Nightflyers

Rating:
Summary: Not Martin's best writing
Review: I picked this up after reading the three books completed so far in Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. I thought I couldn't go wrong with an author who had written those books so well. However, these stories were written many years ago, and I think it shows.

I found several of them kind of, well, cheesy. "Nightflyers" kept refering to who had "sexed" with who, for example. Some of them seemed like stories I would have liked a lot when I was 14, but now I could see plot twists telegraphed from miles away. I did like "Weekend in a War Zone" and "Song for Lya." I could see the endings coming on these also, but the ride was more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: A great collection with a fabulous title story
Review: It's pretty rare to find a collection of short stories that doesn't have at least one 'dud' in it, but this is one such collection. Every story was really good with the exception of the title story, _Nightflyers_, which was absolutely fabulous and is now one of my favorite sci-fi stories. All the stories have a dark element of horror or creepiness. You have spirit possessed spaceships, corpses being animated and used for manual labor, aliens hosting on humans in the guise of gods, etc...

This is not hard sci-fi, which is exactly why I like it. The horror/sci-fi mix reminds me of the first _Alien_ movie and of _Event Horizon_.

Rating:
Summary: A great collection with a fabulous title story
Review: It's pretty rare to find a collection of short stories that doesn't have at least one 'dud' in it, but this is one such collection. Every story was really good with the exception of the title story, _Nightflyers_, which was absolutely fabulous and is now one of my favorite sci-fi stories. All the stories have a dark element of horror or creepiness. You have spirit possessed spaceships, corpses being animated and used for manual labor, aliens hosting on humans in the guise of gods, etc...

This is not hard sci-fi, which is exactly why I like it. The horror/sci-fi mix reminds me of the first _Alien_ movie and of _Event Horizon_.

Rating:
Summary: Not Martin's best writing
Review: Nightflyers: In the title story, nine people set off on the Nightflyer, a space trader owned and operated by Royd Eris, in search of the Volcryn, a mythical race of sentient beings traveling through space for more than eighteen thousand years. As they travel through space to the outer edges, they begin to realize something is wrong. Their captain shows up only as a hologram, and their only telepath begins to sense something wrong. One by one the passengers begin dying, and the survivors discover they are not alone on the ship. Now they must trust the captain they have never met face to face, and as the Volcryn come within range of the Nightflyer, they learn also that the massive, alien, quiet ship is not what was expected either.

Override: Imagine you make a decent living as a corpse handler on a pretty planet named Grotto. To you, working with the corpses is a job, not all that unpleasant, but others on Grotto call you and your kind "Meatminds" and want to do away with corpse labor. And then, you discover someone has an "override box", and they are able to take control of the corpses away from you. Miles away from town, without control of your corpses, will you survive?

Weekend In A War Zone: Welcome to Maneuver, Inc., where you can pay a great deal of money to sign up for some weekend war games. Only unlike a weekend of tennis, you might not come back alive, because these games are real.

And Seven Times Never Kill A Man: On the world of Corlos, the Children of Bakkalon reside within the City of Steel Angels. Outside the city are the forest folk called the Jaenshi, living quiet lives in harmony with planet and gathering around their clan's pyramid. The Steel Angels come out from their city and destroy the pyramids, hunting and killing the Jaenshi, calling them soulless animals. The trader neKrol has come to Corlos in his ship, the Lights of Jolostar, in an effort to save the Jaenshi. Is there room on this planet for more than one race?

Nor The Many-Colored Fires Of A Star Ring: All around the galaxy are the Star Rings, "gates" to different parts of the universe. Kerin and Jenny are at the Nowhere Ring, ready to try Jenny's theory of a self-sustaining ring using no nullspace engines.

A Song For Lya: Robb and Lya are summoned to the planet Shkea, where the
Terran planetary administrator has become concerned with the number of humans joining the Shkeen Cult of the Union. With their psi talents, they travel to the city to learn of the creatures called Greeshka and their role in the cult. It is the only religion of the Shkeen, and one of the Talented will fall victim to this cult of love.

Rating:
Summary: 5 of the best George R.R. Martin Sci-Fi early Sci-Fi stories
Review: Nightflyers: In the title story, nine people set off on the Nightflyer, a space trader owned and operated by Royd Eris, in search of the Volcryn, a mythical race of sentient beings traveling through space for more than eighteen thousand years. As they travel through space to the outer edges, they begin to realize something is wrong. Their captain shows up only as a hologram, and their only telepath begins to sense something wrong. One by one the passengers begin dying, and the survivors discover they are not alone on the ship. Now they must trust the captain they have never met face to face, and as the Volcryn come within range of the Nightflyer, they learn also that the massive, alien, quiet ship is not what was expected either.

Override: Imagine you make a decent living as a corpse handler on a pretty planet named Grotto. To you, working with the corpses is a job, not all that unpleasant, but others on Grotto call you and your kind "Meatminds" and want to do away with corpse labor. And then, you discover someone has an "override box", and they are able to take control of the corpses away from you. Miles away from town, without control of your corpses, will you survive?

Weekend In A War Zone: Welcome to Maneuver, Inc., where you can pay a great deal of money to sign up for some weekend war games. Only unlike a weekend of tennis, you might not come back alive, because these games are real.

And Seven Times Never Kill A Man: On the world of Corlos, the Children of Bakkalon reside within the City of Steel Angels. Outside the city are the forest folk called the Jaenshi, living quiet lives in harmony with planet and gathering around their clan's pyramid. The Steel Angels come out from their city and destroy the pyramids, hunting and killing the Jaenshi, calling them soulless animals. The trader neKrol has come to Corlos in his ship, the Lights of Jolostar, in an effort to save the Jaenshi. Is there room on this planet for more than one race?

Nor The Many-Colored Fires Of A Star Ring: All around the galaxy are the Star Rings, "gates" to different parts of the universe. Kerin and Jenny are at the Nowhere Ring, ready to try Jenny's theory of a self-sustaining ring using no nullspace engines.

A Song For Lya: Robb and Lya are summoned to the planet Shkea, where the
Terran planetary administrator has become concerned with the number of humans joining the Shkeen Cult of the Union. With their psi talents, they travel to the city to learn of the creatures called Greeshka and their role in the cult. It is the only religion of the Shkeen, and one of the Talented will fall victim to this cult of love.

Rating:
Summary: Horror In Deep Space
Review: Since reading A GAME OF THRONES, I have been trying to hunt down all of G R R Martin's earlier out-of-print works -I haven't heard one bad word about any of them yet. NIGHTFLYERS is one of the few I have found thus far, and it was well worth my effort. It contains six excellent short stories of horror and science fiction.

The title-novelette, "Nightflyers" is by far the best... A team of nine specialists takes flight on the Nightflyer in pursuit of a legendary alien spacecraft, eons old. But things on the Nightflyer aren't exactly as they seem, and it's captain isn't sharing all he knows.

"Override" and "A Song For Lya" are two more great pieces, but they can also be found in another of his collections, A SONG FOR LYA. A fourth great story, "Weekend In A War Zone" takes a look at one of our future forms of entertainment- recreational warfare! I wouldn't have minded if that story were a lot longer.

The last two stories are just ok, but all in all, this collection is well worth your time. Because of his recent popularity, Martin's older works should be hitting shelves again soon, but if you can't take the wait- check the libraries and used bookstores like I did

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre title story and repeat stories
Review: The title story of this book, Nightflyers, had an interesting setting, some good characterization, and a genuinely suspenseful beginning. Overall it was an enjoyable read.

However, the plot eventually disintegrated into a horror stereotype similar to that of the Event Horizon. The speculations surrounding the mysterious ship's captain ended up being a lot more interesting than the truth. Also, I found the main character to be unsympathetic and arrogant enough to be unlikable. She constantly repeated that she was the "improved model" and that she was capable of thinking "three steps ahead", but demonstrated her abilities in robotic and unpersonible ways. The secondary characters were personified in a much better way, and showed both repulsive and humane characteristics equally, making me sympathise with them as "real" people.

Two of the stories in this collection are also in "A Song for Lya". Override was underdeveloped and similar to Nightflyers in feeling, although not in setting, and was not a story that I would have chosen to reprint. A Song for Lya is an excellent story about aloneness and reaction to religion. Although there were some stereotypes, the last few pages of the story were rich with the reality of human nature.

If you like short sci-fi or psychological horror stories, I recommend this book. I have given it such a high rating because of my love for the writings of George RR Martin, but feel that these stories are inferior to his Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Rating:
Summary: More good stuff from George
Review: Tho most of this collection is recycled from earlier George R.R. Martin short-story packages, there R a few new stories -- "Nightflyers" is a very good, very vivid interstellar horror story, with a lot more going 4 it than just the mystery at its center -- good believable characters, involving happenings, & most of all the Volcryn, another haunting creation of George at his very best. "Nor the Many-Colored Fires of a Star Ring" is a sequel to George's earlier story "The Second Kind of Loneliness," & is also outstanding. "Weekend in a War Zone" is average, nothing special. The other stories include his classic "Song for Lya" (which U should already have read), "Override," & a couple others. Worth it just 4 the stories U can't find elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: More good stuff from George
Review: Tho most of this collection is recycled from earlier George R.R. Martin short-story packages, there R a few new stories -- "Nightflyers" is a very good, very vivid interstellar horror story, with a lot more going 4 it than just the mystery at its center -- good believable characters, involving happenings, & most of all the Volcryn, another haunting creation of George at his very best. "Nor the Many-Colored Fires of a Star Ring" is a sequel to George's earlier story "The Second Kind of Loneliness," & is also outstanding. "Weekend in a War Zone" is average, nothing special. The other stories include his classic "Song for Lya" (which U should already have read), "Override," & a couple others. Worth it just 4 the stories U can't find elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome...
Review: Yet another great collection of short stories by the Master. The title story is about the crew of the Nightflyer that is in search of an ancient race of people who travel through space. But there is madness on the ship and the crew becomes in danger from the unseen and mysterious captain. This story was made into a rather poor movie, but the short story is fantastic nonetheless. Other stories in this compilation are the twilight zone like "Weekend in a War Zone" where people pay to battle other people with their lives at stake. "Overide" is another story of Martin's Corpse Handlers - dead bodies that are implanted with computer chips to make the dead body do labour for the living handlers. This collection finishes of with the wonderful story A Song for Lya - a Hugo winning tale of sorrow and lost love - truly one of Martins best. A definite buy for someone looking for a great read or to tide yourself over until the next instalment of the Song of Ice and Fire.