I got this softcover SF anthology from an online seller. It contains stories by authors who have been featured on the SF podcast "Escape Pod". And it's a very good collection indeed! Among my favorite stories:

"Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five" by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon): This one's a hilarious tale, presented in the form of an interview by an AI program from an "interrogation software" company (which, as a not-quite-perfect AI interface, adds some humor of its own). It's set in a 'verse where "extinctioners" have formed their own colonies in an attempt to prevent any further human-caused extinctions of other species by living low-impact lives, in tune with local ecological systems, and keeping strict control over human reproduction. In practice this means that Dr. Hollowmass and colleagues live a very earthy, low-tech, hard-working life, with their language and attitudes being on the brusque and colorful side ("Holy prophetess, you machines do not know how to listen to a story, do you?"). (Kingfisher can sketch an entire societal background very deftly, such that the events and characters of the story feel like part of a much larger and well-realized universe.) The plot here is simple: several of the settlers are due to give birth shortly, and the colony has requested a visit by professional midwives to assist in the births as needed. But before the midwives can arrive, an antique ship that's apparently been drifting for a couple of centuries pops into view, with one human survivor who's come out of cold sleep to beg for assistance in delivering... his pet goat... The story's sprightly, with some dark moments but overall an upbeat tone, and is really, really funny.

"An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition" by Ken Liu is a message from a woman to her child as the woman prepares to set out on a very long space mission, in hopes of reaching a point in space where they can pick up signals from distant alien civilizations. Parts of the book deal with different types of aliens - imaginary, I would guess, as no contact has been made yet, but the descriptions are fascinating, and indicate the kinds of things the astronauts hope to learn.

"Alien Animal Encounters" by John Scalzi is an amusing look at encounters with alien animals - from the tiny mouselike creature whose venom acts as a kind of super-catnip on the hapless cat that tries to attack it, to an alien ambassador whose encounter was with an Earth dog (which, embarrassingly for all concerned, attempted to pull the male alien off of the body of the ambassador while they were still in mid-mating-cycle; luckily, all turned out well, even for the dog). The bit about the "fungdu" was hilarious - fungdu vibrate when happy and have large, toothless mouths, and at intervals some human male will turn up in an emergency room "with a fungdu on his Johnson". Oh, and there's an entertaining bit about a guy who's convinced that the armadillo he saw one time was an alien - though given how weird they look you could say he had a point!

"A Consideration of Trees" by Beth Cato features a "xenoarbiter" whose job is to mediate between different species when they come into conflict. But when she's called in to investigate the mysterious death-by-sudden-aging of a man - and discovers there have also been reports of children vanishing and being replaced by not-quite-duplicates - she suspects she may have beings out of myth to deal with. Nice blending of SF, mythology, and cross-species diplomacy.

"Jaiden's Weaver" by Mary Robinette Kowal really needs to be filmed - perhaps something animated? Anyway, it features settlers in remote mountainous country who have to work hard to survive, and who sometimes capture huge teddy bear spiders to ride on the steep slopes. The spiders also weave marvelous webs that can command high prices. But when young Jaiden asks her folks if she can have a spider, they refuse - far too expensive... So she works and saves and sends off for an egg of her own, and hatches out a teddy bear spider - that only has seven legs. Her folks want to put it down, as it wouldn't be able to weave properly, but Jaiden has already bonded with it. I was worried that this was going to be a "The Yearling" situation, but not to worry - Jaiden and her beloved spider find a very satisfactory way through!

"Clockwork Fagin" by Cory Doctorow features a clockpunk world in which children maimed in industrial accidents are farmed out to the cruel Grinder, who beats them, barely feeds them, and sends them out to beg. But when the gutsy and charismatic Monty turns up and not only survives Grinder's treatment but manages to pull off a spectacular coup, things begin to turn around for the children. Definitely a Dickensian tone to this one, both in the disparaging of the institutionalized mistreatment of helpless kids and in the ways in which the victims can band together to rise above their persecutors.

"Lions and Tigers and Girlfriends" by Tina Connolly is an entertaining tale set on a long-distance spaceship whose journey has been delayed by several years over its original estimate. The young people among the passengers are growing restless, with one sect plotting mutiny and another - led by our initially-timid narrator Kai - opting to Put On A Show instead. Along the way, Kai acquires not only a cast and stage crew but a new girlfriend, and it seems that the theater club may tempt the mutineers over to their side and keep the peace... An unusual plot for an SF story, but one that works delightfully well.

"Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death" by N. K. Jemisin has a very bleak premise: the "haves" in this dystopian world have sent out different disasters, all aimed at communities of people of color (though they deny that this is their goal). When they release flights of dragons who hunger for human flesh, things get grisly - until the potential victims discover that the dragons prefer spicy dishes of collards to human flesh, and that they also rather like having their ears scritched... The concept of winning over a deadly foe via food and kindness isn't new, but in this setting it takes a wry twist. (And made me want to make me a mess of collard greens and some cornbread!)

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in the Little Free Library; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2020 D for December challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Science Fiction challenge. ***