Tailored Realities

Bestseller Sanderson, known for his Cosmere universe novels, demonstrates his considerable range in this impressive collection of 10 stories written over 20 years, several appearing for the first time in print. While Sanderson often riffs on established tropes, such as the zombie apocalypse central to the original novella “Moment Zero,” his inventive approach breathes new life into the familiar. For example, in “Snapshot,” two police detectives enter a virtual reality, or “snapshot,” that recreates specific days in specific locations as part of their effort to thwart the serial killer known as “the Photographer.” Sanderson makes the story memorable beyond its twisty plot by giving even the simulated humans inside the snapshot emotional depth. Equally inventive is the comedic “I Hate Dragons,” whose protagonist, a dragon-hunter’s apprentice with the ability to “hear apostrophes... and spelling,” gets into a conversation about grammar with the beast he’s meant to lure to its death. The first-contact novella “Defending Elysium,” which ties into Sanderson’s Skyward series, is a fount of clever science fictional ideas: for example, its Interspecies Monitoring Coalition evaluates the quality of extraterrestrial civilizations based on their children, “who have lived just long enough to begin imitating the society they see around them.” This is a bounty for Sanderson fans. (Dec.)