A collection of one dozen science fiction stories which attempts to "examine the Human Condition - by examining the much larger and more general problem of the Alien Condition." The collection has a fantastic start with back-to-back stories which are unique and inviting. It was surely headed for a perfect 5-of-5-stars rating for the collection until the last three stories (about 40% of the volume) make a terrible ending. You might as well just SKIP the last three stories altogether.
Kathleen Sky: Lament of the Keeku Bird - 4/5 - Female carnivore must cross the desert on her belly to Long Rock so that she will transform into an Old On. With pieces of her flesh and matted hide behind her, a vulture-like Keeku trails. 18 pages
Vonda N. McIntyre: Wings - 4/5 - Crippled hermetic winged alien accepts the unexpected visit of a crippled youth. Combating loneliness, habit and his religious vows, the old man nurses the youth back to health even though his departure is likely. 17 pages
Alan Dean Foster: The Empire of T'ang Lang - 5/5 - The alien named T'ang Lang is the master of his environment. He taunts mountains, sharpens his knives and lives in solitude to wait for his next kill. 9 pages
Mirian Allen deFord: A Way Out - 4/5 - Scaled alien ambassador to earth is disgusted by all things human and misses all things of his homeland. With very different laws between the two planets, an escape by a felonious act is his only solution. 12 pages
Arthur Byron Cover: Gee, Isn't He the Cutest Little Thing - 4/5 - A rather cynical little alien is stranded on earth, kept as a pet. He vents his cultural and sexual frustrations by lambasting all earthly things including cats, pigs and talk shows. 7 pages
Rachel Cosgrove Payes: Dead Listener - 4/5 - Survey ship finds no intelligent life on a gaseous, barren planet but when scooping and compressing the gases, the hull starts to dissolve wherever they go. 8 pages
C.F. Hensel & Stephen Goldin: Nor Iron Bars a Cage - 3/5 - Fifteen-minded alien senses, hears, then views a tall metallic object surrounded by a gas-created char. The minds debate on the source and move to investigate. 11 pages
Thomas Pickens: Routine Patrol Activity - 4/5 - Playful security duo sing-song their way through their patrol. When confronted by an unidentified object, the two attempt to establish contact the only way they know how. 11 pages
William Carlson & Alice Laurance: Call from Kerlyana - 4/5 - An avian intelligence and a potty-mouthed reptilian intelligence are at limited war on the continent they share. One of each of them is chosen as an envoy by an alien third party to establish a peace agreement. 15 pages
S. Kye Boult: The Safety Engineer - 1/5 - Subterranean safety inspector of a delicately balanced ecosystem relying on cooperation, dadada - it's unbearable to read and stopped after only fifteen page. No wonder it was only published once. 61 pages
James Tiptree, Jr.: Love is the Plan the Plan is Death - 2/5 - Some sort of giant dinosaur/spider hibernates after a long winter to fall in love with a tiny pink being, who he binds in woven silk as she grows to maturity through the warm summer months. 19 pages
Edward Wellen: The Latest from Sigma Corvi - 3/5 - Radio DJ reads the 6:25 news summary but fails to understand the gibberish pronouns and links the occurrence to an astronomical anomaly. 4 pages
