This military SF tale is a variation on the new-guy-in-the-squad story, with the new guy being a medical robot. Ledbetter makes the old plot fresh by telling it from the robot's point of view. The action is quick-paced with a strong edge of danger throughout. RECOMMENDED

Next, William Ledbetter gives us a swashbuckling adventure in "Thief of Hearts." Captain Birch’s pirates find the ship they’ve been trailing easier to attack than expected, as it comes out of a fog badly and inexplicably damaged. Onboard, they find a mysterious girl, naked, with hair rooted all the way down her back. Some believe she is a witch, others a selkie. But the girl befriends the young Malagasy cabin boy, who tells the captain that she is neither witch nor selkie, but a member of an ancient and magical race his people know. In time, the captain finds that this strange girl can give him his heart’s desire, but not in the way he expected. Believable in historical detail and internally consistent, "Thief of Hearts" is intriguing and mysterious, and stands out as one of the stronger stories in this anthology.

To finish on a positive note, perhaps the best story in the issue is by William Ledbetter, who crafts an unusual and emotionally charged tale around elements borrowed from American Indian shapeshifter folklore. In "Over the Moon and Running," former professional tennis player Dina Gurov has lost the use of her legs following a car accident. Now, five years later, she wakes one night to find herself threatened with kidnap and imprisonment by a strange man who promises to heal her, asking that in return she pay an as yet unspecified debt. In less skilful and less restrained hands, this might have been a mess, but Ledbetter never lets his potentially disturbing material get the better of him. Dina is far from the stereotypical besieged female victim so often lazily portrayed in the genre, and Frank, a man we initially think to be a monster, is shown to be an altogether more complex character. The relationship that develops between the two feels natural and unforced, and Ledbetter isn’t afraid to end a pretty violent story on an optimistic note.