I spent twenty minutes writing a review for this book and my favorite stories in it, but Bookcrossing's website glitched and I lost the whole thing! Long story short, this is a very entertaining humorous sic-fi collection based the concept that humans might be the weird ones in the universe. Most of these stories are told from an alien POV, as they reflect on humanity in a way we can't. To quote from Gwendolyn Thomas's "New Union Requirement": "Humans are incredibly innovative, Captain. It's a direct result of their insanity."

One of the books starting out in The Anthology Assortment Bookbox

I'm claiming this from the Anthology bookbox - the concept sounds fun!

Later: While I appreciated the attempt to theme these stories on the traits that might make humans more helpful to the rest of the universe than in typical tales (where we wittingly or unwittingly wreak havoc everywhere), I'm not sure that all the stories carried out the concept equally well. I did enjoy most of them, though, especially:

Jody Lynn Nye's "Sidekick," in part because I've always had a soft spot for a good sidekick (human or otherwise).

"The Dowager" by Richard A. Becker is one of the more problematic ones for me, as it depicts the human character as making-the-best-of-slavery, but it also has such an intriguing setup and unusual viewpoint that I give it a thumbs up.

"New Union Requirement" by Gwendolynn Thomas made me laugh out loud more than once - it takes the premise and runs with it, making the in-universe belief in the almost-mystical ability of humans to pull miracles out of their asses in tough situations a factor in insurance premiums (!). Love it!

"Brightened Star, Ascending Dawn" by A. Merc Rustad has a sentient-ship adopting a young human stowaway - with intriguing ramifications. Very sweet!

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this bright, chilly day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***