Starship Vectors

By: Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, Charles Coleman Finlay, Gwyneth Jones, Nancy Kress, Robert Reed, Allan Kaster - editor

Narrated by: Tom Dheere

Starships come in many shapes and sizes. Their crews and passengers are an eclectic lot. They venture into the deep voids of space on their assigned missions. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they do not. This collection tells the stories of the crews and passengers aboard six of these starships.

Those aboard the Mayflower II are determined to be the first generation ship to successfully reach another galaxy in a story ( Mayflower II ) by Stephen Baxter that takes place in the Xeelee universe. In Boojum, by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, space pirates are on the prowl for booty aboard the living starship, Lavinia Whateley. In The Political Officer, by Charles Coleman Finlay, the crew aboard a military starship must contend with both the enemy and a political officer. In The Tomb Wife, by Gwyneth Jones, the navigator of the interstellar freighter, Pirate Jenny, hears a ghost from an alien tomb in its cargo hold. Two competitive physicists aboard the Kepler use uploads of themselves to probe the scientific mysteries of radiation-rich space in Shiva in Shadow by Nancy Kress. A wealthy woman explores the lives of the less fortunate aboard a starship larger than Earth in Robert Reed's The Remoras, part of the author s ongoing Marrow series.

©2008 Stephen Baxter (P)2010 AudioText

Starship Vectors

I really enjoyed most of the shorts in this book. I really liked Kress' "Shiva in Shadow", followed closely by "The Political Officer" and "Mayflower II". The only reason I do not give this a five is for "The Tomb Wife". I enjoy short stories as a break from full novels, the format gives both author and reader a chance to explore new areas.

Great short stories.

Nice collection of short stories. Nothing earth-shatteringly wonderful ... just a nice collection of above average stories. I found it quite enjoyable.

Excellent!

The first story about a "generational" starship on a multi-thousand year voyage and the huge changes onboard was especially good. Short stories are great--there are always a couple that don't hold your interest, but the whole book can still be fantastic!

two 4 stars, one 3 star and three one star

These are more novellas then short stories. Robert Reed can always be counted on for above average stories, would like to see some collections of his in audible. Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette start the collection off with a pretty good story. Kress's Novella is really long and really boring followed by bad stories from Finley and Jones. Mayflower 2 by Baxter was different and entertaining. I would not suggest to any of my friends to buy this and listen to the three long boring stories in it, just to hear the three good stories.