The retrieval artist, and other stories Book

I picked up this book at the library because I'd liked the Retrieval Artist series and wanted to read the story that started it all. It was a huge surprise to discover that somehow, the library had deleted the book's record from the system without removing the book from the shelf...which meant it was for sale. Total cost to me for a practically unused and fairly rare book, fifty cents. I have trouble maintaining my sorrow when good books get sold off when I'm the beneficiary of the cutbacks.

Story collections, like albums, are usually uneven in...quality isn't exactly the word, I guess. Better to say that I almost never love all the stories in a collection. This one is no exception. Rusch's science fiction has a bleakness I enjoy, probably because it comes out of human nature rather than a dystopian future, and that gives it a different feel than, say, a Philip K. Dick or Richard Matheson story. I expected not to love "The Retrieval Artist" simply because I've read the rest of the series, where the story's concept has been fleshed out, and it was exactly what I expected. "Present" is funny and very naughty, "Dancers Like Children" and "Alien Influences" were sad and creepy, but the rest didn't really do it for me. On the whole, I'm glad to have the book, but I think I preferred her collection Millennium Babies more.