The Only Neat Thing to Do: 5
Good Night, Sweethearts: 4
Collision: 3 ( )

This trilogy of Tiptree short stories is held together by a framework that sets them as "historical" documents from the time when the human race was exploring their galaxy. Two of them touch briefly on how reproductive patterns of nonterrestrial races might differ from (and cause confusion or conflict with) human expectations. One deals with the curious social effects arising from the "coldsleep" that allowed humans to survive decades-long journeys in pre-FTL spacecraft. All are imbued with Tiptree's vividly-imagined future worlds.

Perhaps the best example of Tiptree's ability to go beyond space-opera here is the middle story, 'Goodnight, Sweethearts'. The basic plot is pretty straight-up adventure, wherein the loner protagonist (who runs a sort of roadside-assistance service, but in space) realizes the private liner he has just assisted has now blundered into the arms of the regional bad guys, and he's compelled, for various reasons, to attempt a rescue. His motivation is less altruistic than romantic -- one of the passengers is a woman with whom he has a romantic past.

Now, this sounds pretty much by-the-numbers, but Tiptree is also developing a strong undercurrent here of how futuristic technologies might impact everything from treatment for PTSD to what happens to personal relationships when lifespans can be extended into centuries by the suspended animation required for decades-long journeys through space. Ultimately, these factors lead the protagonist smack into a devastating moral choice -- but not necessarily the one readers might expect. ( )

I enjoyed this short set of interconnected novellas set in the same universe as the Tiptree/Sheldon novel, Brightness Falls From the Air. The framing device here felt a bit clunky but the stories themselves are of the fun, pulpy variety. They are more about the characters and the situations in which they find themselves rather than about hard sci-fi, so readers will likely have a better time if they don't go into this expecting to find science and space travel ideas that conform to actual physics.

The first story, The Only Neat Thing To Do, starts off with a very 'James H. Schmitz' type of feel to it with a plucky young heroine zipping off to adventure in her new spaceship, (without her parent's permission). But the story takes a very non-Schmitz-like darker turn that leads to a rather poignant ending. Story #2, Good Night, Sweet Hearts is the weakest of the three, but still not bad. Time-dilation, clones, and space pirates! The third tale, Collision, is also the longest and centers around an exploratory mission across The Rift that stumbles upon a new alien species. Half the tale, similar to Asimov's The Gods Themselves, is told from the alien's perspective, which lends an extra dimension to what is, in the end, a fairly standard alien contact story. That said, the characterization is good and the aliens are nicely realized.

Overall, this is a decent entry in Tiptree's catalog. It is not her best work but is still worth checking out if you are already a fan. ( )

This is 3 short stories linked together by a brief framework of research being done by a librarian for a pair of students. The only thing the stories have in common is the setting of "the rift" a largely unexplored region of space.
It's a mixed lot of stories that do not really work well together. ( )

surprisingly not full on misandrist depressing. ( )