Infinity Box

This collection of nine Kate Wilhelm short stories is varied, consistent, and really pretty stunningly good. Several of these are concept stories, built around “what if?” scenarios followed to brutally honest conclusions. And while a couple of them are solidly in the “the world is going to be really messed up soon if mankind doesn’t mend its ways” tradition, most of the collection feels more like dark fantasy than traditional science fiction. The greatest strength of the collection is Wilhelm’s consistent knack for quickly building convincing and interesting characters.

I rated five out of the nine stories as an 8 out of 10 or higher: “Infinity Box," which follows the downward spiral of a good man who finds himself with strange powers over a fragile young woman; “The Time Piece” a very sad time-travel story with a bit of a twist; “The Fusion Bomb;” in which a group a isolated young researchers find themselves seemingly confronted by powerful, mysterious forces; “The Village” a short and simple but quite powerful examination of the premise that the My Lai massacre was just an unfortunate example of “collateral damage;” and “The Funeral”, which I had thought was one of the best stories in Again, Dangerous Visions when I first read it a few years back.

“Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy” and “April Fools Day Forever” were only so-so (the latter had a strong beginning and a disappointing ending), but neither was a particular drag on my overall enjoyment of the book.

I’ll definitely plan to seek out more by Kate Wilhelm. ( )