Time and Stars

the long version

Time and Stars (1964) is a wonderful collection of short works by one of the greats, Poul Anderson. Anderson is best known for hard science fiction novels such as Tau Zero (1970) as well as fast paced pulp adventures exemplified by his Dominic Flandry (à la James Bond in space) sequence which he started in the 50s. Only one of the six shorts in the collection was subpar -- Escape from Orbit' (1962) - which did not rise above the traditional we need to rescue some stranded astronauts plot. All the others -- for example, Hugo winning novella and well-told tale of a balkanized American Pacific coast No Truce of Kings' (1963), the fantastic evolved mechanical life forms in Epilogue' (1962), and the wit of The Critique of Impure Reason' (1962) -- make the collection worthwhile for fans of classic science fiction (and obviously, fans of Poul Anderson). The novella `Epilogue' is the best of Anderson's works.