Habitats

by Susan Shwartz (Editor)

11 Science Fiction stories about artificial environments.

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Writes with Shariann Lewitt as Gordon Kendall.

She received her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College in 1972 and a PhD in English from Harvard University.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of short stories about habitats in space. The stories varied widely in their content and focus. One of my favorites was "Ramadhan", an interesting look at a culture and religion in the future and off-planet; the story was published in 1984, long before 9-11. "Tree House" also had a religious theme, but the Dyson trees floating in space were a unique habitat that held my attention. The last story, "Earthflight", reminded me of a 1960's young adult story where boy genius overcomes hardships to do well. The hardships he endured brought out my emotions, but the ending was too quickly slapped on without showing the changes the boy went through to reach his goal, except in a brief explanatory wrap-up. So the story could have been better. Other stories were interesting and well-written. The collection on the whole was worth a read.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original anthology exploring future living spaces. Stanley Schmidt offers a very Analog story about an endless ski run in an orbiting habitat. Infodumps aplenty in “The Folks Who Live On The Hill”. Tanith Lee takes us to a future where stored personae occasionally get to inhabit meat bodies in “A Day In The Skin”, Ian Watson takes us to the Arizona desert where a re-creation of Ancient Empires allows humans to examine themselves in “We Remember Babylon”, while Russell M. Griffin extrapolates “Government Work” to its logical reductio ad absurdum conclusion after a devastating war. In “Outcasts” by Graham Diamond a renegade ship seeks repairs and help from a way station planet. Unfortunately the only inhabitant is a prisoner; and Rachel Pollack takes us to a Dyson tree, an enormous airtight organism attached to a comet, that shelters hundreds of people who almost worship it, in “Tree House”. Jeffrey Carver explores a habitat not usually thought of as supporting life in “Life-Tides”, where a fixated scientist discovers where quasars come from but attracts the attention of a most unusual lifeform. J. P. Boyd gives us a coming-of-age tale about a young man with an enduring vision of flying over the great oceans between the continents in a doughnut-shaped habitat in “Earthflight”. Like a lot of commissioned anthologies this one is pretty patchy. There are some interesting tales and ideas but only the Pollack one really shines here. Worth a look.