For starters, the full title of the Book is The Welcome and Other Sci-Fi Stories but it just looked awkward sitting up there taking up all the space. It’s also not just Tom Benson’s work, although he was the primary author of the collection. Other writers contributed stories to The Welcome as well:
- AA Jankiewicz
- Pam Kesterson
- Paul A Ruddock
- Val Tobin
- WK Tucker
So, that settled, let’s tuck in to the book. In case you hadn’t guess, this is a collection of science fiction stories that run the gamut from horror to hope to self-sacrifice and everything in between. It’s what I like to refer to as a smorgasbord of awesome. Tom even added a few bonus stories from his other collections including a bit of sci-fi erotica.
Like all good science fiction, the stories focus on the human elements of the narrative and use the sci-fi elements as backdrop. This kind of sci-fi gives writers whole new worlds to populate and cuts the restraining orders of reality to ribbons. Always, though, the stories come back to the people that populate those worlds and how they react to the adversity of being stuck on strange planets, eaten by blobs, put in a position where they have to sacrifice themselves to save others, or the woman who comes across a very special man.
Sometimes operatic, sometimes intimate, sometimes intimate in that way, The Welcome and Other Sci-Fi Stories provides a tasty treat of delightful morsels of science fiction. And, at only $1.99 it’s a steal.
Links for the other authors in the anthology
Eric Lahti 
Many thanks to you Eric on my behalf and that of my guest authors. This review is especially great in my opinion because it comes from somebody whose opinion on Sci-Fi carries a lot of weight with me.
My primary aim was to try my hand at the genre, but coming a nail-biting second was to give the opportunity for some fellow writers to get their names out there and of course to showcase their talent. I’m really pleased with the spread of topics we managed to use within the field.
You’ve highlighted what we would all like to see in a review of our collection.Thanks again.
It was a great read. You’ve got a knack for sci-fi that you should explore more.
I’ve got this lined up on my tablet. You’ve whetted my appetite.
There’s some good stuff in there.
Looking forward to it. And your Clock man collection too.