CONTINUUM I
By
The ploy for this new anthology series is that each of the contributors has written four related stories; this is the first batch with others to follow in succeeding volumes. It's a clever idea, generally well implemented. Among the best are Chad Oliver's tale of star-traveling merchants whose commercial needs involve them in planetary politics; Anne McCaffrey's about a very original young woman who finds an equally original profession; Gene Wolfe's re a puzzling kind of immortality. Few sparks but solid.