Fictional military superpowers have captured our imaginations since

Plato invented Atlantis, and superpowers are all too real in today's

technological world. How would our stories evolve if they took place

on other worlds?

"Hyperpowers" from Third Flatiron Anthologies, guest-edited by Bascomb

James, takes on the challenge of telling short speculative fiction

stories that explore space opera and military fiction themes. These

tales raise potent issues such as:

o Empires may grow and dominate, but civilizations can also lose

momentum and dissipate into lawlessness

o Great distances may put an end to warfare and environmental

degradation, but expansionist tendencies could cause it to spread

instead

o Our silicon-based creations or other life forms may compete with us

for galactic domination, ultimately outshining us

The international group of contributors includes William Huggins,

Jonathan Shipley, Dan Koboldt, John M. Campbell, Mark Rookyard, Sam

Bellotto Jr., Erik B. Scott, E. J. Shumak, Brandon L. Summers, Neil

James Hudson, Robert Walton, K. S. Dearsley, Noel Ayers, Elliotte

Rusty Harold, Martin Clark, and Art Lasky. And as usual, our "Grins

and Gurgles" humor section allows a light-hearted take on the subject.