Peggy Bright Books 2010, ISBN 9780980699814

Rare, Unsigned Copy pulls together a huge number of Petrie’s short stories that have been published in various magazines, anthologies and online publications and joins them with many more entirely new works to make a collection of a staggering 42 individual pieces (including the introduction).

This may seem like an awful lot, but with no story more than around 25 pages long, and many of the pieces being nothing more than a paragraph wrapped around a punch line, the anthology is a comfortable length without being overkill, because as any fan of science fiction will know, 42 would seem to be the perfect number – 43 would have been too many.

There is no overriding theme in the collection, apart from the obvious speculative fiction element inherent in most of the stories. Nor are there any regular characters apart from the long-suffering Gordon Mamon, lift operator and unintentional murder investigator in Skyward Suites 270 (a capsule on the space elevator) and possibly Über-Professor Arrrrarrrgghl Schlurpmftxpftpfl (Special thanks to the Adobe copy and paste feature). Nevertheless, the stories are all very good reads in their own rights.

Some of the stories are quite dark, most are very humorous (with an awful lot of pop-sci references thrown in for the astute) and many are backed up with some very detailed science, demonstrating Petrie clearly knows his stuff.

From a neurotic and needy spaceship AI to aliens posting hidden titbits on the Internet; a new spin on myth, fairy tale, the finer points of nuclear farming and an apparent fixation with body-swapping, it is difficult to pick a favourite. There are, however, a couple of nits that must be picked. Unless I missed something (and given how cleverly woven in a lot of themes and references are this is quite likely) I couldn’t figure out where Scratched fits into the scheme of things. It just seemed to be an extra story (although well written in its own right) that didn’t quite seem to gel with the others. That – and I got fed up when I couldn’t complete the final Sudoku.

Aside from these minor points, there is really very little negative that can be said about this collection. Most of the stories are short enough to be enjoyed over a coffee break or by those with short attention spans, and all are very cleverly constructed. One criticism from my end, though, is that the author deliberately didn’t sign my copy as I asked, rather preferring to simply write his name and a short message so he didn’t need to retitle the collection. Otherwise, if you are a fan of science fiction, get thee a copy of this wonderful little collection, but pay special attention to the product warning that comes with it. I am greatly looking forward to Petrie’s debut novel should it manifest in the future.

Rare, Unsigned Copy is available either direct from the publisher, of from any of the stockists listed on the website. Head over to http://www.peggybrightbooks.com/ for more details.