Last Science Fiction Writer
by Allen Steele
While The Last Science Fiction Writer consists of stories I wrote during a relatively short period of time, in some ways it also represents a cross-section of my career thus far. "Moreau2" and "High Roller" are later entries in the Near-Space series not included in Sex and Violence in Zero-G; "The War of Dogs and Boids" is a stand-alone episode of the Coyote cycle. "Take Me Back To Old Tennessee" and "Hail to the Chief" are related to one another; "An Incident of the Luncheon of the Boating Party" shares the same background as an earlier story, "...Where Angels Fear to Tread" (along with its novel-length expansion, Chronospace). "World Without End, Amen" is the latest in a loosely-linked series that includes "Agape Among The Robots" and "Jake and the Enemy" (both in my previous collection, American Beauty) while continuing the same thematic concerns of my novel The Jericho Iteration.
Other stories stand on their own. "Escape From Earth" was originally intended to be a young-adult novel until Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois invited me to contribute a novella to an anthology of YA science fiction. "The Teb Hunter" is straight-out satire, a comment on hunters and hunting; "The Last Science Fiction Writer" is much the same, although this time the target is science fiction itself, in particular some of its beloved and well-worn tropes.
In Steele's fifth collection of short science fiction stories, the adventurers who look outward are rewarded with learning where they truly belong, be they canines transplanted off Earth ('The War of Dogs and Boids'), prospectless teens who stumble across a time-travel repair mission ('Escape from Earth') or a virtual author breaking free of marketing straitjackets ('The Last Science Fiction Writer').
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While The Last Science Fiction Writer consists of stories I wrote during a relatively short period of time, in some ways it also represents a cross-section of my career thus far. "Moreau2" and "High Roller" are later entries in the Near-Space series not included in Sex and Violence in Zero-G; "The War of Dogs and Boids" is a stand-alone episode of the Coyote cycle. "Take Me Back To Old Tennessee" and "Hail to the Chief" are related to one another; "An Incident of the Luncheon of the Boating Party" shares the same background as an earlier story, "...Where Angels Fear to Tread" (along with its novel-length expansion, Chronospace). "World Without End, Amen" is the latest in a loosely-linked series that includes "Agape Among The Robots" and "Jake and the Enemy" (both in my previous collection, American Beauty) while continuing the same thematic concerns of my novel The Jericho Iteration. Other stories stand on their own. "Escape From Earth" was originally intended to be a young-adult novel until Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois invited me to contribute a novella to an anthology of YA science fiction. "The Teb Hunter" is straight-out satire, a comment on hunters and hunting; "The Last Science Fiction Writer" is much the same, although this time the target is science fiction itself, in particular some of its beloved and well-worn tropes. In Steele's fifth collection of short science fiction stories, the adventurers who look outward are rewarded with learning where they truly belong, be they canines transplanted off Earth ('The War of Dogs and Boids'), prospectless teens who stumble across a time-travel repair mission ('Escape from Earth') or a virtual author breaking free of marketing straitjackets ('The Last Science Fiction Writer').