Nor the many colored fires - the first one that I didn't like. The plot is, at a high level, a space version of the Catholic Missionaries who took over the Americas in the 1500s and 1600s. Definitely could be a twilight zone episode. It unfolds so well that even as I kept trying to guess the ending, it wasn't until a few paragraphs before the end that I could predict it.Īnd seven times never kill man - while GRRM plants the clue very early on (like first couple paragraphs) the final plot twist was so brilliant. Weekend in a war zone - a satire of work team building exercises that takes place in a future where people sign up to fight in a war for the weekend. Instead with the wild west we get a fun story that gives you something to think about later. What I mean by that is that in other hands, or perhaps even if GRRM had written the story today, there would have been more of a social commentary involved in that. Skirts a lot of potential metaphorical issues in favor of a wild West story ported to science fiction. Override: a short story on a planet where people control corpses to do manual labor. Describe the story in one phrase: (view spoiler)

One tiny plot point is a bit regressive sexually. Martin does a great job at his take on Alien, but written by him.

Should make for a pretty great adaptation as long as they keep the season count low. I didn't want to be spoiled on the plot, so I read the book. I got this book because next week (2 Dec, I think) the SyFy TV adaptation will be released. Nightflyers: A good, classic SF novella with lots of foreshadowing, red herrings, and suspense. I enjoy it, but it may not be for everyone.Īs it says on the cover, this book consists of the novella of Nightflyers and then some other short stories by GRRM. They definitely have a classic SF style similar to Asimov or Clarke where the characters have these long philosophical debates about whatever the moral or plot twist of the story is going to be.

(Also, Wild Cards if you consider that SF) Most, if not all, of the stories in this book were written in the late 70s. I'd read a story of his in an issue of Lightspeed magazine I think the Lightspeed story was a newer story, though. This is not the first time I've read George RR Martin's science fiction.

Nightflyers goodreads