2.25 star average per story. What a disappointing collection - especially since these are supposedly the author's best!

Willis is a wordy writer, so I think that short stories simply aren't the format in which she shines brightest.

Add to that the profanity (including many instances of the names of God/Jesus used disrespectfully), the not-so-subtle jabs at Christianity in general and Creationists in particular, and the political preaching, and this is just a mess of a book that made me like Willis a whole lot less.

- A Letter From the Clearys: 1.5
- At the Rialto: 3.5
- Death On the Nile: 3.5
- The Soul Selects Her Own Society: 2.5
- Fire Watch: 3.5
- Inside Job: 2.0
- Even the Queen: 1.0
- The Winds of Marble Arch: 1.0
- All Seated On the Ground: 1.5
- Last of the Winnebagos: 2.5 ( )

I love Connie Willis' short stories. This collection is uniformly excellent, which isn't surprising when you consider that they're all award-winning stories. Even if you aren't a fan of science fiction, I highly recommend these. Willis' writing style is uncommonly clear and compelling. In addition, her introduction provides insight into the writers who influenced her. This would be a great compilation to use in an English class. ( )

What an exceptionally creepy short story collection ( )

Lovely stories (especially "The Last of the Winnebagos") that everyone, even those not interested in science fiction, should read. My particular favorite was "Death on the Nile". ( )

There are some great stories in this collection. I'd read "Fire Watch" and "A Letter From the Clearys" before, but all of the others were new to me.

For this collection, I think "All Seated On The Ground" was my favorite. ( )