Get Off the Unicorn

Anne McCaffrey

This is a collection of Anne McCaffrey's short stories. I have read so much of her work in so many different formats, I read most of these stories somewhere else or in the lengthened novel versions that followed. I still had a good time with this book.

The short stories that later evolved into the novels The Rowan and Damia begin the collection. The Talents with their telekinetic abilities help make space travel easy in Earth's future. But they are lonely because there are few people who can meet their abilities.

There is also a Dragonrider story in here, The Smallest Dragon Boy. I read that story in my daughter's sixth grade reading book. There is a Helva story, about her shell people who become spaceships. The short story that eventually led to the Freedom's Landing series is here.

But there are more stories as well, both previously published and those published for the first time in this collection. Mrs. McCaffrey's vision of the future and science fiction is boundless. Some of these are feel-good stories; some make you think. All are worth the read to get a sampling of Anne McCaffrey's work. I also was interested in the snippets she wrote before groups of stories explaining why she wrote them.

Acorna the Unicorn Girl by Anne McCaffrey
Freedom's Landing by Anne McCaffrey