Mike Resnick had a great idea for an anthology: Take the formula of the pulp detective genre – you know, the first-person narrative, the voluptuous dames, the double-crosses – and place it in a sci-fi setting. The result is DOWN THESE DARK SPACEWAYS, and Resnick is lucky that five of the six novellas within work, even exceedingly well.
The best include David Gerrold’s timequake-driven serial killer story “In the Quake Zone,” Jack McDevitt’s alien art conspiracy “The Big Downtown” and Robert J. Sawyer’s “Identity Theft,” concerned not with a stolen name, but an entire consciousness. Only Robert Reed’s confusing “Camoflauge” buries its own chances for fun by losing the private-eye angle in boring SF details. Otherwise, this strange but satisfying anthology is a unique little gem.
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