Allen Steele, well known for his novels The Jericho Iteration and The Tranquility Alternative shows us where his true talents lie...the short story/novella. This collection is full of insightful short fiction which uses science fiction not as a driving force behind the story, but rather as a backdrop. From the story "Lost in the Shopping Mall" which uses VR as the setting for a story about teen angst, to "Hunting Wabbit" in which the fact that the Earth is about to be destroyed is completely ancillary to a story about critics, authors, and the the relationships they share.
Each story is accompanied by the authors musings on his motivations behind the story and it is precisely this that makes this an excellent read even if you've read all the stories contained herein before.

I love the short stories of Allen Steele and the stories in this collection were where I was first exposed to him. Steele writes hard SF in a voice that reminds me of Tom Clancy, Bob Seger songs, and Heinlein.

I think the other reviewer summarizes the essential points quite well. Simply buy the book. There is no filler material here, all the stories are absolutely amazing and thought-provoking. In fact if you enjoy this collection of short stories you should also get the other two collections: "Rude Astronauts" and "All American Alien Boy".

This is a thoughtful, spectacular collection of short stories and novelettes. Having never read Allen Steele before and not knowing what to expect, I am now waiting on pins and needles for his next collection or full-length novel or novellete. These are stories which are driven by technologies of the near or foreseeable future. Fission drives, fusion drives, trips to the outer planets of the solar system measured in terms of months and fractions of years, human colonization of familiar planets and moons, and commerce and an economy exacted over a range of A.U.'s instead of continents. No warp drives or adventures on strange, unknown planets around distant suns, or fantastic aliens threatening physical or sociological upheaval. The stories in this book, written over a period of time and placed in chronological order by the author, give depth and meaning to characters who, over the course of the 21st century, are the true explorers, adventurers, and inhabitants of humankind's expansion into the solar system.

All of the stories show a total range of the emotions which would accompany the human condition into a new frontier, and make the reader feel what it might be like to be one of the pioneers of "near-space" in the next century. Some of them, notably The Weight, The War Memorial, The Death of Captain Future, and Zwarte Piet's Tale, will dazzle the reader with not only an exacting detail of near-future technologies but also with descriptions which describe to the reader the beauty, grandeur, and at the same time, danger of a newly conquered solar system. Also, in these same stories, the detail of the human condition, those traditions, mores, and values which were brought from an incubator planet (Earth) to an exciting yet dangerous new frontier, are succinctly described.

My favorites have been Asimov, Andersen, Bova, Niven and Pournelle, Crichton, Aldiss, Benford, and Haldeman. I most certainly have to add the name of Allen Steele to this list.

American Dream is the author's fourth collection of stories. These ten stories are all related in some way to contemporary America.

Agape Among the Robots is a story of robots absorbing love through example. Her Own Private Sitcom is an extension of the idea that the world is a stage. Green Acres is an alternate history of the hemp plant in this country. Missing Time is a multiverse/time travel story in which the Mayor gets to second guess his actions. Graceland is a Riverworld tale about the immortality of rock music.

Jake and the Enemy is a story of a dog protecting his turf from a robot. Warning, Warning is an explanation, of sorts, for the TV show Lost in Space. The Fine Art of Watching is a tale of the difference between surveillance and perception. A Walk Across Mars makes a case for the media not always telling everything it knows. Tom Swift and His Humongous Mechanical Dude is an indictment of current parenting techniques.

I must admit that the author's short stories often unsettle me to some extent. He does have a way to approaching things from an unexpected direction, but that is an admirable trait in any author in any genre. However, he sometimes put an extra sharp edge to his scalpel that cuts a little too deep for my taste. His short works are not very pleasant at times, but makes good points.

Recommended to Steele fans and anyone who enjoys satire with a sharp edge and a bit of refined wit.

Any anthology that introduces the content as Mishegos (the Yiddish word for "a collection of things") can be looked upon as a warning for genre specialists or a delight for generalists. The AMERICAN BEAUTY consists of ten science fiction tales mostly from the last five years, but none earlier than 1992, that run the gamut of science fiction, but share several traits. The stories center on present or future America, but through a weird looking glass. Each contribution is fun to read and typically turns on its head via opening the jugular inside a value or a famous novel. Oy! vey! Alternate universes where marijuana flows legally, Tom Swift rides rockets again, and romantic robots courting aside, Allen Steele displays his chutzpah with this delightful book.

Harriet Klausner

I read a lot of Sci-Fi and but only Allen M. Steele seems to make me lose sleep. Whenever I read one of his books, I can count on getting very little sleep that night - because his books are very hard to put down. This one is no exception. So when I finished this one about 2AM, I was thoroughly satisfied. The characters are so real and three-dimensional (albeit a bit vulgar - lots of obscenities). The concept of setting up a mining operation on the Moon is plausible. The idea of company officials (Skycorp) who only care about the bottom dollar and not about their employees is a long-held notion about big business. The plot has one major theme with a series of little adventures intertwined into it. This was one of Steele's earliest books and it definitely exhibited the roots of a writing style that was yet to come (and is now here for our enjoyment). It was occassionally amusing. I also loved the way the book was put together. Major chapters were broken up by transcribed audio-video interviews with the cast, articles from newspaper articles, etc. Oh and Steele, in true Hitchcockian style, threw his own name into the mix once or twice as a reporter interviewing some of the characters. Clever, clever. 4-stars because I personally don't need all of the four-letter words. Not that that will bother you. It shows an affirmative reality in the characters.

You always wonder about the books you find in the bargain basement. Well, this one turned out to be great. An interesting look at our future and the perils of working on the moon

I love this book. I couldn't put it down. The place, the time, the characters all come alive. Great hard SF.

This tape is well done. The sound effects create an atmosphere that draws in the listener. The actors are dramatic, but not overly so. The short stories themselves are well written, delivering edge-of-the-chair suspense (or knee-slapping comedy, as the case may be).

As most net surfers are aware the Sci-Fi Channel's web site has included a section devoted to science fiction radio drama...Seeing Ear Theatre. One aspect of which includes originally produced productions cerated especially for the site and which has featured performances by many well-known SF actors as Micheal O'Hare,Mark Hamill,Marina Sirtis,and others. With a few exceptions, a lot of the dramas are based on recent short stories by SF writers such as Terry Bisson, Allen Steele, John Kessel and Gergory Benford. With the release of this audiobook editon(which includes introductions by SF's resident angry young{sic}man Harlan Ellison)now one can listen to these stories anytime you want. The best stories(IMO)are the Three Odd Comedies and The Death of Captain Future (which despite the pulpish-sounding title is a darkly humorous tale set in the future history of Steele's previous works such as Orbital Decay and Clarke County,Space). If you like audio drama-- especially newly produced audio drama...you'll love this collection and you may also want to check out Vol. 2 which should be on sale soon(I know I can't wait).

WOW what a story! Brian Smith could sell this as a short story by itself it is so good IMO. I just wish they sold a hard copy of these writings--not just audio! I have been reading Sci Fi for a long time. This guy is great! Reminds me of 2001, a space odyssey a bit. Worth the price just for this one folks! I noticed there are no other books by Brian Smith for sale on Amazon. What's up with that? He needs to write books, and Amazon needs to sell them--geez, do I make myself clear?

Allen Steele's "Coyote" is actually a collection of stories and novelettes that have appeared in Science Fiction magazines over a 2-3 year period. They are strung together in a cohesive story about a group of rebels who escape the earth, which is now governed by an ultra-Conservative coalition. Ultimately they wind up on a new world called Coyote on which they build a small community they name Liberty. Steele enters new writing territory with this book. He has traditionally written books set on the Moon or on near-Earth venues in the not-so-far off future. This one travels far ahead.

One thing I liked about this is Steele's attention to detail. There are plenty of "new world/new colony" Science Fiction novels out there. Many of the ones that I have read just brush over things like building toilets. Steele often discusses the lack of these day-to-day necessities and the impact on the characters.

I could not really find one clear lead character although there are plenty of antagonists. Among those are a Colonel loyal to the old government. Deadly flying creatures called boids. The elements of the new world. The inner demons of those haunted by a past way of life. The two characters who have the biggest "parts" are Wendy and Carlos. I find the obscure reference to the trans-gendered synthesizer artist Wendy Carlos almost ironic as this is a person who explored new genres of music.

The one flaw is the change in presentation. The first several chapters are written in present tense, which I found distracting at first but easier to follow later. Then half-way through the book it switches to past tense. Generally I found this to be a pretty good read and I am glad that I was able to read it over a few days rather than over three years in various magazines.

I read this novel in serialized format, and looked forward to each installment. It starts with the launching of the first interstellar voyage by man, out of a right-wing, religion-dominated section of a divided America. The captain and some of the crew, however, have plotted to take over the ship and use it to get imprisoned intellectual prisoners of the state away to freedom. They succeed, but also end up with a small contingent of government-loyal, fascist police/soldiers on board. They reach their destination, establish a colony, and begin exploring this strange but somewhat Earth-like moon (Coyote) of a gas-giant planet (Bear). Much of the story has a coming-of-age slant, as it focuses on several teenage colonists.

This is a well-written novel, with great character development, good adventure, well-articulated world creation, and very human, realistic twists. One section deals with the accidental awakening of one colonist from cold-sleep/hibernation, midway through a decades-long voyage. The man must find a way to survive, and stay sane, through what he knows will be the rest of his life, living alone aboard a ship full of unconscious colonists. This section of the book is very powerful, and is worth buying the book all by itself.

#1 Harriet, of course, has beaten everyone to summarize the book, but I think some other criticisms here aren't fair.

I really don't understand the reaction of the previous reviewer to Allen Steele's politics. Yes, a lot of Allen Steele makes me believe he's a pro-union, 1950s, Harry Truman-style Democrat. I doubt Steele and I would agree on much, but his politics are open and clear. He makes a dig at Newt Gingrich and Jesse Helms. So what -- are we Republicans that thin-skinned? I'm not.

Secondly, the idea that this is just "Legacy of Heorot" is silly. Legacy... a brilliant book... was a story about a bad alien with stranging mating habits (something Niven himself mentions in the acknowledgments to Legacy. Coyote is a story about -people- colonizing a new world. If there are similiarities from that, it's only because Steele, like the authors of "Legacy" did his homework.

I would have loved a tad more of Steele's excellent visual descriptions --- the gas giant around which Coyote orbits is mentioned a handful of times, but I never grew tired of the descriptions.

Are his politics distracting to the story? Not at all. Is the story worth reading? Darn tooting! Does this story ring true, does it hang together, is it entertaining? Absolutely.

The angry reader's review was an interesting summation of the somewhat disappointing ending the Steele suddenly 'slapped' in there, as the angry reader put it. I don't know, I did like the book and the long explanation of Alec's situation, but the ending was definitely an anti-climax. That Alec would stay on 'The Andy Garcia' for 70 years while tending to the dewars was disappointing for sure. Alec's MINN, Chip, was quite a funny presence, and the Superiors in the novel were engaging as well. I think that Alec's transformation from spoiled rich 'kid' to 'hero' (as the back of the paperback said), was impressive in its own right. However, I failed to see how Alec was a 'hero' in the end, and once again, Steele should have thought harder about it. Oh well....

I was so enchanted with this book that I set it down after the third page, albeit with difficulty, and typed the text from pages 1 through 3 and sent it out as an email to my friends. Steele's writing is _that_ good.

This "Near Space" future of Steele's is a complex and exciting place, but the good pacing and delightful writing feeds it to us a piece at a time in a very believable fashion; I felt that I missed nothing from not having read the earlier works in this universe, although I plan to correct that misfortune soon. :)

William Alec Tucker, III's recovery from a mindlessness brought on by his resurrection through learning the intricacies of late 21st century living is more than just a device to introduce that world to the reader. It is also the vehicle for a character development that is especially exceptional for this genré. While Steele's "Near Space" is reminiscent of Niven's "Known Space" in its breadth, consistency, and believability, the journey of self-discovery that William Tucker goes through reminded me more of Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

The technical correctness, strong coherency, and brilliant character development are joined by Steele's good command, and use, of the English language. Although not up to the lofty linguistic levels of, say, Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale", (one of my all-time favorite examples of good writing,) the vocabulary is nonetheless rich and full of facile description. I look forward to reading something where Allen Steele is not restricted to a first-person narrative.

This is writing of rare quality, and I heartily encourage any serious science fiction reader to savor "A King of Infinite Space."

I can't recomend this book highly enough. Steele manages to paint a suitable bizarre enough picture of the future that you could see it happening. The strong science and brilliant character development, as well as some truely original and entertaining storytelling all combine to glue this book to your hands. I couldn't put it down. This is easily one of the best sci-fi books I've read!

Being a time-travel stories fanatic (just check out my previous reviews if you doubt that), I was really intrigued when I heard about Chronospace. In fact, I dedicated an entire day to just sit at home and read it (I haven't done this in years!). Imagine, UFOs are really not extraterrestrial vehicles but are actually time machines used by historians from the future who want to study the past. Sounds good, even if somewhat unoriginal, no? Well, the entire book was a mixture of good ideas, but the end product was bad. It's as if the author couldn't make up his mind what he wanted to write about. Time Travel, aliens, paradoxes: these all sound like good ingredients, but SOMEHOW Mr. Steele has managed to get it very, very wrong.
The plot: Franc Lu, a 24th century historian, is being sent back in time to view what happened on the Hindenburg: witness first hand the destruction and what caused it. But somehow, he makes some changes, causing history to diverge and a paradox to be created. A parallel storyline tells about David Zachary Murphy, a scientist working for NASA at the end of the 20th century. David came up with the (correct) theory that UFOs are really time machine. How do both these threads join together? Just barely, and not in an interesting way. Read the book if you want to find out.
To summarize: I DON'T recommend this book. There are far better time travel stories, which cover very similar ideas in a superior way. (check out Joshua Dann's books if you want a glimpse). The reason I'm not giving this book one star is because it did capture my attention for about a third of the book, I was still convinced it might turn out to be a decent one, until this hope shattered.

I generally avoid stories with the physical time travel concepts and altering the past, but on occasion, an author can make me forget my hang-ups about the concepts. As promised by a friend, Chronospace was intelligently written, and I was able to let go and become immersed in an interestingly hypothetical, suspenseful stage of events. The concept of "aliens" being from the future is not entirely new, but perhaps equally plausible to being from distant galaxies light years away. In my opinion, conceptually this novel's premise cannot be entirely dismissed, and therein lies part of the pleasure of getting lost in this story. As I did initially, don't let the time travel sci-fi keep you from reading this one. This was well handled here. This was actually my first Steele novel, but certainly won't be my last!

I've read many time travel novels over the years and this one is amongst the best.
In a genre that has been gone over so many times it's hard not to be cliched but Steele pulls it off.
The action is fairly fast paced and the book is hard to put down. There are enough questions and bits of mystery to keep the reader tantilized.
The story shifts gears many times and with little confusion considering the topic and the numerous timelines and settings.
This is what I refer to as clasic modern science fiction. Not quite hard science but close enough and without the pitfalls so
many other stories fall prey to. The end may be a bit disapointing but not by much. Not in reference to the rest of the story. It basically all ties together something which several other stories I've read recently fail to do.
I've been a fan of Steele since his debut and have yet to be displeased with any of his work. He is a modern master of sf and I look forward to his future pieces.

Sorry, I wasn't satisfied with TA. I was looking for more specifics about an alternative space program that started in the 1940's. Instead, I got a silly plot set ahead to the 1990's with a disappointing ending. If you are looking for hard details about an alternative NASA and its accomplishments, try Stephen Baxter's "Voyage".

As usual for Steele, this is a hard sf book of the exploration of near-Earth space. But unlike Orbital Decay and Lunar Descent, The Tranquillity Alternative is not set in the near future, but in an alternate history, where the American space program started in World War II and effectively ended after a joint US-USSR expedition to Mars in 1976. The story line is intriguing because of the close similarity to real history, which makes the deviations surprising (Nixon won the 1960 elections, Robert Kennedy became President after Nixon in 69, was shot in Dallas. McGovern became president in the 70s, Dole instead of Bush was Reagan's vice president and followed him as president).

What makes alternate history hard to swallow is that one the one hand America is depicted as a nation in decline without the will to pursue objectives in space anymore - Tranquillity Base is sold to a German company - much worse than in reality: Is this meant to be the consequence of higher spending for space in the alternate history?

Another disappointment is that of the 300 page story, about 250 pages are used to depict the scenery, and only for 30 or so pages there is some action. However, the descriptive parts are most interesting and thought-provoking.

... It is one Steele's more gripping novels. It started slow for me - only in that I had to guide myself into Steele's alternative history and get used to Presidents McGovern and Dole. I had to convince myself that Neil Armstrong was NOT the first man on the moon. These were just minor distractions. However once I figured it all out, I became totally entrenched in this book. He breaks up each chapter with a newspaper article or television report that provides a chronological alternative history to the space program. I liked that idea. It gave it more believability. There were a few unexpected twists and turns toward the end, which I won't give away...

Traditional story... clearly intended as a tribute to the masters of the so-called "golden era" of SF: A.C. Clarke got the county named after him, as well as a statue in one of the colony's parks, and Heinlein got a bridge - as well as a fairly boring avatar of the intelligent computer from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Steele has done better work, but this is still a fairly enjoyable story (with an enormous "plot hole": after knoking out cold the hit-man, why the sheriff does not check the hit-man's luggage and remove all the weaponry?)

Tis is an action/gangster story set in outer space. The setting could well take place in any small or isolated town, not necessarily a space colony. The bernal sphere has been introduced before to SF literature in "Rendevouz with Rama". apart from that, there are no new ideas or concepts. It is a good read though. The author has a talent in description and drawing characters and the events are fast paced. What I mind the most is that the cover illustration got the shape of the supposedly Bernal sphere wrong and really spoiled the way I tried to imagine it.

All of Steele's books are just plain fun and this is no exception. Bizzare of course, but fun. I like his tributes to the greats and his nostaligic treatment of current scifi, "the good old days of Captain Kirk." The Elvis Cult is a riot.