashed"). A third group could have moved on if they wanted, but as they are now they a sense of thematic completion, if not narrative completion ("Ten Suns" and "Castles of Night"). Of those that feel like the start of a story, that is a compliment; Hellfire Unleashed leaves off at the point of its greatest world building potential. I wanted to read more of that plot line.

Many of them also incorporate the Short Story Twist. Some of them do it better than others. Some don't use it at all.

Some of them make great use of meaningful echoes and other repeating narrative tropes, with others it feels lame.


"Fires of Night" is fun, deep, and doesn't pull some last minute twist. It also has this Dececptive Disciple, Master-Apprentice Team that is usually a martial arts story angle, not a space intrigue thing.

"Gorlack the Destroyer's All You Can Eat Adventure" has a great degree of humor. It can vary from Black Comedy to Ironic Humor and then twist around and and become pretty scary.

"Betrayal, Clear as Kanzai Glass" is fascinating in terms of a species origin story.

CHARACTERS

Characters on the whole are good throughout the stories. It was a fun exercise to determine what species the protagonist is in each story. It is not always obvious and you can't assume it to be human. With one or two exceptions, they and the others in the story are created to be distinct individiuals isntead of simple view ports for the story.

The protagonist from "They Cannot Scare Me With Their Empty Spaces" is complicated a character (also a Silicate, by the way). At first he sounds like some dim witted muscle guy that's part of a comedy act, then he goes out and does some insightful philosophizing without meaning to. You can say he is both dumb and wise at the same time.

Chaplain Theodore from "A Small and Secret Freedom" is also one of my favorites. He's like this perfect mix of Chaotic Good, Church Militant, and Good Shepherd. In other words, he's a badass that doesn't need to have bulging muscles and a huge laser chainsaw; a mental strength that is quietly dignified and heroic.


POLISH

It looks good. No spelling or grammar problems

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Dark Expanse: Surviving the Collapse" a B+

This is a free review request. I received nothing in exchange for this review except a free copy of the book.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anodino, supongo que me habría gustado más y costado menos si conociera el juego y me gustara.