A few years back, I read all of the Expanse novel series by James S.A. Corey (really Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) thanks to a suggestion from someone I used to work with and my local public library. I’ve never seen the television series, though I’ve heard it was quite good. I really enjoyed the books though.

You can search my blog and read all of my reviews of them.

A number of weeks ago, I was killing time in the library when I came upon a copy of Memory’s Legion: The Complete Expanse Story Collection (2022). They were the only Expanse stories I hadn’t read, so, of course, I checked it out.

It was different than what I expected. Still good and entertaining, but the tone felt, I don’t know, more depressing maybe?

The stories, almost all of them really, are prequels or “origin” stories to certain Expanse characters, other viewpoints of existing storylines, and even “how did this get invented?”

I won’t throw out too many spoilers so don’t expect to find out from me which Expanse characters you’re familiar with make appearances here.

I will say that a number of stories are steeped in crime or criminal organizations. That surprised me a little, not that crime wasn’t part of the novels, but I just didn’t expect it to take up more than half of the short stories (novelettes, actually) in the anthology.

While certain “woke-isms” made an appearance in the novels, they weren’t so obvious or oppressive that they took away from the fun of the stories. That was loosened up a little in the novelettes to the point to where I felt Abraham and Franck had decided to write more for the current “gatekeepers” of the SFF industry and awards groups.

Yeah, the stories by and large were more depressing, the situations less lofty, more down-in-the-gutter, or otherwise, popular science fiction as it has become over the last several decades. That’s SciFi where heroes and villains are both morally ambiguous, and where the difference between good and bad is almost irrelevant…almost.

Suffice it to say that although the writing is good and I’m glad I read the book, it’s not my favorite part of the Expanse universe.

As I get older, I find myself with an increasing longing for the heroes and adventures of my youth, where heroes are heroic (doesn’t mean perfect) and good and evil are polar opposites rather than kissing cousins.

I’ve even got a shot at having one of my own novels with such a theme soon to be published. We need more uplifting stories available to modern teens and young adults, and especially for boys.

Yes, I’m hopping up on my soapbox for a minute.

I was going to say we don’t have enough YA fiction in SciFi anymore, but Reactor Magazine would call me a liar.

On the other hand, the top few “Young Adult SFF” books they have to offer includes excerpts like:

Raised in an isolated mansion, Tian is a prisoner in her own life. Liya is Tian’s childhood friend and her only close companion, tasked with protecting Tian at all costs.

and…

Amala has spent her whole life trying to be the perfect princess: delicate, quiet, obedient. But when she’s murdered on the night of her wedding, her story is cut short before it begins. Kha’dasia has been told her whole life that she is too rough, too loud, too much. She’s no ordinary princess but a ruthless warrior on a quest to fulfill her late brother’s dying wish.

and especially…

Rue’s life is over. After she’s caught kissing a girl behind the Sunday School classrooms, she gets exiled to Sacred Heart so she can be transformed into her mother’s idea of a respectable lady.

No, there’s nothing wrong with female SFF writers creating fiction, nothing wrong with a glut of female protagonists, and nothing wrong with lesbian characters, but not only are they not appealing to me, but they reenforce my contention that SFF books ARE NOT being written for boys and young men today.

I guess the Expanse short stories fulfill that modern emphasis but not what I feel is really needed.

Loop back to this.

I’ll post my next few book reviews by the by, but neither I nor my grandchildren will likely be reading stories written for modern progressive readers.