Beyond the Fringe - Miles Cameron

Beyond the Fringe is a collection of short stories by Miles Cameron, set in the Arcana Imperii universe. The mainline entry in the series, Artifact Space was a rollicking space adventure, with some deep world-building and strong characterisation, married to a plot that ramped up in a hurry and ended with me reading later at night than I should've been.  These stories take place in the same universe, butt with different characters, and in different places.  That said, most of them centre around the world of "New Texas", which seems to be getting rather expansionist, and also seems to feel like it can challenge the existing socio-political and interstellar commercial order. Why it thinks that is another matter entirely, one slowly revealed over the course of these vignettes.

I will say, up front, that I had a great time with each of these stories. There are five in the collection, and if I remember correctly, two were published already. Each has a different focus. From bloody massacre in the face of a New Texas revolution, through espionage, tradecraft and violence in dealing with a defector, and out the other side into the gracefully deadly ballet of space warfare. I won't say there's something for everyone - it's a little less cozy than you might expect - but if there's a military tinge to the SF here, that's fine if you like that sort of thing. And the stories themselves are lean, incisive work, without much in the way of narrative flab.

I think my favourite may be Tradecraft, which follows an agent of the human polity as she potters about her day, gathering information and selling luxury goods to the locals. Until someone puts down a red flag, and she has to drop everything to find and protect a (potential) defector with some very high stakes indeed. It's a story that emphasises the slow adrenaline of espionage - there's a soupcon of Le Carre in here somewhere - but backs up the long shots of preparation and discussion with some explosive moments of action which are kinetic and bloody in equal measure.

That said, there's another which explores the claustrophobic world of another human polity through its navy. Three ships diving through the darkness, on a mission of great importance. Probably. Unless what they're doing isn't what it seems. This one looks more at the enemies of the DHC, the central human power of the mainline story. If the DHC are a futuristic Venice, their opponent feels like something different - possibly there's a flavour of China there. In any case, this is a claustrophobic tale of betrayal, conspiracy and what happens when you let off a handgun in a confined space. 

I don't want to spoil any of the stories here; I think they're great at adding flavour and context to a universe that we're used to only seeing from one angle. That they're all also snappy sci-fi adventures is a bonus. That they sneak in some big ideas when nobody's looking, that's something else again. If you're a fan, this is a collection you'll want to pick up sooner rather than later.