Her smoke rose up forever

This book is front-loaded with mostly 4-star stories and then there's a string of 2-star stories and then it ends with a couple of 3-stars. Throughout, the prose style and tone were a bit difficult for me. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of each story, but that probably comes with the genre and the form. Frequently my patience paid off. Some great themes and fascinating worlds and cultures, but Tiptree, Jr. did not breed further interest in stories like these.