Infinity Wars

by Jonathan Strahan (Editor), Elizabeth Bear (Contributor), Indrapramit Das (Contributor)

CONFLICT IS ETERNAL

We have always fought. War is the furnace that forges new technologies and pushes humanity ever onward. We are the children of a battle that began with fists and sticks, and ended on the brink of atomic Armageddon. Beyond here lies another war, infinite in scope and scale.

But who will fight the wars of tomorrow? Join Elizabeth Bear, Indrapramit Das, Aliette de Bodard, Garth Nix and many, many more in an exploration of the furthest extremes of military science fiction…

Contents:
Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
Evening of the Span of Their Days, Carrie Vaughn
The Last Broadcasts, An Owomoyela
Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship, Caroline M Yoachim
Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress
The Moon is Not a Battlefield, Indrapramit Das
Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear
Oracle, Dominica Phettaplace
In Everlasting Wisdom, Aliette deBodard
Command and Control, David D. Levine
Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix
Overburden, Genevieve Valentine
Heavies, Rich Larson
Weather Girl, E.J. Swift
Mines, Eleanor Arnason
ZeroS, Peter Watts

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Military Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2017

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The inherent problem with a serious anthology of military science fiction is that a lot of the fun of that genre is in the mindless jingoism of humans beating up implacable aliens or what's essentially Hornblower-in-space fan-fiction. If you don't want to indulge in those more entertaining elements of military SF, what's left tends to be all fairly grim.

Notable exceptions for me in the "hell of war" atmosphere were what I felt to be some of the best pieces in this collection. These include:

"Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship" by Caroline M. Yoachim - A federation of species including humans are at war with a collective borg-like species. The sister of one of the human soldiers is recruited for a special mission for which she is uniquely suited and discovers that the enemy are maybe not so straightforwardly painted as such.

"Dear Sarah" by Nancy Kress - A soldier writes a long letter to her younger sister talking about why she joined up and explaining her actions since. A reflection on why soldiers join the army and a commentary on the modern reality that most recruits are from disadvantaged parts of society.

"Conversations with an Armory" by Garth Nix - Veterans onboard a mothballed ship try to access an armory controlled by an hibernating AI. A very short story for this collection, but quickly builds appreciation for all the people involved, including the Armory itself. Great in a "one last mission" way.

Finally, one of the grimmer stories really stood out for me as well, "Everlasting Wisdom" by the always great Aliette de Bodard. An occupied population of humans controlled by humans who are host to alien parasites (symbiotes?) are on the losing side of a war. A look at human costs, desperation and collaboration and humanizing the enemy. Great piece.

Overall I felt it was a good collection but a tad inconsistent. Even the stories I didn't care for are clearly of quality though, and your tastes in fiction may not be mine. Recommended, as are most in the Infinity series.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some excellent stories here. Plus some that were just OK. And others that I didn’t like at all. As always, opinion differ, but I found this one less successful than most of the other Infinity collections I’ve read. For me this was a 3+ star book.

Here are my favorite stories, listed (roughly) in descending order of my ratings. My three 4-star stories are (basically) tied, and are all highly recommended.

• The Oracle • short story by Dominica Phetteplace. Black comedy about a shopping AI, an unlikely heroine, and… World Peace? 4.2 stars. Online copy: https://escapepod.org/2018/08/23/esca...

• The Moon Is Not a Battlefield • novelette by Indrapramit Das. Misleading title: Indian conscripts fight on the moon, with a twist ending. 4+ stars. Reprint online: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fi...

• Mines • short story by Eleanor Arnason. Conflict on a future colony world. Dark and very good, one of her better stories. 4+ stars

• Dear Sarah • short story by Nancy Kress. The alien Likkies are here to help humankind. Well. That's not quite working out… 3.8 stars.

• Perfect Gun • short story by Elizabeth Bear. Bleak story of a mercenary and a war-surplus AI fighter. The AI is the better person. 3.5 stars.

Below this are stories in the 3-star range, worth reading. Below those are the ones I didn’t much like. But some are widely-reprinted…. Such as ZeroS by Peter Watts, online at https://reactormag.com/reprints-zeros... A very different take on the Zombie Apocalypse!

I have a few Kindle highlights posted at https://www.goodreads.com/notes/36047...

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthologies in the 'Infinity'-series are always high in quality and diversity, even when put together around a common theme. The concept of the series is modern authors writing about themes that have been part of the Sf-genre from its very beginning. And stories about the future of war have een part of the genre from the very start. Even before 'War of the worlds' there were future histories about wars being fought on earth. It is logical, one supposes, seeing how the development of war is coupled with scientific innovation - innovation leading to more efficient weapons and war time innovation eventually reaching civilian society. SF asks the big questions, i.e. why do societies go to war (often answering in metaphor). At the same time war itself is something that influences societies. And SF-writers like to think about future extrapolations of these influencing factors. Thus: what effects would new innovations have on the future of war? In a world changing because of climate change, what different shapes would war take? And how would war between the stars offer metaphors for our own complex view of wars in our current political landscape? This is not a gung ho collection of war time heroics - which is to say: this is not military SF! Readers expeting military SF will be disappointed, even if there are a few stories here that describe actual battles. Most stories are pure SF, looking at the reasons for war, new forms of war and the fall out of wars for individuals and societies. No naive views of war as glorious, and no glorification of violence here (even if I sometimes like a well done action sequence, don't get me wrong). Maybe I do betray my own leftist streak when I say I nodded along with these tales and didn't think they were preachy at all. War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
There's a wide array of authors here, male, female and quite a few international authors, which gives this collection a global (and not just an anglophone) perspective. I found almost all of them well written. Only a few stories weren't to my taste. 'Overburden' by Genevieve Valentine was well written, but I didn't really get it all (I did get the twist, though). If I understood what was going on more, I would have enjoyed it better. 'Conversations with an armory' by Garth Nix was a bit gimmicky to my taste. And opening story 'The evening of their span of days' by Carrie Vaugh was good opening story, but ultimately the story was a bit thin with no SF-nal twist at the end.
I will not review all stories in here, but a few stood out above the others. 'Faceless soldiers, patchwork ship' by Caroline M. Yoachim was a great SF-story. At first a couple space opera elements (teleporting fire kittens) threw me off, but the conflict and its resolution were very serious. I liked it. 'The Moon is Not a Battlefield' by Indrapramit Das was a story about the life of a soldier, serving on the moon, told to someone he met while on duty. No great twist here, but I got involved with the main character none the less. 'Perfect Gun' by Elizabeth Bear seems to start like a gung ho war story, but the main character finds his weapon has a mind of its own. And a conscience. Aliette de Bodard writes great stories, with a lot of atmosphere and a lot of heart. Her 'In Everlasting Wisdom' is a great story about a seemingly inconquerable kingdom and people from different sides of society finding some recoginition in each other. Also a great Sf-concept in here! 'Heavies' by Rich Larson finds a soldier on a moon finding out the power he represents has used some duplicitious means to keep the conquered population under control. Best story here, by far, is 'ZeroS' by Peter Watts. He can be trusted to deliver a Hard SF story that is harder than diamond, coupled with an unromantic view of human nature and human society. Often I find him a bit too cynical to my tastes, but in this story his cynicism was warrented. And the story had his usual speculation about human consciousness and its relation with our unconscious nature as well. Recommended!
If you like to keep up with modern SF the Infinity-anthologies are a great way to get to know current authors, and this collection was once again a very good installment in the series.

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first compilation from the series that i have read, and it has some very good stories. I love scifi but my experience with military scifi is very limited. Anyway, I enjoyed this selection; there are some old acquaintances here such as Aliette de Bodard, Garth Nix and Elizabeth Bear, and some authors that are new to me but i will definitely put on my TBR list such as Caroline Yoachim and Indrapramit Das.
The majority of the authors are female and that´s maybe why most stories deal with the people and feelings behind war and focus not so much on action sequences, which leads to interesting character development.
Evening of the Span of Their Days, Carrie Vaughn ***
The Last Broadcasts, An Owomoyela ***
Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship, Caroline M Yoachim *****
Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress ***
The Moon is Not a Battlefield, Indrapramit Das ****
Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear ****
Oracle, Dominica Phettaplace ****
In Everlasting Wisdom, Aliette deBodard ****
Command and Control, David D. Levine ****
Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix ****
Overburden, Genevieve Valentine ***
Heavies, Rich Larson ****
Weather Girl, E.J. Swift ****
Mines, Eleanor Arnason ***
ZeroS, Peter Watts ***
(Note: i received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a better book than my three stars. The stories are generally very well written and the authors include some of my favorites, like Nancy Kress and Carrie Vaughn (both of whose stories I liked a lot). I was surprised by the number of female protagonists and feminist/egalitarian viewpoints. But military SF is not really my genre, and I had to force myself to read some of the stories, however well done.

[Alex Sarll]

No connection to either Marvel story of very nearly the same name, but the latest anthology in Jonathan Strahan's Infinity project*, this time with a theme of future war. An interesting one, because of course military SF is already its own thing, and one which with obvious exceptions (not least John Scalzi) largely happens in a Baen/Puppies ghetto off on the far side of the genre from the diverse, Tor-friendly roster of writers here. And I think the reluctance to write anything which could even potentially be mistaken for that sort of gung-ho, heroic Space Americans vs evil Space Islamo-Fascist Commies twaddle has perhaps limited the variety within Infinity Wars. Over and over, we see cynical conflicts motivated in part or in whole by resource grabs, conflicts in which both sides' leaders are the enemy of their own soldiers as much as the nominal foe. And this despite recent history offering a fresh proof that near as dammit good versus evil conflicts do sometimes exist, without any Westerners needing to be involved, in the shape of the Kurds versus Da'esh. Still, if that absence can leave the book a little samier than it might have been, most of the stories manage to avoid getting too Pat Mills about it, restraining themselves for the most part to showing us that war is stupid and people are stupid rather than whacking us around the head with an excess of authorial editorialising. Genevieve Valentine's story is particularly nicely balanced, giving us a protagonist whose awfulness dawns gradually with no clumsy 'Aaaaaah!' moments, and I greatly enjoyed Garth Nix's piece, told entirely in dialogue as ragtag human(ish) soldiers attempt to talk an obsolete AI armory around. Indrapramit Das was probably my favourite of the several stories which relocate the nexus of future geopolitics to the BRICs; but the highlight in terms of provoking thought, and lowlight in terms of how cheery those thoughts were, was inevitably the last and I believe longest piece, by SF's answer to Schopenhauer, Peter Watts.

Though if the leaves you too down, it is well worth reading the author bios, many of which detail their dogs and one of which genuinely includes My Favourite Spoon.

*Albeit with an apparent change of cover artist, which seems a shame given the unified look of the earlier ones.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again a superb, thought provoking collection

Wow! Stunning collection of shorter SF stories exploring future wars , soldiers and wars impacts. The target time frames range from tomorrow to hundreds of years away and the writing is all excellent and several outstanding. Two of the standouts are by E. J. Swift and Peter Watts and, I repeat, to me there are no weak stories.
Jonathan Strahan has, again, curated, a superb collection of stories peering into the future. Be warned, they are not nice and pretty, rather they are real. Descriptions gloss over graphic details where appropriate and show the details where appropriate.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a lot more from this anthology. None of the stories stood out and they're so bland and dull that I didn't retain much of an impression after I finished the volume. There wasn't a single story in the entire set that actually caught my interest.

[Natalie aka Tannat · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a lot of duds in this collection but a few good stories were mixed in. My favourite was "Conversations with an Armory" by Garth Nix.

[Lucía · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soldiers fighting forever, with no rest but death... when they can get there

[Xavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

He leído 3 y cada vez son más flojitos...
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...

[Thistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick synopsis : The Infinity Project is a sci-fi anthology series of seven books. Engineering Infinity, Edge of Infinity, Infinity's End, etc. So each book is sci-fi with a theme. Engineering Infinity is building stuff in space, Infinity's End is about what new life comes after the end, Bridging Infinity is about connecting worlds, etc. Infinity Wars, as the title implies, is a collection of sci-fi stories about war.

Brief opinion : So many female authors and so many female main characters! Such a nice thing, especially when the theme of the book was "war". Almost no stories were straight out battle stuff.

Plot : The 15 stories in this book:

Evening of the Span of Their Days by Carrie Vaughn. I liked that this one was only indirectly about war (added later: Which turned out to be common in this book!). A dock manager (on a space station) has too many ships to repair and too few resources when war arrives on her doorstep. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

The Last Broadcasts by An Owomoyola. The main character (a woman with autism) was fascinating -- such an interesting picture of how autism brains work! The story (she is hired to help scrub any mention of a war from news feeds, so the population won't panic), especially the ending, was less good though. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship by Caroline M. Yoachim. The Patchwork virus makes all species into one, in a rather messy way. Once infected, you can swap out a body part of yours for a part from any other alien race. This basically makes you immortal. The main character is sent on a maybe-one way mission to infect them with a virus and keep them from adding teleporting fire kittens into their species mix. I wish this one had been a full book series instead of just one short story! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dear Sarah by Nancy Kress. Based on other reviews, this was the best story in the book, but it didn't do much for me. It looked at the effects of progress on the poor and who enlists to fight wars. Wasn't bad, but was very middle of the road for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Moon Is Not a Battlefield by Indrapramit Das. India has the first base on the moon, though other countries are building them as well and war is breaking out there. An Indian soldier is being interviewed by someone. This one didn't hold my interest well. ⭐️⭐️

The Perfect Gun by Elizabeth Bear. I feel like I missed something in this one, but maybe I thought it was deeper than it was. Man goes AWOL from military, becomes a gun for hire. Buys a spaceship with an AI. He'll do anything for anyone... for the right price. Start wars and kill innocent people. His ship's AI is forced to go along with his orders. Eventually the AI is freed and leaves the man alone to die on a planet.

The man endlessly referred to his ship as "my girl" (which I HATED... but the AI had a female voice, so maybe it made sense? Or maybe we were supposed to hate it?). Was this supposed to be a story about an abused woman? (The first sentence was "She had 36DD turrets and a 26-inch titanium alloy hull...") Or was the story as simple as "Bad man's chickens come home to roost"? Or both? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Oracle by Dominica Phetteplace. Best story in the book! A woman invents an AI to make her "lipstick of the month" sales site a success, expands it to different "of the month" things, all of them a huge success. Then the US government/Department of Defense comes knocking on her door for the AI. The big bad military men basically sideline her and then strongarm her out, but the AI has other ideas about that... ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In Everlasting Wisdom by Aliette de Bodard. A few people on Earth are chosen to host an alien. Inside them. It burrows into them over the course of many excruciating hours. But once it's inside someone, it lets them "broadcast" thoughts and feelings to the humans around them. One leader uses that to try to stay in power. The story didn't click with me, though it did make me think more about rereading Animorphs. ⭐️ ½

Command and Control by David D. Levine. Military science fiction. A detailed look at a conflict between China and India. So detailed. Felt like every inch of the battle was explained. This wasn't a good match for me, DNF. ⭐️⭐️

Conversations with an Armory by Garth Nix. More like a scene from a larger story (I wish we had gotten the whole story! I'd read a book-length version of this), some badly injured soldiers talk to an AI controlling an armory, trying to reach some old weapons before aliens kill them all. For some reason about halfway through the story all dialogue marks vanished, I'm not sure if that was for a plot-reason or not. Great story, but that was odd. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heavies by Rich Larson. I liked everything about this story other than the ending/resolution. Set on a human colony on another planet, humans were starting to evolve (and be gene teched) differently: very long and thin, due to different gravity. The setting and worldbuilding were great, but in the end the twist was that the natives were "loving people from Earth to death" -- part of the gene tech work was that they were made to love Earth so they wouldn't revolt, but it went too far and they killed them by loving them too much. (Heh my summary makes it sound more believable than it was.) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overburden by Genevieve Valentine. The writing didn't work for me, DNF early on. ⭐️⭐️

Weather Girl by E.J. Swift. Story didn't work for me, though I think I finished it. America uses weather against its enemies, like not giving warnings about typhons and hurricanes. Because no other country is able to predict weather? ⭐️⭐️

Mines by Eleanor Arnason. This was my favorite story in the book. Set on another planet, the first colonies on a non-Earth planet are getting on their feet, but the war from Earth is spilling over there. A medically retired soldier works with a gene-teched giant African rat to find enemy mines. I loved the main character, her rat, and the whole setting. I just wish this had been a whole book instead of a short story! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ZeroS by Peter Watts. Longest story in the book, about using "zombies" (dead bodies brought back to life and sometimes controlled by someone else) in battles. Didn't really work for me, DNF. ⭐️⭐️

Writing/editing : The writing varied but the editing was generally good (a few issues here and there, like missing periods at the end of a sentence). In one story an apostrophe was replaced by a character I never see in books (a sideways caret, not a less than sign, it was much smaller than that), that was interesting to see.

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like : I get anthologies in hopes of finding new authors to read, but I keep running into the same issue with this one: When I found an author I liked, all they have written is more short stories in anthologies and magazines. I was hoping to find more books.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved : Averaging all the stories up it would be 3.33, but I feel like in general I liked the book, so rounding up to 4 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I already got the other Infinity books.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strahan's aways good.

First, this is SF about military themes, not the "military SF" that's all powered battle suits, ten-mile-long dreadnaughts full of Space Marines, led by hard-as-nails leaders called "Gunny," with aliens mowed down like dandelions every few pages. This is about ordinary people (well, they started out ordinary) whose job happens to be war, and we're seeing a day in the life more than a mighty war-pivotal battle.

There are quite a few "hmm, never thought about that aspect" themes here.

A solid collection of short stories.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Infinity Wars" is the sixth installment of an ongoing anthology series by Jonathan Strahan. Unfamiliar with the previous ones I found this addition very unsteady in terms of quality.

One of the general problems is that most of the authors use their genre's traits in a very superficial and obvious way to portray social or political commentary which very often leads to over-exposition and makes the stories feel cheap and obvious. There is rarely any sublety here instead we all too often get our noses rubbed into things.

It's a shame considering how far other genre-literature like horror or fantasy has come in terms of intelligently exploring more topics than the self-evident ones over the last couple of years, that the genre which in the past always was a stronghold for addressing bigger and smaller, poltical, social and human issues in a condensed form, nowadays often feels lightyears behind and remains a shadow of its former glory.

This collection unfortunately is a a cautionary tale, showing many facets of this regressive development but thankfully it picks up strongly towards the end with some stories by Peter Watts, E.J. Swift or Aliette de Bodard that make this collection indeed worth picking up despite the presence of numerous stinkers.

** The Evening Of Their Span Of Days by Carrie Vaughn
In general this seemed like a good opener for a collection as this, since it deals with a chief mechanic on a space station out on the frontier of human occupied space which is being militarized as war comes to their part of the universe. However there is nothing happening besides that we get to follow protagonist Opal around a bit on her daily routine, then a damaged military ship arrives and she is being told that the station is being militarized. And that's it, over and out (sorry for spoiling this masterpiece of suspense!). The whole thing very much feels like a (very solid) opening sequence for a longer story that Vaughn never finished. In this short format however the story is not really working as there is just not enough going on to develop any form of character arc or build up suspense. Let's hope the rest of the collection is not just a large dumpster for leftover material...

** The Last Broadcasts by An Owomoyela

Basically take "Wag the Dog" , transfer it into space as we accompany an entertainment specialist who is being sent to a frontier station to cover up an ongoing war through manipulating outside communication. Add to that an annoying, hyper-sensitive and permanently distracted protagonist whose quirk takes up half of the story only to play absolutely zero role in its conclusion - who the hell over-emphasizes an element like this (which is bad enough on its own even if relevant) for nothing (which is even worse)? And if the author was trying to make a point or wanted to invoke thoughts about whistle blowing and/or media manipulation he pretty much failed as there are little to no arguments presented for either side and the character dialogue and thoughts are mainly just hollow phrases that do not really justify their actions.

** Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship by Caroline M. Yoachim

Okay, I saw this being labeled as amazing in other reviews, but please tell me why? The story has more logic holes than swiss cheese and consists of so many directions that never get sufficiently explored, that it feels all over the place and massively cluttered. The dialogue is poor and the underlying morality play is neither subtle nor smart. In fact it is obvious, boring and has been done a million times before and better as well. Next!

* Dear Sarah by Nancy Kress

Phew, this is getting tiring. First of all: Colloquial language is not okay apart from being used in direct speech. In fact it sucks almost everywhere else and an annoyance for the reader. Second: If you try to make a socio-politcal statement with your story (which I don't mind at all), please don't rub it in with the sledgehammer. We get it. Try to be at least a little bit subtle when tackling such large issues and stop insulting the reader's intellect by over-exposition. That's all I will say about this effort.

** The Moon Is Not A Battlefield by Indrapamit Das

At least the author presents us with some interesting format, by telling the story mostly via a dialogue between two past acquaintances but drops the ball by dumping the interesting stylistic elements about halfway through, giving the story an inconsistent and unpolished feel. As so many stories in this collection thus far, there is a lot of build-up for really no pay-off in the end.

*** Perfect Gun by Elizabeth Bear

A fast-paced hard-boiled mercenary story that turns into a cheap moral play in the end. A decent quick read but nothing to write home about. Nevertheless the most consistent story so far in terms of writing, dialogue and sense of style in general. Let's hope that it is a sign and that it gets better from here on out...

**** The Oracle by Dominica Phetteplace

Lookie, lookie you other authors in this collection, Ms. Phetteplace shows you how to transport meta-level without being embarrassingly obvious about it but instead look smart and witty. Thanks for the welcome release from the tedious boredom of this collection madame!

***** In Everlasting Wisdom by Aliette de Bodard

Set in a dystopian future not unlike that of "1984" the reader follows Ai Thi, a so called harmoniser, whose job is to inject indoctrinating thoughts praising the glory of the Everlasting Emperor into the minds of other citizens via an implanted parasite called the appeaser. Over the course of the story de Bodard wonderfully shows through a small set of believable characters and scenes how inner conflicts and doubts slowly deteriorate Ai This beliefs as unrest stirs within the populus, generating a void that hollow propaganda can no longer fill until the inevitable ending. Characters, dialogue and pacing are spot on making it the best story so far in this collection.

** Command and Control by David D. Levine

Sometime in the future India and China are at war, fighting for the resources of war-torn Tibet. We follow an Indian squad-leader who decides to go on a rogue mission with some of her squad mates to take down the Chinese general and thereby end the war (yeah, right...). What can I say, we again get quite a dose of on the nose morality (the frequency of this happening in this collection actually leads me to believe that editor is actually into this terrible form of over-exposition or a pathological SJW) to make sure we get that our protagonist is one of the good guys (yay!), some okay action sequences and a few short but interesting speculations about the future nature of warfare and weaponry. That alone however is simply not enough and the story again suffers from one-dimensional characters and a simplistic storyline without any surprises. I highly suggest to every aspiring author who wants to do military sci-fi or fantasy to read Glen Cook‘s „Chronicles of the Black Company“ series first before venturing into this field and see how multi-layered characters in this genre are supposed to look like and how you can transport the ambiguity that is inherent to the human race especially in times of conflict and war.

**** Conversations With An Armory by Garth Nix

Definitely the most unique idea of the collection. Faced by a sudden threat of an alien ship the personnel of a hospital ship is trying to access the armory of the former battleship just to find it guarded by an AI which was scheduled for decommission years ago but was simply forgotten and who proves to be rather obstinate when it comes to giving up its goodies. The ensuing conversation is hilarious in parts but Nix fails to really drive the idea home and stops the story‘s promising development in its track by an abrupt ending leaving behind a quick and fun read that is mostly carried by its gimmicky premise (which is enough given its short length).

*** Heavies by Rich Larson

Dexter is an enhanced human, a so called „Heavy“, and stationed as an overseer on a colony where rebellion had sparked seventy years ago. He leads a calm and peaceful life until one day things start to deteriorate and the colonists start behaving weirdly and taking lives. Larson’s story has an odd feel to it somewhere between Blade Runner-ish noir and „Dead Island“ tropical zombie apocalypse. And while entertaining it never really seems to find its real tone or direction, ending somewhere in the limbo of in-between. Larson definitely has talent and his writing is well-paced. I will look out for more from him despite this only be an okayish effort.

**** Overburden by Genevieve Valentine

On a planet that has been plunged into civil war and unrest General Davis is struggling with the burden of his responsibility as a military commander while he has to battle a conspiracy that leaves him with no one to trust. Definitely some of the best writing in this collection: Well-paced, thought-out and with some good prose Valentine skillfully mixes military and political sci-fi with personal drama and a hint of mystery.

***** Weather Girl by E.J. Swift

This collection really seems to pick up towards the end and I am glad I did not give up on it even though I sometimes wanted to. With „Weather Girl“ E.J. Swift delivers a near future tale about Lia who works for a military black ops unit focused on weather warfare and her ex-husband who is traveling the globe trying to find his way. The story that emerges is a touching and yet suspenseful near future tale with very human characters that showcase subtle but very real human emotions. Impressive And a perfect example that we indeed have writers in the sci-fi genre that can truly bring something to life in the short story format.

*** Mines by Eleanor Arnason

While well-written this story about an invalid former soldier searching for mines in tandem with a genetically modified rat in her post-military career again feels like an excerpt (though one with some interesting concepts and writing) from a larger piece which in this form feels incomplete and somewhat pointless. The reader gets thrown into the story and kicked out of it again just a few dozen pages later without really having had some form of meaningful closure to it. Dissatisfying though I still would love to hear more about Les and her animal companion.

***** ZeroS by Peter Watts

I unfortunately misplaced my notes for this one but I remember it to be a chilling piece of sci-fi that is one of the collection's best next to the contributions by E.J. Swift and Aliette de Bodard. Do not miss out on this one, in fact read the collection backwards as the strong stuff is coming up pretty late.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are mine and are neither influenced by the publisher nor the author.

[Joe Karpierz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sixth entry in Jonathan Strahan's Infinity Project, INFINITY WARS, explores what war would be like in the future. That, however is such an oversimplification as to be misleading. There's military science fiction, and then there's the type of military science fiction as depicted by the terrific 15 stories written by some of the best in the science fiction field that are included in this volume. The stories here are largely character driven, and focus on the impact that war has on its participants as well as those people who are not active participants. As usual, Strahan has assembled a star-studded diverse group of writers, both new and old, both unfamiliar and well-known.

I've always been a sucker for anything Peter Watts writes, and his story "ZeroS" does not disappoint. A group of zombies - resurrected humans who are used to test new weaponry that is essentially an upgrade to the human body, turning them into enhanced humans - are dispatched to fight a series of encounters that is beta testing for the weapons systems. The story explores the humanity that the soldiers still have - even though they are technically dead - as they witness first hand the violence of war and the atrocities they are visiting upon their victims. The zombies - the ZeroS of the title - don't actually know what's going on at first. All they know is if they serve their period as ZeroS - they will eventually be returned to real life. But as the realization that they are nothing but test subjects hit them, the conflict between war and wanting to live again comes to the forefront. It's a terrific tale.

Another favorite is Elizabeth Bear's "Perfect Gun", about a freelance operative named John who buys a "rig" - a war machine with an AI for a brain - to allow him to provide his services to the highest bidder. It took time for John and the rig to build a relationship - an odd term to be using between a mercenary and a war machine - that once built, proved to make for a profitable period for John. Profitable, that is, until moral ambiguity entered the fray. The reaction of the ship - whose John (and we, for that matter) never learned, made it's own decision by the end of the story. "Perfect Gun" lets us know that even AIs have their limits.

Caroline M. Yoachim provides another favorite, "Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship", about a soldier that is heavily modified to infiltrate an enemy ship to try to prevent said eneny - the Faceless, who modify themselves by using body parts from conquered foes - from making progress using "fire kittens" to teleport - because that's what they do - weaponry, and thus turn the tide of the war. The modifications to Eknudayo's body come with a catch; if she doesn't complete her mission within a specified period of time, she will actually become a member of the enemy race. It's a fascinating story about the lengths participants in war will go to in an effort to prevent the enemy from gaining an advantage.

Garth Nix gives us the delightful "Conversations with an Armory", in which military personnel at a lonely, isolated, and nearly abandoned outpost desperately try to activate and open an armory, controlled by an entertaining but strictly rule following AI, so as to get at its stored weapons cache and as a result defend themselves against an attack. This is not a deep, thought provoking story by any means, but in its own way lets the reader know that there can be a humorous side to war as well as the side we're all to familiar with.

These aren't the only terrific stories in the book, of course. "Dear Sarah", by Nancy Kress, shows us how war can affect familial relationships, and not in a good way. An Owomoyela gives us "The Last Broadcasts", about the deceptions involved in war and how one participant reacts to that deception once the truth comes out. It's a powerful lesson about war not being just about guns and ships and explosions. Dominica Phetteplace's "The Oracle" is a tale of realizing not all that you wish for, especially in war time, is a good time, especially when it comes to the AIs involved. E.J Swift gives us "Weather Girl", a rather interesting story with a twist I don't remember having read before, about being able to block enemies from determining weather patterns and how disastrous storms can be used as weapons. Sometimes weapons have unintended consequences - in this case it's a former partner of the protagonist getting caught in the path of the storm - result, and those consequences do weigh heavily on the people who make those decisions. Eleanor Arnason's "Mines" is a study of people living on an Earth devastated by climate change and how those people cope. Here, mines dot the landscape, and these mines and how they are detected are the backdrop of a relationship between two people. It's a touching, powerful tale.

I could continue, but I think that you get the idea of how these stories operate. They make you think about war in a different way - a way that may not be something that you're used to. Stories by Carrie Vaughn ("The Evening of Their Span of Days"), Indrapramit Das ("The Moon is Not a Battlefield"), Aliette de Bodard - rapidly becoming a favorite of mine - ("In Everlasting Wisdom"), David D. Levine ("Command and Control"), Rich Larson - a rising star in the field - ("Heavies"), and Genevieve Valentine ("Overburden") all give us glimpses into the future of war and its effects on those involved.

Once again, Jonathan Strahan has assembled an outstanding anthology; he's one of the best there is at putting themed anthologies together, and of course his annual "Year's Best" is always a treat. Strahan has his finger on the pulse of the field when it comes to short fiction, and he always seems to pick the best of the best. I highly recommend Infinity Wars and everything else Strahan puts together. Reading any of his books will be time well spent.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Infinity Wars is the sixth collection of short stories in Jonathan Strahan’s ‘Infinity’ series. I’ve read several of the others, and found they contained some good stories, so I was quite hopeful going into this one. There was a decent mix of authors who I was aware of and those I’d never read before, which always helps.

Infinity Wars is about the future of war. The scope ranges from alien invasions at interstellar distances, down to the human cost of pulling the trigger. In some ways the environs can be familiar – people wading through muck and blood, or in the cold darkness of outer space. In others though, they can be strange or alien – soldiers driven by their subconscious, or government agencies weaponising a climate grown more ferocious after global warming. The stories in this collection look at war across the scale – and provide an imaginative, inventive window into one of humanities oldest pursuits.

It’s not all explosions and space battles. There’s some great character work going on as well. Nancy Kress gives us “Dear Sarah”, a letter sent home by a soldier now part of an unpopular military – which also touches on the issues of personal and cultural identity, on prejudice, and on the feeling of what is right. There’s a unique voice there, and a sense of personality which grips you as the pages keep turning. Or Indrapramit Das’s “The Moon is not a Battlefield”, which gives us a woman who was once a soldier on the moon, reliving the grace and beauty of her youth, and the dreams which shaped her as she returns to an earth which is less than forgiving. There’s soldiers as heroes, and as bureaucrats. Elizabeth Bear’s “The Perfect Gun” gives us a richly cynical mercenary, someone accustomed to making the amoral choices, whilst working within a ship powered by an AI. The latter becomes perhaps more personable as the tale unfolds. The former is charmingly unlikable, but entirely believable – a person out for themselves, unashamed and unafraid. If you’re looking for characters to shape these stories, then you’re in the right place. Warfare has always had the capacity to break or shape humanity – and the characters here have been exposed to the kind of pressure that moves them, shifts their centre, and lets us explore a raw humanity beneath.

That isn’t to say there aren’t some storming plots as well. I absolutely love Garth Nix’s “Conversations with an Armory”, where several tired, scarred and wounded men try and talk their way past an Armory AI, in a putative effort to stop an alien invasion. It’s a delicate piece on the costs of war and what happens to those who remain – and also carries an urgency, a sense of the kinetic, a high-stakes story. There’s a race against time, and the consequences for failure are dire. It’s an absolute page turner, and also one with a serious emotional punch. Then there’s the creeping horror of Caroline M. Yoachim’s “Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship”. Here our protagonist is asked to pay the cost to infiltrate an enemy craft and bring it down before it can cause incalculable harm. The risk, though, is assimilation into the collective of the enemy. It hits all the right beats – there’s an organic tension, the smell of something dead or alive in the air, and a growing awareness from the reader that our narrator could become what she’s set out to oppose. It’s a story about loyalty and hard choices – and that kept me turning the pages.

In the end, this is another solid entry in Strahan’s “Infinity” series. It looks at the lies and truths of war, the mental and physical joys and costs. There’s plenty of humanity on display here – the darker, stranger parts, and the virtues we cling to when everything else is lost. There’s also the strange, the weird, the wonderful and horrifically alien. So if you’re looking to explore some new authors, or want to think about humanity and its conflicts of the future, then this collection is worth your time.

[Lia Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review. Full review coming soon.

Average rating 4.1*

Very cohesive, thoughtful, diverse collection. Compulsively readable, disturbingly relevant stories that I and would highly rec this to sci fi (especially military scifi) fans.

Individual Story Ratings w/ my initial thoughts:

Evening of the Span of Their Days, Carrie Vaughn *4 (good little story)
The Last Broadcasts, An Owomoyela *3.75 (interesting neuro atypical character)
Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship, Caroline M Yoachim *3.75 (character motivations seemed rushed but whoa boy talk about some body horror)
Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress *3.75 (Abrupt ending, but interesting ideas, v relavent. not sure if souther portrayel was a bit too cliche?)
The Moon is Not a Battlefield, Indrapramit Das *5 (made me tear up, so much character and feeling, how things stay the same)
Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear *3.5 (it was committed to what it was doing but it read hyper-masculine which wasn't to my taste)
Oracle, Dominica Phettaplace *4.25 (really interesting, chilling, i could have done without the vapid millenial-esque dig at the end though)
In Everlasting Wisdom, Aliette deBodard *3.75 ( yay more aliens. Some thoughts on home deprivations caused by war)
Command and Control, David D. Levine *4 (ending was a little abrupt but overall interesting. lots of court martials in this collection)
Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix *5 (I want more of this!)
Overburden, Genevieve Valentine *4 (*3 for the protagonist, *4 for the themes and ideas)
Heavies, Rich Larson *4.5 (love a bit of SF detective stuff. this felt almost noir even though it's not grim per se. good idea for a film that i would TOTALLY WATCH!)
Weather Girl, E.J. Swift *4 (I was really with this one up until the final paragraph which felt forced. Otherwise scary relevant)
Mines, Eleanor Arnason *3.75 ( abrupt but some interesting thoughts and great abandonment scifi)
ZeroS, Peter Watts *4.5 (chilling, fucking chilling)

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Infinity Wars, Jonathan Strahan Ed.- Part of Strahan's Infinity book project, he delivers glimpses of possible futures and speculation in the "If This Goes On" vein. As with most anthologies, no everything is going to please you, but there are some gems here. I was especially taken by Aliette de Bodard's "In Everlasting Wisdom" which displays a deeply subjugated society at war and the humble practitioners of who, along with their alien implants, whisper gentle lies to keep the population in check( think North Korea). Also very interesting is Caroline M. Yoachim's "Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship", about a young woman brought into war mainly because of her particular medical state and used to combat a plague. "The Moon is Not A Battlefield" by Indrapramit Das tells of the discounted value of human lives and the expedience of nations, who would rather fight than work together. There's a lot more here from Nancy Kress, Peter Watts, and many more. I found enough to give it the go ahead.

[N.T. Kova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Infinity’s End and I’m loving Infinity Wars.

Military science fiction often gets a bad rep. However, this anthology shows that, just like most labels, it is woefully inadequate.

There are such diverse story themes in this anthology: economic inequalities, censorship, AI , and much, much more.

Of course, not every story is a hit, but even those that I found a tad drawn out, were interesting and had good characters.

I think my favourite story so far (I’m about half way through) is Dear Sarah by Nancy Kress. We all like to imagine a future where benevolent aliens come to us and share their amazing technology. But we often forget about the people that would be left behind in this drastic revolution and all the others who would be suspicious of the aliens and the government that would side with them…

Definitely Read it!

[John Purvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Infinity Wars" eBook was published in 2017. This collection of short stories are from several different authors. What they have in common is War.

I have to say I was not a fan of this short story collection. I read about half of the stories in the book, then quit. I like military science fiction, but these stories did not grab me. I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I give this short story collection a 2.8 (rounded up to a 3) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

[Rt · Rating 5 out of 5]

High-quality collection of mostly nearish-future sf, including some infowars as well as post-ecocollapse resource wars. Includes Carrie Vaughn, Nancy Kress (very Kress-ian tale of a young, uneducated woman who signs up to get out of her town and ends up fighting people like the people she grew up with), Elizabeth Bear, Aliette de Bodard, Garth Nix (I liked it—a sentient armory gets woken up mid-battle); Genevieve Valentine (colonialism on a new planet), and Peter Watts (my favorite of the bunch: a zombie soldier discovers the clash between free will and electric impulses animating meat).

[Chris Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the best anthologies I've read in years. Just fantastic story after story. I admit I was expecting more "space kablooey" works, but the theme of the collection is not focused on hard core action, though more than a few stories have that in spades.

They are rather about the consequences, character changes and decisions made in such times.

While they were all good stories, a few were worthy of individual callouts:

Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress
Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear
Command and Control, David D. Levine
Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evening of the Span of Their Days, Carrie Vaughn ***
The Last Broadcasts, An Owomoyela *
Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship, Caroline M Yoachim ***
Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress ***
The Moon is Not a Battlefield, Indrapramit Das **
Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear *
Oracle, Dominica Phettaplace *
In Everlasting Wisdom, Aliette deBodard **
Command and Control, David D. Levine **
Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix ***
Overburden, Genevieve Valentine *
Heavies, Rich Larson *
Weather Girl, E.J. Swift *
Mines, Eleanor Arnason *
ZeroS, Peter Watts *

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the theme of war in SF. I enjoyed the scope of the antho, although war stories aren't really my thing in general. Standout stories for me were: Nancy Kress - Dear Sarah, Garth Nix - Conversations with an Armoury, and EJ Swift - Weather Girl.
Two voice actors for the audio version meant that there was usually a switch in voices between each story, which helped them be separated.

[Patrik Sahlstrøm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid anthology of military related SF. Don't make the mistake of expecting MilSF, with sweet explosions and civillians safely off-stage. These stories (at least the ones I liked) are dark and gritty and shows the horrors of war. Some of the short stories are a bit meh, but that is balanced by those of the stories that are brilliant. Recommended!

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has stories by some authors I recognized and some I did not. The stories are short and not always complete. They give a small look into the lives and action of different people in different but similar circumstances. A nice to to pick up when you want something quick to read.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recent Reads: Infinity Wars. The latest in Jonathan Strahan's Infinity Project anthologies offers a sideways take on military SF. This is not the usual suspects, and so goes in very different directions. A recommended read.

[paul engel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of interesting stories.

Really enjoyed the book. A lot of entertaining and enjoyable stories. A good read overall, especially if you are short on time to dive into a full length novel.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very strongly recommend. Garth Nix's 'Conversation with an Armory' is especially great

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Review forthcoming