SIPPING THE FOREVER by J. David Sloyer is a collection of eight seemingly unrelated short stories, all bound together by a common theme. Flirting subtly (and at times, overtly) with the outer edges of science fiction, the stories in this collection deliberately eschew the stereotypical elements often associated with the sci-fi genre, providing instead a thoughtful exploration of the nature of change across various aspects of human existence: An unnamed man who survives a savage animal attack on the African plains makes perhaps the greatest discovery in human history; a grown woman finds her consciousness inexplicably transplanted into a newborn child; the two greatest piano composers of all time share a chance meeting inside a coffee house; corporate sponsorship is pushed to its logically absurd extreme. Set in both the distant past and near future in locations ranging from the Thai-Malay Peninsula to the American west, SIPPING THE FOREVER by J. David Sloyer is at once richly detailed and deeply textured, a foray into the science fiction genre that ably blends tightly constructed storytelling with artful writing.