Picked up this book at Anthrocon 2018 because the cover caught my eye. Unfortunately, I didn't see any reviews beforehand much less know that most of the reviews were written by the contributing authors themselves. "But I'm not reviewing my own story so my opinion is still unbiased." Yeah no, sorry it doesn't work that way. Which is why I automatically dinged this anthology a star just for that stunt.



That stunt not withstanding, this is an otherwise average collection of short stories involving

Picked up this book at Anthrocon 2018 because the cover caught my eye. Unfortunately, I didn't see any reviews beforehand much less know that most of the reviews were written by the contributing authors themselves. "But I'm not reviewing my own story so my opinion is still unbiased." Yeah no, sorry it doesn't work that way. Which is why I automatically dinged this anthology a star just for that stunt.That stunt not withstanding, this is an otherwise average collection of short stories involving furries and science fiction. Some are good, some are engaging, and unfortunately some were so bad I gave up a couple pages through. Some of them I even skipped over entirely because the foreword from the late Fred Patten was giving me a bad feeling of deja vu.Emergency Maintenance: Stopped reading after discovering the main characters' handler assembled them for an undercover op and did not tell them till ten minutes after the mission began. No, no, no, I'm sorry but if this is supposed to be a "top team of troubleshooters" then that is unacceptable leadership no matter who he's in charge of.Tow: Stopped reading about five pages in after watching the token human bigot go from zero to psycho in under ten seconds. Bigotry is not spontaneously turning into a lunatic. Bigotry is sitting down for lunch and having your coworker spontaneously ask you for your opinion on biracial couples then, as you stare at him wondering what on earth prompted this topic, he goes on about how uncomfortable they make him. The complete misunderstanding of the complex anatomy of hatred is a reoccurring theme with many of the weaker stories in this anthology.Experiment Seventy: A well-written if not entirely original read about a lab experiment that has escaped into the outside world. Not the best piece but a good one and one that restored a bit of my faith in this anthology.A Bedsheet for a Cape: A homage to the old 1950's style of science fiction. Perhaps a little too much of a homage in some regards as the protagonist seems to be without agency at points. But nothing that discouraged me from wanting to see what happened next.Hachimoto: Well, I guess we can add "enthralling author" to Uncle Kage's list of talents. The first-person was a bit of a switch but it felt like I was there with him. And when Hachimoto revealed the common thread connecting him to the narrator, I felt an overwhelming sense of "Daww www ."Vivian: A feel-good story about two teenage girls bonding and growing up together. Props to the author for not only showing a couple creative ways for AIs to interact with humans but for humanizing both the humans and the AIs.Family Bonding: Not bad, from exploring a family of human bigots from a relatively unusual perspective to a twist I did not see coming, this story took a flawed troupe of the fandom and managed to wrangle an engaging story out of it.The Future Is Yours: And... right here is where I nearly lost all the good will everything from Experiment Seventy to Family Bonding had built up. Unlike Emergency Maintenance and Tow, I actually tried to power through this one which may have been a mistake. The first two problems I had were the inconsistency with the difference between the Augs and regular furries and the complete lack of research regarding basic police procedure and terminology. Then there was the protagonist and his interactions with everyone around him. Despite his bigotry being as subtle as a truck, everyone brushes him off as "just silly," no one talks to him seriously about the topic, and the worst part is he makes a compelling argument. Gave up three-fourths through right before the protagonist enters his "karmic reversal" moment.Distant Shores and The Analog Cat: Didn't read either of these. The foreword from Patten made them sound similar to The Future Is Yours. So I skipped them.The Sequence: This... was interesting. This could have been an interesting cyberpunk/noir mystery but unfortunately it was too short and progressed too quickly for the conclusion to be satisfactory.Trinka and the Robot: Even taking into account that this is supposed to be a YA story, this needed more work. There are a number of big jumps between scenes and the ending felt too much like Deus Ex Machina.Lunar Cavity: Bravo Mary E. Lowd, bravo. This was quite possibly my favorite out of the entire anthology and the closest a story has moved me to tears in a long time. I will have to look up the rest of your bibliography.The Darkness of Dead Stars: My God was this a dark and depressing short story, I loved it. Reminded me of many of the post-apocalyptic games I played.Field Research: A short story that was sadly too short. There was an interesting discussion regarding prejudice (furries are the bigots in this one) that feels particularly relevant these days. But just as I had finished getting attached to the protagonist, the story ends.The Curators: Meh, not bad but I won't be running out to find more written by this author either.Evolver: Much like The Curators above, it wasn't bad but it wasn't exceptionally engrossing either.Growing Fur: Wow, we really did lose a talent with Mr. Patten did we? While not rip-roaringly funny, he did manage to get a sly smirk out of this emotionally dead robot and that is an accomplishment in itself.Thebe and The Angry Red Eye: Another depressing piece but one I liked a bit less then The Darkness of Dead Stars. While the former had the illusion of hope, you knew this one wasn't going to end well the moment you finished piecing together what was going on.