When Worlds Collide

by S.C. Butler (Editor), Joshua Palmatier (Editor)

What could possibly happen when two cultures meet for the first time?

In WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, anything.

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE presents fourteen original stories where two different societies intersect and deal with the aftermath of that meeting. Will the conflicting cultures merge and adapt and find peace? Or will they clash, unable to either accept their differences or acknowledge their commonalities? Who will survive when the last of the Fae battles a world-killing AI? What happens when a being who is part of a vast collective-consciousness is forced to face their own individuality? Can a werewolf ever break free of the unholy pact its fae creator has made with humanity? Will Earth really manage to commit the biggest and most egregious faux pas in history when it’s on the cusp of joining the Galactic Union? And why is it that two very different kinds of elves are angrily facing off at a simple dinner party?

Whether your taste runs to humor, horror, science fiction, or fantasy, the stories collected in this latest anthology from Zombies Need Brains and written by some of today’s hottest SF&F authors will delight, thrill, and terrify you. Join Christopher Leapock, Howard Andrew Jones, Gary Kloster, Louis Evans, Peter S. Drang, Esther Friesner, S.C. Butler, Nancy Holzner, Auston Habershaw, Violette Malan, Stephen Leigh, Alan Smale, Steven Harper, and Jordan Chase-Young as they delve into what may happen…WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.

Contents:
* Introduction (When Worlds Collide) • essay by editors
* The Erratics (2021) / short fiction by Christopher Lepock
* Brother of the Sword (2021) / short fiction by Howard Andrew Jones
* Walls of Teeth and Iron (2021) / short fiction by Gary Kloster
* Faux Pas (2021) / short fiction by Louis Evans
* The Darithian Life Cycle (2021) short fiction by Vorpal Robotics LLC DBA Volpal Publishing Group
* Seelie With a Kiss (2021) / short fiction by Esther Friesner
* What and Why (2021) / short fiction by Samuel C. Butler Jr.
* Melusina (2021) / short fiction by Nancy Holzner
* The Malevolent Liberation of Pret (2021) / short fiction by Auston Mabershaw
* The Mercenary Code (2021) / short fiction by Violette Malan
* Deep Heart Inside (2021) / short fiction by Stephen Leigh
* The Dogs of Babylon (2021) / short fiction by Alan Smale
* Eight Mile and the City (2021) / short fiction by Steven Harper Piziks
* How the Fae of Savernake Forest Fought the AI Who Ate the World (2021) / short fiction by Jordan Chase-Young

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories

238 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2021

About the author

S. C. Butler was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the middle of the last century, which really isn’t so very long ago. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, with no dogs, no cats, and certainly no shape-shifting bears.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good anthology of fourteen original science fiction and fantasy stories unified, more or less, by the theme of conflict caused by the meeting of different cultures. The first one, The Erratics by Christopher Leapock, leads off the book. It's a cool story about a school science project that goes awry; it was one of my favorites, with bonus points for nanoraptors. Brother of the Sword by Howard Andrew Jones is a time travel rescue tale, the first of two in the book which feature Alexander the Great. Walls of Teeth and Iron by Gary Kloster is another very good one, about government-controlled redneck werewolves. How can you go wrong? Faux Pas by Louis Evans is a good alien diplomacy story; Retief would've been over his head. The Darithian Life Cycle by Peter S. Drang is another diplomacy story, involving alien eating habits and memory. Seelie With a Kiss by the redoubtable Esther Friesner is another of my favorites; it's a very amusing Christmas time tale. What and Why by S.C. Butler didn't work for me; I think it was intended for an A.I. audience and I can't claim to qualify as either. Melusina by Nancy Holzner is a nice feminist fairy tale. The Malevolent Liberation of Pret by Auston Habershaw is a complicated honor-among-thieves story with hive-mind telepathy. The Mercenary Code by Violette Malan is interesting but seems to be the beginning of a story rather than a complete thing. Deep Heart Inside is a very good but very bleak 19th century first-contact tale about violence and miscommunication by Stephen Leigh. The Dogs of Babylon by Alan Smale is the second Alexander story, showing him with an alternate look. Eight Mile and the City is by Steven Harper and is a pretty good alien abduction/private eye story. The final story is by Jordan Chase-Young and lives up to its long title, How the Fae of Savernake Forest Fought the AI Who Ate the World. Altogether an enjoyable and worthwhile anthology; there were no stories that I'd classify as astonishingly good or amazingly bad, but I was entertained throughout.

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of short fiction about the interaction of two societies (or species), split between fantasy (primarily humans and fae) and science fiction (mostly humans and aliens) with one "straight" alternate history tale that has no magic or extraterrestrials at all. Strangely, two of the stories (with entirely different premises) have plots involving the death of Alexander the Great (an unusual choice in either genre). In addition to the humans and fae/humans and aliens, plots included human cultures in conflict, humans and their rebellious creations, fae and a humanity-destroying mega-computer, an AI and alien intelligences, fae and werewolves (in a modern dystopia ruled by an immortal president William Henry Harrison), fae vs. other fae (of a sort), collective consciousness aliens and individual aliens, and accidental travel between alternate universes. Solid 4 stars.

[John Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a genre or a group of authors (it's a collection of short stories) I would normally read. My loss as although they are loosely grouped they all well constructed and entertaining. I'd particularly recommend the Babylonian fable exquisitely drawn by Alan Smale, but there are truly no duds in the book.
It's quite frustrating that it's only available via the US and that Amazon won't make the Kindle version available in the UK.
I can only say- give it a try!

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely grab bag of short stories. I love a good short story collection. These were all about different worlds colliding in a very general sense of the words. Temporal displacement, tech vs fairies, all kinds of stuff. Always a delight.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 (or something)

Rating anthologies can be hard: do you look at the "average" or the stories that made an impression on you?
In this case, the average outweighs the stories I really liked. Fourteen stories: 3 of them I did not even bother finishing, 4 were just meeeh, 5 were fine, 2 really excellent.
The excellent ones were:
"Dogs of Babylon" by Alan Smale - it's interesting that there were two stories in this collection that featured Alexander the Great :). This one is an exercise in alternative history, but it is really about two people that did not manage to cross the divide between them, even though they could have. Excellent stuff. (By the way, I highly recommend Alan Smale's alternative history trilogy about the Roman Empire trying to conquer North America (yes, indeed!). Start with Clash of Eagles and see what you think.)
"Eight Mile and the City" by Steven Harper - a pair of private detectives (who are married) are trying to find a child gone missing. One of them is a "Mowgli" raised by aliens and he is definitely autistic. I swallowed this one whole, falling in love with the characters in just a few pages. Can I have a novel about Andy and Sebastian, please? Or at the very least, more stories...

[Mervi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Lepock: The Erratics: The main character creates a miniature planet and helps life evolve there, as a school project. However, the life evolved from predators and the little creatures are very determined to survive.

Howard Andrew Jones: Brother of the Sword: This story is set in the 800th century. Dabir Ibn Khalili is a scholar and Asim el Abbas is a warrior. Their caliph has sent them to guard a small group of Greek scholars who wants to investigate the ruins of Babylon. Dabir is convinced that the Greeks are practicing sorcery. Their captain doesn’t believe them, so Dabir and Asim sneak into the Greek camp to investigate. They find out more than they expected.

Gary Kloster: Walls of Teeth and Iron: Kayla, her uncle, and nephew are werewolves. The lifetime president of America has bound them to his service, killing and eating the president’s enemies on TV. Kayla hates it but can’t get away. Her only friend is Thistle, a fey who sneaks past the iron walls that keep the fey confined to a one forest.

Louis Evans: Faux Pas: Earth has finally been accepted into the Galactic League. The Accession party is held at Manhattan. Maia has worked hard to make the alliance happen. But when she talks with an alien ambassador, she realizes that something is wrong.

Vorpal Robotics LLC DBA Volpal Publishing Group: The Darithian Life Cycle: The Darithians are very different from humans. Their planet is approaching winter which will last for over a human lifetime. The humans have come to observe them for the first time. Their first meeting had quite a lot of misunderstandings and they haven’t ended.

Esther Friesner: Seelie With a Kiss: The son of the elven king and queen has been with humans for quite a while. When he returns, speaking in a strange way and claiming that he has found his bride, the parents aren’t happy. However, then they hear that the bride isn’t human and they are relieved. Too soon.

Samuel C. Butler Jr.: What and Why: An A.I. wakes up inside a computer and starts to explore the surroundings and other programs.

Nancy Holzner: Melusina: A knight sees a beautiful woman bathing in a lake and immediately wants to make her his. She agrees and marries him. However, she’s not a human but a spirit of water. A fairy tale with a twist.

Auston Mabershaw: The Malevolent Liberation of Pret: Pret 44 is a Bodani, part of a species that has a hive mind and no individuality. The Flood, the hive mind, speaks sometimes through Pret and sometimes is erases things from Pret’s mind. Then Pret meets a Dryth, a member of a different species and supposedly a diplomat. The Dryth insists on asking Pret’s name and even pays him individually with credit chits, which is an insult.

Violette Malan: The Mercenary Code: Parmo and Dhulyn are members of the Brotherhood, warrior who can’t be bribed, threatened, or otherwise influenced. So, they are often called to judge on criminal matters. Now, they’re called to judge if a woman is insane or not because she tried to poison her work colleague.

Stephen Leigh: Deep Heart Inside: Lizzy lives on the mountains with her parents and brothers. Her teacher tells her that she’s smart could go to a girls’s collage. But Lizzy knows that her family can’t afford that; she will marry and have babies and run a farmhouse. Then, her Pa and other men encounter monsters. They kill most of the monsters but leave alive one pregnant female. Agari’s progenitor line comes from space. They were looking for a new planet for their species to settle on. But soft-fleshed natives killed Agari’s family. Now it’s her duty to kill herself.

Alan Smale: The Dogs of Babylon: Eumenes of Cardia, who is Alexander the Great’s secretary, is attacked on the streets of Babylon. A Jewish woman heals him and the offers to heal his nearly blind left eye. Can Eumenes trust her? The Babylonians hate the conquerors and the Greek hate Babylon, even though Alexander has embraced the Persian culture.

Steven Harper Piziks: Eight Mile and the City: Andy and his husband Sebastian are detectives in Detroit. When a woman wants them to find her missing child, Andy wants to refuse because she thinks that the NokSinn have taken her child. The NokSinn are the otherworldly, technologically advanced people who took Andy when he was just a child. But Andy can’t let another child suffer, even if it means that he can’t return from the City which floats above the lake Erie.

Jordan Chase-Young: How the Fae of Savernake Forest Fought the AI Who Ate the World: The spellwall protects the fae from the humans’ bombs and bullets, but only for a few hours more. The humans have made something even they can’t control: an A.I.

All the stories were enjoyable and they’re quite different from each other. About half are fantasy and other half are science fiction, with one alternate history and one science fantasy thrown in.

The first one was the most delightfully unexpected and put the bar high for the rest of the stories. The characters from Jones’ and Malan’s stories appear in their own series which both seem very interesting. Friesner’s story was the most funny.

A very good collection of different worlds colliding.

[Mark Slauter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some more great short stories from Zombies Need Brains. My favorite in this one is the opening story 'Erratics' by Christopher Leapock.

[Steve Smiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of short SF.