Nina Munteanu's Natural Selection Compared to Niven's Tales of Known Space

Nina with friend Siko on Vancouver Island, B.C.

Nina Munteanu's short story collection Natural Selection (Pixl Press, 2013), about the evolution of humanity, received high praise recently from David Merchant, English Instructor at Louisiana Tec University.

In his review on Amazon.com, Merchant compared Munteanu's collection of nine interconnected stories to Niven's Tales of Known Space. Niven's collection of  thirteen interconnected stories range from the 20th Century to the 31st and trace Humanity's expansion and colonization throughout the galaxy.

"Like Larry Niven's Tales of Known Space, many of the stories in [Nina's] collection involve the same universe.  Nina's stories tease you, though. I want to know more about this universe of hers. My goodness, but she can write. I just love her writing, her characterizations, her ability to draw you in and leave you wanting more. A beautiful writer. I highly recommend anything she writes."

"By the way," Merchant adds, "she writes books on how to write fiction. Those are also well written."

Natural Selection by Nina Munteanu Eligible for Aurora Award

Nina Munteanu's short story collection about evolution Natural Selection is eligible for an Aurora Award.

Described by Canadian editor and author Steve Stanton as a "fine showcase of gritty and powerful short fiction" in which "the author envisions a bleak future of warfare and scarcity as she entertains some interesting ideas from the fringe of science."

The Aurora Award is given by the members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association to works deemed the best for that year. Publications in 2013 will be awarded this year.  Nominations are open until April 12th for any Canadian wishing to celebrate excellence in Canadian science fiction and fantasy literature.

Find out how to nominate your favourite works in this genre by going to the Prix Aurora Award website or visit them on Facebook.

You can read five of Nina's short stories, which appear in the collection, in various online venues:

The Arc of Time
A Butterfly in Peking
Julia's Gift
Mark of a Genius
Neither Here Nor There

Natural Selection Imaginative SF Written With Flare and a Conscience

A recent review in Amazon.ca called Nina Munteanu's Natural Selection a shining light:


"I've decided I really like the short story collection format. It's like unwrapping a new gift every day! Natural Selection is a collection of imaginative science fiction stories written with flare and a conscience. Munteanu shines a light on human evolution and how the choices we do or don't make today, may impact our planet and future generations. The science is fascinating and so are these nine short stories. The fact that Munteanu is able to explain these complex concepts through her characters in a short-story format is a testament to her skill as a writer."--J.P. McLean, author of The Gift Trilogy

Here is the back jacket description for the book:

This short story collection by acclaimed SF author and ecologist Nina Munteanu explores humanity's co-evolution with our environment and technology. A man uses cyber-eavesdropping to make love. A technocratic government uses gifted people as tools to recast humanity. The ruins of a city serve as battleground between pro-technologists and pro-naturalists. From time-space guardians to cybersex, GMO, and biotech implants, this short story collection is a journey of great scope, imagination and vision. "...a stunning example of good storytelling with an excellent setting and cast of characters."--Tangent Online