I bought BRAVE NEW GIRLS because it's for a good cause and because one of my new favorite writers is involved and she's been promoting the hell out of both the book and its mission to fund a scholarship for girls who want to study science and engineering.

As you'd expect from a bumper collection of eighteen stories all by different writers, the quality is a bit up and down, but when BRAVE NEW GIRLS is good, it's really very good. I can recommend it both to fans of the genre and to the parents (and others) of those middle-school girls who might benefit from a role model or two.

The best of the stories here are those that do not patronize their characters and readers and yet still remember exactly how it felt to be a teenage girl. There are also moments of quiet subversion: A space girl with two dads? A ship's mind that swaps gender at will? More of this stuff, please. However, some of the contributors to BRAVE NEW GIRLS may have become so entangled in their big idea or cause that they forgot how to tell a story. The biggest flaw, I think, lies in the editing. There are very few typos - I only noticed a handful - but some of these brave new writers would have benefited from a little more help. They've been allowed to make too many mistakes. Their dialog can be wooden and stilted. Their characterization shallow. Their writing repetitious and lacking in verve. They are over-ready to over-explain their worlds rather than allow us to see them for ourselves. And their stories sometimes take wild leaps to "twist" endings that are not even remotely justified by anything that has happened up until that point.

Fortunately, there are many excellent stories here as well. Some re-purposed fairytales - a growing trend in YA science fiction. Others like Martin Berman-Gorvine's OF CAT'S WHISKERS AND KLUTZES create their own fairy-tale world. Josh Pritchett's ROBOT REPAIR GIRL is snappy and confident. GRAVEYARD SHIFT by Kimberly G Giarratano suffers a little from the curse of the explanation bug but is more than saved by the otherwise very strong writing. And Tash McAdam's PANIC is a whole mess of fun when it should be - Google is a curse word - but the author also manages to write a sense of real panic into every sentence of the all-important scene. PANIC is a particularly powerful contribution with a hero who makes the journey from caution to courage and determination.

The best known writer here is the best selling romantic thriller novelist Kate Moretti. A scientist herself, her time travel story BLINK has all the polish you might expect from a writer with her track record but I was a little surprised by the inconsistent cultural references - Bad News Bears and DeLoreans - which again made me question the editing. I get the references, but will the average thirteen-year-old girl?

George Ebey's HELEN OF MARS is a well-crafted little story that combines drone and video game culture with mining on Mars and a teenager who can and definitely will. This is a theme that Stephen Kozeniewski also makes his own. In the excellent KEYS TO THE STARS, he gives teenage Judy a moment of inspiration that motivates her throughout her whole life. This is the whole point of BRAVE NEW GIRLS, to encourage teenage girls to pursue careers in science and engineering. Writers like Ebey and Kozeniewski have taken that goal literally. Others have used the BRAVE NEW GIRLS framework to tell a different kind of tale and the two best stories here are actually very similar, although they're also entirely different.

In COURAGE IS and TAKE A HACKER, Evangeline Jennings and Mary Fan both write about hacking and unlikely friendships. Fan's Jane Colt is surprised to find herself befriending and protecting Vieve who has become a cyborg after a terrible accident while Jennings' Gracie goes to extremes defending the physical body of the comatose Georgie who she knows only as a consciousness within the dataverse. Both these talented writers show us hacking as an adventure into virtual reality. Jane Colt breaks into a judge's computer in search of the evidence she needs to save Vieve while Gracie hacks an interstellar spaceship the size of a small planet and almost literally surfs the data flows. While Fan explores Jane's relationship with her first boyfriend and her friendship with Vieve, Jennings' younger Gracie struggles with her feelings as her lifelong friends grow away from her, only to take hope and find solace in Georgie.

Mary Fan's TAKE A HACKER is a simple story at heart: a powerful bad guy is defeated and unlikely girls become firm friends. COURAGE IS is different. It's a nerdtastic and occasionally hilarious romp through conventions and tropes. I picture Evangeline Jennings, who more often writes like a feminist Tarantino on speed, cackling to herself as she threw in Star Wars and Agatha Christie jokes, poked fun at religion, and, best of all, named her Civilization Class Vessel after the most unlikely person I can conceive of. But for all the murder, subterfuge, and interstellar hi-jinxs, COURAGE IS is, in its last moments, an utterly human and touching story about friendship. I would read more about Jane Colt, Gracie, and Georgie.

A wonderful fascinating, dynamic read of science fiction and futuristic concept, ideas and artistic wonderment of the imagination. This book is most of all an interesting exploration of the science fiction of the future and of the imaginative recesses of the unknown.

A brilliant collection of short stories by a group of very talented writers. Each one of the writers are able to grab a hold of the reader, and give them a journey like no other. A fantastic read of Science fiction, science, and is, a scientific, exploratory of sophisticated character driven situations.

True imaginative, young adult science fiction prose.

A defining example of how there are so many magical writers out there. Voices of talent that bring the pen to page and create journeys of the mind through ultimate wordplay.

I was fortunate enough to friend online two of the authors that have collected their stories in this book. One being, the handsome Stephen Kozenlewski, who is totally an original, imaginative talent at creating characters and wordplay on page. If you have not read Stephen's books, I recommend you do so. Next would be the beautiful and talented Mary Fan. Fan has written two of my new favorite books, that I highly endorse (not that my endorsement matters). Mary Fan is another skilled writer. One who I also highly recommend. It would be in your favor to pick up her books, Artificial Absolutes and Synthetic Illusions.

This book, Brave New Girls, has given me new writers to follow and experience. Besides Stephen and Fan being a part of this book, there is:

Paige Daniels, The Outpost.
Kate Moretti, Blink
Evangeline Jennings, Courage
Martin Berman-Gorvine, Of Cat's Whiskers and Klutzes
Ursula Osborne, Robin Hacker
Tash McAdam, Panic
Kimberly G. Giarratano, Graveyard Shift
Valerie Hunter, A Little Bit Truer
Lisa Toohey, Lyra
Aimie K. Runyan, Flight of the Zephyr
Davien Thomas, The Data Tourist
Josh Pritchett, Robot Repair Girl
Kate Lansing, The Hive
Jason Kucharik, Fledgling
Leandra Wallace, The Mad Scientist
George Ebey, Helen of Mars
Stephen Kozeniewski, The Keys to the Stars
Mary Fan, Takes a Hacker

There is 19 illustrations, one for the cover and 18 in front of each story. 18 imaginative stories that create fancy, and the magical, futuristic unknown.

I absolutely love this young adult science fiction book. 18 stories about 18 girls. This book is an outlet to showcase talented, multi-talented writers.

Would I Return to Again: Most definitely. This is something that I could see myself returning to quite often. Specifically some of the stories. Some of them are magical and amazing. Others I like, but the majority of every one of them, completes a great book.

Would I Recommend: Absolutely. I say this on record, this is a must read, must experience, must own unique young adult collection of fresh, new and talented voices.

Year Published: 2015

Book Length: 380 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Four Words: Imaginative. Fresh. Brilliantly Written.

What a fantastic concept for an anthology. A book that highlights a diverse group of intelligent young heroines is sure to be a hit among youngsters and adults. The stories contained within Brave New Girls (Tales of Girls and Gadgets) are as varied as the contributing authors are. All are unique and all include positive, scientifically inclined role models.

I especially love the fact that all of the proceeds go to a great cause - a scholarship fund through the Society of Women Engineers. Sharing the idea that girls can excel in male-dominated fields and have the ability to become scientists, inventors, space explorers, programmers, etc. just as boys do is an admirable basis for a book geared towards teens of either sex.

I would recommend this book for teens and lovers of YA SciFi. Brilliantly empowering!

This book is great for teens that love science. I teach high school science and just put this in my classroom. The short stories have teens that use science to overcome dystopian societies, crack codes, create inventions, investigate cyberspace, repair robots, work with holograms and even save the honeybees.