Cosmic Cocktails

by Denise Little (Editor), Loren L. Coleman, Daniel M. Hoyt

Bars and taverns are a time-honored human tradition-the perfect gathering places to trade news and gossip, to hang out, to complain, to celebrate, or just somewhere travelers can pass the time. Each has its own special and loyal clientele, though some welcome all comers.

But what will such watering holes be like in the future? What form might they take on distant worlds-some human-run, some note-and on space stations?

Who would be likely to frequent such places, and what tales would they have to tell?

Here are fifteen original yarns that take you bar-hopping around the galaxy to places where you'll encounter: An alien life-form that needs to be drunk to get drunk. . . .A reporter on the trail of the true story about a legendary space pilot. . . .A couple of spacers who'd been led to a bar they might never blast out of again. . . .A saloon where time travelers might run out of time. . . .And more interstellar adventures that will have you wishing you could belly up to the bar-or its alien equivalent-and spend and evening taking in these tales beyond your wildest imagining. . . .

The fifteen stories are

** Drink, Drank, Drunk by Loren L. Coleman
** With Unconfined Wings by Sarah A. Hoyt
** Rachel by Steven Mohan, Jr.
** Crossing the road by Phaedra M. Weldon
** I'm Not Ashamed by Greg Beatty
** Favio deMarco by Michael Hiebert
** A Union Against All Odds by David DeLee
** Fortin's Revenge by Lousia M. Swann
** Hanged Man by Leslie Claire Walker
** 2 Drops of Heaven by Dan C. Duval
** Everyone Stops at Boston's by Allan Rousselle
** Spot-Man's Chest by Daniel M. Hoyt
** God Uses a Dishrag by Peter Orullian
** The Hyperbole Engine by Michael Hiebert
** The Galaxy's Most Wanted by Annie Reed

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction

312 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Denise Little is an editor for Tekno Books.

Reviews

[Lindsey Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Until I finished the last word of the introduction, I expected Cosmic Cocktails to have a more lighthearted, humorous, adventurous vein - a step away from space opera. For that reason, I was surprised when it started with a gritty, cynical tone ... darkly humorous, true, but the bar was not the friendly place I expected. The first story that really broke this mold was Favio deMarco, a little over a third of the way through.

Overall, I enjoyed this collection .. especially later on, it had a lot of heart and a lot of laughs, though there were several examples of lopsided pacing and somewhat confusing explanations.

A weakness in the anthology is that doesn't really seem to be in an ideal order. The first story is weak and sets a deceptive tone. The first several stories are all in first person. As previously mentioned, there's a lot of adventure and buoyancy that gets delayed until much later in the book. That said, "The Galaxy's Most Wanted" is a perfect closer.

A strength of the anthology is, with a few exceptions, every story felt as if it could have occurred in the same universe. Even if little details clashed, the stories seemed to create a cohesive big picture. (The stories that didn't still "felt right," they just had major setting details that contradicted the others.)

My personal favorites: On Unconfined Wings, I'm Not Ashamed and A Union Against All Odds.

[Robert 'Rev. Bob' · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather mixed shelf, so to speak. A few really neat ideas, but the corresponding clunkers make it a generally average collection.