"The Political Officer" and "The Political Prisoner" both take place in a future society of quasi-Russian religious zealots that have terraformed a new planet the hard way: with their bare hands. They're locked in a conflict with the Adareans, who have spliced non-human DNA to allow them to do things like photosynthesize (much like the enhanced Rebirths, in Reed's "Five Thrillers.") In "the Political Officer," which is on the F&SF website, Max is a propagandist and spy, sent aboard a spaceship to spread the official party line and keep tabs on the Education Department's rivals, the Intelligence Department. It's very Gogol-esque. The ship is on a spy mission against the Adareans, but then it comes across a trade ship sporting some new technology that could give the humans an edge in their coming war against the Adareans

In the sequel, "The Political Prisoner," Max comes back to Jesusalem, just in time for the battle between Political Education and Political Intelligence to heat up. He's caught on the wrong side of things, and winds up part of a purge of Political Education supporters. He's bussed out to a gulag, where he and his fellow prisoners are terraforming a new section of the planet, just like their religious zealot ancestors did. It's incredibly rough work: carting rocks out to the ocean, and then carting back a ton of seaweed to help fertilize the dead ground. It's not at all the way you picture terraforming, with huge machines or glowy lights. But it's probably closer to the way actual terraforming would go. Max is forced to live among the Adareans and starts to understand more of their hybrid culture. It's a worthy sequel to "Political Officer," and a worthwhile read in its own right, despite a slightly disappointing ending.

And here's Maurizio Manzieri's full illustration for "Five Thrillers." His blog includes a slightly larger version, plus an illustration showing the work in progress versus the completed work. (See link below.) [Maurizio Manzieri and The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction]

As its name suggests, "Five Thrillers" is divided up into five episodes in the life of Joseph Carroway, a genetically enhanced and amoral genius. What he lacks in empathy for his fellow humans, he more than makes up for in his ability to read people, and manipulate them perfectly. This isn't much of a spoiler: In one of the novelet's more unsubtle moments, we start off with Carroway's psychiatric evaluation, where we're told in no uncertain terms that he's a total sociopath. And then we quickly see this quality in action, when Carroway gets stuck on a damaged mining vessel with not enough room in the remaining escape pod for the surviving crewmembers.

What's an improvisational mastermind with no regard for human life to do? Become a kind of intergalactic James Bond, in Carroway's case. Most of the cases he deals with in the "Thrillers" that follow have to do, one way or another, with the Rebirths, a class of enhanced humanoids who have discarded the basic human shape. These enhanced people, such as the many-limbed Antfolk, face discrimination at the hands of (more or less) unaltered sapiens like Carroway, so they turn to terrorism and dirty warfare. Carroway has to Jack Bauer his way through a series of increasingly drastic plans to cripple, or destroy, the human race. In each case, whatever you think Carroway is planning, it's actually something cleverer and more dastardly. The "Thrillers" live up to their names, with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.

And then towards the final couple of "Thrillers," Carroway's fame catches up with him, and he's forced to operate in the public eye. This only makes him sneaker and more vicious than ever.

Usually, in this sort of story of orthohumans vs. intentional mutants, there would be some kind of moral about humanity, and some discussion of what makes us human. (The Rebirth motto is "TO BE TRULY HUMAN IS TO BE DIFFERENT.") In the case of Robert Reed's "Thrillers," however, there's really no avatar of humanity for us to cling to because Carroway is himself genetically enhanced. And none of the other humans we meet seem to model much in the way of positive "human" qualities.

In the end, Carroway himself announces what may be his philosophy of what it means to be human: survival. Humanity means cunning and ruthlessness, killing, robbing and even eating each other for a chance at carrying on the species. As the human race's situation gets increasingly bleak by the end of "Five Thrillers," Reed seems to suggest, Carroway's antisocial outlook may be the only one that makes sense.