Def'n: Anthology - a collection of short stories.

Besides a paperback is easier to read than a computer monitor. And e-papers are expensive to print out a hardcopy. For sci-fi I recommend "Years Best SF" series, edited by David G. Harwell. There are at least eight collections in the series, each one contains 20+ stories, and the anthologies are about 400 pages each, or about the size of a decent hardcore sci-fi novel. And there are eight of them!

There is also the Canadian sci-fi anthology "Northern Stars", which is ok. From what I've heard, most Canadian sci-fi writers are not exclusively sci-fi writers, most of their writing is in other, more human genres. So there's not too much 'hard core' stuff, but some of it is unexpectedly creative. Some of the ideas come out of left field in fact. Robert Sawyer is the exception to the rule, but most of his novels are published in the US. I've read "Calculating God", and "Factoring Humanity" which I thought were really vividly written, easy-reading sci-fi. These are books I blew through real quick, they aren't what I'd call hard core epic adventures. If you've read Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall, or Eon you know what I'm talking about.