They’re Here

Davis (editor of The Baen Big Book of Monsters) and Korsgaard (editor with Christopher Ruocchio of Worlds Long Lost) pull together a retro-feeling anthology of 16 stories centered on the idea that aliens have already infiltrated human society on Earth. The table of contents features some big names, including Neil Gaiman (“How to Talk to Girls at Parties”) and Robert Silverberg (“The Reality Trip”), but there’s a disappointing lack of diversity to the contributors list: only two works are written by women and all the authors are white. This is to the detriment of the anthology as a whole, which feels overwhelmingly homogenous. Indeed, though many of the tales are diverting on their own, they tend to blend into one another. Among the standouts are Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s “Knotwork,” an unusual and surprising reframing of the housewife’s dilemma of boredom and ennui that recasts the homemaker in question as an alien determined to live on Earth with the man she fell in love with; and Lester Del Rey’s “Dead Ringer,” in which a reporter sets out to prove the existence of zombies. Despite the anthology’s flaws, readers who appreciate sci-fi with a golden era vibe will find plenty to enjoy. (Aug.)