Three full length (or nearly so) science fiction stories from the early career of [a:John D. MacDonald|24690|John D. MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1225553045p2/24690.jpg]. This collection was published in 1980, shortly after a collection of his short science fiction works. Good writing here; I need to delve into Travis McGee or Cape Fear soon.

Wine of the Dreamers starts off with sabotage but expands into a story of lost space colonies and long distance psychic contact. Chapters alternate between characters from Earth and afar, allowing the story to emerge in wonderful fashion. One of the main characters Sharan Inly is a great strong female, especially considering this book's date of 1951. Bard Lane (what a great name!) is her male counterpart, and together with the alien characters bring this story to life. A solid 4 stars.

I've read [b:The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything|434232|The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything|John D. MacDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387737405s/434232.jpg|423170] as a separate novel, and reviewed it there. 3 stars.

Ballroom of the Skies, from 1951, rounds out this collection. It starts as a political thriller and then quickly drops into the territory of psychic abilities. The main character Dake Lorin must solve a mystery and then make some big choices. Probably the best part of this story is a description of a future Earth, verging on World War IV between an India Pakistan alliance and three fascist blocks - Brazil, Irania, and North China. The Aryan racism is described especially well, and this world is almost the second main character. For all that, though, the ending is a little abrupt, making this the weakest of the books - 2½ stars.