Infinite Stars

Star Kings #2.5

by Bryan Thomas Schmidt (Editor), David Weber, Brian Herbert

A who's who of space opera and military science fiction contribute brand new stories set in the universes of their most famous series. Space Opera and Military Science Fiction are cut from the same cloth, so this anthology merges the two to create a once-in-a-lifetime collection that includes:

A new Honor Harrington Universe tale by David Weber

A new Dune story by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set within the time frame of the original novel Dune

A new Ender’s Game story by Orson Scott Card

A new Lost Fleet story by Jack Campbell

An RCN story by David Drake, in print for the first time

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Space Opera, Short Story Collection, Military Fiction

902 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2017

About the author

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is a national bestselling author and Hugo nominated editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His fourth novel, Simon Says is a page-turning near future thriller. His debut novel, The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. His children’s books, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Books For Kids and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter- Land Of Legends appeared from Delabarre Publishing in 2012. His short stories have appeared in Tales of The Talisman, Straight Outta Tombstone, The X-Files: Secret Agendas, Predator: If It Bleeds, Decision Points and many more.

He edited the anthologies Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, Beyond The Sun for Fairwood Press, Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age for Every Day, Shattered Shields with coeditor Jennifer Brozek (Baen, 2014), Mission: Tomorrow (Baen, 2015), Galactic Games (Baen, 2016), Decision Points (WordFire, 2016), Little Green Men--Attack! with Robin Wayne Bailey (Baen, 2017), Monster Hunter Files with Larry Correia (Baen, 2017), Joe Ledger: Unstoppable with Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin, 2017), Predator: If It Bleeds and Infinite Stars And Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers both for Titan Books, 2017 and 2019.

As editor, he has edited books for Grail Quest Books, Wordfire Press, Delabarre Publishing and authors including Andy Weir's The Martian which hit number 6 on the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2014, Alan Dean Foster, Mike Resnick, Frank Herbert, Todd McCaffrey, Tracy Hickman, Angie Fox, Leon C. Metz , Ellen C. Maze, David Mark Brown, and more.

He’s also the author of the bestselling nonfiction book How To Write A Novel: The Fundamentals of Fiction.

Bryan can be found online at Facebook, on Twitter as @BryanThomasS and @sffwrtcht and via his website.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8⭐(rounded up)
An odd collection of some older, solid stories; and some stories from popular space opera franchises, written for this anthology. Among the former are Cordwainer Smith's classic 'Game of Rat and Dragon', Anne McCaffrey's ' The Ship Who Sang ', 'Binti' by Nnedi Okorafor and a middling Robert Silverberg story, 'Iron Star'. The newer stories range from the truely rank to the "okay". So, my rating reflects that and it's really only as high as it is because of the older, quality works. The misses outnumber the hits, by a wide margin. I'll admit I only read the book because it includes a John Campbell short story about Black Jack Geary, from the Lost Fleet series, to which I'm hopelessly addicted. It's an 'okay' story, moderately funny, which reveals the origin of Black Jack's moniker. There's an uninspiring 'Dune' story, written by Frank Herbert's kid, Brian and another set in the 'Honorverse' of David Weber, which ceased to interest me years ago.
There is a sequel anthology which I won't be reading because of the high noise to signal ratio of this book. -30-
Addendum: I lied ( unintentionally). The sequel has another Black Jack story, a tale by Becky Chambers and a couple of classics by Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke. Larry Niven, James Blish and CJ Cherryh also contribute. I'll read it, or at least cherry pick ( pun sort of intended).

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit straight up that I bought this because it has a Skolian story by Catherine Asaro in it. I was going to jump straight to that story, but I found myself reading the introduction and instead, I slowly read my way through the book.

I skipped some stories as either being from a heavy continuity that I hadn't read before, or just because I'd consider the author and their series before and decided I wasn't interested. But I read a few I hadn't tried before, reread some I had read before and enjoyed all the ones I did read.

I enjoyed the first two Ender books many, many years ago, before I grew uncomfortable with giving Orson Scott Card money, so I read the story here and liked it. It was nothing striking or new, but an enjoyable tale that reminded me to a certain degree of Speaker for the Dead, which I remember as an amazing book with a stunning concept. I wasn't so keen on cats being the villains, but it worked for the story.

I also only ever managed to read the first two Dune books. I loved Dune itself especially, but I never felt the slightest inclination to read any of the books not written by Frank Herbert himself, so skipping that story was easy.

I enjoyed trying out the older, classic space opera stories, none of which I'd read before. I found myself initially confused by the concepts in "The Game of Rats and Dragons" and did take advantage of Wikipedia to get things explained. I think I would have worked it out from the story, but of course, once I'd look it up, it was too late. A very good story that does stand up to the years, so long as you don't try to fit it into more modern space opera tropes. It has its own.

I considered skipping "The Borders of Infinnity" as I've read it several times before, but, it's Miles... Still a great story an a multiple time reread, I'm glad I did decide to spend my time revisiting the prison camp, which sound kind of dubious when I type it, but, it's Miles...

I skipped a couple of series I didn't know and got to the Asaro story. It's not a huge and significant story, but it was lovely to see into the hearts and minds of two familiar characters at points in their lives that we've known about from book 1 but never seen explored before. If you're a reader of the Skolian series, then definitely read this one, but it's a lovely reflective piece, rather than one that moves the overall story forward.

"Binti" by Nnedi Okorafor has been on my TBR list for a long while and I was planning to get to it soon, so I was delighted to find it in here. It was an excellent story that deserves the praise it has gained. I've cheated a bit and I'll be adding it to Goodreads on its own, since, as I said, it was a planned read.

So more skips and a very enjoyable new "old" story, with "Stark and the Stark Kings" by Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton. I've know about Brackett and her influence on the genre for a long time, but I haven't read much of her work. This is good one and I really like the tone and place of it. This kind of story is pretty much gone from space opera these days, and it's a lovely change of style and place. I can see why her work was both successful and significant.

I rather enjoyed Alistair Reynolds' Revelation Space story, although I've never read his work before. I don't think I'll try to full novels, but I'm glad I read this story.

I also really like A. C. Crispin's Starbridge story, "Twilight World". This was a first contact story with lovely characters and a fascinating and unexpected sentient alien. I've only known Crispin from her media tie-in work before, but I think I'll be looking into the Starbridge stories, as I really liked this one.

I did skip "The Ship who Sang", not in any disrespect to the awesome Helva, but because I've read it a lot of times before. It is rightfully a classic.

The last story I chose to read was Robert Silverberg's "The Iron Star" which was also a really excellent story. It has suitably alien aliens, a good take on evolution of different species focussing in different areas and a ending that isn't unexpected, but also isn't the usual sort of conclusion.

I'm very glad I didn't just read the Asaro story in this book, as I had a very enjoyable time reading a number of other stories I would have missed out on if I'd chosen to be more blinkered. I have also come to the conclusion that military space opera/science fiction is not for me. I'm all for galaxy spanning empires and their politics, and scientific/first contact mysteries. I'll also happily give planetary romance a go, but nah to the straight military stuff is much less likely to be my thing.

[Mark]

A collection of Space opera and Military Scifi that is is represented by these 24 short stories with an introduction by Robert Silverberg and his attempt to explain Space opera, perhaps I like it best described as soap opera in Space.

Fleet school: Renegat by Orson Scott Card
Fleet school, debuts in 2017, and this story is the first appearence in print of its protagonist, Dabeet Ochoa. It also stars Ender and Valentine Wiggin, and is a bit of murder mystery in colonial space written for this collection. It is about the murder of the governor and the sentience of the local animals of beings. At the same time it shows how humanity has always brought their influence with them as they colonized or found new territoria be it on earth or in space.
Not a great fan of the writer and what he uses his money for but I did enjoy this short story

Dune: the waters of Kanly
A short story about Gurney halleck one of the surviving Lieutenants of Duke Leto of the Harkonnen treason on Arrakis, aka Dune, who took refuge with the spice smugglers after the Harkonnen killed all of House Atreides. This is set in the midst of the first Dune novel when Halleck did not know Paul & Jessica Atreides had survived. He does take his revenge on the new governor Beast Rabban for the treachery of the House of Harkonnen.
This is of course the whole reason for buying this collection of Scifi books, being a Dune fan and whatnot. While this tale is a nice intermezzo in the Frank Herbert part of the Duneverse it lacks the depth of Franks writing. And is nice to read as an afterthought. Herbert & Anderson do their best to fill in some empty spots in Franks story-line. Like before not essential reading but just as much fun to read.

Legions of he damned: The good shepherd by William C. Dietz
A story about a cyborg protecting the so human daughter of the governor of a planet who is targeted by miners on strike because of their living wages. Neither story really shines or is interesting. The backstory of the cyborg wasn't interesting neither were the other involved backstories. Absolutely military Scifi

The game of rat and dragon by Cordwainer Smith
A short story released in 1955 in which the 'dragons' are mysterious aliens which attack human starships and drive the inhabitants insane.
Cats guided by telepaths are used to fight the 'dragons', because of their very quick reactions. They see the aliens as giant rats: hence the story title. Also the humans form very strong bonds with these cats, seeing them as almost human. Non-telepaths sometimes mock them for this.
To be honest this is what I like about short stories they can surprise and woo you, this oldie certainly does that. Very original and a great example of scifi

Miles Vorkosigan: The borders of infinity by LoisMcMaster Bujold
One of the few full novellas in this collection. It is like Colditz in Space the hero in this series enters a Prisoner of War camp and sets about to organize a breakout. Well build up tale that does not disappoint at all.

Vatta's war: All in a day's work by Elizabeth Moon
A little tale of hit and run orgainzed by a admiral that feels like she has to hit something and she gets to.
the best thing is that it is a really short tale with nothing that woed me in anything, first disappointment in this collection

Lightship Chronicles: the last day of training by Dave Bara

[Daniel]

Bought this for one story, and it's quite possible that's all I'll ever read. I hate anthologies. Good thing it was $1.99.

2019/04/21 - Revelation Space: Night Passage - Alastair Reynolds: 4 stars.

This was a really good story, the ships captain is woken from cold sleep and told her ship has been hijacked and is now dead in space. Only not just anywhere, next to a giant ball of nothing and drifting towards it. (Humanity's first encounter with a Shroud. No characters we've seen before.) The voice is very different from Reynolds normal style, it's told as if first person from the captain, speaking to "you", another survivor of the journey who has come to visit. I really liked this story a lot, but was not thrilled with the way it ended. It's an epilog-ish type wrap up that kept this from being 5 stars for me. It's not an unreasonable, or incomplete ending. Just not what I would have preferred.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this as a source to read 'borders of infinity' from the Vorkosigan Saga (which was great and which I have reviewed separately), and thought it would be nice to visit some old friends while perhaps making some new ones.

As a sci-fi anthology, it's pretty typically a mixed bag... some good stuff, some meh stuff, some bad stuff. The Ender story was pretty good, but was really just Speaker for the Dead in minature. The Honorverse story had nothing to do with Honor Harrington or any other main character, which was a bit disappointing. By the descriptions from the editor...it was split about 50/50 between stuff that took place in the margins of the series they belong in, and side stories not really related.

I did enjoy a couple of the classics that were in there (some I'd read before, some not), and did fond a snippet of one series that might be worth checking out in the future, so that was good.

Overall, thought, I think the nature of a good space opera (which the book was espousing to be) is that you have to get fully immersed in the world to get the effect, and that can't happen in a short story. I also thought several of the stories were much more Military SF than Space Opera (which I have a definitely as quite different), so perhaps the collection is a bit mislabelled.

[deep]

PW Starred: Space opera is celebrated in this capacious anthology with stories from a stellar lineup of its best contemporary practitioners. The 24 selections—which include classics from luminaries such as Robert Silverberg (who also contributes an informative historical introduction), Anne McCaffrey, Poul Anderson, and Cordwainer Smith, as well as 15 works original to this volume—illustrate the wide variety of themes that space opera can accommodate: galactic empire building across space and time in Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton’s “Stark and the Star Kings”; the peculiar lives of extraterrestrial fauna in Orson Scott Card’s “Renegat” (a new episode in his long-running Ender saga); interstellar piracy in Elizabeth Moon’s “All in a Day’s Work”; cultural identity in Nnedi Okorafor’s Hugo-winning “Binti”; and military adventures (a staple of the subgenre) in stories by Lois McMaster Bujold, David Drake, and Bennett R. Coles. Although these short stories don’t always have the sweep and scope of novel-length works, the new episodes of several series—among them “The Waters of Kanly” by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set amid the events of Frank Herbert’s landmark novel Dune—will make this book irresistible to space opera enthusiasts. (Oct.)

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great collection. Enjoyed all the stories but the last one. It just didn't really resonate. BUT -- the other stories (and there are lots of them) varied from great and entertaining to brilliant. I loved The Iron Star, by Robert Silverberg, and Dual on Syrtis, but Poul Anderson. I'd never read either of those authors, and both of the stories were fantastic.

It took me a damned long time to work my way through this book, but it was worth the effort.

[Laurel E · Rating 2 out of 5]

The selection is a mixed bag. Quite heavy on the military/action scifi with an introduction to the space opera subgenre. Some of the alien contact stories are quite good.

Favorites in the collections:

RENEGAT
Orson Scott Card, 2017
Ender and Valentine, go to speak the death of a scientist who has been trying to ascertain the sentience of a native species. Cool alien dog like creatures, good writing.

THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGON
Cordwainer Smith, 1955
Cats! Telepathy! Aliens!

BINTI
Nnedi Okorafor, 2015
A young woman from a secretive mathematical-trance clan is the first of her people to go to a famous university. On her way, her ship is besieged by a violent alien species and she must use all her willpower and talent to survive.

A TASTE OF ASHES
Charles E. Gannon, 2017
Two men captured by a technologically superior alien race try to outwit their captives to return home and save Earth.

THE IRON STAR
Robert Silverberg, 2003
A research vessel runs into an alien ship, a first contact, who they find suspicious. Without giving away the location of Earth, the captain attempts to communicate.

THE SHIP WHO SANG
Anne McCaffrey, 1961
A young woman with fatal birth deformities gets a second chance. She is trained for a special program which implants her as the 'brain' of a spaceship, at the conclusion of which she will be paired with a 'brawn' captain in a unique partnership.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Infinite Stars: The Definitive Anthology of Space Opera and Military SF is one of the best books that I have ever read. To understand that statement, you have to understand how deeply I love both space opera and military science fiction.

This collection of short stories & novellas has fourteen new stories and ten reprints. Of these, 15 were written by some of my already most favorite authors and I was introduced to an additional 8 new favorites. (One author I had read previously and was good, just not quite my cup of tea.)

I read short fiction collections just for this purpose: discovery of new favorite authors. I checked out this 674-page anthology from my local public library. Again, this is one of the most important functions of the public library. Enabling discovery of new favorite authors.

I also dearly love to read books in series. Knowing this, the editor of this definitive anthology asked either for stories in an author's universe that were prequels [where you did NOT have to be familiar with the world because you were reading a story set BEFORE the first book] or stories that were the NEXT in that universe [where it helped if you had in fact read everything by this writer and were delighted to read the next story of a new protagonist introduced in the author's latest book].

I also had a really remarkable experience with LOVING every story until I got to page 382 [of this 674-page collection]. Then I had two stories in a row I wasn't sure I liked. Then picking back up at page 438 to the end I loved every story again.

I was particularly pleased to see A.C. Crispin's Starbridge series included AND I had not read the story in the collection. A.C. Crispin wrote two of my all-time favorite Star Trek novels: Sarek and Yesterday's Son [yes, both about Spock/his father].

I had managed to read the six books in the Starbridge series just by finding them in used bookstores. (I don't know that I found any at the public library.)

I loved Starbridge so much because it, like Star Trek, had a multispecies academy and then sent out multispecies crew on missions not unlike Star Trek missions. And the aliens were all created by Ms. Crispin and were all fascinatingly real [detailed backgrounds/cultures, etc.). At least one species was completely deaf and communicated in their own sign language in the books Silent Dances and Silent Songs.

And, again like Star Trek, Starbridge insisted on respect and equality for all beings/cultures, etc.

I had never come across an anthology which included Starbridge before.

I was excited to see that Binti by Nnedi Okorafor was included. I knew that this novella had won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards in 2016 but I had never read it. After having the opportunity to read this novella, I totally agreed why it was the winner for that year. AND I have a hold now at the library on the next book in the series!

To sum up, I recommend that if you like space opera and/or military SF at all, don't walk but RUN to your nearest public library (or favorite bookstore) to pick up Infinite Stars: The Definitive Anthology of Space Opera and Military SF, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Labeled as the "definitive collection of space opera and military sic fi." Though I love space opera, not usually big on military themes. Still, all the stories in this book were diverting and entertaining. others poignant and suspenseful. A lot of stories written especially for this volume including one by my favorite, Alastair Reynolds, a Revelation Space story Night Passage. I see there is a volume two available, which I will be looking to read soon.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Infinite Stars is a mighty tome that has an ambitious purpose – to bring together a range of disparate worlds from Space Opera and Military SF into one hefty tome. The result is impressive, if not entirely successful.

I suspect that most readers are going to buy this because there’s a place here that they recognise. There are fourteen new stories and novellas, of some of the most well-known universes out there. The roll call is quite impressive. For example, there’s a new Honor Harrington Universe tale by David Weber, a new Dune story by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set within the time frame of the original novel Dune, a new Ender's Game story by Orson Scott Card, a new Lost Fleet story by Jack Campbell, a new Vatta’s War story from Elizabeth Moon, a Lt. Leary story by David Drake, and a new Revelation Space story by Alastair Reynolds, all in print for the first time.

There’s also a sprinkling of old classics that have earned their place here amongst the new. Cordwainer Smith’s The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955) (given as The Game of Rat and Dragons in the Contents) is one of the editor’s personal favourites and is, just like much of Smith’s work, short and memorable, justifiably deserving its place here. Then there’s Lois Mc Master Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan novella, The Borders of Infinity (1989), which, although not Miles at his absolute best, should persuade new readers to investigate further.  Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang (1961) is, unsurprisingly, here, as is the unusual choice of Duel on Syrtis (1951) by Poul Anderson, a more traditional and more obscure SF tale that is good but not his best. Oldest of all is Leigh Brackett & Edmond Hamilton’s Stark and the Star Kings, which combined their two independently-famous worlds into one sword-and-sorcery story. It shows its age a little, written decades before its publication in 2005, but at least it shows us the subgenre’s origins.

At the other extreme, much more up to date is the 2016 Hugo & Nebula Award-winning novella that is Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti (2015) whose non-American viewpoint may be rather refreshing.

Personally I enjoyed Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s addition to the Motie Universe, Codominium: Reflex, which is a tale set before The Mote in God’s Eye (1974). First published in 1982, Reflex is, if I remember rightly, part of the book that was famously excised during a major rewrite of the novel.

If the book’s purpose is to summarise the eclectic variety that Space Opera and Military SF has to offer, then it is a fair effort. The broad range of work old and new, showing not only where it has been but where it is going to, deserves applause. The emphasis is on the well-known and the popular rather than on the significant-yet-obscure, and I am sure that this will ensure it is a well-received read. It is more akin perhaps to David Hartwell’s anthologies (an acknowledged influence here) than the Vandermeers, where Infinite Stars gains by breadth but not necessarily depth. Even with a book of over 600 pages, there will be moans about what is missed, I am sure – even the editor in his introduction bemoans the lack of an S A Corey Expanse story, for example – but there’s enough to keep most readers very happy, even when not every story is going to be liked by everyone. To be fair, that is usually the risk of any anthology.

My biggest issue with the collection is that what may be seen by many readers as a strength may also be a weakness. Reading the various tales of various lengths and ages, I kept feeling that with the stories, and particularly the newer ones, that I was missing something. Some of the worlds I knew well, but with those I didn’t I couldn’t shake the feeling that, as much as I enjoyed them, I was missing something. Many of the collection feel like they are not complete tales, that they are part of something bigger. When I finished Cordwainer Smith’s The Game of Rat and Dragon, for example, I felt a definite end. Others – the Weber, the Ender’s Game, the Dune story and more besides - reminded me of that old pulp magazine stand-by where you would read an “exclusive extract” of something bigger that was about to be published. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed most of what I read, very much so, but ultimately I couldn’t shake the feeling that many stories were an incomplete part of a whole, or a bridging link between one thing and something else.

Nevertheless, despite my quibbles, Infinite Stars is a great collection of stories old and new. Whilst it may not be the “definitive” collection of stories it claims to be on the cover, there’s enough there to act as a primer and keep a fan very happy.

[D J Rout · Rating 3 out of 5]

The following stories and authors appear in this book:

SPACE OPERA: AN INTRODUCTION by Robert Silverberg
FLEET SCHOOL: RENEGAT by Orson Scott Card
DUNE: THE WATERS OF KANLY by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
LEGION OF THE DAMNED: THE GOOD SHEPHERD by William C Dietz
THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGONS by Cordwainer Smith
MILES VORKOSIGAN: THE BORDERS OF INFINITY by Lois McMaster Bujold
VATTA’S WAR: ALL IN A DAY’S WORK by Elizabeth Moon
LIGHTSHIP CHRONICLES: THE LAST DAY OF TRAINING by Dave Bara
SKOLIAN EMPIRE: THE WAGES OF HONOR by Catherine Asaro
BINTI by Nnedi Okorator
CODOMINIUM: REFLEX by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
HOW TO BE A BARBARIAN IN THE LATE 25TH CENTURY by Jean Johnson
STARK AND THE STAR KINGS by Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton
IMPERIUM IMPOSTER by JJody Lynn Nye
RED: REGION FIVE by Linda Nagata
REVELATION SPACE: NIGHT PASSAGE by Alastair Reynolds
DUEL ON SYRTIS by Poul Anderson
STARBRIDGE: TWILIGHT WORLD by A.C. Crispin
VIRTUES OF WAR: TWENTY EXCELLENT REASONS by Bennett R Coles
THE SHIP WHO SANG by Anne McCaffrey
CAINE RIORDON: A TASTE OF ASHES by charles e gannon
THE IRON STAR by Robert Silverberg
LT. LEARY: CADET CRUISE by David Drake
THE LOST FLEET: SHORE PATROL byJJack Campbell
HONORVERSE: OUR SACRED HONOR by David Weber

“‘Get back from those controls, Bat Durston’, the tall stranger lipped thinly. ‘You don’t know it, but this is your last space trip.’”

So goes the quote from Horace Gold in Robert Silverberg's excellent introduction. Gold made the point that a science ficiton story is not just a Western set in space, and Silverberg then discusses the origins of a sub-genre that has no problem with putting Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and its ilk into an SF setting. So now we have two sub-genres, ['military' SF and space opera.

Which is not to say that the two are incompatible with good writing. Niven and Pournelle are personal favourites and Bujold is just brilliant, but most of the stories here are so ploddingly pedestrian that you will actually feel like being [book:The Pedestrian: A Fantasy in One Act|1920425] yourself if you get as far as I did.

A compendium of mediocrity lifted by Bujold, McCaffrey's famous story and Niven & Pournelle.

[Mark Cheverton (scifipraxis) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of military SF, and this selection from some of the best in that field didn't change that opinion. Similarly, far too much of the space opera took me back to reading Doc Smith as a kid. But there were some memorable stories, and overall, I'd say half of this anthology was worth the time - it just would've been better with stricter editing.

The Borders of Infinity (Verkosigan), Lois McMaster Bujold (1989) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Miles enters the perfect prison and has to work his way to the top to organise an escape. I was invested throughout this elegantly written character drama.

Region Five (Red Series), Linda Nagata (2017) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A squad evac is derailed when civilians are in the firing line. Nagata explores the tension between orders and morality, with problematic mind control thrown in for good measure.

Duel on Syrtis, Poul Anderson (1951) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A tightly written chase through an anamist ecology between an arrogant tech-equipped hunter and an indigenous native.

Twenty Excellent Reasons (The Astral Saga), Bennett R. Coles (2017) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

An extraction from a war zone goes south when the wingman crashes. Jack has to weigh up lives and take desperate measures to get the survivors to orbit.

Renegat, Orson Scott Card (2017) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The speaker for the dead is sent to investigate a poisoning and opine on the sentience of an alien species.

Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (2015) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A girl earns a place at a prestigious off-planet University, but en route her transport is attacked and she alone can negotiate with the aliens.

Night Passage (Revelation Space), Alistair Reynolds (2017) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Contact with a big dumb object reveals divided loyalties as the crew faces an unpleasant demise.

The Ship Who Sang, Anne McCaffrey (1961) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A poignant tale of a ship piloted by a human brain and its human captain.

The Iron Star, Robert Silverberg (1987) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A ship exploring a supernova remnant makes cautious first contact, learning what it means to be truly alien.

Shore Patrol (Lost Fleet), Jack Campbell (2017) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shore leave gets raucous - I liked the humour.

---

The Good Shepherd (Legion of the damned), William C. Diet (2017) ⭐⭐⭐
The Wages of Honour (Skolian), Catherine Asaro (2017) ⭐⭐⭐
Our Sacred Honor (Honorverse), David Weber (2017) ⭐⭐⭐
The Waters of Kanly (Dune), Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (2017) ⭐⭐
The Game of Rat and Dragon, Cordwainer Smith (1955) ⭐⭐
Last Day of Training, Dave Bara (2017) ⭐⭐
Reflex (CoDominium), Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1982) ⭐⭐
Imperium Imposter (Imperium), Jody Lynn Nye (2017) ⭐⭐
Cadet Cruise (Lt. Leary), David Drake (2017) ⭐⭐
All in a Day's Work (Vatta's War), Elizabeth Moon (2017) ⭐
How to be a Barbarian in the Late 25th Century (Theirs Not to Reason Why), Jean Johnson (2017) ⭐
Stark and the Star Kings (Eric John Stark), Leigh Brackett & Edmond Hamilton (2005) ⭐
Twilight World (StarBridge), A. C. Crispin (1989) ⭐
Taste of Ashes (Caine Riardon), Charles E. Gannon (2017) ⭐

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

A FC militarista e a Space Opera são duas vertentes da ficção científica que geralmente combinam bem. Há sempre espaço para aventuras e batalhas no meio dos vastos cenários da Space Opera, e não é por acaso que as grandes séries de FC militar se enquadram nesta vertente, caracterizada pela vastidão, encontros com civilizações exóticas, mistérios no espaço, sistemas multiplanetários e organizações políticas que abrangem vários mundos, intrigas palacianas ou desfios do confronto entre diferentes regimes ou civilizações. No entanto, há que ressalvar que olhar apenas do ponto de vista da FC militarista para a Space Opera é redutor. Esta vertente da FC é muito mais vasta nas suas temáticas do que histórias de conflito e batalhas espaciais.

Mas vá, confesso, batalhas espaciais são sempre divertidas.

Esta antologia procura esse equilíbrio. Como é habitual neste género de livros, cruza autores mais recentes com consagrados, e polvilha com uns clássicos. David Weber (Honorverse) partilha o espaço com Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game), Alastayr Reynolds, Linda Nagata e os clássicos Leigh Brackett, Cordwainer Smith e Edmond Hamilton, entre outros. O resultado é uma antologia abrangente, que nos mostra o melhor da Space Opera clássica em ficção curta. Nos autores consagrados e mais recentes, nota-se uma colagem às séries que lhes deram sucesso (e pagam as contas), o que do meu ponto de vista faz perder um pouco da perspetiva inovadora mas não deixa de ser um mergulho divertido e episódico em sagas como a Vorkosioan, Honorverse ou Dune.

[Ishmael Soledad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This anthology brings together a collection of new and reprinted short stories and novellas that are linked, directly or indirectly, to science fiction space opera series written by the contributing authors. This is, at once, the strength and weakness of this anthology.

On the strength side, if you are familiar with the contributing authors' other works you will probably find this anthology entertaining, filling on (or expanding upon) already published series. On the negative side, if you are not familiar with them a huge amount of background (and back story) is missing, and the stories can (and do) easily fall into the 'fan fiction' hole of only being up to par if you are au fait or enamoured with it all.

At least three of the stories have been published elsewhere at various times, and while it's good to greet old friends the value of having them reprinted, again, is questionable. On the editing side, there's evidence of a touch of slackness in the process, such as the clanger in the intro to 'The Game of Rat and Dragon' where the first line is repeated, with an extra typo added in to boot.

If space opera and military sci-fi is your thing, and you have the relevant series by the contributing authors, chances are you'll love this.

If you're not, you might wonder half way through if the 660+ pages are worth your effort. Like me, by the end you'll think they are; but only just.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this available on Kindle Unlimited, saw reference to several authors that I knew/had heard of and thought this would be a good way to read some new authors and some novellas by previous favourites. This is going to sound really petty, but the lack of a proper table of contents listing the novellas and their authors really put me off. I want to cherry-pick novellas, or at least know which storyverse they come from, instead the only table of contents is at the back and has no authors!

Which is a long-winded way of saying I only read the Orson Scott Card novella set in the Ender Wiggin universe.

Fleet School - Renegat by Orson Scott Card - three and a half stars
Ender/Andrew and his sister Valentine come to the colony of Tarragona at the request of the governor Dabeet Ochoa to speak for Kenneth Argon who died in mysterious circumstances from a hitherto unknown toxin at a time of great unrest in the colony.

Now whilst I understand that some of what Orson Scott Card is exploring is what makes something a someone, something sentient. However, I felt there were too many similarities to things that happened in Speaker for the Dead.

Also, I felt as though half the story had been lost in editing, leaving me a bit unclear as to what had happened.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

[Jim Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The description of the book, as well as the introduction, call this a collection of space opera stories. That's not really accurate. They are all stories set in space and on other planets, but a number of the stories aren't space opera. This isn't a complaint. This is still overall a very good collection of SF short stories, some new, some old classics.

I'm not going to try list all the stories but just to name some of them:

"The Game of Rat and Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith is part of Instrumentality of Mankind future history.

"The Borders of Infinity" is a very good short work in Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series.

"Night Passage" is part of Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series.

"Stark and the Star Kings" brings together two of Leigh Brackett's and Edmund Hamilton's most famous series.

"The Iron Star" by Robert Silverberg is a very atypical story for him. It's a hard SF first contact story.

"Cadet Cruise" by David Drake is a prequel to his Leary/Mundy series, a series of space adventures inspired by the works of Patrick O'Brian, and a series I'm quite fond of.

"Binti" by Nnedi Okorafor, the first in her award-winning series.

There are also stories by, among others, Orson Scott Card (a story set in the Ender universe), Elizabeth Moon, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Linda Nagata, Anne McCaffrey, and David Weber.

A few of the stories are minor, but all are entertaining, and there are some very good stories here.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ratings of the individual stories in this collection:

Space Opera: An Introduction by Robert Silverberg - 1 - this isn't a story but rather an introductory essay, but it stunk.
Fleet School: Renegat by Orson Scott Card - 2.5
Dune: The Waters of Kanly by Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson - 2
Legion of the Damned: The Good Shepherd by William C Dietz - 3
The Game of Rat and Dragons by Cordwainer Smith - 4
Miles Vorkosigan: The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold - 4.5
Vatta's War: All in a Day's Work by Elizabeth Moon - 2
Lightship Chronicles: The Last Day of Training by Dave Bara - 1
Skolian Empire: The Wages of Honor by Catherine Asaro - 3.5
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - 4.5
CoDominium: Reflex by Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle - 4
How to be a Barbarian in the Late 25th Century by Jean Johnson - 4.5
Stark and the Star Kings by Leigh Brackett/Edmond Hamilton - 3
Imperium Imposter by Jody Lynn Nye - 4
Red: Region Five by Linda Nagata - 4
Revelation Space: Night Passage by Alastair Reynolds - 4
Duel on Syrtis by Poul Anderson - 3
Starbridge: Twilight World by AC Crispin - 2.5
Virtues of War: Twenty Excellent Reasons by Bennett R Coles - 4
The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey - 4
Caine Riordon: A Taste of Ashes by Charles E Gannon - 3.5
The Iron Star by Robert Silverberg - 3.5
Lt. Leary: Cadet Cruise by David Drake - 3
The Lost Fleet: Shore Patrol by Jack Campbell - 3.5
Honorverse: Our Sacred Honor by David Weber - 4.5

[5t4n5 Dot Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

The following is a review for the story, Night Passage by Alastair Reynolds, which is the only reason i got this anthology.

Night Passage is the third book in the Revelation Space Universe.

This time a Demarchist sleeper ship, with thousands of passengers on board, has apparently been taken over by the Conjoiners among the passengers and is now drifting in space near an large unknown object.   Time is running out as, without any engines, the ship is slowly drifting towards the object and won't survive the encounter.

I really enjoyed this short story which has quite a depth to it, essentially beginning with the quote:

Shame is a mask that becomes the face.

The implication of which being that if you wear the mask long enough, it grafts itself to your skin, becomes and indelible part of you--even a kind of comfort.

And actually ending with the quote:

A late gift is worse than no gift at all.

Would you mind leaving me now?

Available in the anthology, Infinite Stars .

And for my sins of thoroughly enjoying this i now head straight into A Spy in Europa .

[Groucho42 · Rating 3 out of 5]

One paradigm of short story collections is that you put the best stories as the first two and the last one. This book doesn't do that, it puts three of the worst but with the biggest names. Orson Scott Card starts it with a terrible story. He used to do drama and comedy, but all he seems to have now is irony and sarcasm. The second is a story by little Herbert that is trite and poorly written. The best of the three is the last story and it's by David Weber, set in the Honorverse. I loved that universe, but he's recently become a bit redundant in the stories. This short is just a conservative polemic. It isn't as bad as the first two, but it's not good.

What saves the collection are the rest of the stories, as they vary from bad to good while introducing some other universes and writers. For pure humor, pick my favorite story, and that's "How to be a barbarian in the late 25th century" by Jean Johnson. The best post action report ever! "Twenty Excellent Reasons" by Bennett R. Cole is another, simple, enjoyable, space opera ditty.

Of course, seeing classics such as "The Ship Who Sang" and "Binti" again, after years, was also very enjoyable.

Enough other stories save the rating that would be very low based on they stories Schmidt decided should be showcased.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because of the Linda Nagata story, which (imo) was good but too short to give much of an impression - plus, it was the only one that didn't have any off-Earth element. I also thought it might be nice to check out some newer military/space opera stories and a few older ones. The book included only a few that I'd read before, including Nnedi Okorafor's Bindi (which I love), one of only two stories aimed at young adults.

Of the rest, I liked the Ender story (despite vehemently disagreeing with the author's politics), the Miles Vorkosigan story (I haven't read enough of those books), and the hilarious "How to be a Barbarian in the late 25th Century" by Jean Johnson. The only one I just couldn't read was the Dune world one; I didn't care for Dune back then and apparently still don't. Some of the older (and a couple of the newer) stories didn't include even one woman. But most of the rest had women in positions of power. Easy to see how times have changed. Though no LBGTQ characters anywhere; I guess that's military science fiction. Not really my genre, but I was glad to have a look at some of the authors I've ignored.

[Cory Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather uneven anthology, but enjoyable overall. If anything, this confirms that I have no interest in military SF, as this book categorizes it, but do rather enjoy the space opera genre. Some stories of note that I quite liked are:

- "The Game of Rat and Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith (A chance to read some of Smith's work is what led me to pickup this anthology)
- "The Borders of Infinity" by Lois McMaster Bujold
- "Stark and the Star Kings" by Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton
- "Night Passage" by Alastair Reynolds
- "Duel on Syrtis" by Poul Anderson
- "The Ship Who Sang" by Anne McCaffrey
- "Our Sacred Honor" by David Weber

Of the rest of the stories, I found them to be okay at best and boring at worst. A consistent theme throughout the stories I did not enjoy was the tendency to become bogged down in military and pseudo-technical jargon. I have to imagine this is one of the defining traits of military SF, and while that minutiae may appeal to some, it bores me to tears. That being said, the stories I highlighted above made this anthology worth reading and highly recommended to anyone looking to scratch the surface of space opera as I was.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the cover calls this "the definitive anthology of space opera and military SF", it is really just *an* anthology but not what I would call *definitive*. Because this is an anthology, it is very hard to give an overall rating. My rating is an average of everything in here. Some stories, I loved; others, I didn't.

I also didn't like that some authors presented what read as an excerpt from a novel without making a complete short story out of it. Unless I had previously read the novel or series, I had no clue what was going on there.

Here are a few of the authors that I did like where the particular stories in this volume were new to me: Cordwainer Smith, Dave Bara, Nnedi Okorafor (no, I never read Binti before; liked it), Leigh Brackett, Jean Johnson, Jody Lynn Nye, Alastair Reynolds, David Drake, Catherine Asaro. There were other stories in here that I previously read ("The Ship Who Sang" by Anne McCaffrey, for example, which is a classic) that I was happy to read again.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schmidt, Bryan Thomas, ed. Infinite Stars: Definitive Space Opera and Military Science Fiction. Titan-Kindle, 2017.
Definitive is a bit strong, but this is a very good anthology that represents most of the best players in military space opera. It has a very good historical introduction by Robert Silverberg and 24 stories by some of the best writers in the field. If you are a fan of the genre, you will find enough new stories and a few new writers to keep you interested. If you are new to it, you will find stories from most of the writers of the great military science fiction series—Orson Scott Card, Lois McMaster Bujold, David Weber, Elizabeth Moon, and Alastair Reynolds to name a few. There weren’t many that were either too familiar or too amateurish to interest me. Worth the time.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, this is a collection of space opera stories by Big Name science fiction writers. What makes the collection attractive is that many of the stories are set in the writers' most famous universes, including three new ones in some of the most famous universes of all: Ender, Dune, and Honorverse. Then there are many that are seminal worx in particular series: Miles Vorkosigan (Lois McMaster Bujold), Binti (Nnedi Okorafor), The Ship Who Sang (Anne McCaffrey), Reflex (Niven and Pournelle), Eric John Stark (Brackett and Hamilton). And others that are simply great stand-alones. I confess I didn't read every story, but there was enough of the stuff I liked best for this to rate the five stars.

[Sara Crocoll Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were 23 stories in this volume. Six stories I particularly enjoyed:
-The Game of Rat and Dragons by Cordwainer Smith (Such an interesting premise)
-Miles Vorkosigan: The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold (Miles is an intriguing character - he's got gumption out the ears)
-Lightship Chronicles: The Last Day of Training by Dave Bara (Felt all the feels in this one)
-How To Be a Barbarian in the Late 25th Century by Jean Johnson (LOVED the happy marriage; dialogue was masterful)
-The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (Enjoyed her fantasy, now I like her sci-fi too :-)
-The Iron Star by Robert Silverberg (Held my interest, loved the ending)

[Anastasia Guiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, when I first grabbed this book, I thought it was going to be your regular sci-fi short stories by some kick-ass authors. It was not...

Turns out this book is an ode to the space opera, but with the stipulation that ALL of the stories in the volume take place in worlds previously created by the authors listed. If, like me, you were unfamiliar with most of them, it was confusing and oft-times uninteresting. Not to say that there weren't any worthwhile stories, or even universes that I am intrigued to investigate, just not what I expected.

[Jonathon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating is for the following short story(s) that I read for a series:

Our Sacred Honor - Rating 4.5 Stars

The book was written really well. I believe that this gave a better inside to the one who would become important in a later series. I only had 1 gripe. She just accepted that her sister was dead without seeing any actual body. This annoyed me more than I thought it would as I believe the character would definitely have done her absolute to find the body if just to be sure.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction

This collection introduces readers to voices that have been silenced by time yet live on in their works.

I myself found novellas set in three different series that I already have enjoyed, and I have also found interesting reads by authors who I either hadn’t heard of before or in one case had thought hadn’t written in genres I enjoy reading.

As a bonus I found the source of the Black Jack nickname for the Jack Geary character in the excellent Jack Campbell Lost Stars series!

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a nice collection of space opera short stories, you have the right book! Infinite Stars has new and reprint tales of adventure, conflict, first contact and more by a number of well-known artists. A few of the tales I had read before, but others were new to me. Bryan Thomas Schmidt has done a very fine job of balancing story types and mixing classic tales in with recent series. Read up and get your space opera fix!