"From Orson Scott Card's tale of a war hero's ultimate sacrifice and a quasiprequel to the events of Ender's Game ("Mazer in Prison") to Yoon Ha Lee's delicate story of a musician's confrontation with her deepest truth in a society where death and art are almost inseparable ("Swanwatch"), the 23 stories collected here share the political superstructure of a galactic federation or union of worlds. Inspired by the sociopolitical dynamics of sf classics like Frank Herbert's Dune series and Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy as well as the popular Star Wars films and Star Trek films and TV series, the fourteen original and nine reprinted tales feature contributions from Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Mary Rosenblum, Lois McMaster Bujold, Alan Dean Foster, and other contemporary authors. VERDICT This themed anthology should attract plenty of sf readers, thanks to the success of the new Star Trek film and the high quality of the contributors."—Library Journal.