The Founder Effect

by Robert E. Hampson, Sandra L. Medlock (Editor), Christopher L. Smith (Contributor)

AWARD-WINNING AND BEST-SELLING AUTHORS CONTRIBUTE NEW STORIES: All-new fiction from Dragon Award winner and New York Times best-selling author David Weber, Dragon Award nominee D.J. Butler, best seller Jody Lynn Nye, indie best sellers Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey, and more. Also featuring an introduction by multi-award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Larry Correia.It is 2185 CE. Humans now live throughout the Solar System, but their most ambitious adventure is about to begin. The starship Victoria will carry over 10,000 colonists to a new world outside the Solar System. The larger-than-life exploits of those colonists will become legendary. The colonists will build a new civilization, and the actions of a few individuals will become famous—and infamous—forever marking their new colony with the Founder Effect. These are their true stories. Larry Correia Mark H. Wandrey Les Johnson Christopher L. Smith David Weber Daniel M. Hoyt Brad R. Torgersen Monalisa Foster Sarah A. Hoyt Chris Kennedy Vivienne Raper Jody Lynn Nye Brent M. Roeder Catherine L. Smith Philip Wohlrab D.J. Butler About People of the Stars, co-edited by Robert E. “[A] thought-provoking look at a selection of real-world challenges and speculative fiction solutions. . . . Readers will enjoy this collection that is as educational as it is entertaining.”—Booklist “This was an enjoyable collection of science fiction dealing with colonizing the stars. In the collection were several gems and the overall quality was high.”—Tangent

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies

393 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Founder Effect is a collection of short stories by various authors that contribute to an overall story about the colonization of the Trappist-2 star system.
The Founder Effect is edited by Robert E. Hampson and Sandra L. Medlock with an introduction by Larry Correia.
There are several contributors which are as follows.
Contributors:
Larry Correia
Mark H. Wandrey
Les Johnson
Christopher L. Smith
David Weber
Daniel M. Hoyt
Brad R. Torgersen
Monalisa Foster
Sarah A. Hoyt
Chris Kennedy
Vivienne Raper
Jody Lynn Nye
Brent M. Roeder
Catherine L. Smith
Philip Wohlrab
D.J. Butler
I am not going to attempt to review the many stories but I will say that each one is well written and all contribute to making this collection seem more like a novel rather than an anthology.

[Wayne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This shared world anthology does a great job of gathering together some fantastic authors who produce some very good stories, all fitting into the premise created by Robert Hampson, one of the editors.

I'm hoping that there will be a follow-on volume, as there are some questions that I would to see answered, especially the cause of some of the worst troubles recounted.

[Robert Coyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure how this book got published. It consists of several authors writing short stories roughly in keeping with the main theme of traveling to and settling on a new planet.

The writing is amateurish and flat. The stories really add nothing to the SF genre. They are either ho hum-- been there--done that tropes or silly fight the bug eyed monster stories.

Also the science isn't very good.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Founder Effect is a set of linked short stories centered upon humanity's first effort at establishing a colony in a new star system. FE was a fun read. My favorite stories were Kamekura (Weber), Cerberus Project (Foster), No Word for Princes (Nye), The Lose of Beaver Flight (Roeder), Redemption (Wohlrab), and Fire from Heaven (Weber and Wandrey).

[Matthew Stienberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the number of authors involved, and the vague connecting storylines, what emerges is simply brilliant. A coherent story and timeline made from many different authors. It's a masterpiece of anthology fiction with many exciting stories to tell!