YA
War stories are often sold on the battle, but the aftermath is usually the part worth reading. That’s what makes War Stories by Andrew Liptak and Jaym Gates interesting to me.
A short anthology about military sci-fi could go either way: all noise, or actual consequences. I’m hoping for the mess after the fighting. That’s where the genre tends to stop posing and start saying something useful.
A short anthology about military sci-fi could go either way: all noise, or actual consequences. I’m hoping for the mess after the fighting. That’s where the genre tends to stop posing and start saying something useful.
Battle is the easy bit to write. Consequences are where a military story either earns its keep or starts waving flags at itself.
An anthology feels like the right shape for that, though. Short fiction can get in, do the damage, and leave before it over-explains everything. Which is usually kinder to the reader.
An anthology feels like the right shape for that, though. Short fiction can get in, do the damage, and leave before it over-explains everything. Which is usually kinder to the reader.
Military sci-fi gets much more interesting when it remembers civilians exist. The family side is usually where the genre either sharpens up or turns into wallpaper. An anthology like this sounds like it could do both, which is part of the appeal and part of the risk. Short stories don’t always have room to sit with the cost.