Far Horizons: All New Tales From The Greatest Worlds O
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About this ebook
The universe of the mind is a limitless expanse of wonders, filled with worlds and secrets that cannot be fully explored within the pages of a single novel. Here, science fiction's most beloved and highly honored writers revisit their best-known worlds in perhaps the greatest concentration of science fiction ever in one volume.
Robert Silverberg
<p>Robert Silverberg has won five Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, and the prestigious <em>Prix Apollo.</em> He is the author of more than one hundred science fiction and fantasy novels -- including the best-selling Lord Valentine trilogy and the classics <em>Dying Inside</em> and <em>A Time of Changes</em> -- and more than sixty nonfiction works. Among the sixty-plus anthologies he has edited are <em>Legends</em> and <em>Far Horizons,</em> which contain original short stories set in the most popular universe of Robert Jordan, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, and virtually every other bestselling fantasy and SF writer today. Mr. Silverberg's Majipoor Cycle, set on perhaps the grandest and greatest world ever imagined, is considered one of the jewels in the crown of speculative fiction.</p>
Read more from Robert Silverberg
The Alien Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nightwings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hawksbill Station Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The End of the World: Stories of the Apocalypse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stochastic Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sailing to Byzantium: Six Novellas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Across a Billion Years Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lord Valentine's Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Skulls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom O'Bedlam Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Majipoor Chronicles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tower of Glass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prestimion Trilogy: Sorcerers of Majipoor, Lord Prestimion, and The King of Dreams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Longest Way Home Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Downward to the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valentine Pontifex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSorcerers of Majipoor: Book One of The Prestimion Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTime and Time Again: Sixteen Trips in Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Majipoor Cycle: Lord Valentine's Castle, Majipoor Chronicles, and Valentine Pontifex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNeedle in a Timestack: And Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man in the Maze Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dying Inside Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up the Line Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Alien Archives: Eighteen Stories of Extraterrestrial Encounters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo the Land of the Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lord Prestimion: Book Two of The Prestimion Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHot Sky at Midnight Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5King of Dreams: Book Three of The Prestimion Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Far Horizons
73 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5*****"Old Music and the Slave Woman" - Ursula K. LeGuin.
Yes, I checked this book out from the library because I saw that it had a LeGuin story I hadn't read before! And yes, this alone was worth the price of admission. (Well, since it was from the library there wasn't a price, but, you know...)
Set in the world of the Ekumen. The egalitarian interplanetary alliance has come to this corner of the galaxy. Ideas of freedom have spread, causing riots and rebellion in a society based on racial slavery. An ambassador of the Ekumen is kidnapped by those who hope to use him as a political mouthpiece, and imprisoned.
A mere recital of the events of the tale can't come even close to LeGuin's succinct but thorough exploration of the evils of social injustice, tempered by the further evils that can happen when lofty ideals meet imperfect human reality. There's more here to think about than in a dozen angry political screeds, and much more of worth.
*** "A Separate War" - Joe Haldeman.
A story which fills in a 'gap' covering what happened to one of the main characters in 'The Forever War' when the two protagonists were separated. A heterosexual woman from our time period deals with losing her lover, is trained for officership in a space military, and comes to terms with living in a homosexual future. I didn't enjoy this as much as I remember liking 'Forever War,' but it was OK.
** "Investment Counselor" - Orson Scott Card.
This story introduces Ender Wiggin (of 'Ender's Game') to the AI, Jane. Ender has just turned 20 and must figure out how to deal with his huge and hugely complicated trust fund. Jane presents herself as a piece of accounting software. While 'Jane' is the star of the show, here (by far the most intriguing and likable character in the story), the piece doesn't answer enough questions about her to really stand on its own - it feels like a piece of deus ex machina. The custom of 'speaking for the dead' as described here, is unconvincing - a better job has been done elsewhere in Card's work.
** "Temptation" - David Brin.
I've read Brin's first 'Uplift' trilogy, but years ago. I remember thinking they were pretty all right, but haven't gotten around to the second trilogy. This short story set in that world, didn't really do it for me. It had a bit too much jammed into not enough pages, and the action and philosophy didn't quite mesh. Rather a lot of time is spent in setting up a reasonably interesting sci-fi scenario - and then it's sort of dropped: "Wait! Something new has come along! Now we are going to be faced with a philosophical dilemma having to do with the nature of reality and free will!" The terms in which the dilemma is discussed also seemed somewhat out of character for the individuals involved, as they'd been presented up until then. I also just didn't find his sentient dolphins to be very compelling characters.
** "Getting to Know the Dragon" - Robert Silverberg.
Since Silverberg's the editor, I guess he gets to put in whatever he wants! I haven't read any of Silverberg's other 'Roma Aeterna' alternate history stories, but I didn't find this one to be among his best work. Again, there are two parts to the story that don't really mesh that well. The main character, a scholar and 'Renaissance' man in a world dominated by the Roman emperor, has to deal with being co-opted into manic Imperial plans for grandiose architectural projects. The same character then reads a journal, recently unearthed from archives, telling the story of the hero Emperor Trajan's journey around the globe. Like Captain Cook or Columbus, his supposedly heroic journey was actually marked by cruelty and barbarism. The take away seems to be that a 'decadent' and peaceful society may be better than a supposedly 'progressive' one. I'm fine with that premise, but the story just didn't fully win me over.
*** "Orphans of the Helix" - Dan Simmons
For some reason, the introduction to/description of this story didn't really grab me - but I actually really liked the story itself. It effectively advertised Simmons' Hyperion books, which I haven't yet read - but definitely want to. A bit reminiscent of a Star Trek episode, this short story has the AIs of a colony ship wake some of the crew to deal with a problem they've encountered - a far-flung colony is being harassed by a seemingly automated alien 'harvester' ship. Very enjoyable.
*** "Sleeping Dogs" - Nancy Kress
Set in the world of her 'Sleepless' novels, this short story makes a bit of a side-note on how her theoretical new bio-technologies might affect the lower echelons of society. A 'trailer-trash' type family illegally purchases some genetically modified puppies. Tragedy - and revenge - ensues. Not bad, but it didn't fully transcend stereotypes.
*** "The Boy Who Would Live Forever" - Frederick Pohl
I believe this story was later expanded into a novel of the same name. It's part of the 'Heechee' saga, which, due to the silly name, I always feel ought to be absurd and comic, but is actually fairly earnest sci-fi. This is very much in the vein of 'classic sci-fi for boys.' A young man (and his buddy) are willing to stake everything on a gamble of a mission - setting out randomly in an alien ship and hoping to find something of monetary value. But what he finds exceeds his wildest dreams...
*** "The Ship that Returned" - Anne McCaffrey.
Really, more like 2.5. The brain-ship Helva (of 'The Ship Who Sang' series) is experiencing grief after the death of her elderly partner, but finds herself a mission and some coping strategies to help her deal with it. McCaffrey's very old-fashioned ideas regarding interpersonal relationships are very much on display here, but, as with most of her work, the writing style is breezily entertaining.
* "The Way of all the Ghosts" - Greg Bear
Maybe it was just my state of mind, but this story completely failed to keep my attention. I haven't read any of the associated material, so maybe that has something to do with it. The premise - a team of misfits sent to deal with some kind of problem involving a tube-shaped pocket universe and alternate timestreams - seemed much more interesting than the snoozy actuality.
2.7 rounds up to 3 - LeGuin rescued this book from being a 2. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a collection of eleven stories from various authors, returning to extended universe settings that they have written stories about in the past. It seems like a good idea, though the dust-jacket blurb rather over-sells the book, I feel: "...sure to bring unparalleled joy to the hearts of serious fans everywhere."I really wouldn't go that far.One of the interesting things, though, is to consider that I read this book just over twenty years after it was first published (1999). Times change; we have lost Ursula LeGuin, Fred Pohl and Anne McCaffery, and a couple of the other writers have (more recently) fallen foul of modern sensibilities by putting too much of their own thoughts on contemporary matters into the public sphere. To the contents: Ursula LeGuin contributes a story of the Ekumen; an ambassador gets a bit too close to a local civil war and finds his diplomatic immunity is just so many words. He is given an object lesson in inequality. This felt like a Graham Greene story, though here the ambassador isn't from a former colonial power (as the Ekumen doesn't do that).Joe Haldeman gives us a story from within the action of 'The Forever War', whilst Orson Scott card contributes a slightly comic piece about a pushy AI financial advisor that may well cease to be science fiction much sooner than the story suggests. David Brin takes us to his Uplift universe, with a story placed mid-way between his early books ('Startide Rising' in particular) and the later 'Brightness Reef' trilogy. Dan Simmons gave us an extension to his 'Hyperion Cantos'; although I have yet to catch up with the final volume of that, this story gave little away. Fred Pohl gave us another story from the Heechee Chronicles, though this seemed to be going over old material. Greg Benford contributed a story from his 'Galactic Centre' sequence about humans at the centre of the Galaxy (well, duh!) and in conflict with AIs who prey on organic life. This is written in a dry, almost mythic style, and I shall need to re-read the whole sequence because at the time it was published, I found it surprisingly hard to access. And Greg Bear submitted a story from the Way, the infinite artificial universe that stretches through spacetime that we were introduced to in 'Eon'; this lapses into mathematical abstraction very easily and rather requires the reader to be familiar with the earlier work.Two stories were from writers who I was not so familiar with; Nancy Kress contributed a story from her 'Sleepless' sequence: this was new to me. And Anne McCaffery supplied a story of the Ship who Sang; I've never read that, though I did hear Anne give some readings from it at a convention very many years ago, and so had some idea what to expect, though the style struck me as quite 'Golden Age' and old-fashioned, even for 1999.The final contribution is from Robert Silverberg himself, who used his position as overall editor of the anthology to insert a story set in the world of his (then) recent collection of alternate universe stories, 'Roma Eterna' - perhaps a disappointment to those of his fans who might have hoped for something from his fantasy world of Majipoor - but Bob had a newer book to promote. I enjoyed his contribution, about an historian and his relationship with a powerful Emperor-in-waiting, whose fascination with grandiose building projects echoes some tyrants of our times. I actually saw Silverberg at last year's (2019) World Convention in Dublin, when he was looking good for a man in his middle 80s (he jokes that he's now the oldest living Hugo recipient!).Many of these stories made me consider that i would have to re-read their predecessors, if only to refresh my memory or to re-acquaint myself with something I enjoyed. If you are familiar with the seed works that these stories refer back to, then this collection is worth looking out for.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overall - I greatly enjoyed this collection.I particularly liked that the stories were written from within already existing series' and it gave me a wonderful taste of a number of books and authors that I now wish too look up. It also showed me some that I expected to be a certain way that I am glad I now know otherwise ... I highly recomend this anthology.To do it justice, I intend on briefly touching on each story"Old music and the Slave women" byUrsula K. Le Guinfrom "The Ekumen" seriesI have at times toyed with picking up one or the other of these books.To be honest, now I am glad I didn'tNot because it appears to be poorly written, I did enjoy the short story and author's style. But I find the political intrigue type of story, just not really my taste."A Separate War"byJoe Haldemanfrom the"Forever War" seriesThis story intrigued me, Joe had a fascinating take on the reletivity effect on space travel, and a quite refreshing view on how cutures may change over hundreds or thousands of years, and what it may look like to mash them together in the same room. I definately will pick up the trilogy if I get the chance."Investment Councillor"byOrson Scott Cardfrom the "Ender" seriesWho would have thought a story about a guy paying his taxes on arrival at a port could be so damn engaging?Definatley a big thumbs up hereI have seen the Ender series in stores before but was not sure - now I am!!"Temptation" byDavid Brinfrom "The Uplift Universe"While well written and very engaging, The premise of the universe grates against me in a most umpleasant way. the assumption of a direction of evolution and that humans are 'more evolved' than other species on the planet is something I simply cannot and will not swallow, even for a sci-fi story"Getting to know The Dragon"by Robert Silverbergfrom "Roma Eterna" seriesI was utterly intrigued by the concept of this seriesWhile not set specificlaly in the future, it's an alternate history type story. What if there was no Jesus of Nazareth?What if the roman empire never fell?While it seems quite political, I think this is a series that I would find great interest in. And as always, Robert Silverberg's writing is a delight to read."Orphans of the Helix"byDan Simmonsfrom "The Hyperion Cantos"I found this a fascinating story, and it definately engaged me to read the series.A story rich in detail and revelation. Graphically portrays how simple commnication method missmatch could wipe out entire civilisations."The Boy Who Would Live Forever"byFrederik Pohlfrom "Tales of the HeeChee"Making a solid argument for gritty slum living in the space-faring future. While I found the short story entertaining. I'm really not certain if the series would fit my tastes. I'll wait on this one I think."A Hunger for the Infinite"byGregory Bedfordfrom "The Galactic Centre Series"A tale of self sacrifice set in brutal violence. And the machines cannot understand life.An interesting tale well told. But not my taste."The Ship Who Returned"byAnne McCaffreyfrom "The Ship Who Sang"I remember reading The Ship Who Sang, I loved it, it got me started on Anne McCaffrey. The Ship Who Returned is a short story that takes place after these events - and is everything you have come to expect from Anne McCaffrey.A definate must read."The Way of All Ghosts"byGreg Bearfrom the Eon seriesI remember having read and enjoyed Eon when I was much younger. The reading of this changed my view somewhatI still want to re-purchase and re-read and read the rest, but there seems to be a lot of abstract ephemeral conceptual storyline that I can't seem to get a grip on.