The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson

These stories are a good introduction to KSR's writing. They cover many of the things he discusses in more detail in his longer books.I very much enjoyed the casual "alternative history" that appeared in many of the stories; it was well-thought-out... and yet not the main point of them.KSR tends to be a thoughtful writer, and these stories showed that. Even the ones with a fair amount of action were measured in their pacing.I'm a KSR fan, so I've read mayber half of these stories before. Still, I enjoyed reading them again, and they rewarded that. I was very interested in reading the other ones which I had not previously read- and I'll want to re-read those, too, in a few months.The writing is very solid, and the plots well-paced, even when they don't go where one might think they were going. The people in them seem very real.(And as someone who adopted and "tamed" 3 feral cats- Stella broke my heart.)

KSR is the master of poetic prose. However, some of these stories left me feeling there wasn't much "story" outside of the beautifully arranged words. Sometimes the narration is only in service of exploring philosophy. That's not necessarily a bad thing, KSR is an adept guide at swimming in the waters of the mind, but beware: although there ARE many great sci-fi stories here, some of these stories are not in that genre. So, don't go into this looking for the sci-fi element in every story (as I was), just enjoy the stories on their own merit.

This is a fun collection of Robinson stories. He is a great writer and each story is unique and an enjoyable read.

Somewhat pedantic collection of anti-war stories, some of which just barely qualify as SF. Were it not for the author's excellent skills and engaging style, it would be mediocre. As it is, this utopic collection is somewhat short sighted but nevertheless manages to make the point for peace over war.

These are short stories first, literature first, and science fiction second. There are elements of science fiction in most of the stories (not all), but they are secondary to the characters. The prose is excellent and the characters engaging, the plots thoughtful. The further into the book, the better the stories were. Kim Stanley Robinson has produced not genre fiction, but stories of depth, snapshots into lives that touch you, make you think. If you like straight forward science fiction, you may not like them. If you like well-written short stories, you will enjoy most of these whether you are a science fiction fan or not.

Well, I am a fan! Having said that sometimes he gets beyond me..... But when I like him, I really like him! I think he uses the short story to play around with mixed results. I still think the Mars Trilogy is one f the best science fiction ever written.

Wonderful and surprising images that I will take with me forever. This is the best collection of short stories I have come across. I was expecting science fiction knowing his work from the Mars series, and like that trilogy, he writes about people, interesting people with unique situations, and relationships, both internal and external. If you are looking for hard sci fi there are only a couple in here that you may consider that genre, I would say the rest are considered alternate history, or just darn good fiction. His reimaginings are eloquent and thoughtful. Just great stuff.

These are good stories told in an unassuming fashion. The writer is subtle and I like that. I had heard of Kim Stanley Robinson but had not previously read him even though I have a couple of unread works by him. I saw this volume of short stories and bought it to take measure of his work. The result is pleasing. I'll buy more.