Short version: A collection of science fiction stories that seperate themselves from their inferior cousin, the space soap opera.
Hard science fiction is a defined as sub genre of science fiction where the science is emphasized over the fiction. See the Wikipedia entry on Hard SF for an extended discussion of the genre. In hard sci-fi, character development is often less important than the scientific “hook†the story revolves around. A perfect example from the book is the story where an astronaut stranded on the moon has to attempt to traverse the circumference of the moon in order to keep her solar powered space suit in the sunlight until a rescue mission can be sent. The character development is a prop to, and arises from, the technical circumstances of the marooned astronaut.
These stories are far, far, far and away from being tedious tomes of scientific speculation. Several nights in a row, stories from the book kept me up later than I intended. The collection of stories had a pleasing variety, each with a distinct style, while still maintaining a central theme of revolving around a particular technical hook. Some of the more exciting stories could perhaps be described as a thinking man’s Space Western, or God forbid, even a thinking man’s Space Soap Opera, if there is such a beast. This book’s selections demonstrate that Science Fiction as a genre has some brilliantly imaginative and diverse writers, and it should be no surprise that attempting to compare any two stories from the book is like trying to compare apple pie to orange juice.
Each story contains some introductory notes on the author and the story. In general, the notes include some of the authors thoughts on hard sci-fi. These preludes were interesting in themselves. The introduction to the story about the stranded astronaut running around the moon is a particularly good example. The author reveals that the idea of the astronaut needing to constantly stay on the move, so as to never let the sun set on her solar powered suit, came from a real-life discussion on how to power a moon base in the long term. The author’s suggestion that the moon base could be on wheels so as to constantly drive away from the Moon’s sunset eventually made became the hook for the story.
The “hard science†in this anthology does not require a scientific background, and this book would find a good home among fans well written short fiction, as well as science fiction buffs.