This another in the "Isaac Asimov's" series that collects stories from his magazines and publishes them on a comment theme. This theme is sexuality in science fiction -- no, not about sex and robots as the cover suggests; yes, I was disappointed by that. Of the ten stories, five are great -- they flow well, the characters make you care, the dialog is realistic, and the plot ties together well throughout. These five are: Brian Stableford's "Bedside Conversations" about sex change and childbirth in unlikely bodies; Peni R. Griffin's "The Goat Man" about how the beastly man is not always the beast your mother told you to avoid; Connie Willis' "Even the Queen" about alternatives to "naturalness" and the willingness to forgo it for less pain; Tanith Lee's "Zelle's Thursday" which is thankfully about robots and domestic problems of human beings; and finally Deborah Wessell's "The Last One to Know" that has shows gender extending into marital roles in surprising ways. The other five are either a bit too confusing, a bit too long, or a bit too, well, much for my personal tastes -- that's coming from a BDSM erotica folks!

Isaac Asimov's Valentines is yet another high quality collection of short science fiction
stories that were first published in Asimov's wonderful magazine. The editor of
this collection, Gardner Dozois, is one of the most highly
skilled working today (he also edits the annual collection
entitled The Years Best Science Fiction). Dozois has a keen
instinct when it comes to putting together thoughtful and
varied anthologies. You can't please all of the people all of the time, but I always find at
least a few true gems in each of Dozois's endeavors. Valentines is composed of ten stories
that all gain their impetus from the emotion of love. Each plot weaves imagination and
emotion into a coherent whole, although some succeed better than others.
I particularly enjoyed No Love in all of Dwingeloo, by Tony Daniel and Chemistry by James
Patrick Kelly. Other authors include Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg and Terry Bisson.

Not a collection of stories by Isaac Asimov himself, but eight stories by various authors, all previously published in the periodical ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION. Like all good speculative fiction, these stories ask the question "what if?"

What if a vampire went to London to join the 1940s war effort? "Jack" by Connie Willis portrays a vampire using his unusual abilities for the good of humankind. The horrors of bureaucracy make the horrors of war look almost inviting by comparison.

What if vampires are a separate species that keeps tabs on the human race? Other writers have done it, but seldom with the grace of David Redd in "The Old Man of Munington." Two young girls and the Old Man himself follow a younger vampire's plans to eliminate a possible risk to the human race the vampires watch and guard.

Perhaps the most chilling question and answer comes in "My Brother's Keeper" by Pat Cadigan: What if vampires support inner-city drug abuse because they have something to gain? These are vampires at their most terrifying -- not tuxedo-clad fiends in some isolated Carpathian castle, but men and women who look like the rest of us, nesting right in our midst and drawing their power from the things we fear most.

Other stories include Tanith Lee's haunting "Winter Flowers," a story of vampire mercenaries who encounter a castle of creatures even stranger than they; "A Surfeit of Melancholic Humors" by Sharon N. Farber, a charming and somewhat medical tale of vampires in seventeenth-century plague time; and Susan Palwick's "Ever After," which picks out the darkness of fairy tale conventions and blends it into the darkness of the vampire mythos. All the stories are good; some are excellent. All balance vampire fiction conventions with enough of the unexpected to keep us guessing -- pleasantly so.

This novel is very entertaining, although it does have problems. Featuring the introduction of Steve, Jane, Hunter, The MC Governor Robot, and Wayne Nystrom, it starts a series about a chase through time involving six small robots, their obsessive and selfish creator, and a group of people attempting to keep the robots from detonating in nuclear-warhead like fashion.

The creator is a jerk, and he is an easily hatable villain, which is nice. However, some of the other characters are a bit thin. Chad, for example, was a paleontologist who butts heads with Steve for most of the book. This is a poor method of character development in a novel this short, and more thought needs to be given to it being a character development on the part of Steve throughout the series. He, Jane, and Wayne have that time, but Chad should have been a bit less antagonistic.

Another problem is that there are pacing issues. Sometimes the action moves along nicely and everything makes sense. Other times, the story seems disjointed and the characters seem to have some knowledge that they shouldn't, merely to keep it going.

It is an entertaining book with a modicum of good scientific data in it. Well worth reading, and worth purchasing, although it is geared more toward a younger audience, I think.
Harkius

I think that this is an o.k. book about words it's almost like a dictionary of words used in myths but they are not in alphabetical order. It doesn't say wich myth this word comes from or anything. It could be a little better but at least it gave part of a story. Whoever wrote it had a good idea about it but I don't think they knew how to start. It mostly had the names of the gods and goddesses. If it is called words from myths it should have explanations of the places too.

This book contains only 9 small chapters. Before I read this book, I have already perused Greek myth; hence I enjoyed this book a lot. Especially, Isaac's coherent explanation was admirable. He never makes a cursory attempt at delineating the origin of words concerning myth. In addition, his ebullient expression not only showed his own unique creativeness but elicited my deeper imagination about the myth itself. Even though there are prodiginous ways of interpreting the symbols of myth, his erudite opinion enabled me to assimilate some astronomical esorteric terms easily and even explicitly. I felt sullen just to see the epilogue, this book is too short!
This book is mainly concerned with the origins of words that are connected to mainly greek myth. If you have an ardor about myth and the derivation of english words, I strongly recommand this lucid text.

Do you know the origin of the word "mysterious" concerned with the eleusinian ceremonies? Why do you call anything that is airtight as "hermetically sealed"? Can you discern claustrophobia to agoraphobia?

TRY this book~ It won't take long...

I am still reading this book that I managed to fish out from a box somewhere. I find it to be tremendously insightful on the subject of the mytholgical gods of ancient Rome and Greece. Not everything is as it seems. It is too bad that this important work of literature is out of print. Published in 1969 this book is a treasure. I urge anyone with an interest in ancient history (not just science fiction) to find this book.

I rather liked this book, which I read as a translation into Spanish. It's an interesting idea and offers many possibilities for the author. I would certainly like to buy more titles in this series, although I find that they are out of print in English.

My one complaint about the book is its rather slow pace. There is not a great deal of what you can call action. Transport to China, find Marco Polo, get access to the court, find robot, beat the bad guy to the punch... not a lot for so many pages.

I did wonder about how a group of travellers from our future could find it so easy to transport to China, integrate themselves into society, pass for Chinese (or races known to the Chinese) and get along with so little difficulty. Perhaps it would have given more scope to the author if he had made life a bit more tricky for his characters. Barring a rather easily foiled kidnap attempt, things seem just too easy for our superhuman heros.

Anyhow, the book is a good read (although associating it with Isaac Asimov's name certainly influenced me into buying it, it's relation to Asimov is tenuous apart from using his laws of robotics) and I felt that it was money quite well spent.

This is not the best of the Robots in Time series, but certainly a recommended reading. The Time Travel Team from Mojave Center goes back to 13th century China to recover the 5th component of MC governor. Along the way they come in contact with Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. A good book for anyone who enjoys good Science Fiction.

Hi, I'm the original reviewer and I want to make a truce with the latter reviewer. Before I make the compromise, however, I'd like to ask one question. Where would science be today without imagination? I'll let the readers answer this question. The next question is: Who is the author of variety? Science is struggling to understand the beginnings of life, so how can they ever understand the complexities of variety without end. I suppose somewhere in the universe oil and water readily mix.

My original disappointment to this book was due to it's lack of variety. I felt fastened to a very narrow viewpoint. We may need strict adherence to our scientific research but let's not push it when it comes to reading a great story. Imagination is the science text to good science fiction. I have a book that I use a lot with my writing (and here comes my compromise). It is a book about plausible sceintific facts as it pertains to a non-logical universe. A go-between, so-to-speak, for science fact and science fiction. This book tells me why an alien might smell awful. It could be that they eat something like garlic, or maybe it's the air that they breathe, or maybe they have a dull sense of smell and don't know that they stink. The question is: Is it really important to know why they stink? Well, if it is, then this book I have on creating a science fiction universe can be very useful.

My belief is that there is only one truth and that science and religion will come to that truth some day. However, when that time comes there will still exist imangination, and imagination is the forerunner of all scientific discoveries.

Aristotle had once said, in part, that a workable falsehood is better than an incomprehensible truth. If Science has any imagination, it is used in its ability to simplify complex concepts, by sometimes making small assumptions, in order to explain them better to the common laymen. Science fiction writers borrow heavily on this concept to tell their own stories.

Since man, in reality, cannot travel faster-than-light to reach distant stars in his own lifetime, the writer of such a fantastic tale should be able to explain how such a fantastic journey could have ever taken place. How you explain this fantastic journey between the stars in your story (though now a well-established convention in SF) can mark the difference in fiction between science, fantasy, or just plan unbelievable (...). It is up to you, and if you want to write good believable science fiction, then you should make every effort to learn everything you can about your scientific subject, and then you can create your own workable falsehoods.

The editors of *Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy* have divided the book into three sections, which they hope will inspire would-be-authors into writing credible fiction. Section One deals with *Storytelling* and includes the controversial essay from Robert A. Heinlein *On the Writing of Speculative Fiction*. Controversial because he advises, "you must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order." Section Two deals with *Ideas and Foundations*, which will advise you on how to write better believable science fiction by using real rational science. (The essay on *The Ideas that Wouldn't Die* is mandatory reading.) Although the third section on *The Business of Writing* lacks enough market resources and is all too brief with its essay on *The Mechanics of Submission*, it gives some of the best pieces of advice that any new writer could receive from Stanley Schmidt's essay on *Authors vs. Editors*.

Despite any shortcomings, *Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy* is a necessary read for anyone who is seriously considering writing in any of these genres. Such luminaries as Anderson, Asimov, Barnes, Heinlein, and Spinrad, who are the best in their fields, wrote some of the twenty collected essays. Leaving little doubt that the advice and insights given therein comes from legends, whose prose we should all-be so lucky to follow.

This book is a fantasic source of advice and counsel for the budding writer. I really do not approve of the condescending nature of Mr. Dozois' remarks toward the beginning writer. Isaac Asimov has great adsvice in this book. People should buy the book just to read what the different authors say. I really love this book! Buy it today (if you want)!

It's not that the stories in this collection aren't good ones. In fact most are very good indeed. But the book itself is a very misleading package. To begin with despite the title there are no stories by Isaac Asimov, he didn't edit the book (some of the stories were written after he died) and had no connection with it. Except that evidently the stories first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Which is not enough to justify putting Isaac Asimov's name on the cover.

Also the stories are not about Halloween. They are merely horror or dark fantasy stories. They aren't even necessarily scary; many of them are humorous. (A couple pretty funny, I must admit.)

Worst of all, the book itself is defective. The story "Dikduk" by Eliot Fintushel just stops in the middle, halfway down the page. The last part of the story is completely missing. At least it is in my copy.

All this is a shame because most of the stories are pretty good. (Though not new. All of them are reprints.) If it had been called "Dark Fantasy From Asimov's S.F. Magazine" or some such, and if the publisher had paid attention and not let the printer lose half of what might be the best story in the book, it would be a book worth having. As it is I can't recommend it. Why encourage dishonest packaging and sloppy production?

With a title Halloween and a JOL in a space suit you're thinking there might be some cool Halloween stories set in space? There were no space stories and no Halloween stories. Just a collection of horror stories that had nothing to do with Halloween. I feel like the title and the cover were false advertising. I don't want a horror book, I wanted Halloween!

I found the collection to be an excellent selection of spooky, funny and always extremely readable tales perfect for Halloween. No, you won't find Algernon Blackwood or the all-too obvious HP Lovecraft. However, I felt not the least bit guilty setting these venerable literary corpses aside to read some of the modern talents of the SF field. Macleod, Duncan, and Sanders were all stand-outs for me. I also enjoyed the Lovecraft homage "The Shunned Trailer." Too bad they couldn't include the hilarious art from the magazine along with the story.

You can't go wrong with the Asimov's titles. This is my favorite next to Isaac Asimov's Moons. I suppose my advice to all of the potential readers out there is this: Put the lights low. Relax. Enjoy a few hours of guiltless, spooky fun! Pumpkin pie and your Mom optional.

As Isaac Kramnick remarks in his introduction, there are many 'schools' of political thought and one should ideally start at their beginnings. Libertarian? Locke. Communism? Marx. Anarchism? Proudhorn?....No. Godwin. This is the first book that I know of to advocate a society without a state. Unfortunately, the reasoning is too bizzarre to be practical and unfortunately for Godwin, time disproved most of this books contents.

Godwin's view of human nature is wrong. His view of the determinism (the nature around us is determined, so we have to be.) is immature. He mauls the definitions of 'voluntary' and 'involuntary' action beyond recognition. The good part, honestly, was his critique on existing governments. Very astute, unless you consider that Montesquieu made identical observations several years befor Godwin was born. Still, if you've not read or don't want to read Montesquieu, Godwin's is a forcefully stated, action-packed polemic.

His view of a stateless society based on a jejune faith in honesty of all people everywhere is extremely naive and one wonders why Godwin, who doesn't have faith in government or the ruled people (yes, even in democracies) could have faith in peoples capacities for honesty and the self-government that it entails.

Alas, I gave this two stars because of it's originality, it's contributions to anarchism (a movement that produces an adequate thinker from time to time) and most importantly, as an historically interesting contrast to Rousseau and Montesquieu who predated this book and Proudhorn, Goldman and even Marx who followed it.