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The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the endlessly-mysterious moon is explored in this reprint short science fiction anthology from award-winning editor and anthologist Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld, The Best Science Fiction of the Year).
On July 20, 1969, mankind made what had only years earlier seemed like an impossible leap forward: when Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the moon, and Neil Armstrong the first person to step foot on the lunar surface.
While there have only been a handful of new missions since, the fascination with our planet’s satellite continues, and generations of writers and artists have imagined the endless possibilities of lunar life. From adventures in the vast gulf of space between the earth and the moon, to journeys across the light face to the dark side, to the establishment of permanent residences on its surface, science fiction has for decades given readers bold and forward-thinking ideas about our nearest interstellar neighbor and what it might mean to humankind, both now and in our future.
The Eagle Has Landed collects the best stories written in the fifty years since mankind first stepped foot on the lunar surface, serving as a shining reminder that the moon is and always has been our most visible and constant example of all the infinite possibility of the wider universe.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Bagatelle by John Varley
The Eve of the Last Apollo by Carter Scholz
The Lunatics by Kim Stanley Robinson
Griffin’s Egg by Michael Swanwick
A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis
Waging Good by Robert Reed
How We Lost the Moon by Paul McAuley
People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter
Ashes and Tombstones by Brian Stableford
Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl’s by Adam Troy Castro
Stories for Men by John Kessel
The Clear Blue Seas of Luna by Gregory Benford
You Will Go to the Moon by William Preston
SeniorSource by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt
Fly Me to the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson
Tyche and the Ants by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Michael Alexander and K.C. Ball
The Fifth Dragon by Ian McDonald
Let Baser Things Devise by Berrien C. Henderson
The Moon is Not a Battlefield by Indrapramit Das
Every Hour of Light and Dark by Nancy Kress
In Event of Moon Disaster by Rich Larson
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About the Editor
On July 20, 1969, mankind made what had only years earlier seemed like an impossible leap forward: when Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the moon, and Neil Armstrong the first person to step foot on the lunar surface.
While there have only been a handful of new missions since, the fascination with our planet’s satellite continues, and generations of writers and artists have imagined the endless possibilities of lunar life. From adventures in the vast gulf of space between the earth and the moon, to journeys across the light face to the dark side, to the establishment of permanent residences on its surface, science fiction has for decades given readers bold and forward-thinking ideas about our nearest interstellar neighbor and what it might mean to humankind, both now and in our future.
The Eagle Has Landed collects the best stories written in the fifty years since mankind first stepped foot on the lunar surface, serving as a shining reminder that the moon is and always has been our most visible and constant example of all the infinite possibility of the wider universe.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Bagatelle by John Varley
The Eve of the Last Apollo by Carter Scholz
The Lunatics by Kim Stanley Robinson
Griffin’s Egg by Michael Swanwick
A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis
Waging Good by Robert Reed
How We Lost the Moon by Paul McAuley
People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter
Ashes and Tombstones by Brian Stableford
Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl’s by Adam Troy Castro
Stories for Men by John Kessel
The Clear Blue Seas of Luna by Gregory Benford
You Will Go to the Moon by William Preston
SeniorSource by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt
Fly Me to the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson
Tyche and the Ants by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Michael Alexander and K.C. Ball
The Fifth Dragon by Ian McDonald
Let Baser Things Devise by Berrien C. Henderson
The Moon is Not a Battlefield by Indrapramit Das
Every Hour of Light and Dark by Nancy Kress
In Event of Moon Disaster by Rich Larson
Permissions
About the Editor
600 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 16, 2019
17 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Neil Clarke
400 books399 followersNeil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning
Clarkesworld Magazine.
Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.
Additionally, Neil edits Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us, The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.
He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.
Additionally, Neil edits Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us, The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.
He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 11, 2019
A collection of short stories about humans living and working on the Moon is something I won't ever turn down. I actually chose this because some of my favourite science fiction authors are featured in this collection (Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kim Stanley Robinson, Nancy Kress, Ian MacDonald & Gregory Benford) but I also looked forward to all the new to me's.
These stories are ordered chronologically and span from 1976 to 2018 and that made for a nice way to read how the moon and our relationship with it have been imagined. It was admittedly difficult for me not to jump right to the authors I was already a fan of but I'm glad that I didn't. As with all anthologies, not every story was to my liking but there was more than enough here that I very much enjoyed. A very well done collection by Neil Clarke that I am so glad I read.
My Best of the Bunch (in the order they appear in the book)
Bagatelle by John Varley (1976)- Such a wonderful story I put his Eight Worlds series on my TBR and wondered how I've never come across his work. A good bit of humour for a story about a human-bomb named Hans intent on a major terrorist attack.
A Walk In The Sun by Geoffrey A Landis (1991)- The story of a sole survivor of a crash on the moon is faced with the conundrum of staying alive until a rescue team can make it to her. Her immediate problem isn't the 30 days that will take but the fact her suit (that handles air & water reclamation) relies on a solar panel and her location is shortly to be overtaken by a 14 day lunar night. This probably got to me more since Oppy's last message "My battery is low and it's getting dark." I've never hoped more for a character to have a successful power walk. Magnificent desolation, indeed.
Waging Good by Robert Reed (1995, revised 2018)- A privileged woman takes the fall for a crime & her friends let her. After she's sent to earth and learns about the lives of the impoverished and preyed upon she returns to moon ready to settle scores but instead sees how impoverished those she came for are.
How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Frank W. Allen by Paul J. McAuley (1999)
SeniorSource by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2008)- KKR can take me to the moon with detectives any time. Here ageing, corporate influence and office politics are front and center against a backdrop of life on Earth being so undesirable and worse, fatal that the fear of being sent back is the lens through which all decisions and moves are made.
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas (2009)- This story of a woman living in a lunar habitat when the world powers go to war on Earth became progressively more harrowing and heartbreaking for the woman and civilization.
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt (2010)- A wonderful story about an obscure and forgotten project on the moon being revisited with a truly sobering ending. It couldn't be other with a title like this.
Fly Me to the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson (2010)- There's a crisis on the moon and the only person who has the expertise to assist is an Apollo astronaut now living under an assumed name in an assisted care facility and suffering from Alzheimer's. His young caregiver relates the story. It was moving, exciting and will stay with me.
Every Hour of Light & Dark by Nancy Kress (2017)- Kress never disappoints. Art forgers on the moon can be jealous creatures.
Honourable Mention
Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl’s by Adam Troy Castro (2001)
The Clear Blue Seas of Luna by Gregory Benford (2002)
The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Michael Alexander and K.C. Ball (2012)
The Fifth Dragon by Ian Macdonald (2016)- I realized when I began reading that this is chapter straight out of Luna: New Moon which I've already read so nothing new for me here. I just recommend reading Luna as it's just a great, encompassing saga.
In the Event of a Moon Disaster by Rich Larson (2018)
Many thanks to the publisher for the advanced reader's copy.
These stories are ordered chronologically and span from 1976 to 2018 and that made for a nice way to read how the moon and our relationship with it have been imagined. It was admittedly difficult for me not to jump right to the authors I was already a fan of but I'm glad that I didn't. As with all anthologies, not every story was to my liking but there was more than enough here that I very much enjoyed. A very well done collection by Neil Clarke that I am so glad I read.
My Best of the Bunch (in the order they appear in the book)
Bagatelle by John Varley (1976)- Such a wonderful story I put his Eight Worlds series on my TBR and wondered how I've never come across his work. A good bit of humour for a story about a human-bomb named Hans intent on a major terrorist attack.
A Walk In The Sun by Geoffrey A Landis (1991)- The story of a sole survivor of a crash on the moon is faced with the conundrum of staying alive until a rescue team can make it to her. Her immediate problem isn't the 30 days that will take but the fact her suit (that handles air & water reclamation) relies on a solar panel and her location is shortly to be overtaken by a 14 day lunar night. This probably got to me more since Oppy's last message "My battery is low and it's getting dark." I've never hoped more for a character to have a successful power walk. Magnificent desolation, indeed.
Waging Good by Robert Reed (1995, revised 2018)- A privileged woman takes the fall for a crime & her friends let her. After she's sent to earth and learns about the lives of the impoverished and preyed upon she returns to moon ready to settle scores but instead sees how impoverished those she came for are.
How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Frank W. Allen by Paul J. McAuley (1999)
SeniorSource by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2008)- KKR can take me to the moon with detectives any time. Here ageing, corporate influence and office politics are front and center against a backdrop of life on Earth being so undesirable and worse, fatal that the fear of being sent back is the lens through which all decisions and moves are made.
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas (2009)- This story of a woman living in a lunar habitat when the world powers go to war on Earth became progressively more harrowing and heartbreaking for the woman and civilization.
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt (2010)- A wonderful story about an obscure and forgotten project on the moon being revisited with a truly sobering ending. It couldn't be other with a title like this.
Fly Me to the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson (2010)- There's a crisis on the moon and the only person who has the expertise to assist is an Apollo astronaut now living under an assumed name in an assisted care facility and suffering from Alzheimer's. His young caregiver relates the story. It was moving, exciting and will stay with me.
Every Hour of Light & Dark by Nancy Kress (2017)- Kress never disappoints. Art forgers on the moon can be jealous creatures.
Honourable Mention
Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl’s by Adam Troy Castro (2001)
The Clear Blue Seas of Luna by Gregory Benford (2002)
The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Michael Alexander and K.C. Ball (2012)
The Fifth Dragon by Ian Macdonald (2016)- I realized when I began reading that this is chapter straight out of Luna: New Moon which I've already read so nothing new for me here. I just recommend reading Luna as it's just a great, encompassing saga.
In the Event of a Moon Disaster by Rich Larson (2018)
Many thanks to the publisher for the advanced reader's copy.
May 29, 2019
Neil Clarke is one of the great curators of science fiction stories, collecting diverse tales in themed anthologies. Here, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the first steps on the moon 🌝, we get an amazing retrospective of moon-based science fiction in the past fifty years since the moon ceased being a complete uncharted mystery. At the time that Armstrong took that giant step, you would’ve thought it would’ve been followed by scores of manned missions, a station on the moon, and eventually colonies. And from there, who knows. But, there’s been a pullback of dreaming and the vast colonies of lunar inhabitants never materialized.
This is a terrific collection, and it is an immense collection that will defy any attempt to read it in one sitting. In keeping with the vast lunar emptiness, many of the tales have a starkness about them, an emptiness if you will. They envision our setting up lunar house, but postulate that the end result may not be what we expected. In some cases, the moon is a lonely place. In others, the people who make their homes there change in ways that make them barely cousins of their ancient earthly forebears.
From the talking nuclear ☢️ bomb 💣 in John Varley’s Bagatelle to the isolated roadways to Geoffrey Landis’ Walk In the Sun, there are great characters presented and even stranger landscapes. Sunday Night Yams at Earl and Minnie’s is a must-read that you oughta open this volume just to glimpse. Filled with wonder and nostalgia, it makes your head spin if you try to reason it all out. Kessel’s Stories Fir Men is unforgettable too. And, there are simply too many to mention and too many to remember them all.
Some see the moon as a mining colony or as a competitor to earth or as the last refuge after earth is pretty much destroyed. Some are it as a new beginning or a place to retire to. Despite regular shuttles back and forth, the moon’s isolation and mystery often remain.
This is a terrific collection, and it is an immense collection that will defy any attempt to read it in one sitting. In keeping with the vast lunar emptiness, many of the tales have a starkness about them, an emptiness if you will. They envision our setting up lunar house, but postulate that the end result may not be what we expected. In some cases, the moon is a lonely place. In others, the people who make their homes there change in ways that make them barely cousins of their ancient earthly forebears.
From the talking nuclear ☢️ bomb 💣 in John Varley’s Bagatelle to the isolated roadways to Geoffrey Landis’ Walk In the Sun, there are great characters presented and even stranger landscapes. Sunday Night Yams at Earl and Minnie’s is a must-read that you oughta open this volume just to glimpse. Filled with wonder and nostalgia, it makes your head spin if you try to reason it all out. Kessel’s Stories Fir Men is unforgettable too. And, there are simply too many to mention and too many to remember them all.
Some see the moon as a mining colony or as a competitor to earth or as the last refuge after earth is pretty much destroyed. Some are it as a new beginning or a place to retire to. Despite regular shuttles back and forth, the moon’s isolation and mystery often remain.
June 6, 2019
Done at last! I spent a week with this book. Several gems in here including five favorite new short stories.
Review:
This was a fascinating anthology about the moon landings, or people living on the moon and I jumped at the chance to read and review this book. I’ve been reading a lot of short fiction lately, from anthology collections to Tor’s Free Short Story Archive, to random other tidbits I’ve found here and there. My goal is to read one short story a day, perhaps more depending on what mood I’m in, or how impactful the story was and how much it lingers with me. A brief description will be beneath the title/author followed by the rating.
Introduction by Neil Clarke
Not a short story, but still interesting regardless. 3/5 stars
Bagatelle by John Varley
Having read last year a book called Irontown Blues, book one of a new scifi series, I was intrigued to read more by this author. I was pleasantly surprised to find one of his many short stories within this anthology. It was definitely catchy, but not quite up to snuff. A talking bomb, a female police chief, and a man who seemed to be rather wacky who helps stop the bomb from going off. I may re-read it just to be sure I didn’t miss anything, but otherwise, I enjoyed it. 4/5 stars
The Eve of the Last Apollo by Carter Scholz
This author’s name is vaguely familiar, but for the life of me I honestly don’t recollect if I’ve read anything from them or not. None of the titles listed in the short autobiography at the beginning of the short story rang a bell either. Still this story was about an astronaut turning forty years old and having a midlife crisis. It was strange, yet built up to a tension where at the end of the story it petered out and overall felt flat. Not sure if I liked it or not, but interested in trying the author again later on. 3/5 stars
The Lunatics by Kim Stanley Robinson
I generally like KSR’s work, but this was not one of my favorites. I don’t know why, it just wasn’t grabbing me like his other science fiction works. The writing was good, but I couldn’t have cared less about the characters if I tried. 2/5 stars
Griffin’s Egg by Michael Swanwick
An unfamiliar author, this was a strange story where I really didn’t like the main guy character. He seemed rather…arrogant and annoying as hell. The story had potential, but overall…not for me. 3/5 stars
A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis
This was a beautiful survival story, and so far this one is my absolute favorite of the anthology, but with several more to go perhaps more little gems like this one will be found. Tricia is an awesome strong female character attempting to survive a crashed landing on the moon where her three friends have perished leaving her to survive a month alone until rescue can come. Amazingly told, and my favorite new short story. 5/5 stars
Waging Good by Robert Reed
Not one I was overly thrilled by, but still interesting regardless. Relatively short, but I’d have liked it longer I think. 2/5 stars
How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Paul J. McAuley
This was a bit more my speed! I really liked the main character’s voice in this one, and the idea of a black hole swallowing the moon because of an accident was fascinating. The evacuation process was well done and thorough, and the character Frank was likable. I wished there was more to this story. (At the end, it mentions it was written for Stephen Baxter, an author I know of but have never read.) 5/5 stars
People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter
Oh, okay. I mentioned in my last review I’ve never read Stephen Baxter, looks like I’m fixing that now, lol. Anyways, this short was intriguing, and I liked it. Overall, I wished it was longer-again I might add for another short story-but it was still nice and well written. 4/5 stars
Ashes and Tombstones by Brian Stableford
This was a strange story about a 200 some odd year old man who was being asked to attend a special ceremony wherein they were lifting off to start off a new era of the human race. Overall, I liked it, but it was strange and I’m not entirely sure what to make of the main character. 4/5 stars
Sun Night Yams at Minnie and Earls by Adam Troy Castro
This story had very strong Ray Bradbury vibes, with his Martian Chronicles but in a different way entirely. I liked the atmospheric build, the dog, and the ending. I do wish we got an actual explanation for Minnie and Earl, but I guess like the guy said-it doesn’t matter. 4/5 stars
Stories for Men by John Kessel
Having read his Pride and Prometheus last year and really liking it, this was a story that I was very excited to read. I love his writing style, and his characters are always absolutely fascinating. Stories for men featured a young man named Erno who struggles against the women in power, and attempts to find his place. It was a strange and bizarre story, but easily readable and enjoyable. 4/5 stars
You Will Go to the Moon by William Preston
I’ve never read this author before, but this story while having a sad ending, was well written and fascinating. How a man whose parents decide to go to the moon because his father read a children’s book called “You will go to the Moon”. The parents fly to the moon, and stay there. Sad ending, but well worth reading. 4/5 stars
SeniorSource by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A female author at last! At least I presume this is the first female author in the book, I’ll have to research the other authors to be sure. I’ve never heard of this author before, or read her books either. Overall, I liked this short story but again I wished there was more, though it did explain things fairly well. 3/5 stars
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas
I didn’t think there’d be another short story in here to top “A Walk in the Sun” but this I think did. While the previous story hit all my survival buttons, this one hit all my buttons too but in different ways. I loved how well written this was; though it was rather depressing at the end and I some of it was not pretty at all towards the middle for the main female character. Surviving alone in space for years takes its tole after all. 5/5 stars and a new favorite short story!
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt
Two 5 star short stories in a row? Damn, this book is getting good! I have never read Jack McDevitt though I have heard of him, being the prolific and famous scifi author it’s kind of hard not to when you primarily read fantasy and science fiction. This was a build up to a rather intense ending, and I wish there were follow up stories to see how things turned out, and if people listened to the aliens warning after all. 5/5 stars
Fly Me To the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson
Another 5 star short story. This was another sad one, but filled with action sequences too, in a way. I liked how the author handled the aging astronaut, and the nods towards Apollo 13. It was well written, enjoyable, and with a lovely ending that I really liked. 5/5 stars
Tyche and the Ants by Hannu Rajaniemi
An author I have never heard of in the slightest, this was a strange and unusual story that didn’t really connect with me. But then I rather don’t care for stories that have bugs in them, even if it’s just alien ants. 2/5 stars
The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Michael Alexander and KC Ball
Another miss for me, and longer than some of the other stories in here as well. This was an interesting premise, but I didn’t much like the character and how they handled things, but I do agree that the moon should belong to everyone. 3/5 stars
The Fifth Dragon by Ian McDonald
This one flew right over my head. I didn’t understand the point of this story at all, though it was interesting and I had high hopes for it. A sad 2/5 stars.
Let Baser Things Devise by Berrien C. Henderson
Another one that I didn’t really like or enjoy reading. Strange, and not to my taste at all. 2/5 stars
The Moon is Not a Battlefield by Indrapramit Das
Love the title for this short story, and the story itself was interesting, unusual, and intense in some areas. I really liked how it turned out, and though the dialogue was a bit chunky in areas, it was still a good story. 4/5 stars
Every Hour of Light and Dark by Nancy Kress
Another miss, but better than the last ones that I���ve read aside from Battlefield above. It definitely has me intrigued by Nancy Kress-I’ve heard of her, and have some of her books waiting on my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads too. I may have to fix that soon. 4/5 stars
In the Event of the Moon Disaster by Rich Larsson
The final short story in this anthology. I didn’t much like this one as much as I did a few of the others on this anthology, but overall it wasn’t bad. 3/5 stars.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, not rounding up and leaving it at 4/5 stars.
Total 5 star Ratings: 5
Total 4 star Ratings: 8
Recommend It: Definite Must Read for Science Fiction fans, especially those who like survival stories, as well as moon based stories. Few female authors in this anthology, but still worth reading regardless. Thoroughly enjoyed!
{Review also posted on my blog + Netgalley!}
Review:
This was a fascinating anthology about the moon landings, or people living on the moon and I jumped at the chance to read and review this book. I’ve been reading a lot of short fiction lately, from anthology collections to Tor’s Free Short Story Archive, to random other tidbits I’ve found here and there. My goal is to read one short story a day, perhaps more depending on what mood I’m in, or how impactful the story was and how much it lingers with me. A brief description will be beneath the title/author followed by the rating.
Introduction by Neil Clarke
Not a short story, but still interesting regardless. 3/5 stars
Bagatelle by John Varley
Having read last year a book called Irontown Blues, book one of a new scifi series, I was intrigued to read more by this author. I was pleasantly surprised to find one of his many short stories within this anthology. It was definitely catchy, but not quite up to snuff. A talking bomb, a female police chief, and a man who seemed to be rather wacky who helps stop the bomb from going off. I may re-read it just to be sure I didn’t miss anything, but otherwise, I enjoyed it. 4/5 stars
The Eve of the Last Apollo by Carter Scholz
This author’s name is vaguely familiar, but for the life of me I honestly don’t recollect if I’ve read anything from them or not. None of the titles listed in the short autobiography at the beginning of the short story rang a bell either. Still this story was about an astronaut turning forty years old and having a midlife crisis. It was strange, yet built up to a tension where at the end of the story it petered out and overall felt flat. Not sure if I liked it or not, but interested in trying the author again later on. 3/5 stars
The Lunatics by Kim Stanley Robinson
I generally like KSR’s work, but this was not one of my favorites. I don’t know why, it just wasn’t grabbing me like his other science fiction works. The writing was good, but I couldn’t have cared less about the characters if I tried. 2/5 stars
Griffin’s Egg by Michael Swanwick
An unfamiliar author, this was a strange story where I really didn’t like the main guy character. He seemed rather…arrogant and annoying as hell. The story had potential, but overall…not for me. 3/5 stars
A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis
This was a beautiful survival story, and so far this one is my absolute favorite of the anthology, but with several more to go perhaps more little gems like this one will be found. Tricia is an awesome strong female character attempting to survive a crashed landing on the moon where her three friends have perished leaving her to survive a month alone until rescue can come. Amazingly told, and my favorite new short story. 5/5 stars
Waging Good by Robert Reed
Not one I was overly thrilled by, but still interesting regardless. Relatively short, but I’d have liked it longer I think. 2/5 stars
How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Paul J. McAuley
This was a bit more my speed! I really liked the main character’s voice in this one, and the idea of a black hole swallowing the moon because of an accident was fascinating. The evacuation process was well done and thorough, and the character Frank was likable. I wished there was more to this story. (At the end, it mentions it was written for Stephen Baxter, an author I know of but have never read.) 5/5 stars
People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter
Oh, okay. I mentioned in my last review I’ve never read Stephen Baxter, looks like I’m fixing that now, lol. Anyways, this short was intriguing, and I liked it. Overall, I wished it was longer-again I might add for another short story-but it was still nice and well written. 4/5 stars
Ashes and Tombstones by Brian Stableford
This was a strange story about a 200 some odd year old man who was being asked to attend a special ceremony wherein they were lifting off to start off a new era of the human race. Overall, I liked it, but it was strange and I’m not entirely sure what to make of the main character. 4/5 stars
Sun Night Yams at Minnie and Earls by Adam Troy Castro
This story had very strong Ray Bradbury vibes, with his Martian Chronicles but in a different way entirely. I liked the atmospheric build, the dog, and the ending. I do wish we got an actual explanation for Minnie and Earl, but I guess like the guy said-it doesn’t matter. 4/5 stars
Stories for Men by John Kessel
Having read his Pride and Prometheus last year and really liking it, this was a story that I was very excited to read. I love his writing style, and his characters are always absolutely fascinating. Stories for men featured a young man named Erno who struggles against the women in power, and attempts to find his place. It was a strange and bizarre story, but easily readable and enjoyable. 4/5 stars
You Will Go to the Moon by William Preston
I’ve never read this author before, but this story while having a sad ending, was well written and fascinating. How a man whose parents decide to go to the moon because his father read a children’s book called “You will go to the Moon”. The parents fly to the moon, and stay there. Sad ending, but well worth reading. 4/5 stars
SeniorSource by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A female author at last! At least I presume this is the first female author in the book, I’ll have to research the other authors to be sure. I’ve never heard of this author before, or read her books either. Overall, I liked this short story but again I wished there was more, though it did explain things fairly well. 3/5 stars
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas
I didn’t think there’d be another short story in here to top “A Walk in the Sun” but this I think did. While the previous story hit all my survival buttons, this one hit all my buttons too but in different ways. I loved how well written this was; though it was rather depressing at the end and I some of it was not pretty at all towards the middle for the main female character. Surviving alone in space for years takes its tole after all. 5/5 stars and a new favorite short story!
The Cassandra Project by Jack McDevitt
Two 5 star short stories in a row? Damn, this book is getting good! I have never read Jack McDevitt though I have heard of him, being the prolific and famous scifi author it’s kind of hard not to when you primarily read fantasy and science fiction. This was a build up to a rather intense ending, and I wish there were follow up stories to see how things turned out, and if people listened to the aliens warning after all. 5/5 stars
Fly Me To the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson
Another 5 star short story. This was another sad one, but filled with action sequences too, in a way. I liked how the author handled the aging astronaut, and the nods towards Apollo 13. It was well written, enjoyable, and with a lovely ending that I really liked. 5/5 stars
Tyche and the Ants by Hannu Rajaniemi
An author I have never heard of in the slightest, this was a strange and unusual story that didn’t really connect with me. But then I rather don’t care for stories that have bugs in them, even if it’s just alien ants. 2/5 stars
The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Michael Alexander and KC Ball
Another miss for me, and longer than some of the other stories in here as well. This was an interesting premise, but I didn’t much like the character and how they handled things, but I do agree that the moon should belong to everyone. 3/5 stars
The Fifth Dragon by Ian McDonald
This one flew right over my head. I didn’t understand the point of this story at all, though it was interesting and I had high hopes for it. A sad 2/5 stars.
Let Baser Things Devise by Berrien C. Henderson
Another one that I didn’t really like or enjoy reading. Strange, and not to my taste at all. 2/5 stars
The Moon is Not a Battlefield by Indrapramit Das
Love the title for this short story, and the story itself was interesting, unusual, and intense in some areas. I really liked how it turned out, and though the dialogue was a bit chunky in areas, it was still a good story. 4/5 stars
Every Hour of Light and Dark by Nancy Kress
Another miss, but better than the last ones that I���ve read aside from Battlefield above. It definitely has me intrigued by Nancy Kress-I’ve heard of her, and have some of her books waiting on my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads too. I may have to fix that soon. 4/5 stars
In the Event of the Moon Disaster by Rich Larsson
The final short story in this anthology. I didn’t much like this one as much as I did a few of the others on this anthology, but overall it wasn’t bad. 3/5 stars.
Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, not rounding up and leaving it at 4/5 stars.
Total 5 star Ratings: 5
Total 4 star Ratings: 8
Recommend It: Definite Must Read for Science Fiction fans, especially those who like survival stories, as well as moon based stories. Few female authors in this anthology, but still worth reading regardless. Thoroughly enjoyed!
{Review also posted on my blog + Netgalley!}
January 25, 2022
I have a writing project that involves moon colonisation, so I thought this would be a good primer on what other fiction has been written about the moon. And I was right! I feel much more versed and confident at the notion of adding imaginary things to our moon now.
However, I just don't share the curator's taste—unless, as he writes it really was a struggle to fill a book with moon stories, accounting for the quality. A lot of commercial American writing I find so baggy, takes them five pages to say anything. It turned out a lot of these stories had compelling premises, it just took them so long to bring them up and resolve them that the reading experience felt not that satisfactory and diluted. And with some of them, as always, I just couldn't work out what the hell was going on!
I even ended up skipping some of the stories towards the end, which it seems other readers enjoyed, just so I could finish it faster. Couldn't take any more regolith, airlocks or lava tubes!
Recommended for writing researchers like me wanting to do their due moon diligence :)
However, I just don't share the curator's taste—unless, as he writes it really was a struggle to fill a book with moon stories, accounting for the quality. A lot of commercial American writing I find so baggy, takes them five pages to say anything. It turned out a lot of these stories had compelling premises, it just took them so long to bring them up and resolve them that the reading experience felt not that satisfactory and diluted. And with some of them, as always, I just couldn't work out what the hell was going on!
I even ended up skipping some of the stories towards the end, which it seems other readers enjoyed, just so I could finish it faster. Couldn't take any more regolith, airlocks or lava tubes!
Recommended for writing researchers like me wanting to do their due moon diligence :)
September 7, 2019
The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is an anthology of twenty-four short stories which was collected and edited by Neil Clarke. This anthology collects two dozen short stories celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of landing on the Moon with a half a century worth of science fiction stories pertaining to the moon.
For the most part, I really like most of these contributions. The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is an anthology collection of two dozen science fiction stories centering on the moon covering a half a century. Written by a who's who of speculative fiction writers, entries include standard adventure fare, the ordinary and extraordinary earthly exploits of retired moon-landing astronauts, and philosophical examinations of a future that may yet come to pass. There are also widely varied takes on the future that was promised by the space age, but failed to arrive.
Like most anthologies there are weaker contributions and The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is not an exception. There were a couple of short stories that I didn't connect to as well as the others or was – comparatively speaking, not as written as well. However, it didn't dilute the overall enjoyment of the anthology.
All in all, The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is a well written anthology about lunar science fiction. This uneven but worthwhile collection will appeal to fans of futuristic science fiction and historic space race aficionados.
For the most part, I really like most of these contributions. The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is an anthology collection of two dozen science fiction stories centering on the moon covering a half a century. Written by a who's who of speculative fiction writers, entries include standard adventure fare, the ordinary and extraordinary earthly exploits of retired moon-landing astronauts, and philosophical examinations of a future that may yet come to pass. There are also widely varied takes on the future that was promised by the space age, but failed to arrive.
Like most anthologies there are weaker contributions and The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is not an exception. There were a couple of short stories that I didn't connect to as well as the others or was – comparatively speaking, not as written as well. However, it didn't dilute the overall enjoyment of the anthology.
All in all, The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is a well written anthology about lunar science fiction. This uneven but worthwhile collection will appeal to fans of futuristic science fiction and historic space race aficionados.
July 21, 2019
Rating of 4.85
July 30, 2020
It's not often that an anthology can boast, at least for this reader, that most of its stories are...good. almost every one of them rates a minimum of 3 stars, and quite a few were 4 stars, a couple Even approaching 5 stars!
P.156: from "Waging Good," by Robert Reed:
"the bug had belonged to his family, too old to use and not fancy enough to refurbish. She remembered darkness and the scent of old flowers. 'you brought me here -'
'- for sex, as I remember it." Varner laughed and glanced at the others, Seemingly asking them to laugh with him. 'how old where we?'
Too young, she recalled. The experience had been clumsy, and except for the fear of being caught, she'd had little fun. Why did anyone bother with sex? She would ask herself that For weeks. Even when she was old enough, screwing Varner and most of her other male friends, part of Sitta Remained the doubtful child, the fun of it Merely fun, just another little pleasure to be squeezed into long days and nights of busy idleness."
P.169:
"tens of thousands live together, few of whom could be called old by Farside standards. Children outnumbered adults, except they weren't genuine children. They reminded Sitta of 5 and 6 year old adults, working in the fields and tiny factories, worldly in all things, including their play. The most popular game was a pretend funeral. They used wild rats, skinning them just as human bodies were skinned, pulling out organs to be transplanted into other rats, just as humans harvested whatever they could use from their own dead, implanting body parts with the help of primitive autodocs, dull knives, and weak laser beams.
"by law, each district in the city had one funeral each day. 1 or fifty bodies - skinned, and if clean enough, emptied of liver, kidneys and hearts - were buried in a single ceremony, always at dusk, always as the blister - colored sun-touched the remote Horizon. There was never more than one hole to dig and refill. Terrans were wonders at digging Graves. They always knew where to sink them and how deep, then just what words to say Over The Departed, and the best ways to comfort a woman from farside who insisted on taking death personally."
P.250: from "Sunday Night Yams with Minnie and Earl," by Adam-Troy Castro:
"I tried to turn the conversation back to where he was from, but somehow I didn't get a chance, because that's when Minnie took me by the hand and dragged me over to the wall of family photos. There were pictures of them smiling on the couch, pictures of them lounging together in the backyard, pictures of them standing proudly before their home. There were a large number of photos that used Earth as a backdrop. Only four photos showed them with other people, all from the last century: in one, they sat at their dining table with a surprised looking Neil Armstrong and buzz Aldrin; in another, they sat on their porch swing chatting with Carl Sagan; in a third, Minnie was being enthusiastically hugged by Isaac Asimov; the fourth showed Earl playing the upright piano while Minnie sat beside him and a tall, thin blond man with androgynous features and two differently colored eyes serenaded them both. The last figure was the only one I didn't recognize immediately; by the time somebody finally clued me in, several visits later, I would be far too jaded to engage in the spit-take it would have merited any other time."
P.297: from "Stories for Men," by John Kessel:
" 'there's a solar storm warning,' Erno said. 'aren't you worried?'
'we're not going to be out long.'
'I was at the meeting,'Erno said.
'I saw you,' Tyler said. 'cute girl, the dark-skinned one. Watch out. You know what they used to say on Earth?'
'what?'
'if women didn't have control of all the pussy, they'd have bounties on their heads.'
Erno laughed. 'how can you say that? They're our sisters, our mothers.'
'and they still have control of all the pussy.' "
P.324:
" 'women shit on you, and you don't care.'
'There are women just like me. We have what we want. I work. I read. I grow my plants. I have no desire to change the world. The world works for me.
'The genius of the founders, Erno --' Micah opened another drawer and started on the next rack of tomatoes, ' - was that they minimized the contact of males and females. They made it purely voluntary. Do you realize how many centuries men and women tore them self to pieces through forced intimacy? In every marriage, the decades of lying that paid for every week of pleasure? That the vast majority of men and women, when they spoke honestly, regretted the day they had ever married?' "
P.375: from "You Will Go to the Moon," by William Preston:
" 'they recommend only a month at a time," he said. 'anymore, and you can't get insured, due to the radiation. Plus, you'd be stupid. I mean, you won't turn stupid, which is what one guy I know thinks, he won't come up here for anything, but you'd be stupid to do that to your genes.'
'too much damage.'
'yeah." He faced forward as he talked, letting his head roll my way every sentence or so to catch my eyes, then rolling back. He didn't talk loudly, probably out of deference to his sleeping companion. 'now, I've had my kids, have three kids, so it's not like I'm damaging genetic inheritance. But cancer's a risk. That'd take a longer exposure, and the safety regs are pretty conservative.'
'but what about the people living there?'
'the shielding's not useless. But it's not like it really blocks much. Some rays pour right on through. Human exposure's never been tested, and now that you can't test animals, it's a bit of a crapshoot. That's why people don't spend more than a few months up there. It's a stepping stone to better work back on the big Blue marble. Even for the administrators. Though I'll tell you, they've got experimental shielding on the quarters of some bigwigs. The government people especially. I helped install some last year.'
'my parents... ' I said but didn't know how to finish the thought. They'd been there half a year already.
'How old are they?' I told him. 'see, again, it's not like they're going to have more kids. Nobody in the retirement facilities is. I mean, I suppose something bizarre could happen, but nobody's planning for kids. And people are pretty old, most of them older than your parents. The low grav feels good. The radiation... I'm repeating myself, but it's a crapshoot.
'in any case,' he said, 'they can't leave now.' I waited for him to turn my way again. When he did, he saw that I didn't follow his thinking.
'you know.'
'maybe I don't,' I said.
'their muscles. They couldn't handle Earth gravity now. It's been too long, or it's pretty near to too long. You lose muscle mass, I don't care how much you work out. And your bones get fragile, like bird bones. Your heart, that's the big one. It gets accustomed to pumping on the moon. You take it back to Earth...' He saw I hadn't thought about any of this; his eyes had trouble rising to mine. 'well, they'd probably not survive the trip.' "
P.156: from "Waging Good," by Robert Reed:
"the bug had belonged to his family, too old to use and not fancy enough to refurbish. She remembered darkness and the scent of old flowers. 'you brought me here -'
'- for sex, as I remember it." Varner laughed and glanced at the others, Seemingly asking them to laugh with him. 'how old where we?'
Too young, she recalled. The experience had been clumsy, and except for the fear of being caught, she'd had little fun. Why did anyone bother with sex? She would ask herself that For weeks. Even when she was old enough, screwing Varner and most of her other male friends, part of Sitta Remained the doubtful child, the fun of it Merely fun, just another little pleasure to be squeezed into long days and nights of busy idleness."
P.169:
"tens of thousands live together, few of whom could be called old by Farside standards. Children outnumbered adults, except they weren't genuine children. They reminded Sitta of 5 and 6 year old adults, working in the fields and tiny factories, worldly in all things, including their play. The most popular game was a pretend funeral. They used wild rats, skinning them just as human bodies were skinned, pulling out organs to be transplanted into other rats, just as humans harvested whatever they could use from their own dead, implanting body parts with the help of primitive autodocs, dull knives, and weak laser beams.
"by law, each district in the city had one funeral each day. 1 or fifty bodies - skinned, and if clean enough, emptied of liver, kidneys and hearts - were buried in a single ceremony, always at dusk, always as the blister - colored sun-touched the remote Horizon. There was never more than one hole to dig and refill. Terrans were wonders at digging Graves. They always knew where to sink them and how deep, then just what words to say Over The Departed, and the best ways to comfort a woman from farside who insisted on taking death personally."
P.250: from "Sunday Night Yams with Minnie and Earl," by Adam-Troy Castro:
"I tried to turn the conversation back to where he was from, but somehow I didn't get a chance, because that's when Minnie took me by the hand and dragged me over to the wall of family photos. There were pictures of them smiling on the couch, pictures of them lounging together in the backyard, pictures of them standing proudly before their home. There were a large number of photos that used Earth as a backdrop. Only four photos showed them with other people, all from the last century: in one, they sat at their dining table with a surprised looking Neil Armstrong and buzz Aldrin; in another, they sat on their porch swing chatting with Carl Sagan; in a third, Minnie was being enthusiastically hugged by Isaac Asimov; the fourth showed Earl playing the upright piano while Minnie sat beside him and a tall, thin blond man with androgynous features and two differently colored eyes serenaded them both. The last figure was the only one I didn't recognize immediately; by the time somebody finally clued me in, several visits later, I would be far too jaded to engage in the spit-take it would have merited any other time."
P.297: from "Stories for Men," by John Kessel:
" 'there's a solar storm warning,' Erno said. 'aren't you worried?'
'we're not going to be out long.'
'I was at the meeting,'Erno said.
'I saw you,' Tyler said. 'cute girl, the dark-skinned one. Watch out. You know what they used to say on Earth?'
'what?'
'if women didn't have control of all the pussy, they'd have bounties on their heads.'
Erno laughed. 'how can you say that? They're our sisters, our mothers.'
'and they still have control of all the pussy.' "
P.324:
" 'women shit on you, and you don't care.'
'There are women just like me. We have what we want. I work. I read. I grow my plants. I have no desire to change the world. The world works for me.
'The genius of the founders, Erno --' Micah opened another drawer and started on the next rack of tomatoes, ' - was that they minimized the contact of males and females. They made it purely voluntary. Do you realize how many centuries men and women tore them self to pieces through forced intimacy? In every marriage, the decades of lying that paid for every week of pleasure? That the vast majority of men and women, when they spoke honestly, regretted the day they had ever married?' "
P.375: from "You Will Go to the Moon," by William Preston:
" 'they recommend only a month at a time," he said. 'anymore, and you can't get insured, due to the radiation. Plus, you'd be stupid. I mean, you won't turn stupid, which is what one guy I know thinks, he won't come up here for anything, but you'd be stupid to do that to your genes.'
'too much damage.'
'yeah." He faced forward as he talked, letting his head roll my way every sentence or so to catch my eyes, then rolling back. He didn't talk loudly, probably out of deference to his sleeping companion. 'now, I've had my kids, have three kids, so it's not like I'm damaging genetic inheritance. But cancer's a risk. That'd take a longer exposure, and the safety regs are pretty conservative.'
'but what about the people living there?'
'the shielding's not useless. But it's not like it really blocks much. Some rays pour right on through. Human exposure's never been tested, and now that you can't test animals, it's a bit of a crapshoot. That's why people don't spend more than a few months up there. It's a stepping stone to better work back on the big Blue marble. Even for the administrators. Though I'll tell you, they've got experimental shielding on the quarters of some bigwigs. The government people especially. I helped install some last year.'
'my parents... ' I said but didn't know how to finish the thought. They'd been there half a year already.
'How old are they?' I told him. 'see, again, it's not like they're going to have more kids. Nobody in the retirement facilities is. I mean, I suppose something bizarre could happen, but nobody's planning for kids. And people are pretty old, most of them older than your parents. The low grav feels good. The radiation... I'm repeating myself, but it's a crapshoot.
'in any case,' he said, 'they can't leave now.' I waited for him to turn my way again. When he did, he saw that I didn't follow his thinking.
'you know.'
'maybe I don't,' I said.
'their muscles. They couldn't handle Earth gravity now. It's been too long, or it's pretty near to too long. You lose muscle mass, I don't care how much you work out. And your bones get fragile, like bird bones. Your heart, that's the big one. It gets accustomed to pumping on the moon. You take it back to Earth...' He saw I hadn't thought about any of this; his eyes had trouble rising to mine. 'well, they'd probably not survive the trip.' "
July 28, 2019
Originally published at Reading Reality
Just in time for the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 comes The Eagle Has Landed, a collection of stories, set on the Moon, that were written sometime AFTER that historic voyage.
One of the interesting things, at least from the editor’s perspective, is how relatively few lunar-set stories there actually were, particularly in the immediate post-Apollo years. His speculation is that changing the first lunar landing from fiction to history moved lunar-set stories too close to a potential and seemingly reachable very-near-future pushed the concept out of science fiction.
And while we know from the perspective of hindsight that Apollo 11’s achievement marked the beginning of the end rather than the end of the beginning that we hoped for, no one knew it at the time. Possibly were afraid of that possibility, but didn’t know for certain. And hoped their fears were wrong.
Another possibility thrown out was that Heinlein’s classic, and at the time relatively recent The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966), had, at least temporarily, taken all the air out of the fictional lunar room and no one wanted to jump in after the master. Even though Heinlein’s attitudes about women seem antediluvian 50 years later, I reread the thing not long ago and a surprising amount of it still holds up. And the ending still makes me tear up.
But the thing that struck me about this collection, particularly in contrast with some of Heinlein’s pre-Apollo lunar stories, not just Moon but also Gentlemen, Be Seated and even in a peculiar way The Man Who Sold the Moon, is just how dark the post-Apollo stories are in comparison to the pre-Apollo stories.
There was a lot of hope in those earlier stories. Not remotely scientifically based as we know now, but a buoyancy of spirit. We were going to get “out there” and it was going to be at least as good, if not better, than the present. Even if it took a revolution to get there.
Escape Rating B: The first several stories in this collection are seriously bleak. Either the moon is a wasteland, the Earth is, or both. Those dark futures probably mirror the state of the world at the time. Having lived through the 1970s, they seemed more hopeful in a lot of ways, but there were plenty of clouds were looming on the horizon – and some of those clouds were filled with acid rain.
And as far as the space program was concerned, all the air had been let out of its tires after the lunar landing. The uphill drive to reach the moon had been exhilarating, but the downhill slide was pretty grim.
A couple of the stories really got to me in their bleakness, A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis and Waging Good by Robert Reed.
One of the other notable things about this collection is that, until Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s fascinating story, SeniorSource (2008), all of the stories were written by men. And that reflects the genre at the time. Female science fiction writers were thin on the ground until this century, as were writers of color – who are also singularly absent in the collection until that point.
I loved SeniorSource because it reminded me so much of the author’s Retrieval Artist series, which is also set on the moon (and which I now have a yen to reread). SeniorSource is a combination of SF with mystery, as is the Retrieval Artist series as a whole. But what I enjoyed about it in comparison with the earlier stories is that it’s a life goes on story. It’s set in a future that seems both plausible but not catastrophic. Life goes on, humans do human, and there is a future that is not bleak, but different.
From there the collection does look up. It’s an excellent sampling of post-Apollo lunar fiction, and a view of just how much the genre has changed over time. That being said, if you’re already blue, there’s a bit too much to depress you further in this book. But definitely an interesting read, and well worth savoring – possibly in bits to lighten the darkness a bit.
Just in time for the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 comes The Eagle Has Landed, a collection of stories, set on the Moon, that were written sometime AFTER that historic voyage.
One of the interesting things, at least from the editor’s perspective, is how relatively few lunar-set stories there actually were, particularly in the immediate post-Apollo years. His speculation is that changing the first lunar landing from fiction to history moved lunar-set stories too close to a potential and seemingly reachable very-near-future pushed the concept out of science fiction.
And while we know from the perspective of hindsight that Apollo 11’s achievement marked the beginning of the end rather than the end of the beginning that we hoped for, no one knew it at the time. Possibly were afraid of that possibility, but didn’t know for certain. And hoped their fears were wrong.
Another possibility thrown out was that Heinlein’s classic, and at the time relatively recent The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966), had, at least temporarily, taken all the air out of the fictional lunar room and no one wanted to jump in after the master. Even though Heinlein’s attitudes about women seem antediluvian 50 years later, I reread the thing not long ago and a surprising amount of it still holds up. And the ending still makes me tear up.
But the thing that struck me about this collection, particularly in contrast with some of Heinlein’s pre-Apollo lunar stories, not just Moon but also Gentlemen, Be Seated and even in a peculiar way The Man Who Sold the Moon, is just how dark the post-Apollo stories are in comparison to the pre-Apollo stories.
There was a lot of hope in those earlier stories. Not remotely scientifically based as we know now, but a buoyancy of spirit. We were going to get “out there” and it was going to be at least as good, if not better, than the present. Even if it took a revolution to get there.
Escape Rating B: The first several stories in this collection are seriously bleak. Either the moon is a wasteland, the Earth is, or both. Those dark futures probably mirror the state of the world at the time. Having lived through the 1970s, they seemed more hopeful in a lot of ways, but there were plenty of clouds were looming on the horizon – and some of those clouds were filled with acid rain.
And as far as the space program was concerned, all the air had been let out of its tires after the lunar landing. The uphill drive to reach the moon had been exhilarating, but the downhill slide was pretty grim.
A couple of the stories really got to me in their bleakness, A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis and Waging Good by Robert Reed.
One of the other notable things about this collection is that, until Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s fascinating story, SeniorSource (2008), all of the stories were written by men. And that reflects the genre at the time. Female science fiction writers were thin on the ground until this century, as were writers of color – who are also singularly absent in the collection until that point.
I loved SeniorSource because it reminded me so much of the author’s Retrieval Artist series, which is also set on the moon (and which I now have a yen to reread). SeniorSource is a combination of SF with mystery, as is the Retrieval Artist series as a whole. But what I enjoyed about it in comparison with the earlier stories is that it’s a life goes on story. It’s set in a future that seems both plausible but not catastrophic. Life goes on, humans do human, and there is a future that is not bleak, but different.
From there the collection does look up. It’s an excellent sampling of post-Apollo lunar fiction, and a view of just how much the genre has changed over time. That being said, if you’re already blue, there’s a bit too much to depress you further in this book. But definitely an interesting read, and well worth savoring – possibly in bits to lighten the darkness a bit.
January 1, 2022
I consider myself a sci-fi reader, but not very formally: I haven't read a lot of the early "classics." My science knowledge and interest is broad: I don't know the details of early space exploration (which all happened before I was born). More knowledge in either or both of those areas would have made this collection a better reading experience.
The stories are organized by publication date, and each is preceded by a paragraph or two about the author (education, awards, nominations, other publications). What would have been more useful for me would have been to substitute that bio info with context: what was happening in space exploration when the author first had the idea for this story? what was going on in the world that was relevant when the story was written and published? Only a very small handful of authors were ones I was familiar with, and there was only one that I wrote down to look for more of their work, so the bio paragraphs weren't useful at all. If including contextual information, it would have been interesting to have the stories organized chronologically based on their settings, rather than their pub dates.
I was expecting more "men write women" moments, especially among the older stories. There was really only one in which a character (female of course) titted down the hallway, because of course clothing is optional in a climate-controlled environment. This police officer wore nothing more than boots and utility belt, which doesn't seem smart for possible law enforcement needs, but all the better to show off her low-gravity physique. [bleh]
While the stories varied widely in their focus and writing, there was, happily, only one that I absolutely couldn't read: something by a university physicist-type that used multiple fonts, alternated between a stream-of-consciousness feel and something that was trying to be a "modern" kind of free-form poem, and made no sense at all. I tried, and I could not.
Give to sci-fi fans who are more devoted than me to early trends and history.
The stories are organized by publication date, and each is preceded by a paragraph or two about the author (education, awards, nominations, other publications). What would have been more useful for me would have been to substitute that bio info with context: what was happening in space exploration when the author first had the idea for this story? what was going on in the world that was relevant when the story was written and published? Only a very small handful of authors were ones I was familiar with, and there was only one that I wrote down to look for more of their work, so the bio paragraphs weren't useful at all. If including contextual information, it would have been interesting to have the stories organized chronologically based on their settings, rather than their pub dates.
I was expecting more "men write women" moments, especially among the older stories. There was really only one in which a character (female of course) titted down the hallway, because of course clothing is optional in a climate-controlled environment. This police officer wore nothing more than boots and utility belt, which doesn't seem smart for possible law enforcement needs, but all the better to show off her low-gravity physique. [bleh]
While the stories varied widely in their focus and writing, there was, happily, only one that I absolutely couldn't read: something by a university physicist-type that used multiple fonts, alternated between a stream-of-consciousness feel and something that was trying to be a "modern" kind of free-form poem, and made no sense at all. I tried, and I could not.
Give to sci-fi fans who are more devoted than me to early trends and history.
January 28, 2021
In his introduction, Clarke mentions that he had difficulty finding short stories that fit the theme. It's clear he tried, but a few of the stories in this collection have only the most tenuous connection to the moon. I have to admit I found most of the short stories collected here to be mediocre at best, with a few that were just flat out tedious. "The Eve of the Last Apollo" only barely had a moon theme and was a dismal story to boot, "Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's" came across like a cheesy Twilight Zone episode, "Stories for Men" was sufficiently off-putting in its first few pages that I skipped it completely, and "We Will Go To The Moon" was exasperating in its entire premise. Of the remainder of the stories in this collection, many of them focus on how crappy it will be to live on the moon, especially if it's all private industry putting people there. Which is a fair assessment, honestly, but it got a little repetitive after a while. I would have liked to see some different angles on moon settlement and humanity's future there.
Nancy Kress's work "Every Hour of Light and Dark" is one of the standouts in this book, with an interesting premise. John Varley's "Bagatelle" was decent if a little dated. The other stories -- there are 24 total -- are mostly unremarkable. Overall, I thought this was a cool premise for a short story collection but disappointing in execution, owing mainly to an evident lack of lunar-focused short fiction.
Nancy Kress's work "Every Hour of Light and Dark" is one of the standouts in this book, with an interesting premise. John Varley's "Bagatelle" was decent if a little dated. The other stories -- there are 24 total -- are mostly unremarkable. Overall, I thought this was a cool premise for a short story collection but disappointing in execution, owing mainly to an evident lack of lunar-focused short fiction.
October 22, 2022
This is a collection limited by its stated theme: SF stories about the moon written after we landed on it. The editor himself notes the limitation in the intro - once we landed on it, it stopped being exotic and authors moved on to other locales. In fact, the selection of stories from the '70s and '80s was almost nil. It was until the '90s and 2000s, when a new generation of authors started writing, that the moon again was a legitimate setting for an SF story.
The first story is by far my favorite. In this one a sentient bomb appears in a lunar city, bragging on what it is and how destructive it will be. It even provides a helpful countdown. Other stories provide a Ballardian post-Apollo depression (and why isn't Ballard in here?), a yearning to return, and finally a few stories that attempt to be a more realistic depiction of what could happen up there. Again, not always as exciting as stories not limited to a lunar setting (to me), but definitely on the mark theme-wise.
I hope the editor gets a chance to update the intro regarding our plans to revisit the moon. When he wrote it, we only had general plans to return there by 2028. Now that the president has announced (and Congress has funded) a landing in 2024, that is worth nothing in the intro. It may also drive a few books sales for Mr. Clarke.
The first story is by far my favorite. In this one a sentient bomb appears in a lunar city, bragging on what it is and how destructive it will be. It even provides a helpful countdown. Other stories provide a Ballardian post-Apollo depression (and why isn't Ballard in here?), a yearning to return, and finally a few stories that attempt to be a more realistic depiction of what could happen up there. Again, not always as exciting as stories not limited to a lunar setting (to me), but definitely on the mark theme-wise.
I hope the editor gets a chance to update the intro regarding our plans to revisit the moon. When he wrote it, we only had general plans to return there by 2028. Now that the president has announced (and Congress has funded) a landing in 2024, that is worth nothing in the intro. It may also drive a few books sales for Mr. Clarke.
June 22, 2019
The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is a compilation of several short stories about man wanting to get to the moon and then actually establishing moon bases. As a child of the sixties we were promised that we'd probably live on the Moon. Perhaps, even Mars! Unfortunately, that dream was cut short in the mid-seventies. It's difficult to swallow that we've only sent a few men to the Moon and back.
I read the stories in the anthology in order of my fave authors. Starting off with Kim Stanley Robinson. I was surprised that there weren't any stories from the era when we were actually sending up rockets. But, one can feel the frustration of all of the authors.. wanting to rekindle the spark to drive mankind's journey back to the unknown exploration of space. Totally enjoyed reading most of the stories. And, I too wonder WHEN we shall return to our destination of traveling beyond our planet.
I read the stories in the anthology in order of my fave authors. Starting off with Kim Stanley Robinson. I was surprised that there weren't any stories from the era when we were actually sending up rockets. But, one can feel the frustration of all of the authors.. wanting to rekindle the spark to drive mankind's journey back to the unknown exploration of space. Totally enjoyed reading most of the stories. And, I too wonder WHEN we shall return to our destination of traveling beyond our planet.
July 24, 2019
I received this book for free through NetGalley.
The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is just what it says on the tin. It features stories set on or themed around the Moon, written during the last 50 years.
This anthology is a whopping 600 pages, which I did not realise before I started reading, so it took me a lot longer to read than I had expected.
Content-wise this was a mixed bag. Some of the stories were quite long and dragged a little. The variations on a theme can get boring after a while, although there were a number of amazingly original ideas in there too. Overall the writing quality was very high.
There were some great stories in here. My personal favourites were Griffin's Egg by Michael Swanwick, A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis, The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas, Fly Me to the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson and The Moon is Not a Battlefield by Indraprami Das.
The Eagle Has Landed: 50 Years of Lunar Science Fiction is just what it says on the tin. It features stories set on or themed around the Moon, written during the last 50 years.
This anthology is a whopping 600 pages, which I did not realise before I started reading, so it took me a lot longer to read than I had expected.
Content-wise this was a mixed bag. Some of the stories were quite long and dragged a little. The variations on a theme can get boring after a while, although there were a number of amazingly original ideas in there too. Overall the writing quality was very high.
There were some great stories in here. My personal favourites were Griffin's Egg by Michael Swanwick, A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis, The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas, Fly Me to the Moon by Marianne J. Dyson and The Moon is Not a Battlefield by Indraprami Das.
December 5, 2020
I was 15 the summer of the moon landing and an avid Apollo/space program follower. I had been into scifi for a few years before and Apollo was the epitome. I visited the space center a month or so below the Apollo 11 mission for the first time and watched everything on TV during the mission. I also ended up working for NASA through the entire shuttle program and the ASTP mission which was a dream come true. So when I saw this book I knew it was a must read. I enjoyed all the stories, except maybe one that was rather esoteric, and some particularly well with many by writers I have read in the past. I would call it a worth while and enjoyable read if you enjoy stories centered around the humans and the moon.
April 5, 2022
Yes, there were strories that were eminently readable. They included~
1. Bagatelle: John Varley;
2. Griffin's Egg: Michael Swanwick;
3. A Walk in the Sun: Geoffrey A. Landis;
4. How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Frank W. Allen: Paul McAuley;
5. SeniorSource: Kristine Kathryn Rusch;
6. The Cassandra Project: Jack McDevitt;
7. Fly Me to the Moon: Marianne J. Dyson;
8. Every Hour of Light and Dark: Nancy Kress.
Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by 'Meh' stuff that were simply too much and too big to be disregarded.
Nevertheless, a readable tome. But I think I have had enough of Mr. Clarke's selections.
1. Bagatelle: John Varley;
2. Griffin's Egg: Michael Swanwick;
3. A Walk in the Sun: Geoffrey A. Landis;
4. How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Frank W. Allen: Paul McAuley;
5. SeniorSource: Kristine Kathryn Rusch;
6. The Cassandra Project: Jack McDevitt;
7. Fly Me to the Moon: Marianne J. Dyson;
8. Every Hour of Light and Dark: Nancy Kress.
Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by 'Meh' stuff that were simply too much and too big to be disregarded.
Nevertheless, a readable tome. But I think I have had enough of Mr. Clarke's selections.
September 28, 2019
This collection of lunar-themed stories was an eclectic and enjoyable mix of tales that ranged from classical hard-science to mystery to near-fantasy. Also eclectic was the quality of stories; some were excellent while others were not at the same level. Of course, this is a very subjective observation, and should not dissuade anyone from picking up this volume and reading it for themselves.
January 20, 2020
There are some very good stories in this collection, some middling to good, and a few turkeys. The editor writes that it was difficult to find and/or clear rights for lunar stories published in the 70s and 80s - and to my mind he shouldn't have bothered with the few he found (I almost gave up on the collection!) Fortunately I persevered into the 90s and enjoyed more than I skipped.
June 5, 2019
Mr Clarke knows his stuff. This is a long, but solid collection of stories curated by a talented editor. With so many stories there are bound to be some you'll like less than others. But overall, a very good collection!
I really appreciate the complimentary copy for review!!
I really appreciate the complimentary copy for review!!
July 16, 2020
This book was published last year, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I should have read it a yea ago, but I seem to be late for almost everything. Anyway, it is an excellent collection -- not a weak story in its almost 600 pages!
March 22, 2021
I gave it a whole six hours of the 17 hour book and I just couldn’t put up with it anymore there was only one story that was any good I thought that was the walk in the sun. Otherwise it was terrible and full of horrible stuff and depressing cannibalism and yucky yucky yuck
September 29, 2020
all over the space
October 15, 2019
Great collection of short stories commemorating the 50th anniversary of Armstrong and Aldrin's landing on the moon. "Houston, Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed. " Good reads, some of them great reads. The best of this theme since the grandfather classic of them all from the grandmaster of science fiction: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, my vote for top ten Sci-fi reads ever.
December 31, 2019
Some quite good, some merely decent, and the remainder—awful.
Read
June 1, 2020Best (new to me) story was "A Walk in the Sun" by Geoffrey A. Landis
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