An interesting collection of stories about women warriors, before,
during, or after battle. The ones that worked best for me were ones set in
universes I already knew, where I could draw on the consequent depth and
background not achievable in a short story. Nevertheless, some of the
standalones also manage to be thought-provoking and/or exciting.
Contents
- Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Fighting Chance. 2005
- A Liaden Universe story. How Miri Roberston was recruited off Surebleak by Angela Lizardi.
- Rosemary Edghill. Painted Child of Earth. 2005
- A warrior has an enchanted sword that makes her immortal, until it can use her to destroy the world.
She fights its influence, saving a lad who wants to be a hero,
and realises the benefits of companionship in keeping her humanity
- Julie E. Czerneda. She's Such a Nasty Morsel. 2005
- A Web Shifters story. How Skalet, one of Esen's Web, became so involved in war.
- Fiona Patton. The Children of Diardin: To Find the Advantage. 2005
- A pack of Sidhe shape-shifters need to find a battle advantage over the invading giants --
and discover that their mother is a force to be reckoned with.
- Tanya Huff. Not that Kind of War. 2005
- A Confederation story. Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr has a new, gung-ho Leuitenant
to take care of, during a retreat.
- Michelle West. The Black Ospreys. 2005
- Sometimes to win a war, you have to use desperate tactics. But who do you choose to use them?
- Bruce Holland Rogers. The Art of War. 2005
- Maybe the destrying alien fleet don't actually want to wage war,
maybe they are just unimpressed with our fighting aesthetics.
- Kerrie Hughes. Geiko. 2005
- A Geiko bodyguard hopes her young charge will become a trader, not a bodyguard too.
Then she discovers that an assassin is after her, not her charge.
- Robin Wayne Bailey. Shin-Gi-Tai. 2005
- What lengths a warrior and her alien lover will go to to stop a war that is destroying both sides.
- Jana Paniccia. The Last Hand of War. 2005
- A complex story of warriors, and the warrior spirits who bond with them,
fighting against a maddened sprit who threatens to destroy them all.
- Lisanne Norman. War Games. 2005
- An attempt to rescue the President's kidnapped daughter has bizarre consequences
that the warriors know cannot old forever.
[The sexist subplot seems a bit 1970s, and out of place in this future army.]
- Jane M. Lindskold. Fire from the Sun. 2005
- Andrasta helps clear a slave clan of a charge of uprising.
But the events are part of a larger plot that will change the way of her own clan forever.
- Stephen Leigh. Sweeter far than Flowing Honey. 2005
- A VR pilot engaged in a war against the Ghastlies keeps having strange dreams
about other warriors and their destroyed families.
- Anna Oster. Token. 2005
- Jun-Li is chosen to be the new Holy Defender, but is she up to the task?
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Elites. 2005
- Rowena's half-way house for PTSD veterans has a great reintegration rate,
so why doesn't she want others to use her cure?