Wireless - Charles Stross I defer to my GR Friend Sandi's review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79255993

She pretty much nails it on the head in my own reactions to the stories in this collection.

"Palimpsest" was definitely my favorite (easily 4-5 stars). Finally, a time-travel story that squarely faces up to the "grandfather paradox"! I almost wish Stross could expand it into a novel as his afterward notes. It reminded me of Asimov's The End Of Eternity SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection, another story about a nearly all-powerful time-traveling organization that tries to "fix" things.

"Missile Gap" and "A Colder War" were pretty good but I found it annoying that he kept injecting real-world characters into the storyline. It came off as "cute" (or "twee," an Anglicism that came up in a Friend's review recently - we Americans should use it more often, IMO) and annoyed me. 3 stars.

I couldn't finish "Trunk and Disorderly," a homage (I guess) to P.G. Wodehouse and his Wooster and Jeeves books. Further evidence that hard SF and humor are like matter and anti-matter - they shouldn't mix and, when they do, it's catastrophic.

I think I liked "Snowball's Chance" more than Sandi - Another first: A rationale for why the Devil bargains for souls. It's always bothered me in stories of this genre that the Devil needs to make pacts for the souls of people who are going to Hell anyway. Now we know why :-) (I have my own rationale if I could ever find the wherewithal to write a story in this genre but I'm afraid it would get me condemned as a heretic ;-)

Skip "Maxos" and "Trunk and Disorderly" but, otherwise, worth a look.