Far Futures

It has been a very good year for hard science fiction, with two outstanding novels-Greg Bear's Legacy and Gregory Benford's Sailing Bright Eternity-revealing the wonders the future may hold. The majority of the five original novellas in this anthology edited by Benford (including one by Bear) do the same. Both Bear's ``Judgment Engine,'' which opens the book, and Charles Sheffield's ``At the Eschaton,'' which closes it, end at what might, or might not, be the final moments of life in the universe. Poul Anderson, whose 25-year-old novel Tau Zero set the standard for end-of-the-universe stories, limits himself to the possible end of organic life on Earth in telling of a very special ``Genesis,'' the most plot-rich and interesting contribution here. Joe Haldeman's ``For White Hill,'' which also deals with the pending extinction of life on Earth, appears, as does Sheffield's considerably weaker tale, to be a love story-at least until its denouement, in which one of its artist-protagonists creates her ultimate work of art. Donald Kingsbury's lengthy ``Historical Crisis,'' which loosely elaborates upon Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, again affirms its author's ability to transcend and honor his sources. Most notable about all of these oft-apocalyptic novellas-excluding their common acceptance that organic life is destined to be superseded-is their essential vivacity. This volume presents five glorious adventures bound to delight anyone with an abiding curiosity about the distant future. (Dec.)