The Alien Chronicles (The Future Chronicles)

I usually pick up several new authors after reading a book like this one. I chose this book because I like Hugh Howey and Larson's stories and figured there would be many stories of their caliber. I think I only really like two other author's enough to read some of their other works. Most stories are just average, short, not exciting stories. I was a little disappointed and am happy to move on to another book. A Taste of Tomorrow is a much better collection of stories.

This is a fantastic collection of stories running the SciFi gambit. So many perspectives and environments, such true creativity by every single author. It was a fantastic read!

Due to my following one of the authors of this anthology on Facebook, I was offered an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. I am happy to say that I was absolutely delighted with this collection of stories and would have paid for it in a heartbeat.

I am usually not one for Science Fiction in short story form. Any book I read, it takes me the first few chapters till I get a feel for the characters and the story line. Once there however, I am enthralled when a good writer can develop characters I care about, allowing me to live vicariously in their fictional lives throughout the universe. With an opportunity like this, especially with a couple favorite writers involved, I was happy to try it. I am so glad I did!!

Not all SciFi stories appeal to all readers, but in this anthology I found every story had something I enjoyed. A few stood out, truly excellent story telling that captured my imagination and excitement very quickly. I have not read many author’s with such an ability to develop characters and environments so quickly so as to capture my interest in only a couple pages.

Stories I truly loved include Uncle Allen by Will Swardstrom (excellent character development), 318 by Autumn Kalquist (a lovely dark and clever story), Crawlies by Annie Bellet (this one was so delightful, I smiled all the way through), The Insect Requirement by B.V. Larson (made my skin crawl but an excellent tale by a favorite, you should read his Star Force and Undying Mercenary series, brilliant stuff), Vessel by Samuel Peralta (a total twist from a completely unusual viewpoint) and The Grove by Jennifer Foehner Wells (if you have not read Fluency, you MUST. One of the best books I have ever read, and her talent is evident here as well).

Bottom line, every story was excellent, a great collection of imaginative and creative Science Fiction from some of the best authors of the day. I highly recommend this anthology for anyone who loves SciFi.

An uneven collection of short stories on a theme, by writers of widely uneven talent. Mostly not worth the time -- not that I could do better. (I've tried, and I know I cannot.) Hugh Howey's tale is the best of the lot, and very enjoyable.

Some really good work here. Standouts were Guests of the Chitterer Liberation Force (O. Henry-style ending), Uncle Allen, Crawlies, Alien Space Tentacle Porn, Trials, The Grove and Second Suicide.

Some stories are unfinished or stop just as they get good. The Kholorian Conspiracy ends just as we learn the Kholorians (serious bad dudes) have intercepted Earth's Viking spacecraft with its gold plaque, which led them back to Earth, now in the Kholorians' murderous grip. You don't end a story concerning advanced aliens we never care about in the first place with that jaw-dropper. I assume it was dashed off just in time for inclusion. In fact, several stories have a half-finished feel. In Life, a photograph of an alien sends anyone who sees it into a catatonic state, leading the old program head to erase the photo and all evidence; c'mon. This is a sketch, not a story.

It's easily worth the Kindle price, but for my money not the paperback price.

Why are we so fascinated with alien life? So many stories in our popular culture feature alien creatures far different than our own, providing an alternative reflection on humanity and the way we function. We get disparate looks at what potential alien cultures exist out there, how they influence each other and even impact life here on Earth. Many of these stories do feature Earth and/or human beings, but ultimately, you shouldn't feel, ahem... alienated by that fact, sit down and enjoy the imaginative ride these stories take us on, inspiring us to dream about other worlds and what they might be like. After a great foreword by Stefan Bolz, explore these fifteen stories about what we might eventually encounter:

Blair S. Babylon's "Guests of the Chitterer Liberation Force" - College students at the University of Jupiter are having a party, where Blake recounts her strange time being held captive, together with her boyfriend Ellis, by an alien terrorist group of ladybug-like creatures called Chitterers. As she tells her engaging tale of how she was almost killed by them, we are drawn more into this gripping alien world, see how they respond to these unusual human beings and their behaviors and conclude the story with a touching ending.

Will Swardstrom's "Uncle Allen" - Uncle Allen is taking care of Grandma Naomi in her Illinois homestead, due to her multiple medical problems in her senior years, including dementia. It's Rachel's turn to help out and she comes to visit. In Naomi's dementia, she shares some anecdotes that seem odd and bizarre. But is it the dementia talking or the truth? As Rachel gets more suspicious of her uncle Allen, we grow more intrigued and fascinated with each piece of the mystery as it unfurls; the dread we feel slowly increasing. It all culminates in a powerful, intense, surprising & emotional explanation as what is really going on and climaxing into an astonishing ending.

Geoffrey Wakeling's "The Kholorian Conspiracy" - A university researcher goes to look at a mysterious artifact being studied deep within her home planet and discovers terrorists trying to steal it. All of a sudden, she's demoted and put on leave when she starts questioning who would do such a thing. As the conspiracy deepens with her investigation, the stakes rise as entire planets are put in danger by what she discovers and her life is put at risk. An imaginative tale that effectively raises the tension to high levels.

Autumn Kalquist's "318" - The story starts with a 17-year-old, killing an old man and flashes back to the circumstances so we can see why she does this. You see, this teenager is being injected with multiple diseases and some nasty strains of them; the whole purpose for all of these tests is at the heart of the riveting mystery that develops over the course of this stirring story.

Annie Bellet's "Crawlies" - When Sadie, an intelligent and resourceful child living on a space station, becomes an inadvertent stowaway on board an alien Crawly trading ship, she comes face to face with this squid-like, tentacled race. What she eventually realizes is she shouldn't judge a book by its cover, thinking there are nothing like what she has been told by her young friends. When danger comes from an unlikely source, she finds herself thrust into the middle of the situation and her uniqueness among the alien crew becomes an asset. A hair-raising ending and a delightful tale told through the prism of a child's eyes and amusing banter between two alien races getting to know each other under trying circumstances.

B.V. Larson's "The Insect Requirement" - An exploratory ship finds a jungle planet dominated by insect life. With visions of terraforming and miraculous discoveries to be made, Dr. Beckwith & his head pilot Rogers are all that's left after all the other scientists have died on the surface. What plays out next between these two men is scary in its implementation and terrifying in its results. This one gave me the heebie-jeebies with its depiction of insectile aliens.

Patrice Fitzgerald's "Hanging with Humans" - An intergalactic game show on the planet Zeldar where contestants are placed inside artificial alien bodies and must assimilate the local culture quickly to achieve a specific objective. Since our lucky contestant Glendorp is stranded on planet Earth, hilarity ensues as the story takes unpredictable twists and turns when he's deposited into a high school and its dog-eat-dog environment. As the laughs became more uproarious, I was howling at the ludicrousness of each escalating situation. By the time it reached its riotous conclusion, I was exhausted from all the laughs, grinning widely from ear to ear.

Moira Katson's "Emily May" - A salvage hauler led by Harry & his crew find a ship drifting in space and get the permits to bring it back. However, from that point onwards, creepy and unexplained things start occurring. Spine-tingling in its sense of building dread, the creepiness factor suspensefully climbs sky high as we wonder with curiosity as to what the heck is going on here.

WJ Davies' "Remember Valeria" - When a small group of Valerian rebels attempts to free the cyber sapient slaves, called the Freya, on their planet, the incident goes horribly wrong. The Freya rebel against their masters, triggering a planet-wide massacre of untold proportions. When the planet declares all Freya be annihilated, the rebels attempt a last ditch gambit to preserve the Freya from being destroyed. A rollicking, high-octane thrill ride with a heart, where the action doesn't stop and the adventure continues unabated before adeptly transitioning into an emotionally moving finale.

Peter Cawdron's "Alien Tentacle Space Porn" - When a man wakes up to find himself in Brooklyn Psychiatric, being asked about why he was running naked through Central Park, yelling about alien space tentacles, he doesn't what happened to him. We observe as he pieces it all together and the story then moves at a breakneck pace, the adventure getting more madcap as it goes. There's some wackiness as it kicks into high gear and the situation spirals out of control, leading to a perfect but definitely unpredictable ending. Eliciting plenty of laughs from me while holding my interest throughout, this zany but terrific tale will leave you in stitches.

Nicolas Wilson's "Trials" - In deep space, an officer in the security division accepts a dangerous and challenging assignment to an alien planet to procure trade agreements for their mutual benefit. Going to the planet dominated by eight foot tall aliens called the Jotnar, he finds there's disagreement among them about the treaty and the officer must fight them in a series of increasingly brutal trials in order to prove himself. As each compelling battle necessitates deeper and more desperate strategy, we feel what the officer feels, wondering whether he will even survive the trials, caring about his fate and whether he can accomplish his mission. I also enjoyed how the author develops the rich Jotnar culture here, making them more three dimensional in the process.

Samuel Peralta's "Vessel" - This story is told from the point of view of a protozoan that fuses with something in deep space while its host is in cryogenic sleep. Once fused, it attains a certain level of consciousness and we explore its prerogatives while it tries to attain its objective. That objective and how the protozoan achieves it truly made my skin crawl, simultaneously mesmerizing me while also creating a strong sense of revulsion at this bodily invasion. Out of all the stories in this anthology, this one actually felt the most alien to me. Well done!

Jennifer Foehner Wells's "The Grove" - An unusual sentient plant/animal hybrid named Hain breaks away from her mother, the planet itself, in order to explore and feed her yearnings for knowledge. A self-contained vessel now, she eventually discovers a giant alien ship and her curiosity gets the better of her. What she discovers inside the ship horrifies her and us, forever changing Hain's destiny. One revelation after another with these aliens ultimately leads to devastation and a stunning conclusion. I also appreciated the duality between self and other being used here, as this theme resonates thoughtfully throughout this tale and becomes especially relevant by the end.

Daniel Arenson's "Life" - When an Earth-based agency sends robotic probes out into the galaxy to discover alien life, they unexpectedly find some. The photograph is transmitted to Earth and its effects on the scientists who view it is surprising and terrifying. The transformative effect it has on others is intriguing and makes you want to know what it is they all saw, demanding you get to the end as quickly as possible in order to find out.

Hugh Howey's "Second Suicide"- While a tentacled alien race targets Earth for invasion in eight days, Intelligence officer Hyk is transferred to a gunnery position, placing him on the front lines when the invasion hits the ground. The intriguing mystery as to why this is draws the reader in as the countdown to planetfall gets closer. Will Hyk discover the fascinating secret before then? A wickedly awesome ending brings it all into focus, making me gasp at the enormity of what happened.

Many stories take advantage of aliens and the fear of the unknown that comes with them, featuring aggressive aliens, aliens who hide among us, kidnapping and experimenting upon humans and alien invasions of Earth. I appreciated the fact the stories presented here do not play into those stereotypes at all and in fact, even play off of them at times, going against those predictable tropes to create truly original & distinct views of potential alien life and their culture.

You don't have to be an alien to enjoy these stories of other worlds, you just have to be a human being who wants to be entertained by terrific storytelling. :-)

This is the third volume of speculative fiction in a series of anthologies called "The Future Chronicles." The first is The Robot Chronicles (The Future Chronicles Book 1) and the second is The Telepath Chronicles (The Future Chronicles Book 2), both of which set a high watermark in their quality. Thankfully, this third volume is able to consistently maintain that standard of excellence. With at least three more volumes in the planning stages featuring artificial intelligence, zombie and dragon themes, we have many more excellent anthologies to look forward to.

Please note that I was given an Advanced Readers Copy of this eBook. A favorable review was never expected or asked for.

I enjoyed this eclectic little collection of stories centered around the idea of "humans encounter aliens" (or vice versa). The writing is clever, humorous, thought provoking or just entertaining. I was often disappointing at the end of a story, realizing that there was no more. I'll definitely pick up other books by the various authors that contributed. Thanks for entertaining me. Rick

After I was depressed by The Robot Chronicles (all good stories but most of them as depressing as all heck), I started this one with some trepidation and a box of handy tissues, just in case. I was thrilled not to need them. I'm not saying that every story ends with everyone living happy ever after (because, Wow! Some of them sure don't!), but this book has a nice variety of stories...some hilarious, some sad, some between. That's what a good editor should strive for, and this editor did a fine job, I think. The stories were all good with not a stinker among them. My favorite was the first. Loved the surprise ending! Uncle Allen runs an awfully close second, though. What am I saying? There are too many wonderful stories in this collection for me to be able to pick. Read stories about every interaction with aliens you can think of...fighting them, being them, welcoming them, taking them over, alien archeologists, alien scientists, alien trees... Once you start you'll be late to your dates and appointments because you'll want to keep reading just one more story. You will enjoy it, I promise.

The Alien Chronicles is an anthology composed of various authors in the sci-fi genre. Needing a break from the traditional novels/series that's well over 400-500+ pages, I thought this particular "Chronicles" series should provide some relief. There are a couple of other in the series but I decided to stick with the Aliens theme first just to get a feel for how it goes. If its to my liking, I'll definitely be reading the other themed Chronicles series in the future.

Due to it being an anthology, there's definitely going to be some stories that you will finding yourself liking more than others. I found that to hold true during my reading as well. The very good news is that the stories I enjoyed reading vs. the ones that I didn't like favors that of the former. The other good news is that even if you find yourself not liking a particular story, you could either skip over it entirely or continue reading like I did with the knowledge that it won't continue on for much longer anyways. That's one of the reasons why I decided to pick this up in the first place rather than read another 500+ page novel.

One of the stories I enjoyed the most was from Huge Howey called Second Suicide. What makes The Alien Chronicles so fun to read is due to how the story can be written and told from different perspectives. One story could put you in the footsteps of a scientist that recently discovered sustainable life on a bug infested planet to one where you'll get to read the thoughts of an alien getting ready to invade planet Earth. Rather than always seeing it from the human perspective of an incoming alien invasion which we've no doubt seen and read in countless movies and books, it's refreshing and fun to see it from the other side of the fence. Would the aliens have nerves of steel like we think they do or are they similar to us in that nervousness sets in as well?

If you like alien and not sure of what to read next, give The Alien Chronicles a try. If anything, you'll find a short story that you'll enjoy from a specific author in which you'll then be able to see their other current works. I honestly had a blast reading this anthology and I'll definitely be looking at the other themed series. Although not every story will be up my alley, that's definitely okay with me because well, it's a short story and they're meant to be short.

The Alien Chronicles is a wonderful and entertaining collection of short stories. Whilst they are all linked by involving aliens in one way or another they are very different from each other in tone, topic and theme making this an anthology that keeps you entertained and interested in what the next adventure will bring. My favourite of the stories is 'Crawlies' by Annie Bellet, a wonderful writer with a great imagination, but all of the stories are of an equal quality. Two other stories I must mention are 'Hanging With Humans' by Patrice Fitzgerald and 'Alien Space Tenticle Porn' by Peter Cawdron, both were strange but very entertaining and highly amusing. I highly recommend this work to anyone, whether sci-fi is your thing or not because whilst sci-fi maybe the setting these stories have many of the themes that are part of everyday life and can speak to all of us terrestrials.

I find myself reading more and more short story anthologies. Perfect snippets of entertainment to be consumed in waiting rooms, airports, car trips or wherever I have downtime. The Alien Chronicles is a great collection of stories dealing with - aliens. One of man's burning questions has been "Are we alone?" These stories all approach the topic from a different perspective and every story is entertaining, well written, and I was oftentimes left wanting more. From creepy, to surprising, to funny-there is something here for everyone. This is an impressive collection of indie writers who I'm sure will continue to impress. Read it today!

Simply ghastly. A perhaps commendable attempt for "self-published" authors to wrap their mundane ideas intoThe Alien Chronicles (The Future Chronicles) a singularly mundane illusion of a "real" book, yet the ideas are uniformly yawn-inspiring, and to call any of the bland characters depicted in these trivialities "two dimensional" insults even that limited categorization.

I completed reading this book with an advance copy I received in exchange for doing a review of this book. The stories are short and well written. One additional item that make the book really great is the explanation after most stories about how the author brought the story into existence. All the stores have links to the Author's home page. I felt three of the stories were not as good a fit with the anthology as the rest of the 15 stories. The BIG question that remains is: "If we were to meet aliens from another world today: Are we ready?" See what the authors think. What do you think? I thought all the stories were well written, but downgraded the collection because of the three stories that were a poor fit with the rest.

Am a 'old' long-time SF reader. Amazingly, I didn't dislike ANY of the stories in The Alien Chronicles...I actually liked em all A few of the stories were so outstanding that I immediately made a note of the author name for future book/story searches. Most of the authors were new to me...except for Hugh Howey and a couple of others names I highly recommend this anthology, plus others in the Future Chronicles series, several of which I already have. So...go on, get busy, get this book and get reading.

Another great compilation in the Future Chronicles series (including The Robot Chronicles and The Telepath Chronicles, my personal favorite). All of these great short stories showcase the many talents of the contributing authors (most of whom also contributed to the other two anthologies). The great thing about these anthologies is discovering that many of the short stories have some tangential ties to prior novels written by these amazing authors. I have found that my personal "to read" list keeps growing and growing as I want the stories to keep going. I highly recommend this anthology to any sci-fi fan, or any reader who enjoys imaginative, well-written short stories. My personal favorites in this book were the stories from Peter Cawdron and Autumn Kalquist, however they are all excellent.

This anthology is full of good writing and engaging tales. There were only two I didn't finish. One I particularly liked was "The Kholorian Conspiracy" by Geoffrey Wakeling. The cast of this story was comprised completely of aliens, with Earth mentioned only on the merest fringe.

Not since I read Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles have I been so impressed by a Sci-Fi short story collection. Every story is imaginative and well written. I am so excited to check out other works by the outstanding authors that contributed to this collection.

Fun to read collection of sci-fi short stories. The stories ran the range from pure action to emotional tales and cerebral challenges. In true short story fashion many included an anticipated but fun or unexpected twist at the end. Many of the stories were from writers I'd never heard of so that added another enjoyable element of discovery to the reading. Also greatly enjoyed the writers commentary at the end of each story; told you a little about the writer and often what inspired them to write that particular story.

An anthology of great short stories depicting alien life. This is not normally something that I would read, but I wanted to expand from my comfortable reading zone and I'm sure glad I did. The stories that resonated with me are:

Guests of the Chatterer Liberation Force by Blair Babylon
A group of kids at a college party where Wellington hears Blake tell a story of the time she and her friend Ellis were taken hostage by the CLF, an alien terrorist group. Story of how two people deal with trauma. Fantastic read and I was blown away by the ending.

Uncle Allen by Will Swardstrom
Story of Rachel visiting her grandmother and Uncle Allen. Her grandmother is in the beginning stages of dementia so she is helping out at the house. While cleaning out the attic, Rachel finds a key and a journal page having to do with Allen's birth. The two try to figure out what it all means.

Emily May by Moira Katson
A freighter hired to haul a salvage freighter in space. An odd time warp, ghost ship story that leaves you with questions.

12 other wonderful stories also included. I will gladly step out of my comfort zone if I can read more stories like these.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

318
Finally some insight into the mystery of what Infinitek does with the Protected. 318 has been a lab rat for so long that she believes the lies that she's not human. As she gets tortured daily in the name of science, she's given up on feelings and hope. But someone comes along that just might remind her of what she's missing in life.

**I received this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion**

Humanity has long been both fascinated with and terrified at the prospect of extraterrestrials. Whether in hope or in fear, we gaze into the night sky and wonder whether we are the only intelligent life in the universe, and if we aren't, if we'll meet them. The Alien Chronicles offers fifteen short stories that explore the possibilities of such encounters.

In "Guests of the Chitterer Liberation Force," Blair S. Babylon frames an account of two humans held hostage by insectoid alien terrorists as a tall tale told over drinks at a college dorm room party. The tale is entertainingly told, intermingling humor and pathos as it builds to a truly moving ending.

Will Swardstrom's "Uncle Allen" is the story of a young woman discovering a staggering family secret in her grandmother's attic. The characters are engaging and the story is told well enough, but the "twist" ending is not really all that surprising, given the subject matter of this anthology. The reveal would probably be more striking to a reader who had no idea the story involves aliens. Nonetheless, an enjoyable read.

"The Kholorian Conspiracy" tells the story of an alien archaeologist caught up in a deadly conspiracy surrounding a mysterious artifact she has recently unearthed. Author Geoffrey Wakeling admirably balances describing his well-realized setting and maintaining suspense as Professor Serelah Delekin delves deeper into the mystery.

Autumn Kalquist explores how we humans might treat aliens when we encounter them in "318." Her conclusions, while unpleasant, are sadly probable, particularly in light of our willingness to all too often let the ends justify the means.

"Crawlies" by Annie Bellet is a ripping-good read in the mold of the best of Golden Age Sci-Fi. When a street urchin from a remote space station accidentally stows away on an alien merchant vessel, wonders if she's going to make it out alive. The danger she faces by the end of the story isn't quite what she expected, though. This story was one of my favorites of this anthology.

"The Insect Requirement" recounts an ill-fated exploratory mission to the first planet discovered to be truly compatible with Earth lifeforms. The planet can support humans without the need for habitat domes, but its ecosystem is fiercely competitive, and horrible parasites attack any unprotected human. The ship's scientist has devised a solution, but at what cost? Author B. V. Larson presents a gripping drama with just a touch of body horror; highly recommended for the non-squeamish.

Patrice Fitzgerald's "Hanging With Humans" is a fun and humorous (if rather dark) story about a contestant on an alien reality TV show sent to masquerade as a human teen and attempt to ask a girl to the high school prom. Little does the hapless Glendorp realize that his prospective date is one of his own species, similarly disguised. Hilarity, and carnage, ensue.

"Emily May" plays a bit like a ghost story, where the titular star-freighter (the namesake of a legendary ghost ship) embarks on what seems at first to be a routine salvage job. The weirdness starts when the scrupulously punctual captain discovers the Emily May is three days behind schedule, and escalates from there. Author Moira Katson's Sci-Fi horror story is a real gem, building tension and revealing hints of the underlying mystery quite nicely as it goes, until the dramatic climax.

The story of "Remembering Valeria" is that of a well-intentioned act of rebellion gone horribly wrong, and the rebels' attempt to make amends. In the afterward, W. J. Davies reveals that this is the backstory of another story idea he had, and in some ways this shows through in the text itself. Don't get me wrong, the story is well told and the characters are well-realized, but it all seems to be building up to something that happens after the story ends. It succeeds in leaving me wanting more, but perhaps a little too well; the ending left me feeling unsatisfied. That said, I would gladly read what happens next, and still consider this story a good one.

Peter Cawdron's "Alien Space Tentacle Porn" has little in the way of space tentacles and (thankfully) nothing in the way of porn, but it does have engaging characters and a kitschy, screwball comedy feel to it. A man awakes in a retro-styled hospital to an interrogation by a Rock Hudson-like doctor and a pair of humorless military officers. Just what did our hapless (and nameless) protagonist see, and why does the doctor think he was running naked in Central Park, yelling about alien space tentacles? And how do bananas and tinfoil factor in? This enjoyable romp of a tale answers these questions and entertains while doing so.

In "Trials," Nicolas Wilson tells the story of a security officer on a lone first contact mission, attempting to negotiate treaties with a race of giant crustaceans on a frozen rock of a world. These "Jotnar," as protagonist Linus Bogdanovich dubs them, respect physical force as much as debating skills in negotiations, so Linus must engage those who oppose his position in one-on-one combat. Considering the eldest of Jotnar reach heights of twenty feet or greater, is is no mean prospect. Once this story took off, I was gripped, and I intend to read Wilson's book Nexus 2 (with which this story ties in).

Samuel Peralta's "Vessel" is a first-person account of a mutant strain of Toxoplasmosis gondii and its attempt to transcend parasitism and achieve true symbiosis. This one's short and sweet (and just a bit oogy).

I started reading this anthology most looking forward to Jennifer Foehner Wells' contribution to it, "The Grove," and it did not disappoint me. It tells the story of Hain, a sentient plant creature who, in defiance of instinct and genetic imperative, holds herself separate from the planet-encompassing, vegetative superintelligence known as The Mother. Hain wants to escape her world and explore the stars, but when she finally encounters aliens, she is more than a bit taken aback by their actions. She meets another lonely creature imprisoned by these aliens, and is presented with a moment of profound decision. This story was my other favorite story of The Alien Chronicles.

Daniel Arenson puts a bit of a twist on cosmic horror stories in "Life." In it, The Agency at long last fulfills its mission to discover and capture a photograph of a distant alien lifeform. The researchers there, however, have fallen into a gibbering, catatonic state after seeing it. A psychologist is called in to discover just what drove those who saw the picture to madness. I have a bit of a knack for discerning twist endings before the reveal, and this one was no exception (though to be honest it didn't take much effort). This wasn't a bad story by any means, but I still felt a little let down by it.

"Second Suicide" recounts the days leading up to an invasion of Earth by a race of functionally immortal aliens. Second Rank Intelligence Liaison Hyk finds himself being transferred to another ship eight days before planetfall due to the suicide of a Telecom crewman on the other ship (her second suicide in a short period of time). New bodies are expensive, so Hyk becomes obsessed with finding out drove her to two suicides (and repeated subsequent attempts). Mingling often bawdy humor with the tragedy of war, this one reminded me (favorably) of Catch 22. I really enjoyed it.

On the whole, The Alien Chronicles is an excellent anthology. Even the stories that didn't do as much for me are worth a read, and may appeal to the tastes of other readers more than they did mine. I heartily recommend this book to both lovers and casual fans of science fiction. You'll undoubtedly find something you'll like in it.

Full disclosure: I received a free advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review of it.

I pretty much never read anthologies. I would say I never read them except that I read this one so that precludes a “never.” I read The Alien Chronicles because Jennifer Foehner Wells and Annie Bellet both wrote an entry, and I enjoy both writers.

The theme that binds these vignettes together is first contact situations with aliens. It’s something we’ve seen in lots of movies, so we have certain notions but there’s a whole universe of possibilities most of us have never considered. The stories in this book spin the traditional notions around by adjusting perspective and objective. The result is a thought-provoking group of stories that made me rethink first contact situations and what they could mean. I appreciate something that gets the gears in my head moving and this anthology did that.

Some of the entries were better than others for me, but that’s the nature of anthologies. Overall, this is a quality group of stories to awaken the imagination.

I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm really glad it worked out and I was able to post a positive one.

I really enjoyed this book. It was real science fiction. There were no counter factual stories of Elvis, The Beatles, or Sherlock Holmes. These stories were about inter species contact. I found them creative & thought provoking. I look forward to reading more of these authors.

This collection contains a number of very strong and engaging sci fi stories. There are a couple of weak sgories with poor science content and predictable plots. However the bulk of stories are a pleasure to read.

This is a collection of entertaining, fairly original science fiction stories. I think I skipped over one, in the entire collection. Many of the characters are non-human, and that makes this a particularly interesting group of stories. Also, this is just science fiction--there is no fantasy, which is a real plus, if you weren't looking for fantasy in your science fiction. Solidly written and fun, this is good reading.

Alien stories are my favorite subgenre of science fiction, so this collection, with some authors I knew of and some I didn't, was irresistible. Like most collections its quality was somewhat uneven, and there was one notable dud (the editor's boast notwithstanding), but it was overall readable and entertaining.

This is “independent science fiction”, as one of the authors-contributors calls it. Which is fine, and no better or worse than any other science fiction. No implicit demerit in its independence.
This collection is, however, strongly uneven in its quality. The editor himself recognizes at the end that the stories he included in his collection are sometimes “gems”, and sometimes “duds”. That is, “hit-or-miss” offerings. But is it not the job of an editor to weed the misses, the duds, and only leave the hits or gems?
Here some of the tales are based on outright silly ideas or are ineptly written. Or both. Even some of the stories seem to be coming from literary apprentices / learners / novices. So I imagine the editor inviting submissions and then accepting everything that came to him, no filtering in between, no polite rejections...
Well, there are some hits, yes. They are:
* “Guests of the Chitterer Liberation” (Blair S. Babylon)
* “The Insect Requirement” (B. V. Larson)
* “Trials” (Nicolas Wilson)
This last one, “Trials”, is the true gem of the collection. It is amazing. The previous two are near there.
I also liked, more or less: “The Kholorian Conspiracy” (Geoffrey Wakeling), “318” (Autumn Kalquist), “Second Suicide” (Hugh Howey)