Connie Willis is a good writer, good at telling funny and/or moving stories about us people and our problems and triumphs. Hard-SF fans should definitely look elsewhere; all the science and sociology and future-speculation in these stories is completely in the service of the human emotions and predicaments she wants to explore. This is SF really only by accident.

I would have enjoyed the book more if the stories had been shorter and tighter, and perhaps if I hadn't read them all at once. At least three of them are rather similar "screwball comedies", and those three stories are 27, 60, and 98 (! ) pages long.

I think she could have done what she wanted to do in half, or even a third, of the length, without hurting the qualities of the stories. But that may just be because I'm a busy Daddy without spare hours to spend savoring every page.

I'm not going to rush out and buy all the rest of her books, but I probably will read more eventually.

I have to admit, the more I read Connie Willis' stuff, the more I enjoy her. The short stories in here display a very nice range, from frenetic to despairing, and they're all handled well. "The Last of the Winnebagos" is really a very moving story, much more than I thought it would be since I'm not a dog person. "Even the Queen" and "In the Late Cretaceous" were hilarious - the latter indicates that she must have worked in academia at some time in her life... "Jack" is an interesting piece, especially since she lets us figure out Jack's secret long before any characters do. There are a few rough points here and there - "The Schwarzschild Radius" and "Spice Pogram" come to mind, but they're easily made up for by the other stories in the book. Good reading for a long night with some hot chocolate....

This book contains eleven stories, which is the beginning of its downfall. It should have more like fifteen stories. However, the eleven contained herein are more than excellent, they are mindblowing.

My favorite would have to be Spice Pogrom, one of the funniest and most absurd stories I've ever read. Connie's homage to the screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's is brilliant enough to make anyone want to rent one. Another brilliant, if confusing story is the conclusion to this book: At the Rialto. Dumb blondes of all shapes and sizes populate Connie's Hollywood, and their interaction with quantum physicists is laugh-out-loud funny. In The Late Cretaceous, although short, is a gem of a comedy story, with two subplots interwoven through it. Time Out is also hilarious and multi-plotted, although all the subplots resolve into one another in the end.

However, this book is not all light fare. Several stories, such as Chance and The Last of the Winnebagos, are extremely sobering and thought-provoking. Although I enjoyed Chance, I doubt I will ever read it again; it was too sad. A simple story of a housewife's dissatisfaction with her life is, to quote, profoundly tragic as she reminisces about what might have been. The Last of the Winnebagos, although not terribly sad, is enough of an ominous portent to make anyone think twice.

The only truly forgettable story here is Winter's Tale, Connie's contribution to the was-Shakespeare-Shakespeare debate. Although her Old Englsih skills are impressive, they are the only reason to read this poor story. All in all, however, this was a brilliant book I will reread for a long time.

It takes Willis a long time to write a novel, due to the incredible amount of research that she does for them. Of course, this is also one of the reasons why they are so good. In the early 1990s, her editor had a brilliant idea--why not write shorter novels? Connie, in a rare fit of insanity, agreed. The idea was crazy because she does the same amount of research for a novella as for a novel. If there was a silver lining in this cloud, it is likely the increased amount of shelf space that Willis now takes up with seven different titles instead of four (I'm not counting her new book, nor the collaborations with Cynthia Felice).

There may be another silver lining in that we got three novellas that might otherwise not have existed, and it is a format that Connie excels at, and a format that, rarely, is as financially rewarding. This is the second of the three that I have read (I also commented on Bellwether). It is not a screwball, per se, which is somewhat surprising given that it is about movies. It does, however, contain that signature Willis humor.

Tom is a poor student at the UNC film school, who has to moonlight as a film "editor" to pay his tuition. I have to put editor in quotes, because this is the future, where movies are not made but remade with digitized famous actors. Into this walks Alis, a "face" who confides to Tom that she wants to dance in the movies.

Like many of Connie's stories, this one plays with the concept of time-travel, although the one-way trip into film nostalgia here is an unusual twist. If this was made into a film, the likely category it would fall into is romantic comedy, although comedy and tear-jerker aspects are there. Think of it as Willis' Jerry Maguire.

Alis is a determined young woman who comes to Hollywood to dance in the movies. Unfortunate, that, because in this world of the not-too-distant future musicals are dead, as is most live-action film-shooting. The hot properties in the movies are the images of stars long-dead - Marilyn Monroe, Carole Lombard, River Phoenix, and James Dean, and every new film is a remake. Tom is a freelance movie editor whose primary occupation is fitting classic films with the images of the studio boss's latest girlfriend. This sad fact galls him to no end, since unlike most of the beautiful young people on the make in Hollywood, Tom actually watches movies, and hates to see the classics butchered by the soulless, self-serving, drug-numbed, money-hungry executives who run the studios. Fascinated by Alis and her impossible dream, Tom tries to help her as best he can and gives readers a sardonic overview of how movies will be made in the future in the process, but Alis proves resourceful enough all by herself, and manages to achieve her dream in a way that no one could possibly have imagined.

The novel is structured something like a treatment for a movie script (possibly a hypermodern, science fiction remake of Casablanca), and the first-person narrator shows his obsession with old movies by constantly referencing classics by Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, and Alis's favorite dancer, Fred Astaire. This is not another tightly knitted time travel story along the lines of Willis's irresistible To Say Nothing of the Dog. The sci-fi/fantasy aspects of the story are extremely hard to follow and may ultimately prove disappointing to fans of such, and the humor tends to fall flat more often than not. But at the same time, the love story (which is really the unifying force here) is so infused with dance scenes, movie references, and techno-jargon that no one could confuse this book for a romance novel.

If you love the old movie musicals, and Fred Astaire in particular, this book should be an unending delight. There are so many references to characters, scenes, and dance numbers from the movies of the mid-Twentieth Century that a true aficionado could spend years checking them all out on video. If on the other hand your knowledge of such films is virtually nil and you couldn't care less, you may feel that this book has nothing special to offer.

Connie Willis is undoubtedly a genius, but even geniuses have their failures. One is tempted at first to think that Remake will be one of her lesser works, even if by no means a failure. But really it's up there with her greater books. The characterizations, of the narrator/hero in particular, are good and entertaining. And the premise/setting of a Hollywood in which thanks to digital technology every actor is entirely interchangeable (but good scripts are obviously still in short supply or can't get made) works vividly well.

It's sort of like a "mystery caper" movie.

This Sci-Fi world of the near future is ably created and the revealing of the details of this future definitely helps to drive the story.

But, it's the characters, their realtionships and, in particular, the loveable heroine who really make you happy to keep reading.

A light, fun yarn.

I loved Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog. Light Raid was no different. I began reading it in the morning on the way to work and found it so entertaining that I simply could not stop reading it. I finished it in one day.

Light Raid is a simple, yet exciting novel about a young woman who finds herself in the middle of a spy ring involving her own family. It takes place in a future where wars are no longer fought on the ground, but rather with laser beams directed by satellites.

Light Raid is a light and fun read, full of mystery, suspense, wonderful characters and even a healthy dose of romance. Willis has a great knack for being able to draw the reader into the story from page one.

This is an interesting story that takes place a few years (centuries?) into the future. Water has become an altogethor different resource, and it has caused the restructuring of North America. The culture is at once recognizable, and yet bizarre and takes place in places that don't strike many people as action centered. Like a chase scene in Victoria, British Columbia or references to the "Prince of Saskatchewan"!!! There's family and "Family" dynamics going on, spying, romance, fun and tragedy. Entertaining and interesting

Water Witch isn't big literature, but it provides an enjoyable few hours in another universe. Initially, the book gives you the impression that this will be fluffy entertainment, but it delivers much more. You bite into cotton candy and find, say, a lemon meringue pie. Just a *little* more depth than you'd expected.

The story is fairly simple, but it would be easy to spoil the plot; forgive me if I'm circumspect. Basically, Water Witch takes place on a planet, long since settled by humans, where water is rare; only a water witch -- someone who's genetically sensitive to water and can feel its presence -- can control the precious resource. However, of the water witches have died out and the current princess, as you learn in the first few pages, doesn't have very much talent. Despite the short-of-water theme, it's definitely not a Dune knockoff, as the alien planet has several well thought out ecological resources.

The story is told from two viewpoints: Deza, the daughter of a con man, and Radi, who's engaged to the last princess of the Red City. Naturally the whole thing is a setup for a love story, and it doesn't disappoint.

All of the above makes this sound like a very serious novel, but it's a done with a light hand and a sense of humor. The humor of real people rather than silliness or laugh-out-loud escapades.

While the story doesn't have the interwoven zanyness that Willis accomplishes so well in her later work (which always makes me think of Katherine Hepburn movies like Bringing Up Baby), it does show signs of her development. The authors do a fine job of storytelling (sometimes you can tell whose hand was on the keyboard, so to speak, but it's rare), with more complex characters than in at least another one of their collaborations.

I enjoyed this book, and think it'd be a fine accompaniment on a long trip.

I read this book some years ago and enjoyed it. I lost my copy and have been looking for another one ever since.

this story set in connie willis's backyard of colorado is wonderfully told but i wish it was longer(or had a sequel hint if authuor is reading) the harried newspaper reporters stoies of 'nutto's are hysterical and the el turco mishaps are good "as gold" four doughnuts

Like a lot of people, I picked up this book on the strength of Connie Willis' name and, also like other people, I was sorely disappointed. This book is nothing more than a Harlequin Romance wrapped in a Saran Wrap-transparent "sci-fi" setting. (I guess if you make up weird vegetables and such, it qualifies).

The "heroine", Delanna, is your average shallow, unthinking romance novel woman, whose main emotional attachment (even after she supposedly "falls in love") seems to be to her pet scarab. We know it's not a bug just the same way we know never to touch Thomas Covenant - she continually tells *everyone* over and over.

The "hero", Sonny, is a walking mannequin. He never once has any type of independence and is never shown to be a real, thinking person. He's very conveniently been mooning after Delanna since she left Keramos at the age of *five* and he hasn't seen her since. Ummm, I think that's a little more worrying than admirable. His sole purpose is to stand around being noble and patient until the writers decide the interminable plot (and I use that word loosely) has stretched on long enough for Delanna to have the "realization" that she loves Sonny and living on Keramos. The other characters - the witch who really is just misunderstood, the ......... single guy who wants Delanna as well, also have about as much individuality as a block of tofu.

I like light. I like humor. I like opposites attracting. I just deplore cookie cutter fiction.

Although not her best book, _Promised Land_ is a perfect light read for re-readers' relaxation purposes. The characters are charming, if not overtly developed - remember, it's told from only one non-omniscient point of view! Some people seem to have unreasonable expectations but I have no doubt the book is exactly what it was intended to be - pleasing.

Great for anyone that doesn't like technical novels. Promised Land is incredibly light to read, heavy on the semi-subtle wit, just a tad preachy, with wonderful characterizations. Everyone knows a Sonny Tanner and the gossip mill. The vet's a bit overdrawn, but Delanna is perfect!

It is nice to see an innocent romance blossom without the lurid details, although the hints are there. The imagination is left to paint your own picture of fire-haired Delanna with her nacre-backed Cleo wrapped in her arms. (Really, it's not a bug!)

Not her best book - that honor goes to Doomsday - but probably the most enjoyable to read. I hope Willis and Felice write another.

After reading some of Connie Willis' other books, I must say that this book was very disappointing to me. After finishing this book it didn't even enter my mind once like Doomsday Book and Bellwether did. It was very confusing and it didn't seem like the plot was going anywhere. Like another reviewer said, I didn't know that Fin was female until almost the end of the book. The reason that this isn't just one star is that the book was funny, especially the character Bult so I could enjoy the book a little bit.

Another light but excellently told SF tale by Willis. A couple of crusty surveyors and a native are working to map a new planet. Things are not all as they seem, however. The native is constantly fining the off- worlders for the degradation to the planet. The off-world survey might harbor an ulterior interest for the government.

Willis' comedy here is, like a lot of her stories, true screwball. That means a battle of the sexes, with misunderstandings and misrepresentations. I'm told that this type of humor is an acquired taste, which may explain some of the comments I've heard from people who say Willis' stories don't do anything for them. Personally, I can't get enough of them, and have to find other authors to fulfill that need during the months it takes Connie to write another.

Uncharted Territory was short and rather dense. Willis does not do much explaining, and you have to be willing to "not know stuff" for the first part of the book. But if you keep reading, you will find this book to be clever and interesting. I did. Willis does a lot of clue imbedding throughout and if you pay attention, you might be able to guess what's coming, but it's enjoyable even if you don't. I actually liked it better the second time through because I caught so much more. Recommended.

The book has a very interesting title but the stories just don't live up to it. They wind around and around without going anywhere, they messages at the end of each story are just not interesting.

I saw this book in a local library, it was sitting on the bottom shelf and it caught my eye. I checked it out because it was a compilation of short stories, and I didn't have to set aside the time to be involved in a book. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO MISTAKEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! The stories are fantastic and they leave you pondering for weeks. I loved this book so much that even before finishing it, I was searching the internet for more titles by Kit Reed. YOU WANT THIS BOOK!

a collection of SCI-FI short stories , poems ext.. edited by the author conny willis.

tee writings are from many genres of SCI-FI and by different writers, some are new and some are SCI-FI master from the old generation.

most of the stories are very weak, and some are very peculiar

the best things about the book, is that ther reader can always skip to the next story, and mabee to find something for is taste.

i think this book is realy for SCI FI fanatic fans only, especially for those who are familiar with the NEBULA award organisation, and for conny willis's fans and friends (i'm not one of them)

History repeats itself: Two years ago I read Nebula Awards 31. The only story that engaged me was by Grand Master AE Van Vogt - a story written over 50 years ago. I don't remember much else about that volume.

Nebula Awards 33 concludes with a story by Grand Master Poul Anderson written about 40 years ago. It's easily the best thing in the book. If I were to guess what this means about contemporary short science fiction, I would say the genre is not only short on new ideas, but it has lost the joy of the narrative. Indeed, little happens in many of these stories. And, as the earlier reviewer noted, many really aren't sf. Jane Yolen's award-winning story about Emily Dickinson and a spaceship is silly and unnecessary. Gregory Feeley's story is interesting, but there's no narrative. John Howard Gardner's story has perhaps the best science fictional idea. It deals with certain snake-like analogues in human blood which have a religious significance that affected society. But, it's just some conversational set-pieces with no narrative. Nancy Kress's piece starts good, gets better, and then just ends. (Is there a novel in the works?) The one story with spaceships is actually a ghost story.

Science fiction and fantasy writers are perhaps entitled to pat themselves on the back from time to time - after all few others do. But editor Connie Willis's gushy endorsements do nobody any good. Rather than let the reader judge the stories, she keeps telling us how good they are. (No analysis is provided.) She makes the absurd claim that this volume is as good as the first volume, which contained much-anthologized classic works by Aldiss, Ellison and Zelazny.

Willis mourns her inability to include all the nominees while including nine (!) gushy pages on Poul Anderson and about one apiece on each story. The volume concludes with a totally unnecessary (and, except for a piece by Kim Stanley Robinson, facile) collection of pieces about 1997. But who cares about 1997 in the middle of 1999? It includes about 10 pages ripped out from the award winning novel. (Why do this? The novel will probably have greater circulation than this collection.) Maybe K.D. Wentworth wouldn't have the ignominy of being the only short-story nominee left out had all this unnecessary material been tossed.

Another collection of this long-running series that presents the award-winning fiction for the previous year. I'll comment on the individual stories:

Jane Yolen, "Sister Emily's Lightship" -- I've never been a Yolen fan. While I find her prose professional enough, I've never read anything by her that would make me jump up and rush out to force someone to read it. This story is no exception. The premise of Emily Dickinson meeting an alien is too...precious, and Yolen's sole contribution to that premise in this story is to emphasize some of the ethereal and otherworldly quality of Dickinson's poetry, and that doesn't come until the end. Yeah, she did her Dickinson research, but so what? Other than the alien, there is no reason for this story to be science fiction (see "Abbess Phone Home" in the Turkey City Lexicon).

James Patrick Kelly, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" -- Uses technology of the future to portray a true human characteristic.

Vonda McIntyre, excerpt from The Moon and the Sun -- As someone who has not read this Nebula-winning novel, the excerpt presented here does exactly what it is supposed to do--whet your appetite for more. I had no idea what the subject of the book was before I read this, now I do, and have had a taste of how it is told. I'm not going to rush out and get it, but I'm much more interested now than I was before.

Nancy Kress, "The Flowers of Aulit Prison" -- An excellent story with its basis in that most Phil Dickian question, "What is reality?" This is the kind of SF that I look for, where aliens help us understand, through them as a metaphor, a fundamental idea of life. That it has a plot, an unique setting, and fascinating characters makes it an award winner. I'm not giving anything away with this one, but just point you to it and say, "go read."

Gregory Feeley, "The Crab Lice" -- I disliked the beginning of this story so much that I didn't even finish it. There was nothing for me to grab onto to orient myself in the story, and life is just too short.

Nelson Bond, "The Bookshop" -- A nice little classic story, where every writer's fantasy comes true, but at a price, of course. You could do a collection of these ultimate library tales (Borges comes to mind).

James Alan Gardner, "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Bloodstream" -- A great story, with some unique twists to alternate history (so much better than the Feeley).

Michael Swanwick, "The Dead" -- An audacious story, and right up my alley. I liked it well enough, but there was something missing--I'm not sure what, maybe more of an explanation for the Donald character and his background. The anger that it stems from is good.

Karen Joy Fowler, "The Elizabeth Complex" -- This could have been as bad as the Yolen, yet it works to some extent because of its experimental nature. I wouldn't want a steady diet of these things, but once was interesting.

Jerry Oltion, "Abandon in Place" -- Wow, I liked this story a lot, even though it is so ridiculous that it is laughable. One must come at this as if reading a fairy tale--there is nothing plausible here. The science is bogus, the characters are straight wish-fulfillment from Heinlein days. But the mythology is strong, and if one has any remorse for the space program whatsoever, there's a good chance that it will tug the correct strings.

Poul Anderson, "The Martyr" -- A classic from the latest grand master, a nice little mystery about why those infuriating aliens continue to treat us differently.

All in all, this is a worthy volume to grab, especially if you don't want to dedicate the time to reading the Dozois' Year's Best or the magazines themselves.