Camouflage by Robert Reed

This was a 61-page story, by page 28 I had had enough.

It was a slow-moving affair set on a gigantic ark ship.

The story dragged on with seemingly endless exposition and descriptions of alien species. Every time Reed brought me someplace interesting, like a giant library or scene of a crime, he’d move back into explaining things to me.

I found it tedious so I left the story unfinished.

It’s funny how I find it a personal failing when I give up on a book or story, but life is short, and not every story will connect.

On we go!

Rober Reed's website - https://www.robertreedwriter.com/

Robert Reed

The City of Cries by Catherine Asaro

I'd describe this as a professional fish out of water situation.  A private investigator is hired anonymously for an exorbitant fee.  The money is so good that she accepts the job and is quickly whisked away to learn that she'd been hired by royalty to track down a missing prince.

The case is on her homeworld, where she grew up on the streets.  She relies on previous relationships to investigate the case.  Old flames are fanned, debts are repaid and new relationships are formed.

I really liked this story, it was gritty and real; the settings lived up to the title of the collection - Dark Spaceways indeed.

I was very happy to learn that there is much, much more to discover in this world.

Her bibliography is here - http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1911

Catherine Asaro's Wiki page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Asaro

Catherine Asaro

In the Quake Zone by David Gerrold

Oh my goodness, what a wholly original take on time travel.

We are often told time travel stories that reimagine history; what if Hitler was never in power?  That kind of thing.

But in this story, there is a team of time specialists who travel up and down the stream on behalf of people willing to pay for the service.  What often happens is that small players, who have no bearing on history, are helped to avoid tragedies or bad luck.  Victims of accidents are prevented from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Our protagonist, Mike, is an operative for the Harris Agency which specializes in small cases.  He is sent back to the 1950s to unravel a number of missing person cases, which is thought to be the work of a serial killer.

While he investigates, by following the victims, he becomes entangled in the life of one of them.

I found the story confusing in the first quarter as it refused to settle into a narrative but once it did, I was hooked.  Gerrold can write compelling characters and situations that are just a small twist away from being comfortable.  I liked that.

In the last quarter, the story takes a big leap to one side, this was frustrating and yet welcomed at the same time.  It was like being interrupted by a commercial right at a crucial time.  I guess that was the point.

It was terrific fun and explored underground societies in a compelling way.

Stick with it because it is worth every page.

David Gerrold's website - https://www.gerrold.com/

David Gerrold

Guardian Angel by Mike Resnick

A "concerned" mother hires Jake Masters, private investigator, to find her son who has run away with the circus.  A space circus - so that makes it science fiction.

I joke, but a traveling circus is a big part of the story here.  The story was written as a straight up detective story, which I appreciated.  There is something engaging when the problems we deal with today are the same in the future.  Only the scenery changes.  And the FTL travel too.

One aspect of this future society that I found particularly interesting, sad but interesting, was the segregation of aliens from humans.  It was a bitter example of history repeating itself.  Even though it had nothing to do with the case it added atmosphere to the whole world Resnick created.

It was a well told story, with double crosses, shady deals and shifting loyalties.

It was a good opening entry in a collection of SF mysteries.

Mike Resnick's website - http://mikeresnick.com/

Mike Resnick