Ice, Iron and Gold

Stirling has written some of my favorite books. He co-authored The Prince with Jerry Pournelle, and also wrote some short fiction in the War World series. I tried to read the Draka series, but I just couldn't get into it. The less we speak of Nantucket the better. This volume I picked up in the public library on a whim.

To my surprise, I discovered that this collection of short stories only contained one I had read before. A treat! Of those, three stand out in my mind. The Apotheosis of Martin Padway, Compadres, and The Charge of Lee's Brigade. All three are alternative history, with the mix of soldiering and politics that Stirling is so good at. I also love the way that Stirling can see people with an entirely different set of eyes, and show more capture their essence in such a way that you can imagine things really could have happened just a little bit differently.

The best example of that is Compadres. Somehow, I feel like it almost could have been, but I don't want to spoil the fun. All I will say is ¡Viva Theodore! ¡Viva America! show less

Excellent set of short stories, some with connections to larger works and some that could be developed further.

S. M. Stirling is a competent writer. These stories are well done, but they do presume a familiarity with the universes of his longer novels. He is very fond of military adventures, apocalyptic worlds and alternative history, so that is what you will find here. I particularly liked the BOLO stories as the world and the characters were interesting and well developed. A definite must read for Stirling fans.

S.M Stirling's first short story collection, full of alternate and secret histories and a dash of mil-sf.