Status Updates From The Rediscovery of Man: The...

"Himself In Anachron" - Once again we're exploring love strained — destroyed, even; perhaps hints of Smith's percolating Christian faith? — by fate, and man striving into the unknown. A spectacular ending sequence that foreshadows Dan Simmon's _Hyperion_. A great story.

“The Burning of the Brain” - Smith’s favourite themes—relationships strained by duty to the point of self-sacrifice; filial love and admiration—no frills.

“From Gustible’s Planet” - An uncharacteristically silly story. Darkly funny.

"The Game of Rat and Dragon" - Man and animal psychically team up to battle cosmic monsters while planoforming through the Up-and-Out. Very cool.

"The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-At-All" - A Colonel, world famous for mysteriously vanishing on the test-flight of an experimental method of interstellar travel, unexpectedly reappears. Except he's changed. Scientists, out of options, put aside their prejudices to employ the help of a psychic girl. An alluring story that could have used a bit more length!

"Think Blue, Count Two" - Another tale of stewards watching over cryogenic sleepers aboard an interstellar flight. Some strange techno-jargon regarding a mouse brain (!) paves the way for a short space thriller wherein a series of techno-specters (!) help thwart a maniac.

Eerie talk of a doomed journey "Old Twenty-two."

A brief reference to Helen America ties this to "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul."

"When the People Fell"
A fable told by a crotchety man with an artificially augmented lifespan, reminiscent of Heinlein's Lazarus Long. The Goonhogo from "War 81-Q"—perhaps the New Goonhogo, this presumably being many centuries later—is up to new machinations, pulling off a horrifyingly spectacular terraforming stunt. The first I've understood Bookpilled's description of Smith as scary.

Slower than the pacing a modern audience is used to, but just like older sci-fi creates a sort of dissonance in the hopes, worries and values portrayed, this collection add the dissonance created by coming from a culture that no longer exist (the USSR). A fascinating delve into it, but I think only writers and big sci-fi fans will get the most out of it.