Galactic Games

Galactic Games from editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt is a trip to the playing fields of intergalactic arenas. We don’t just compete against ourselves in the future here, but also sometimes against extraterrestrials in cosmic match ups. All sorts of sports are re-imagined in these sometimes astronomical Olympics. The book actually was published in time for the Olympics, which was showcased on television and grabbed our attention for a couple of weeks. The world still needs this.

Sports are a great thing and a great way to work off one’s steam. They, like this book, are great for all ages. Sports are also more utopian than warfare or adverse politics and economics. Astronomy reminds us that we are all from the same place and that our planet is special. This is a great message for the five-hundredth Anniversary of Thomas More’s Utopia (1516). George R.R. Martin is a standout in a collection that includes some famous old-timers and new writers including Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe, Mercedes Lackey, Mike Resnick, Larry Correia, Jack C. Haldeman, Esther M. Friesner, Kristine Kathryn Rusch…. These stories are not very profound, but they are personal, and we should be going out there regularly to work up a sweat. Maybe these sometime heartfelt stories will help with that also.