Target Zone

Five by Five #3

by Kevin J. Anderson (Editor), Eytan Kollin, Dani Kollin

TARGETS ARE LOCKED! Five short novels by five masters of military SF capture the excitement, and hell, of fantastic future war-on and off the battlefield. Stories of terrifying monsters, dangerous aliens and staggering cosmic dreadnaughts march alongside far-flung courtroom dramas and cautionary tales involving man and his devices. Michael A. Stackpole-The Star Tigers are commandeered by a powerful alien overseer on a covert mission to a world long abandoned by an ancient species. There, the ruins of a forgotten war will tip the balance of their war, unless the Star Tigers can prevent it. Sarah A. Hoyt-Lucius Dante Maximilian Keeva is a well-respected leader of the Usaian Revolution, but treason in the ranks can cost him everything that makes life worth living-unless he takes justice into his own hands and breaks every military regulation in its pursuit. Doug Dandridge-Faced with an enemy more than two hundred times her own size, Cinda Klerk has two options: hide, and let it destroy the planet she is supposed to protect, or find a way to even the odds and kill the enemy, even at the cost of her ship and crew. Eytan Kollin and Dani Kollin-As the Unincorporated War envelops the entire solar system, a father must come to the rescue of a daughter he never raised. But he'll have to convince her to save herself first. Kevin J. Anderson-In the war against an alien menace, Earth's greatest military commanders risk themselves on the front lines, but with an escape hatch: If the situation goes terribly wrong, they can switch places with a safe soldier far from the battlefield. But the cannon-fodder volunteers don't consider that such a good deal. Set your cross-hairs on the Target Zone.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 2, 2014

About the author

Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.

I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.

I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.

My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.

Reviews

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had trouble getting into three of the stories, but I found "Teach Your Children Well" to be charming and dark and kind all at once, and "Escape Hatch" was just a good fun read.

[Marina Fontaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of five military sci-fi novellas, this book gives a reader an excellent sense of the variety of authors and styles currently available to both fans of the genre and those still waiting to discover it for themselves. The authors are so different, however, that it is nearly impossible to review this publication as a whole; therefore, I will provide a short review of each entry and assign star ratings accordingly.

Remains of the Dead (A Star Tigers Story) by Michael A. Stackpole.
The story grabbed me from the start with it unusual and richly imagined world populated by fully developed characters. The idea of humans, living as second class citizens in a world not of their own, but still retaining the best of the human qualities and wishing to prove their worth, both as individuals and as a race, is incredibly appealing and gets fair and thoughtful treatment. The action, once it gets going, is exciting and full of surprises, and in the end we are left wanting to spend more time in the world and read more about what follows the events of the story. 4 Stars

And Not to Yield by Sarah A. Hoyt
This novella takes place in Hoyt’s Darkship/Earth Revolution universe and is a ten-years-later sequel to A Few Good Men. As a fan of the original, I approached the sequel with a mix of excitement and trepidation, both eager to catch up with the characters I love and fearful that the short-form story would not live up to the original. I did find myself not only completely satisfied, but with a newfound respect for the author for her ability to both stay true to the characters and acknowledge the passage of time. Other than that, the story is very typical Hoyt: emotionally charged, with tightly written action scenes, occasional philosophical side trips and a dry sense of humor. 5 Stars

Goliath by Doug Dandridge
The most traditional military sci-fi story in the anthology, Goliath starts boldly with several pages of infodump before moving on to action, an equivalent of having Star Wars-like opening credits roll on and on for minutes on end. In the final analysis, though, it might have paid off because the story proper jumps right into an alien encounter and the tension does not let up until the final scene. This particular story has the highest action-to-character-development ratio in the anthology and so would probably appeal to a different kind of reader than the rest. 4 Stars

Teach Your Children Well (An Unincorporated War story) by Eytan and Dani Kollin
This was, in all honesty, the story I enjoyed the least, not because it was necessarily badly written but because in my opinion it did not lend itself well to short form storytelling. There is at once too much and not enough information for the reader about the world, and switches between backstory and present time make it harder to get attached to the characters and follow the many plot twists. The idea of the society with no/minimal self-ownership is intriguing, but it gets pushed aside to explore more traditional themes with only limited success. The action scenes are well done and the story did hold my attention throughout, but it could have been much better. 3 Stars

Escape Hatch by Kevin J. Anderson

This one is a piece of pure, unadulterated delight, from the first attention-grabbing scene to the exceptionally satisfying resolution. The reader can see the “what” of the big twist miles (or rather sea leagues) away, but it’s the “how” that matters. This is a perfect demonstration of my point that many writers should stop focusing so much on being original/clever and just write solid stories with memorable characters. And that, kids, is how it’s done. Even though the story is self-contained, it will likely send you scurrying to the bookstore/website of your choice for more of this author’s works. Just make sure you have enough money on your card because, oh man, is he prolific. 5 Stars

And so we got two 5 Stars, two 4 Stars and one 3 Stars, which my trusty calculator is averaging to 4.1. Thus, 4 Stars for the anthology as a whole. Strongly recommended.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 Remains of the Dead
- Michael A. Stackpole 1* hard names
Njatta super-alien won't interfere, but planet ghost looks like her. Firefly feels alive flying in space. He has respect for planet spirits from his native heritage. Everyone talks.
2 And Not to Yield
- Sarah A. Hoyt 3* loyalty punished
Lucius tells about leaving to find missing Nate, and court martial on false charges.
3 Goliath
- Doug Dandridge 4* sad, uncertain
After small spaceship hides, giant alien warship destroys other defenders.
4 Teach Your Children Well
- Dani, Eytan Kollin 4* ReRd sad, "hope"
Absentee dad Thomas helps Sally train as soldier to survive. Gem's comes later.
5 Escape Hatch
- Kevin J. Anderson 5* scary, funny
Admiral losing attack, trades bodies with Navy volunteer, to keep up fight against alien slugs combining into giant tentacles.

Typos
1 p 90 showed IS shown
3 p 71 personal IS personnel
4 p 43 principal IS principle
p 67 rest of IS the rest of
p 68 Why didn't IS , why didn't
p 98 a nervous a nervous smile
IS a nervous smile
to die IS die
5 p 70 enhance IS enhanced

[EM3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh! Proofread!!

First off, great stories, I found them to be very engaging and different from one another while still falling under the same genre (military sci-fi.)

2 stars for the terrible proofreading. I read the ebook version; like I said, very engaging. The stories really draw you in, but then, a misspelled word, or half the sentence repeated, or a word or two missing. So frustrating! It brings you to a screeching halt, plucks you out of the story, and leads you to have to reread the sentence. I cannot believe that ebooks get published like this. I do not encounter the same sloppiness in print.

[Krista D.]

I'm not sure if I was just in the wrong mood, or if these just weren't my style of MilSF. They weren't bad stories at all, but I couldn't get into them. Still, I think it's worth it for folks to give a try if in the mood to try out some MilSF, especially if you've not read these authors before.

[Eric Hafner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of short stories. Each one of them left me wanting more of the world but satisfied w/ the conclusion. Well worth the read.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting selection of stories. Really liked Kevin Anderson's entry 'Escape Hatch'. The concept behind the story was brilliant. None of the stories disappointed but none really excited.