THE MOON MAID

A first collection from the author of The Spiral Dance (1991) gathers eight substantial tales, 198996, ranging from historical fantasy to far-future science fiction. In the historical department: Gypsies travel through time using Tarot cards in order to rescue their kindred from persecution (by the Nazis, the Inquisition, etc.) and a handsome profit by retrieving otherwise doomed works of art; a cultured Chinese girl and her allies outwit a mendacious, grasping senator in 19th-century San Francisco; an Amazon warrior, duty-bound to kill a man-eating lion, meets Hercules; a Christian Norse warrior contends with a dreadful Swedish god; and a young Crow girl, who must claim a Sioux scalp in order for her beloved brother to rest in peace, gets involved in the battle of Little Big Horn. More science fictionally, a scientific team disappears on a terraformed planet overrun by angry Neanderthals; and lost tourists, doglike aliens, vampires, and crazy VR role-playing gamesters mix it up on the Moon. Impressively diverse and impeccably crafted, but also blandly unmemorable, with little significance beyond what's immediately obvious.