My Favorites

An Anthology

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Pub Date 13 Oct 2020 | Archive Date 14 Jan 2021

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Description

In this new anthology, Ben Bova has compiled fourteen of his favorite short stories. Each story includes an all-new introduction with compelling insight into the narrative.

Exploring the boundaries of the genre, Bova not only writes of spaceships, aliens, and time travel in most of his titles, but also speculates on the beginnings of science fiction in “Scheherazade and the Storytellers,” as well as the morality of man in “The Angel’s Gift.” Stories such as “The Café Coup” and “We’ll Always Have Paris” dip into speculative historical fiction, asking questions about what would happen if someone could change history for the better. This expansive collection is a key addition for Bova fans and sci-fi lovers alike!

Stories included in this anthology: “Monster Slayer,” “Muzhestvo,” “We’ll Always Have Paris,” “The Great Moon Hoax, or A Princess of Mars,” “Inspiration,” “Scheherazade and the Storytellers,” “The Supersonic Zeppelin,” “Mars Farts,” “The Man Who Hated Gravity,” “Sepulcher,” “The Café Coup,” “The Angel’s Gift,” “Waterbot,” and “Sam and the Flying Dutchman.”

In this new anthology, Ben Bova has compiled fourteen of his favorite short stories. Each story includes an all-new introduction with compelling insight into the narrative.

Exploring the...


A Note From the Publisher

Ben Bova was born in Philadelphia and received his doctorate in education from California Coast University in 1996. The author of over 120 futuristic novels and nonfiction books, he has also been a radio commentator, editor, lecturer, and aerospace industry executive. His articles, opinion pieces, and reviews have appeared in Scientific American, Nature, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. His work has earned six Hugo Awards. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005, and his novel Titan won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of 2006.

Ben Bova was born in Philadelphia and received his doctorate in education from California Coast University in 1996. The author of over 120 futuristic novels and nonfiction books, he has also been a...


Advance Praise

“Bova gets better and better, combining plausible science with increasingly complex fiction.”

-Los Angeles Daily News


“The author’s excellence at combining hard science with believable characters and an attention-grabbing plot makes him one of our most accessible and entertaining storytellers.”

-Library Journal

“Bova gets better and better, combining plausible science with increasingly complex fiction.”

-Los Angeles Daily News


“The author’s excellence at combining hard science with believable characters...


Marketing Plan

New York Times bestselling author

Bova is one of the most awarded SF writers in the world, having won the Hugo Award six times, in addition to the Robert A. Heinlein, John W. Campbell, Skylark, and I-CON awards

Major prepublication buzz and outreach

National features and reviews

Science fiction buzz mailing

Video/audio showcase

Social media, print, and digital ad campaign

Featured title at industry, bookseller, and library trade shows

New York Times bestselling author

Bova is one of the most awarded SF writers in the world, having won the Hugo Award six times, in addition to the Robert A. Heinlein, John W. Campbell, Skylark...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781094000923
PRICE $24.99 (USD)

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Featured Reviews

As a Ben Bova fan, this book does not disappoint. I enjoyed reading Bova's short stories. I've only read his novels in the past and was fun to read these stories.

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My Favorites by Ben Bova- A collection of Ben Bova's short stories is always welcome, but when the writer gets to pick and choose what he wants to represent as his favorites, it's pretty sure to please. Some of these outings stray from outright science fiction, like an imagined meeting with Rick from "Casablanca" after the war(We'll Always Have Paris), or Howard Hughes trying to convince President Kennedy not to push for a Moon landing because it might upset the Martians(The Great Moon Hoax), but there are others that conform to rigors of hard SF. Most of the stories have a feel-good vibe about them and are pleasant diversions from the relentless tension in today's space opera. They're enjoyable and go down easy. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

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Short stories are not a favorite read of mine as they generally deal with one-dimensional characters. However, Ben Bova is a master of the short story. While the stories in this anthology were written early in his career, Bova added an accomplished writer’s editorial polish to them before including the stories in this book. I found them to be extremely well written and a joy to read.

Often, Lessor authors end short stories with cliff hangers intended to make you ponder and say ‘Wow’. But such stories leave me with a mystery or a puzzle that can’t be gladly resolved and leave me troubled. Life is already troubling and having more of it in my daily life is not what I want from my reading. I read science fiction to escape.

My favored short stories are those like the ones in Bova’s new book, My Favorites: An Anthology, as they entertain and are a perfect length for morning train commutes or doctor's office waits. Bova’s writings leave me feeling content at the story's conclusion.

My Favorites: An Anthology is a book of short science fiction stories that are a joy to read, provide an escape from daily stress, and are the perfect length for the frustrating waiting times in our daily lives.

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My Favorites is a self-curated selection of stories from his illustrious career.
Personally, I love short stories in general. Immoral fiction that manages to fit a whole novel's worth of story building into (at most) a few dozen pages impresses me. Bova does exactly this with his stories. About a third of these are based around the vision of the future he created in his Asteroid Wars novels. Since he selected these himself, you can talk that he enjoys when his stories have humor along with a message.
While there are a few of these that I could take or leave, the ones that are good truly excel. My favorites are "Monster Slayer", "Sepulcher", and "Scheherazade and the Storytellers".
Monster Slayer is a story of falling and redemption set against a backdrop of the destruction of a way of life and the search for a future. I feel like this story was a science fiction look at how the strength inside one person can save a people.
Scheherazade and the Storytellers is a slightly tongue-in-cheek retelling of the legend of Scheherazade. It gives a possible explanation for how she could have come up with all her 1001 tales. Incidentally, it also shows the importance of collective bargaining.
My favorite though was Sepulcher. I am a logically minded person who has very specific ideas about art. Even so, the idea of a piece of alien art being a window into understanding the alien mind is fascinating and likely true. The reactions of the various characters in the story to the artwork discovered runs the gambit of human reaction to any great piece of art. A very well done story.
If you enjoy sci-fi or short stories, this collection will not only be worth picking up, it is one you will likely suggest to others.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this book.

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This collection of short stories, selected by the author as his personal favorites, features several standout stories, including the Nebula-nominated Inspiration, as well as Muzhestvo, a prequel short to his Mars series and Sam and the Flying Dutchman, a story in his well-loved SF/caper series featuring the intergalactic conman Sam Gunn. Several play with themes of alternate history, both in the fictional post-World War II Casablanca followup, We’ll Always Have Paris, and in his story about a well-meaning but ultimately futile attempt to avoid the horrors of that war and what came after, in The Cafe Coup. Three humorous stories, The Great Moon Hoax, Scheherazde and the Storytellers, and The Supersonic Zeppelin, poke good-natured fun at (respectively) alien invasions, the origins of SF/F, and government aerospace contracts while both maintaining and lampooning, the genre from which they sprang.

VERDICT: This collection has something for all SF readers. However, as good as these stories are, this is not an essential collection. All of these stories have been published previously, nearly all in The Best of Bova. However, Bova is one of the grandmasters of the field, and this collection reflects the breadth of his writing. Recommended for readers looking for an introduction to this author, and for libraries that do not have the more complete collection.

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A solid collection from an excellent writer; A good variety and shows his range and his creativity. This is a safe bet for scifi and anthology fans. Good stuff.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

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This is a collection of short stories that the author wrote over many years and are his favorites (a few are mine also). He offers a brief introduction to each to provide some background for the plot. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of Ben Bova or like science fiction/fantasy.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook  page.

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I normally have trouble reviewing anthologies but not this one. These are great! There is a lot of story building in these stories. I especially enjoyed Scheherazade and the Storytellers. I'm really not normally a fan of funny stories but there are a few in this set that I thought were very well written. I also hate cliffhangers and there are none here! Extra star for that alone.

If you enjoy short stories that are well told, this is the anthology for you!

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My Favorites: A Collection of Short Stories by Ben Bova is a very highly recommended collection of fourteen of Bova's personal favorite short stories. All the stories in this collection have been previously published and for this compilation a brief introduction by Bova proceeds each story. Fans will be reminded why they have enjoyed Bova's writing for years and will appreciate and enjoy re-reading his favorite stories. New readers will enjoy this diverse introduction to Bova's writing and will likely be inspired to start reading his many novels and other short stories. As with all short story collections, some will resonate with individual readers more than others, but I though that over all it represents an excellent choice of diverse stories. This is a wonderful choice of stories by an award winning master writer.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Blackstone Publishing
The review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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"My Favorites" is Ben Bova's handpicked collection of science fiction/ speculative fiction stories culled from decade upon decade of experience writing and editing. What really stands out in this collection is that the characters are ordinary down-to-earth folks like the Znative American construction worker who takes his skills up to the new space station or the water miner prospecting the asteroid belt with the most personable computer since Hal2000. We readers travel to Mars, to the moon, and back through time. Sometimes Bova re tells a classic like the ending for Casablanca or rearranges history. But, no matter what, the stories are easy to read, fun to explore, and simply great reads.

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Disclaimer: I would like the author and publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

What scifi fan could turn down a chance to read a collection of short stories entitled "My Favorites" by a legendary author such as Ben Bova? Certainly not I. I was worried that I may have already read many of the stories in this collection, however, fortunately, most of the stories were new to me. This collection contains 14 stories that were originally published between 1974 and 2014. A self-selected collection of "favorite" stories sets a rather high level of expectation. And this collection certainly delivers. Many of the stories are gritty realistic pieces about the actual people who will eventually build space stations, mine asteroids, explore space, invent technology, etc along with more fanciful stories about those that try to improve the future through time travel to the past, and entertaining historical fiction. Some of the more memorable stories are about survival and discovery. Most contain a subtle macho sense of humor. Fortunately, to a long term fan, even the more recent stories read like classic Ben Bova, and even bring back that nostalgia of first discovering his fiction back in the day.

It is reassuring to me that Bova has published over 120 books and many short stories, since I want to read much more of his writing. This collection is an excellent introduction to the world of Ben Bova. I also recommend it to long time Bova fans.

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Ben Bova has collected 12 of his short stories that he considers his favorites. They are a cross section of his fiction ranging from space adventures to the real reason behind Nixon's goof-up. There are some time-travel tales and a new twist on the ending of Casablanca. Interestingly, there was only one of the tales that I had read before, so I am very glad to have a chance to make my acquaintance with this collection. If you have not indulged in Ben Bova before, now is your chance. And if you have imbibed before, dive in and enjoy some more!

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this collection!

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Terrific old-school SF writing. Bova is a Master of writing short yet memorable stories and these are just a few, of varying ages. Solid writing.

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