Overruled!

De: Hank Davis - editor, Christopher Ruocchio - editor

Narrado por: Ryan Burke

A new anthology of science-fiction stories that explores what the future of jurisprudence might well be like, with thrilling, hilarious, and downright entertaining results.

Lawyers - pardon me, attorneys - may be portrayed in fiction as the good guys (and gals), or as greedy conniving shysters. In mundane fiction, the former are represented ably by Earle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason and by Harper Lee's Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. The less favorable view was expressed by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his SF classic, A Princess of Mars, in which his doubly immortal John Carter observes that the Martians are very fortunate in that, while they may behave with savage cruelty, and are constantly at war, at least they have no lawyers.

Both views of the legal profession have been explored in science fiction and fantasy since John Carter set foot on the Red Planet, as well as looking into possible ways that future punishment for crimes may change, not necessarily for the better. Some of science fiction's greatest talents are included in this book, including classics by Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, Clifford D. Simak, Robert Silverberg, and more, and newer stories by Sarah A. Hoyt, Alex Shvartsman, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaros, and still other stellar talents bringing down the judge's gavel with a verdict of excellent entertainment.

©2020 Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio (P)2021 Tantor

There are some 'ingenuous' clever enough stories

Some stories read much worse than others. There's no attempt at hard sci-fi. But there is at providing some entertainment and amusement as often shorts stories aim to. My favourites are the ones written by Sheckley, Budrys, Shvartsman and Zinos-Amaro, Ruocchio, Riley, followed by Daniel, Simak, Clarke, and would also include the one by Anderson. The rest I would skip

Okay mix with authors old and new

Eighteen shorts between .5 and 1.5 hrs long, with different authors but the same narrator.
The Table of Contents organizes them nicely, identifying both the title and author.
Looks like the editor took advantage of copyright expirations, hence a few shorts are from the 1950s
These are more for those who like to think about future possibilities,
and less for those who want clever plots or dialogue. Sadly, I fall into the latter camp

1. Court is Now in Session by Hank Davis 50 min - The editor explaining this collection of legal briefs
2. The Sketcher by Tom Kidd 47 min - meh, lawyer jokes in space
3. Jerry Was a Man by Robert Heinlein 62 min - when man’s creation is more human than man ⭐️
4. Paradox & Greenblatt: Attorneys at Law by Kevin J. Anderson 34 min - time travel defense ⭐️
5. The Jigsaw Man by Larry Niven 26 min - organ trade in the future ⭐️
6. Skulking Permit by Robert Sheckley 59 min - 1950s work ⭐️
7. Checksum, Checkmate by Tony Daniel 58 min -
8. The Executioner by Aldi’s Budrys 87 min -
9. License to Live by Sarah A Hoyt & Laura Montgomery 35 min -
10. The Riot That Wasn’t in Port Neeks by Susan R Mathew’s 43 min -
11. Lawyer Fight by Larry Correia 24 min - random fight from the MHI series, with lawyers. Pass.
12. The People v. Craig Morrison by Alex Shvartsman & Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 42 min -
13. How-2 by Clifford D Simak 86 min - 1950s work - assembling instructions for animals
14. Moving Spirit by Arthur C Clarke 28 min -
15. Victim of Changes by Christopher Ruocchio 37 min - cool cyborg, dystopian vibe, but not much more
16. The Cyber and Justice Holmes by Frank Riley 33 min -
17. To See the Invisible Man by Robert Silverberg 30 min -
18. License to Steal by Louis Newman 21 min -
19. With the Knight Male by Charles Sheffield 44 min -