I read six SF short stories last month and they were mostly okay

Well, three of them were good, the others were okay. All of them were from Amazon's The Far Reaches series of original shorts.

How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey: This was meh and honestly pretty forgettable. In fact, I'm trying to recall enough detail to even talk about the plot and I'm struggling. Basically, Earth starts colonizing other planets using some MacGuffin transporter technology. Like, the whole thing makes no sense and it felt like Corey phoned this one in. I don't know if both Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck both worked on this or just one of them, but they probably should have just not. 1 out of 5.

Void by Veronica Roth: Murder mystery...in spaaaaaaace! I dug this one and it definitely cleansed the palate after the first story. A passenger on a starship is found murdered and it's up to the main character, a maintenance worker, to solve the crime before the ship arrives at port. 4 out of 5.

Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse: The best of the bunch, in my opinion. It's funny, but the meaning of the story didn't hit me until several days later. The main character is a human who was adopted and raised by a member of the alien empire that invaded and defeated Earth decades prior, but is now back among his own kind after an unspecified event (eventually revealed) that's caused me untold troubles. 5 out of 5.

The Long Game by Ann Leckie: One of the okay stories. In this one, the main character is an alien slug that goes on a journey to try and find a way to lengthen his species's lifespan. Not bad, but not a standout either.

Just Out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor: The other okay story. Honestly, this thing was threadbare for plot, but I like Okorafor's afrofuturism enough that I will generally give her works a try. In this one, the main character and others are bonded to organic starships and sent out into space to explore and gather data. They're allowed to gather halfway through their mission for seven days and the story follows what happens during that week. 3.5 out of 5.

Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi: My favorite of the six. This story has to be the most "unScalzi-like" thing I have ever read. It made me think of the Bobiverse. The only character in this one is the AI of an unmanned probe/ship that's launched on a mission to find suitable planets and colonize them for humanity by setting up the colonies, then growing new humans. Basically, it's like a seed ship, but instead of carrying fertilized embryos, it has the genome or whatever stored in it's memory banks.

We follow the probe as it travels the galaxy over eons and dwells on its mission and the nature thereof. It's pretty good. 5 out of 5.

All in all, the series was worth reading, even if one story sucked and two others were only okay. The others more than made up for it.

2020 is terrible, but at least I'm reading SF!

It's been a while since I've done a rundown on my recent reading adventures so I thought I'd share, because sharing is caring.

Trading in Danger By Elizabeth Moon (Vatta's War #1): As you can see from this list, I have very obviously committed myself to reading the entirety of Elizabeth Moon's series this year. Vatta's War is a fun military SF series centered around the scion of a major trading family who, after being unceremoniously kicked out of her planet's space navy academy, becomes a captain of a cargo ship. Needless to say, things quickly unfold and Kylara Vatta finds herself neck deep in an interplanetary crisis and having to deal with a mutiny and more. TiD is very much what I would call an "establishing" novel in that sets the stage for everything that comes after in the sequels. That's not to say that it's a bad book, but things really don't kick off until the second novel.

Marque and Reprisal By Elizabeth Moon (Vatta's War #2): Speaking of which, here is the second novel. As I said just above, the overall plot of Vatta's War starts with MR. Ky's family and their interstellar trading empire are both devastated in massive coordinated attacks, leaving her to try and pick up the pieces and figure out who is behind the attacks, all while trying to survive of course. MR introduces several important characters that the story shifts between throughout the series.

Engaging the Enemy By Elizabeth Moon (Vatta's War #3): Yup, I read the first three books in a row. Kinda. There was a fantasy novel between the second and third books, but I think it still counts. Engaging the Enemy picks up not long after Marque and Reprisal ends. Ky now has a second ship, one much more combat capable than the one she started out with. This also means that Ky now has the capability to both find out who was behind the attacks on her family and to mete out vengeance. We also see a division form between Ky and her cousin Stella over how to rebuild the family business. While all this is going on, we get to see their Aunt, Grace Lane Vatta, begin her own investigation and revenge against those who were complicit in the attacks on the Vatta family's home planet.

The Last Emperox By John Scalzi (The Interdependency Series #3): Finally, a book that isn't Vatta's War! I finally got the chance to read the last book in John Scalzi's excellent Interdependency Series after the local public library reopened. It was worth the months of waiting too. TLE wraps up the series nicely. My only complaint is that the last part of the book felt rushed.

Network Effect By Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries #5): Another long awaited read. I love The Murderbot Diaries and if you haven't read the series, then you should. Network Effect is the first novel in the series, the previous four books being novellas and I can say that while the series works well in both categories, I much prefer novel length. In NE, Murderbot and some of its supporting cast get shanghaied on a familiar (to the reader) ship in a long lost colony. Adventure ensues, much to Murderbot's annoyance.

Command Decision By Elizabeth Moon (Vatta's War #4): Yet another Vatta book! I breezed through this one within days of checking it out. Command Decisions reads as it should: the second to last novel and as such, it's all about setting the stage for the finale. In this one, Ky has the beginnings of a fleet, she just needs to find more ships and support for that fleet in order to take on the pirates directly. Meanwhile, Rafe, one of the characters introduced in Marque and Reprisal, returns home to find out what's happening to ICS, the interstellar megacorp that owns the monopoly on interstellar communication. Rafe's characterization during this part of the book is odd. In the previous books he's acted charismatic, intelligence, a bit cavalier. In CD, however, he doesn't act like that. Instead, he acts more emotional, panic-y even. It's hard to explain, but if you read the series, you'll see what I mean.

Regardless, I really liked Command Decision. We get more action, the plot advances suitably, and I can't wait to finish the series.

Of course I bought more books

Because there's a new bookstore in town and they had some SF novels that I had to have.

I've been trying to find a copy of Kris Longknife: Deserter for years, so I'm more than pleased to finally have found one. Agent to the Stars is another I've been wanting, while Embers of War is a book that looked interesting enough to take a chance on.

I'm already deep into Deserter and it's living up to expectations.