I would like to thank the author for a copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review

Published - Out Now

Price - £18.99 paperback via https://jeremyszal.com/shop/ and £3.99 Kindle ebook

Broken Stars combines previously published short stories and novelettes with new and exciting tales, ranging from space opera to military SF to science-fantasy and everything in-between. Tales of broken heroes fighting for hope in dark worlds, full of aliens and outcasts, drug dealers and bounty hunters, mercenaries and soldiers. Tales of far-flung worlds where the lines between machine and human become blurred, the humanity of monsters is explored, and victory always comes with a heavy price. In these eighteen stories of far-flung worlds, violence explodes, betrayals abound, and no one is safe.

The short story as Jeremy Szal says in this great collection of largely SF takes with a few twists of fantasy is ‘short story is a spectacular moment, frozen in time. A flash in the night. A kiss in the dark. An intimate conversation with a stranger in a strange bar that you will never meet again. A unique, singular entrée that is just enough to satisfy, but leaves you wanting more.’ I cannot agree more - some may want more but for me the skill is lacking all the backstory and sometimes all what is to come into those few pages. This was a great read of tales to tuck yourself into and be blasted off far into the future and to strange worlds for delights and horrors to face.

Among the many stories I enjoyed were

The Galaxy’s Cube - a story of a far off moon and a man growing his daughter who is given a strange box to sell on his scrap table. Quickly we find the cube is something highly prized and dangerous. I loved the way the world gets explored and created then challenged in this story and it has a bittersweet but powerful ending.

Dead Men Walking - power armour is a recurring theme in the collection and this tale tells us of a squad doing hard work on a dangerous world they’re not liked. It’s an impressive dark tale with a nasty sting in the tale. The company always owns you.

Tomorrow, The Sunset will be Blue - a touching very short tale of love and hope and never letting go with an SF twist.

Scream in Blue - fans of Szal’s Stormblood novels will recognise the dangerous alien drug but we also get an action packed tale of three thieves getting way over their head in a vivid futuristic London full of dangerous gangs. I loved the way this soared and went to dark places to escape from.

Walls of Nigeria - another very short tale of a lost soldier on a battlefield and this explores the price saving people can have. A powerful ending awaits.

A Love Like Bruises - A cunning tale as a human interrogates the last prisoner of an alien war. Both have secrets and they offer to finally share via a mind link. It’s a very smart and unexpected tale of how hope can be dangerous.

Metal Empathy - really enjoyed this story of two people at the bottom of society surviving by cybernetic implant cast offs who have a chance to take the world on and find it offers more dangers. The character work here is really good and the choice for the reader to consider what they would have done awaits.

The Datasultan of Streets and Stars - I loved this tale of a very vivid futuristic Istanbul with alien Ai known as Djinns and gangs putting our main characters in huge danger. How can you escape all of this is a huge challenge and it’s a very very enjoyable story - one of my favourites.

Mindstrings - two friends get caught into an illicit mind link drug and we watch one get very drawn into the world that it becomes all consuming. A true horror awaits at the end and it’s a really neat piece of plotting.

ShipMaster’s Scalp- a very short tale again but all about never giving in. Well worth a read as the character work again comes across very strong.

The Bronze Gods - has a touch of horror to it as a man finds his friend missing, guards after him and danger everywhere. The setting of a strange skyscraper on the moon really works as does the nasty secret lying at the heart of the world.

Inkskinned - Anorher favourite as it’s after a Great War and one survivor has to endure the human world he now lives in. It’s a tale of mercy, revenge, deciding to let go and decide who you are. Very invested and the world it is from is very smartly created again.

The Black Horse - here a touch of fantasy as a skilled non human guild member with dark secrets must save a non human king. Lots of impressive worldbuilding and a very action packed tale with hard choices for all to make.

Broken Stars is a very powerful, varied and impressive collection of short tales reminding us that Szal is a very skilled writer in the genre today. I highly recommend it to science fiction fans!