From Publishers Weekly
Hugo Award winner Sheffield's gift for merging hard SF with compelling characters shows brightly in most of these 11 previously uncollected stories. In the poignant title tale, a physicist tries to help find a missing fellow scientist who seems to have disappeared by making herself invisible. Likewise, in Packing Fraction, another scientist must explain why a disastrous experiment levels a town. In the autobiographical Nebula winner, The Peacock Throne, which retains its strength despite dated references to the Reagan era, a journalist follows rumors of an incredible new energy source to Iran, where the answers will not be clear or easy to find. The Art of Fugue and the first contact tale, Waiting for the Riddler, are classic puzzle stories with suspenseful twists, while Cloud Cuckoo offers space adventure with a touch of astrophysics instruction. The Whole Three Yards explores one possible future for pro sports, in which football players don't retire for decades; meanwhile, the veteran soldiers in Brooks Too Broad for Leaping will sacrifice anything to get back into the service. Nuremberg Joys and Phallicide powerfully depict sacrifice and betrayal in the name of science. In contrast, What Would You Like to Know? tells an old-fashioned story of love lost and found with nary a scientist in sight. Readers who enjoy Sheffield's work will want this to fill in the gaps of previous collections, and those who may only know him from his novels (Cold as Ice, etc.) will find much to savor here. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Four more titles in Five Star's new series of short fiction by noteworthy sf authors offer a variety of tales that illustrate the depth and staying power of the genre. God Is an Iron and Other Stories presents ten tales by sf veteran Robinson, including the author's classic novella "Stardance" (co-written with Jeanne Robinson), which relates the bittersweet tale of a dancer who finds her destiny among the stars. Sf author and editor Schmidt's Generation Gap and Other Stories consists of 11 stories that range from the title story's exploration of a meeting between a man and his younger self to the complications surrounding the revival of an extinct species ("Johnny Birdseed"). The Lady Vanishes and Other Oddities of Nature brings together 11 tales by sf veteran and scientist Sheffield, including a missing-person mystery ("The Lady Vanishes") and a wry look at the future of football ("The Whole Three Yards"). In Suppose They Gave a Peace and Other Stories, fantasy and sf author Shwartz collects ten stories that run the gamut from alternate history ("Suppose They Gave a Peace") to feline perceptions ("Critical Cats"). Most of the stories in these volumes have only appeared in periodicals. Libraries wishing to augment their sf or short fiction collections should consider any of them. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
This collection of work dating from 1996 and more recently marks Sheffield's twenty-eighth year as a published writer. All the stories draw to some extent on physics, and all feature Sheffield's graceful prose, tight narrative technique, understated characterization, and, where appropriate, his even more understated wit. As for what they are about: The title story updates The Invisible Man by using science to give humans protective coloration. "The Peacock Throne" hints of some intelligence work on the author's part, and it has won a Nebula Award. "Brooks Too Broad for Leaping" mixes Kipling and a gay theme more successfully than you might expect, and "Nuremburg Joys" addresses the question of establishing the motives for what appear to be war crimes. In toto, this is hard sf set to travel almost anywhere, and certainly wherever the fans are convinced that Sheffield will inherit the mantle of Arthur C. Clarke. Roland Green
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FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Hugo Award winner Sheffield's gift for merging hard SF with compelling characters shows brightly in most of these 11 previously uncollected stories. In the poignant title tale, a physicist tries to help find a missing fellow scientist who seems to have disappeared by making herself invisible. Likewise, in Packing Fraction, another scientist must explain why a disastrous experiment levels a town. In the autobiographical Nebula winner, The Peacock Throne, which retains its strength despite dated references to the Reagan era, a journalist follows rumors of an incredible new energy source to Iran, where the answers will not be clear or easy to find. The Art of Fugue and the first contact tale, Waiting for the Riddler, are classic puzzle stories with suspenseful twists, while Cloud Cuckoo offers space adventure with a touch of astrophysics instruction. The Whole Three Yards explores one possible future for pro sports, in which football players don't retire for decades; meanwhile, the veteran soldiers in Brooks Too Broad for Leaping will sacrifice anything to get back into the service. Nuremberg Joys and Phallicide powerfully depict sacrifice and betrayal in the name of science. In contrast, What Would You Like to Know? tells an old-fashioned story of love lost and found with nary a scientist in sight. Readers who enjoy Sheffield's work will want this to fill in the gaps of previous collections, and those who may only know him from his novels (Cold as Ice, etc.) will find much to savor here. (June) Forecast: The ghostly jacket art, so at odds with Sheffield's concrete imagery, won't mislead existing fans, but horror or fantasy readers are in for a big surprise if they pick this one up. The author's most recent novel is Dark as Day (Forecasts, Jan. 14). Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal