The selfness of the alien

kw: book reviews, story reviews, continued review, science fiction, space aliens, space fiction

Continuing yesterday's review of The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge, I've had time to read four more stories:

• The Whirligig of Time – A deep-time riff on the theme, "What goes around comes around," with a nicely spun ending.
• Bomb Scare – Possibly the first treatment of magically powerful aliens who aren't quite as grown up as they seem. At least one episode of Star Trek, starring Liberace, made use of the idea.
• The Science Fair – Centauroid beings who inhabit a free-wandering planet (it takes a while to determine this) are about to pass by a normal star.
• Gemstone – I've read this at least twice before, in different collections. Always a joy. One of those alien stories that sneaks up on you.

Six to go.