Short Story Wednesday: Three Stories from Cosmic Corsairs

I first heard about this book at Rick Robinson's blog, Tip the Wink. I loved the idea of space pirates. I haven't read a lot of science fiction, so I had not encountered space pirates in my reading. Rick also generously sent me his copy of this short story collection to read. The stories are very good so far.

From the back of the book:

Rousing adventure, derring-do, brave heroes battling scurvy galactic vermin: we have here a treasure chest of tales of the greatest pirate adventure grounds of all time—the unruly outer reaches of space itself!

Do ye long for adventure in the far reaches, matey? Do ye yearn for space and treasure? Well, come aboard! Your crewmates include Robert Silverberg, Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, Larry Niven, Fritz Leiber, Sarah A. Hoyt, James H. Schmitz, and more.

Cosmic Corsairs was edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio. There are 15 stories in this book. Seven were published for the first time after 2000, some of those published for the first time in this book. The other eight stories were published in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1980's. Thus, a lot of variety.

So far I have read only three of the stories.

"Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette was first published in Fast Ships, Black Sails (2008). Black Alice Bradley is an engineer on the Lavinia Whateley, a pirate spaceship and a living creature. Alice feels protective towards the spaceship, and has nicknamed her Vinnie. After taking on risky cargo from another ship, the crew and the Lavinia Whateley are in danger from other alien ships. Alice tries to protect Vinnie and herself.

"A Relic of the Empire" by Larry Niven is part of Niven's Known Space Universe. Dr. Richard Schultz-Mann is a xenobiologist doing some research on a planet. Some pirates in an old spaceship stop by and try to extort some information from him. The pirates have superior manpower and weapons; Mann has knowledge of the planet and the environment on his side.

“Postmark Ganymede” by Robert Silverberg was first published in Amazing Stories, September 1957. This was a fun story, less serious than the other two. Preston has been moved from the Space Patrol Service to the Postal Service, and he is mad. He will be delivering mail to the colony on Gannymede. This becomes more challenging than he expected.

My favorite story of these three is "A Relic of the Empire." Lots of good stories left to read.

See George Kelley's review of Cosmic Corsairs for comments on more of the stories and a list of the stories.