Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Mission Accomplished!

Stories where people, human or otherwise, were working on a mission or plan and something went terribly wrong (129,331 words; Time: 7h:11m)

Cyclopterus, by Peter Watts

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Thriller) Alistor’s company hires a sub to explore the deep ocean floor for resources, but the world is falling apart, and the pilot resents him. (5,742 words; Time: 19m)

Ice Breakers, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Good Rescue Story

(SF Thriller) As Maya struggles to secure mining equipment before a huge storm sweeps in, something crashes into the ice nearby, with two life signs inside it. Can she save them and still escape the storm? (7,294 words; Time: 24m)

The Fires of Prometheus, by Allen M. Steele

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Thriller) A terminally-ill man sneaks out of his hospital on Callisto, steals a shuttle, and heads for Io. A rescue team goes after him, but should they really risk their lives for this? (7,439 words; Time: 24m)

The Agreement, by Dominica Phetteplace

[Anthology]

★★☆☆☆

(SF Adventure) Nora didn’t get chosen for the first Mars mission, but when something seems to go wrong with it, they ask her to go on a special followup—solo. (6,519 words; Time: 21m)

Lost in Splendour, by John Meaney

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆

(SF Adventure) Shep’s an old hand at taking spaceships through quantum gates, but he knows something is wrong when they materialize and Jupiter isn’t there. (7,003 words; Time: 23m)

Something in the Air, by Carolyn Ives Gilman

[Anthology]

★☆☆☆☆

(SF Fantasy) Suppose there were a star system where quantum entanglement operated on a grand scale. Three researchers explore a planet that seems to keep changing based on what they want to find. (9,153 words; Time: 30m)

Genesong, by Peter F. Hamilton

[Anthology]

★☆☆☆☆

(SF Thriller) The crew of a ship routing ice from the Oort Cloud to Venus is attacked by pirates. (8,684 words; Time: 28m)

The Empty Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Entertaining and Moving

(Space Opera) Kestre seeks revenge for her slaughtered kin, and she has a very special weapon to do it with, although it has a problem she doesn’t know about. (7,213 words; Time: 24m)

Mutata Superesse, by Jason Fischer and Sean Williams

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆

(SF Adventure) Someone from the Heavy Armor Squad comes down to rescue a few illegal colonists, and while they’re all hiding from the local wildlife he/she tells them some stories. (3,741 words; Time: 12m)

By the Warmth of their Calculus, by Tobias S. Buckell

[Anthology]

★★★★★ Clever, Exciting, Satisfying

(Lost Colony Adventure) A lost colony survives in the rings of a giant planet which protect it from killer alien robots, but some brave souls must venture into harm’s way to get needed resources. (7,586 words; Time: 25m)

The One Who Was There, by John Barnes

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆

(SF Adventure) A journalist covers the biggest disaster in the history of Titan—the explosion of an enormous oxygen shipment—but new press rules may make her job impossible. (7,344 words; Time: 24m)

Hanging Gardens, by Gregory Feeley

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆

(SF Adventure) Four children escape the destruction of their habitat and strike out across the surface of Mars to get help. (5,345 words; Time: 17m)

Devil in the Dust, by Linda Nagata

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Tense, Exciting, and Realistic

(Robot Revolt) Mars has almost completed stamped out the killer bots, but a cleanup crew spots something suspicious and has to check it out. (7,180 words; Time: 23m)

I often complain about unrealistic stories about killer AI. This is an excellent description of the sort of risk we really do face. My special complements to the author for being one of the very few to get AI right and still make it interesting.

Rescue Party, by Aliette De Bodard

[Anthology]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Space Opera; Xuya) On Asphodel, people who no longer contribute to society get “preserved” in the Repository for the sake of their memories. When Giao finds herself there, she decides to mount an appeal. Somehow. (9,489 words; Time: 31m)

Although this is set in the author’s sprawling Xuya Universe, there’s no need to read any of the other stories to appreciate this one.

This is Not the Way Home, by Greg Egan

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Exciting and stirring

(Lunar Hard SF Adventure) Unable to contact Earth, the last survivor of a moonbase sets off for the Farside with her infant daughter and a plan. (7,583 words; Time: 25m)

Recommended By: 👍RSR+1 (Q&A)