Indeholder "The Darfsteller", "The Will", "Vengeance for Nikolai", "Crucifixus Etiam", "I, Dreamer", "The Lineman", "Big Joe and the Nth Generation", "You Triflin' Skunk!".

"The Darfsteller" handler om ???
"The Will" handler om ???
"Vengeance for Nikolai" handler om ???
"Crucifixus Etiam" handler om ???
"I, Dreamer" handler om ???
"The Lineman" handler om ???
"Big Joe and the Nth Generation" handler om ???
"You Triflin' Skunk!" handler om ???

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He shook his head. 'This play, Jade —"The Anarch," well—' He glanced miserably toward the stage.
Memory struck her suddenly. She breathed a compassionate ummm. 'The attempted revival, ten years ago — you were to be Andreyev. Oh, Thorny, I'd forgotten.'
'It's all right.' He wore a carefully tailored martyr's smile.

I have read this short story collection at least twice before, and remembered all the stories except one quite well.

The Darfsteller
Theatre is no longer performed by actors, but by mannequins known as dolls, each modelled on a real actor and loaded with a tape containing a copy of that actor's personality. Formerly a well-known actor, Ryan Thornier has never come to terms with the new status quo, and works as a janitor at a theatre.
Each time I read this story I like the protagonist less. I started off feeling sympathetic towards Ryan Thornier, but he is milking it and deliberately making his old friends feel bad about the decisions they made. And he is a hypocrite; he pretends to have refused to sell his likeness as a matter of principal, but is well aware that as a darfsteller (i.e. a method actor), his talents could not have been replicated in a doll.

The Will
I love this one, which always makes me cry.

Vengeance for Nikolai
This is the one I find unmemorable. This tale of wartime revenge only rang the faintest of bells with me even when I got to the end.

Crucifixus Etiam
A memorable, sad tale of the martyrdom of labourers working on the terraforming of Mars. In this case the protagonist comes to terms with his fate, rather than wallowing it like Thorny.

I, Dreamer
One of my least favourites, as it is too predictable.

The Lineman
Women have been banished from Luna after the first children born there die due to the effects of the low gravity, and the men's discontent with the situation is building up to dangerous levels. How will the arrival of a spaceship full of whores change things?

Big Joe and the Nth Generation
I really like this one, which is set on Mars hundreds of years after the colonists have lost contact with Earth, regressed to a simpler lifestyle and forgotten the scientific and technological knowledge of their ancestors, who luckily foresaw that this would happen.

You Triflin' Skunk!
A woman who bore a stranger's child, awaits his return with grim determination when she realises that he is coming back for his child. This is an effective story, but I'm not fond of it. ( )

note: only read The Darfsteller ( )