Tomes of Starhopping--The 13 Colonies

Tomes of Miscellany

Welcome to the land of danger and intrigue, where individuals are legion and non-conformity is the norm. Join me as I explore the many facets of humanity and meet the scum of the earth and its angels incarnate.

W A R N I N G !

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Title: The 13 Colonies
Author: Robert Shuster
Publisher: Sevenacide
Format: Paperback
Copyright Date: 2002

Space exploration and settlement...a dream that's been tossed about, explored in television and movies, and that is slowly--very slowly--becoming a reality, albeit on a very small scale. But what if, just what if, the dreams of those early visionaries were to become reality, not just in the near future but in the far-flung future as well? Would everything those early dreamers envisioned come true, or would there be new situations that no one could ever have predicted? Well, maybe not "no one." Author Robert Shuster identifies several different possibilities in his new short story collection, The 13 Colonies.

The real problem about reviewing short stories is that I can't say a whole lot without giving away everything, and it would be impossible to just talk about only one story, because that isn't fair to the rest. All I will say is that if you consider all the problems people face now here on Earth and extrapolate them to take place in a bigger staging area (i.e., the solar system or the galaxy) and recognize that some things change and some things don't, then you'll have a fairly good idea of what to expect when you read this book.

One good thing about speculative fiction is that it is precisely what it says it is: speculative. I found some of the situations the author brought forth to be reasonably plausible, especially in light of growing up with such shows as Star Trek, Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica and movies like Star Wars and The Last Starfighter. Other plots were more difficult to swallow, yet still entirely possible. Again, I can't say more without telling you the whole of each story.

The 13 Colonies is good for a quick read, but I think that some of the stories deserve more than just a handful of pages. Maybe one day the author will revisit these stories and expand a couple of them. Read and see if you agree with me.

Rating: Thumbs up! Speculative fiction for a situation slowly becoming reality!

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This page posted July 16, 2002.

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