There are two stories worth reading in this anthology of supernatural Civil War-themed work: those by Collins and Somtow. (The latter is a depressing tale of race hatred, but at least it's well written.) One or two others are vaguely OK. The majority of them are awful. They are not written well; they are not researched well; they suck. The worst is probably Moorcock's surrealist nonsense, but Ballard's boring George Todd story, Wagner's silly cannibalism/undead tale and McCaffrey's sentimental plantation claptrap -- not to mention a plethora of Sherman's Bummers meet Zombies splatter -- just leave me bored. I'd recommend avoiding this.

Being a Civil War buff and zombie lover, I couldn't ask for any better combination. It was one of those books that was literally hard to tear myself away from. It's been awhile since I read it, but from what I recall there wasn't a bad story in the book. Holds your interest from beginning to end. One of those few books that I can honestly say I have every intention of going back and reading again.

This collection of horror stories inspired by the War Between the States has found the triple point between surrealism, history, and macabre insanity. Many of the authors, all of whom are well-known in this as well as other genres, have found new ground to tread in this well-edited compilation of "Civil" War-inspired horror fiction. From the tragic unwelcome homecoming of a maimed soldier in "The Sunday Go-To-Meeting Jaw" to the grim folly of "Terrible Swift Saw", there is enough plausible reality to anchor the supernatural twists of "Foragers" and "Darker Angels". "The Master's Time" is a very fresh piece by two newer writers with a stunning ending. One could find her or himself whistling "Dixie" to ease the tension if reading this in solitude. Once these unsettling 25 short stories find their way into your mind, your dreams will no longer be the same...

I am a devoted fan of Misty's books, but I found many of the stories in her compilation to be poorly written. There were the occasional story that drew you in, but for the most part, Misty should have found some more creative authors this book. Ron Collins' story about a wizard's son and the hawks who always stayed around the castle was a good one with a surprising ending. Nancy Asire's story of a priestess resisting a conquoring wizard was also well written. Misty's own story was interesting, as always. Most of the others weren't worth mentioning. Sorry Misty, you did a better job picking stories for Sword of Ice.

This book is an anthology of eleven fantasy stories, each one revolving around flying creatures. As with all anthologies, it is a real mixed bag, with some being excellent, and some not. My personal favorite was Wide Wings by Mercedes Lackey herself, a story about a young medieval woman who wishes she had the freedom enjoyed by her hawks. Overall, this is a good book, and a fun read. I highly recommend it.

A young man who learns how to seek revenge from Odin's friends, the ravens; a harmless, very unclever man who saves a fledgling and earns the respect of the gods; a young warrior seeks his destiny and discovers he has much in common with the eagles; a girl with higher aspirations than mere marriage takes flight. These and other tales of winged creatures, both real and fantasized, are told by some of the greats of fantasy in Flights of Fantasy, an anthology of never-before-published tales, collected by Mercedes Lackey. Ms. Lackey contributes a novella which is a spinoff story of her book, Black Swan. She brings with her such greats as Mike Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Josepha Sherman, and Nancy Asire, each of whom puts a slightly different slant on their story of birds of prey, and winged heros. With an introduction by Ms. Lackey which illustrates her own love for birds, Flights of Fantasy contains enough imagination and talent to carry readers off into delightful flights of fancy with each story.

Rickey R. Mallory

Many of these stories push the envelope of Nasty, and this anthology is not recommended for those with weak stomachs. Some of them are absolutely gut-wrenching, like John Shirley's "You Hear What Buddy and Ray Did?" and Mike Lee's "High Heels from Hell", while others are just disappointing (Rex Miller's "Brainchild"). Very few are particularly distinguished, and I guess my favorite has to be Howard (The Turtles, Flo & Eddie) Kaylan's "The Energy Pals", which hilariously lampoons the Power Rangers/Ninja Turtles territory. If you're looking for a few good nasty thrills, okay, but if you're looking for a great read, perhaps you might want to look elsewhere.

Though not all the stories are as taboo-shattering as the cover hype implies, a good bit of them are still excellent. Danielle Willis shows us the decidedly unromantic and unglamourous life of a vampire and her lover; Lucy Taylor gives us deadly autoeroticism and shows us what lies on the other side; Don Webb turns torment into art and Steve Rasnic Tem twists the family ties. An incident in a junior high school locker room destines one teacher for revenge in a story from Edward E. Kramer. There's also great work from Rob Hardin, Mike Lee and Howard Kaylan. A collection with far more hits than misses.

Take heed, this is NOT a book to show your parents... Take eroticism and mix it with horror, and you've got something you just can't put down, but you wonder why the heck you're reading such material...

Although I have read all of the Ryan Saga in print, from (in Ryan chronological order) Patriot Games to Executive Orders, I feel that the Companion gives an honest account of the Ryan lifetime. A question exists: in Red Storm, what has happened to the major characters since the events of the (thank God, unfought on our timeline) WW3? Assuming the line exists, I'd like to know what has happened since.

This is a very good summary of all of the books from The Hunt for Red October to The Sum of All Fears in publishing order. It gives a good summary of these books, and perhaps providing an easy to see link between events which may become lost in the actual book. It also has several short essays written by Tom Clancy, including one about the life of Kyle Haydock which was deeply moving. The Companion also includes a concordance of key words from the novels. I would hope that a revised version or a sequel would be in the works.

The Tom Clancy Companion is absolutely vital to any and all Tom Clancy fans, because it contains references to every character and weapon, every piece of equipment used in Clancy's novel, plus much more such as in-depth interviews with Tom Clancy ("TC"), and essays by TC on issues such as nuclear proliferation and gun control. The book also contains detailed summarires and cririques of TC's books. The only thing is that The TC Companion was written in 1991 so it only encompasses the Clancy universe up to and including The Sum of All Fears,which means there is obviously no reference to Without Remorse, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, his non-fiction works or the Op-Center series. Which makes me ask: WHEN IS THE 2ND EDITION OF THE TOM CLANCY COMPANION GONNA BE WRITTEN

This is not so much alternate Americas as the title would suggest, as alternate New Worlds. I think some of the stories in this collection make it the best of the volumes, and it is nice to see four female authors. The stories continue to make you think and contemplate on the way things could be, and therefore the way things are.

But there are too few historical contingencies. Six stories deal with Columbus and three with Chinese expansion. When there is such a huge history of the Americas to deal with, it would have been nice to have more diversity- What if the Lost Tribes of Israel *had* made it here? What of that great book of alternate American history, the Book of Mormon? What if humans *hadn't* made it over the Bering Straight so early in our history? What if the colonization had come up from the Pacific Islands, as some historians believe it did in part? What if Hominids had made it over here much earlier and so had developed along Marsupial lines as did many other animals in South America? What if the colonies were all still under European control? One story on Columbus would have been sufficient- the plentitude of similarity became simply confusing. It also grew tiring to see Europeans repeatedly lambasted- they also did some good. Nor would any other culture's conquest necessarily been more beneficial to the Natives, as many authors would suggest. Evil lurks in the hearts of all men.

Of the works on Columbus, the best was by the master Turtledove, with a very short letter detailing why exploration of the New World should not happen in Report of the Special Committee. Basically, if NASA had run the exploration of America. In Isabella of Castile Answers Her Mail we get a humorous take on Columbus wandering into modern New York, seeing how an outsider would view our culture. It is more Fantasy than Sci-Fi, but a truly etic tale. Zebrowski continues with the quantum focus which he can't seem to escape in the poor Let Time Shape, where the Carthaginians establish an empire in the Americas, and are at a 19th Century level of technology when Columbus comes. Destination: Indies is the only story in this collection that was so stupid I didn't finish it. Columbus studies quantum mechanics and fights the "Dark Duke" who has a submarine with "microdemonic engineering". Ship Full of Jews was also disappointing- but what can one expect from Malzberg?- where Columbus has ships of Jews and felons, both being deported. The story ends suddenly with no clear idea of what was happening or about to happen. The Karamazov Caper has Columbus killed, a Reign of Ignorance begun so no European exploration occurs, Russia expands unchecked into the New World, and the Germans begin to do ethnic cleansing of Native Americans on the East Coast. It's a bit too many changes to take in, and the story takes place in Alaska, so it's not too different from our reality wherein Russia owned Alaska.

Ink From the New Moon has Buddhists severely persecuted and emigrating to the New World to establish an independent country in America, with missions and backward Europeans. It is well written with humor, like the independent United Sandalwood Autocracies. A true Chinese perspective is shown in Round-Eyed Barbarians with the possibility of China's Middle Kingdom *not* becoming isolated but instead having major exploration and colonization of America, again meeting up with backward Europeans. The Sleeping Serpent presents the Khans of Mongolia taking over the world, aligning with Native Americans to attack the last independent Europeans. It is historically accurate, having the Khans adapt to the religions of their subjects- in this case, Christianity and Native American beliefs as well as Islam.

Jerry Oltion has Native Americans obliterate all of the colonies with the exception of Manhattan (because that was rightfully bought and not stolen). The Natives are at a slightly higher level of technology in modern times than the Europeans. While this isn't that realistic, it revealed perhaps how things *should* have been. The story could use greater historical accuracy, however- because of the Quakers, much of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania were also bought from the Native Americans, and for a much fairer price than Manhattan.

Vinland the Dream is not really an alternate reality as much as the psychological portrait of giving up old scientific theories. It suggests that new scholarship shows Norsemen didn't make it to America.

My favorite stories were the ones that dealt with alternate missiology. In ideas similar to the establishment of Christianity in Ireland or Persia, we get a more native belief system rather than a simple European overlay. In If There Be Cause, Francis Drake makes it to the West Coast before the Spaniards, and stays. There the Native Americans in Baha California come to follow Christ, but in a contextual manner with Native awareness of the excluded middle of the supernatural. Looking for the Fountain shows Ponce de Leon arriving in Florida to find a tribe of people influenced by Crusaders blown off course, who continue to practice a Roman Christianity, but are also strongly committed to fighting the Muslims. While the latter desire is sad, the Christianity presented is still very contextual with folk ideas of holy sites, and the Native people are more committed to Christ than the Conquistadors! In truth another Columbus history, Such a Deal has Columbus getting support not from Spain, but a wealthy Jewish merchant. Columbus returns with a shipload of Aztec Warriors, who align themselves with the Jewish merchant because of his similarity to their god, Quetzalcoatl. This is interesting because the belief in Quetzalcoatl was actually a brief monotheistic faith, fitting more with Christianity than Judaism. Don Richardson explores this idea in Eternity in Their Hearts with the philosophy behind this story- what it might have been like if the belief in Quetzalcoatl had still existed at the time of the coming of Christian missions.

I love Asian history so "Round Eyed Barbarbarians", "Ink from the New Moon", & "The Sleeping Serpent" were my favorites. De Camp (Round Eyed Barbarians) is the master of the humorous alternate history story so William Sanders & Connie Willis are ,perhaps, more in his tradition than Turtledove. Turtledove's tried to be funny, but I wasn't impressed. Years after reading this I'd realize he has written some great stuff though so first impressions can be misleading. "Sleeping Serpent" by Sargent had some feminist points, but I don't remember it be as annoyingly preachy as later feminist sci-fi I would try. "Ink from the New Moon" was almost like a long poem about a suicidal Chinese man seeking a new life in a distant land & is in Dozois new alternate history anthology. I hope this doesn't sound anti-semitic, but the theme of Columbus being Jewish descended cropped up so often it made me wonder if it was true. I'm not sure if that idea cropped up so often because it has some truth in it or because it has emotional appeal. I wish one of the stories would've mentioned Muslim victims of the Inquisition, but oh well. (I'm Catholic by the way) The other stories are good ,if not too my taste, although Robinson's is more of a secret history or a history that could be true. As I recall it was also rather dry (Which is a common criticism of Kim Stanley Robinson I hear.) Red Alert by Oltion I thought was sort of lame. "If There Be Cause" by finch & "The Karamazov Caper" are the most memorable of the stories I disliked. Which means if you're of a different bent than me you might list them as the best stories in this anthology. Well I think I'll stop there.

Anthologies are hard to rate, for obvious reasons. I *do* love alternative history, and wish there were more of this genre. Ideas on changes in history, though not practical in the slightest, are the height of idealism- we look to see what we can learn about ideas and ourselves by seeing how things might have changed. So I was excited to come across this 4 volume set in the antique mall of a seaside town in the NorthWest. The stories seem to be basically of three sorts- What if something were changed in history to make things worse? What if something were changed to make life better? What if an alternative reality was changed to make it conform to our own?

Some stories depend on their suprise ending with a particular historical twist. In the House of Sorrows is just such a story, taking place in the Middle East. Unfortunately, without knowing the historical era, it is a very confusing read; but well worth it for the twist. However, I found the one major drawback to the anthology as a whole to be the complete lack of discussion of the Islamic and Arabic empires.

Remaking History looks at how the Iranian Hostage Crisis ending differently might have effected world events. Counting Potsherds was a very engaging story philosophically looking at if Athens had lost to the Persian Empire long ago.

Leapfrog also has the secret historical twist, and takes place on a Soviet space station around Mars, with a complete multi-national population. Everything But Honor also had some great ideas on philosophy- how much we value people- with changes in the Civil War to become *our* reality.

We Could Do Worse was a rather boring look at America under Martial Law in the 1960's. To the Promised Land explored a radically different world, in Egypt, if the Jews had never escaped Egypt some 3,000 years ago. Similarily, Waiting for the Olympians looks at a world ruled by the Roman Empire because of one key event not occurring in the past. I liked the references to the Cherokee and Algonkan nations, as well as Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs being simply one of the many gods of the pantheon. This was definitely the best story of the lot. One could see the Jews reinterpreting the Torah to embrace polytheism in this scenario, as they are faced with a completely polytheistic world. And it was amazing to postulate how a single event could change the way humans think about the basic nature of morality.

All Assassins and Game Night at the Fox and Goose were both very mediocer in my opinion, with the former looking at obscure historical figures in the 1970's- so obscure you had no feeling for the historical changes; and the latter looking at a world where women were in charge, but the plotline falls flat at the end. The Return of William Proxmire was a rather navelic look at the history of science fiction writing.

Here are the ones I would recommend. Counting Potsherds was an interesting look at another outcome of the greco-Persian wars by Turtledove. Leapfrog is a rare bird an alternate future. I liked it so much that I am somewhat surprised I never got around to reading anything else by James P. Hogan. Others that I remember, but am not sure about include: Silverberg's was well written, & Malzberg's felt like a novel fragment. Pohl's at first offended my Christian sensibilities at first than surprisingly affirmed them. Anderson's was interesting. Lastly sometimes a story you dislike is so weird and unusual you remember it as much as stories you like. Game Night at the fox and goose by Karen Joy Fowler is such a story for me. Well interestingly I think the fact that these are the ones I remember says something so I hope I've helped.

After reading this kind of work I find myself constantly thinking of how things might play out with even different day-to-day actions. The stories engrain your thoughts. But this was not quite as good of a book as the first volume, as many of the stories were substandard, although there are a few very good ones and therefore the book as a whole is worth recommending.

A Sleep and a Forgetting has a surprise twist, as many of alterative reality stories do, and is about an instrument that allows people to talk with historical figures through the electromagnetic waves of the sun. In this a major butcher accepts Christ. It is fairly well wrought.

Old Man and C is if Einstein had decided to pick up the violin instead, and is just not well written- you don't get the sense of history changing because of his decision. Mules in Horses' Harness is also poorly written- it takes place in the South, with the North having won, but the South is independent- and you never learn how this is possible! And Lenin in Odessa operates with the idea of Lenin having been killed- but it seems to result in the same history we have today, and there is no gripping writing.

*The* great question is presented in The Last Article- how would Gandhi's tactics apply to the Nazis? The Nazis take over India because America never entered WWII. It is quite well written, but unfortunately Harry Turtledove, the author, has not read enough of nonviolent history and practices. Violent response only works half the time, historically. Someone always loses. Nonviolent action, when applied, is statistically much more successful. *And* the only time Hitler was stopped in WWII, other than the final putsch by the Allies, was when nonviolent action was practiced. In Denmark, when the Jews were forced to wear a yellow star, the King also joined them, and his subjects all followed his lead. Even the Nazis were unwilling to kill an entire nation of white Northern Gentiles, and so the Jews were not wiped out from Denmark, as the Nazis couldn't tell the difference between them and Gentiles. Unfortunately, Turtledove's ending doesn't conform to likely historical reality, and is only a slim possibility.

Abe Lincoln at McDonald's is the first really excellent story in this compendium. What if Lincoln had signed the treaty had signed the Seward Treaty for peace with the South and slavery had expanded throughout the Territories and eventually became acceptable in the North as well? It is a very tragic reality, with modern times interposed completely with slavery, and horrible thoughts like a "Super Slaver" where you can buy 10 month old just-weaned slaves for your little girl.

After reading Barry Malzberg's Another G-dd--ned Showboat, I've realized, upon contemplating his previous work, that he's simply just a bad writer. His stories make no sense- they really *do* sound like they came from a chapter in a larger work, as another reviewer said. What if Hemmingway had become a Science Fiction writer?

But Loose Cannon was another of those stories that makes this genre so wonderful. What if Sir Lawrence had *not* died that tragic day on a motorcycle (see the beginning of Lawrence of Arabia) and had been available to meet that other great European general of the desert, Rommel? Susan Schwartz very effectively captures the character of Lawrence.

A Letter From the Pope was well done- what if the almost-last King of the Britons, Alfred, had decided to embrace a multi-religious state instead of encouraging the conquered Vikings to become Christian?

It was nice to finally see some alternate realities that considered the Muslims. Roncesvalles is such a story, where Charlemagne considers between his native Aryanist-paganism, joining the Muslim empire, and joining Byzantium's Orthodoxy. It was fairly well written, but had some historical problems- it is unlikely that the Muslims would have differentiated enough between Orthodoxy and Aryanism, for instance, to see the latter as pagan worship.

His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes was well written, with a neat idea- what if the Native Americans had joined the British and Benedict Arnold had succeeded in betraying George Washington? And so you have Arnoldsburg, District of Cornwallis. Marc Laidlaw works very well with the ideas of hagiophora and martyrdom as applied to Washington- but in the end the descriptions are simply so disgusting it turned me off to the entire story. Some images in there you do *not* want to read.

Instability is if the H-Bomb had not been developed. It is confusing and vulgar. No Spot of Ground concerns if Edgar Allen Poe had become a General in the Confederate War. It tends to drag out quite a bit, without historical divergences of significance, but has some good thoughts on how Poe might have acted within a military situation.

For me, however, the greatest story was Departures, again by the master author, Turtledove. It is a historical contingency I have often considered writing a novel on myself, though certainly with very different approaches. It considers a merchant turned monk who has flashes of divine inspiration in the composing of hymns to God. His monastery needs to prepare for the coming attack by the Persians. There is no Muslim Empire in this alternate reality.

I truly enjoy this series-it's quick,well done (yes,being various authors there is good and bad,but the good outweighs the bad)and doesn't go into EVERY nuance that lead to divergent paths.I've read other alternate history short story books,but none as well done as this 4 book set.If you enjoy this idea-I can't recommend it enough-it really makes you think how the planet would be different if a decision or event went the other direction.For myself-I love it.Sorry,there are too many stories to delve into and dissect-if curious-BUY IT.
Teaser-Genghis Khan leading the crusades.If that doesn't jump start the imagination-I don't know what will.

Third in a volume of great alternative histories, Volume III, Alternate Wars, is an anthology of mediocre, poor, good, and great stories. Isn't every anthology?

And Wild For to Hold is pretty good, describing history if Anne Boleyn hadn't been around to be divorced, and the religious strife begun in England from the Act of Supremacy. But the story focuses more on an abducted Anne in the future, using all of the wiles of the historical Anne to take control of her new situation. It is a unique approach in alternative histories- what if the historical individual acted as she did historically, but in a future time?

Tundra Moss focuses on an Alaskan communications station and what would have happened if President Roosevelt had gotten sick and not given his "Day of Infamy" speech, leading to America working only on the Japanese War first and waiting to get involved in Europe. When Free Men Shall Stand is surprisingly poorly written, considering it's Poul Anderson, and describes an America with the Louisiana Territory still permanently under French control, and America at war with the great French power. It's simply very difficult to follow.

Arms and the Woman is the first excellent story in this collection, and not surprisingly, coming from James Morrow, who wrote another great story, Abe Lincoln at McDonalds, in Volume II of this collection. Here he describes what might have happened if Helen had stepped outside Troy and realized this war was being fought over her, with thousands of men dying for her. This is an interesting story because it stretches very far back into our history- further than all other stories in this collection to date- to a time that is shrouded in myth. We believe that Homer wrote history, but it is a history from a time when men understood that myth was equal with history. It deals with questions that influence so much of our lives because they occurred so early in the time stream. Morrow's writing style is also very enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek, with many humorous asides, down to the style of prophylactic.

I generally enjoy Turtledove, and Ready for the Fatherland was well written as usual, but it was simply too depressing. What if Hitler was killed by one of his generals during the Soviet campaign, causing Germany to pull back and sue for peace, controlling most of Continental Europe, with the result that England and America had to deal with both the Soviets and the Nazis for the next forty years plus? The actions of England in response are just too sad.

If you're looking for excellent literature, where the characters and setting come alive before you, read The Tomb. Here Constantine takes on the sign of the cross as his standard, but fails in his attack on Maxentius. Unfortunately, the author doesn't have a firm grasp on history, as he posits this would lead to the disappearance of Christianity. This shows no understanding of the strength of Christianity in the East, completely independent of the vagaries of the Empire, continuing under Islam and under the Persian Empire. In truth, the majority of Christians lived East of Antioch for the first 1000 years as Nestorians, with over a million spread throughout Asia- it was a predominantly Asian religion. And just as it grew by leaps and bounds under intense Roman persecution, it would not have needed Roman support to survive in the West.

Of anything Malzberg has written in this collection, Turpentine was the best. But that's not saying much. What if a bunch of college kids had gotten a hold of a nuclear reactor and threatened to blow up a school here in America, during the Johnson administration? It doesn't really have a historical divergence, or present much contact with reality, and Malzberg uses a confusing writing style without quote marks. Still, it was interesting to contemplate the possibilities.

Goddard's People was another great work, in which the space race occurs earlier between Germany and America during WWII- based on actual evidence we have of German work on rockets and the Father of Modern Rocketry, Robert Goddard. Manassas, Again could be easily removed from this collection- this despite it being written by one of the editors. What if there is a war between robots and humans? It doesn't really relate to any historical divergence. Benford adds in that it is the early 1800's, war has been abolished, and the Roman Empire is still around, but America is free- but that is one paragraph, and you get no sense at all of how that relates to this robot war.

Likewise The Number of the Sand was a substandard work. It looks at quantum possibilities, which simply get overused these days in science fiction. What are all the different scenarios for Hannibal's life? The upside of this work is it made me realize how little I knew about his campaigns and I had to look up more to read about the events of the Carthaginian Empire. Sadly, I didn't even know there was one. Now, because of this story, I do.

If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg is a wonderful story by Sir Winston Churchill, PM of England, and it also encouraged me to read up more on the events of Gettysburg. It imagines what *our* reality might be like from the perspective of an alternate future, while providing the details of the other reality. Not only a great PM, but a great author too.

If Roosevelt had been able to get involved in WWI, we have Over There. It is a great work to end this collection on, as it sees how war has changed. Rather than a specific historical figure, it uses Roosevelt as the type and looks at how a 19th century warrior might fare in the 20th.

When I read Feigenbaum's number & then Beggars in Spain both by Nancy Kress I knew I had discovered a new author (for me) that I was going to love. However one of the first science fiction stories I read was some story that I thought was written by some male author in the 50's about Elizabethan England. I recently discovered that that story was "And Wild for to Hold" by Nancy Kress and yes it was first in this anthology. It is strange I'd forget the title & author, but remember the point of the story. Also I recently "discovered" that I liked Allen Steele, but yup you guessed I read & liked his Goddard's people in this years ago. (Although I sort of remembered him) Kress is the real one that got me since ,until recently, I thought for sure "Feigenbaum Number" in thirteenth Year's Best sf. I hope you are tolerant about me talking about the book that way, but to tell you about the stories themselves the 2 I mentioned are good although Steele's is somewhat dry if you don't like history the way I do. Churchhill's (Yes Churchhill the Prime Minister you didn't know he wrote science fiction?) was interesting in being pro-Southern when it comes to the Civil War.

This is a collection of short stories by various authors

The stories are set in the future, where the battle suit is the king of battle. Stories by David Drake, Gordon R. Dickson, Harry Harrison, Joe Haldeman and more. The FIRST in a series of books. The other two are SPACEFIGHTERS and SUPERTANKS. All three are edited by Joe Haldemen. This book even has a few pictures in the first story showing some of the suits (as the first story is done as a history of battle suits).

This book has a series of short stories involving vampires and fame. It covers such diverse fields of people as Elvis Presley, stage and opera singers etc. It also includes a short story by PN elrod in her Jack Fleming series if this is a character you have been following in novels.

Worth reading for its diverstity, none of the stories are particulary 'blood-thirsty', insted they concentrate on the confilct of needing to hide the fact of vampirism and being 'famous'.

These short stories aren't short on entertainment that's for sure. The first story starts off the collection with Dracula on Ice. By the end of the story you'll be laughing at the pun!

The other tales are just as entertaining, if you want a quick read then this is it. Pick a story and sink your teeth in, I guarantee you'll be satisfied!