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kitsuneheart's review against another edition
4.0
As with most anthologies, there's great, meh, and bad, leading to an overall meh rating.
The best: "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler, "Judgement Passed" by Jerry Oltion, and "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by Cory Doctorow
The worst:"Salvage" by Orson Scott Card, "Still Life with Apocalypse" by Richard Kadrey, and "The End of the World as We Know It" by Dale Bailey.
Consider the rest to be the meh.
That said, there's a good variety of end of the world scenarios, here. Most are set so far in the future that we don't know HOW it happened, but a good number have some unique mechanics. "Speech Sounds" is especially interesting, being set in a world where all of humanity lost the power of speech.
So, good for anthology lovers, but obviously not the best for everyone.
The best: "Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler, "Judgement Passed" by Jerry Oltion, and "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" by Cory Doctorow
The worst:"Salvage" by Orson Scott Card, "Still Life with Apocalypse" by Richard Kadrey, and "The End of the World as We Know It" by Dale Bailey.
Consider the rest to be the meh.
That said, there's a good variety of end of the world scenarios, here. Most are set so far in the future that we don't know HOW it happened, but a good number have some unique mechanics. "Speech Sounds" is especially interesting, being set in a world where all of humanity lost the power of speech.
So, good for anthology lovers, but obviously not the best for everyone.
mdstepp1998's review against another edition
3.0
I've never been much of a short story reader for no other reason than I've always read from novel to novel without breaking to peruse the shorter pieces written by my favorite authors (which would assuredly have led to reading other authors short stories, creating a snowball effect...lame on my part, I know).
Recently, I have taken this 'break' between novels to dig deeper into the literary creativity of my favorite writers. This 'Post-End of the World' collection of short stories was on many 'Best-of' lists, so seems like a great and interesting place to start.
1. The End of the Whole Mess by Stephen King - (5 Stars) - Imagine being one of the last people (an assumption here) on Earth alive, let alone the only person left who knows what caused the annihilation of man kind? This dark character piece is about those final hours of such a person hurriedly writing down a summary of how the 'mess' that was man kind finally ended. The story is eerily relevant today as it seems there are no solutions to the apparent evil and violence that permeates society. Interestingly, I took away a sign of hope that even in ones final moments when man kind is finished, love (for others, family) is still apparent, strong, and seemingly everlasting. An amazing and prescient story.
2. Salvage by Orson Scott Card - (5 Stars) - This story follows a group of children living in a post apocalyptic Utah where the surviving humans have found stability and organization in the Mormon religion as a means of government. The main character works in the salvage business, but is undertaking his plan to reach the rumored gold trapped in the partially submerged Mormon Temple. I take a more direct approach to the stories underlying meaning in that it is a study of how to move forward after a cataclysmic event (possibly think of 9/11?). Do you mourn and yearn for the days of old or do you actively move forward and set a new path? The final paragraphs were particularly powerful to me. Excellent.
3. The People of Sand and Slag - (5 Stars) - by Paolo Bacigalupi - I'll never read the story again. I can take heart breaking, but not when it comes to animals. Bacigalupi (after reading his first novel Windup Girl) once again creates an immersible and morally awkward alternate universe that is difficult to stop reading. It is a story about completely forgetting about, not just past events, but the pasts teachings and cultural norms. Imagine if the current younger generations take cell phone use to the extreme and only communicate with text messaging compared to voice or in person. What would the effect be on companionship or friendship? In the case of the story, imagine if the human emotion of companionship was completely forgotten. What would such a World look like?
4. Bread and Bombs - (3 Stars) - by M. Rickert - This story holds very true to the hyper reactiveness (and lack of patience and common sense?) human being present in times of crisis. In B&B, the story presents a current event case - how would a small town react to a severe bout of global terrorism (poison candy and snow for example)? What if the terrorists were Muslim? How would Muslims, in general, be treated? The story is generic in the sense that other TV shows (24, in my opinion) and movies present the same argument that humans will rashly act out against an entire people if it feels threatened. The story becomes shocking, though, in how society solves its own irrational prejudices. There are no grand speeches of morality here.
5. How We Got In Town and Out Again - (2 Stars) - by Jonathan Lethem - I just couldn't get into it. The premise was interesting - a traveling carnival, of sorts, that places people in a virtual reality environment where they must outlast the other competitors. The problem was the execution. The competition was based solely on who lasted the longest without collapsing from exhaustion, but not by interaction with the others. Also, the virtual reality encountered by the main characters were...well...boring. In its defense, this boredom is a plot point, but should it be boring to the reader?
6. Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels - (2 Stars) - by George R.R. Martin - A too short story from a very talented writer. I liked the overarching purpose - the humans who survived the collapse of Planet Earth by fleeing the planet, return to see what survived. Within it, they encounter an underground evolved 'human'. The conclusion, though, came very quickly, so there was no exploration of either the evolved human race or the escaped survivors. I yearned for more, though I don't doubt what happens when the two races first interact.
7. Waiting for the Zephyr - (1 Stars) - by Tobias S. Buckell - The weakest story of the collection, thus far, because it just ends. Main character wants to flee home - for example, small town girl wants to leave to explore the World - and is hindered by her family. Ok, fair introduction. Small town girl finally breaks free (on the Zephyr, of course) and...end of story. It's not that I yearned for more like other stories, it's that I wasn't given enough in the first place to want more.
8. Never Despair - (3 Stars) - by Jack McDevitt - I admit, I've read an alternate history story or one where historical characters play a role, so this was a first. In general, it was good, if kind of bland. The historical intrusion of Winston Churchill was interesting, but was very underwhelming. In fact, the connection to Churchill is so weak, the main character could have been interacting with anyone. The reason to read the story, though, is for its message of never losing sight of progress. Not just progress for selfish gain, but for the sake of all. It is a message, that I feel current society has lost to a point and one that the story really describes well.
9. When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - (5 Stars) - by Cory Doctorow - Awesome story. I look forward to reading more Doctorow (adding yet another author to the long list!). The apocalypse hits Earth, most likely by terrorism, and the only left are system admins who keep the internet running. Crazy right? In description, it seems like a stretch, but the story is well thought out. The plot follows a Sysadmin who has lost everything, but recognizes the opportunity to rebuild the World in a better form instead of just giving up. Out of all the stories thus far, this one is the most positive and may be the most realistic in the sense that after the initial shock the "End of the World" (who knows how long that shock would last though), someone, somewhere, will find the hope and energy to start over. Though frightening and sad, the ending is heart warming.
10. The Last of the O-Forms by James Van Pelt -
11. Still Life with Apocalypse by Richard Kadrey -
12. Artie's Angels by Catherine Wells -
13. Judgment Passed by Jerry Oltion -
14. Mute by Gene Wolf -
15. Inertia by Nancy Kress -
16. And the Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth Bear -
17. Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler -
18. Killers by Carol Emshwiller -
19. Ginny Sweethip's Flying Circus by Neal Barret Jr. -
20. The End of the Word as We Know It by Dale Bailey -
21. A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg -
22. Episode Seven: The Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers by John Langan -
Recently, I have taken this 'break' between novels to dig deeper into the literary creativity of my favorite writers. This 'Post-End of the World' collection of short stories was on many 'Best-of' lists, so seems like a great and interesting place to start.
1. The End of the Whole Mess by Stephen King - (5 Stars) - Imagine being one of the last people (an assumption here) on Earth alive, let alone the only person left who knows what caused the annihilation of man kind? This dark character piece is about those final hours of such a person hurriedly writing down a summary of how the 'mess' that was man kind finally ended. The story is eerily relevant today as it seems there are no solutions to the apparent evil and violence that permeates society. Interestingly, I took away a sign of hope that even in ones final moments when man kind is finished, love (for others, family) is still apparent, strong, and seemingly everlasting. An amazing and prescient story.
2. Salvage by Orson Scott Card - (5 Stars) - This story follows a group of children living in a post apocalyptic Utah where the surviving humans have found stability and organization in the Mormon religion as a means of government. The main character works in the salvage business, but is undertaking his plan to reach the rumored gold trapped in the partially submerged Mormon Temple. I take a more direct approach to the stories underlying meaning in that it is a study of how to move forward after a cataclysmic event (possibly think of 9/11?). Do you mourn and yearn for the days of old or do you actively move forward and set a new path? The final paragraphs were particularly powerful to me. Excellent.
3. The People of Sand and Slag - (5 Stars) - by Paolo Bacigalupi - I'll never read the story again. I can take heart breaking, but not when it comes to animals. Bacigalupi (after reading his first novel Windup Girl) once again creates an immersible and morally awkward alternate universe that is difficult to stop reading. It is a story about completely forgetting about, not just past events, but the pasts teachings and cultural norms. Imagine if the current younger generations take cell phone use to the extreme and only communicate with text messaging compared to voice or in person. What would the effect be on companionship or friendship? In the case of the story, imagine if the human emotion of companionship was completely forgotten. What would such a World look like?
4. Bread and Bombs - (3 Stars) - by M. Rickert - This story holds very true to the hyper reactiveness (and lack of patience and common sense?) human being present in times of crisis. In B&B, the story presents a current event case - how would a small town react to a severe bout of global terrorism (poison candy and snow for example)? What if the terrorists were Muslim? How would Muslims, in general, be treated? The story is generic in the sense that other TV shows (24, in my opinion) and movies present the same argument that humans will rashly act out against an entire people if it feels threatened. The story becomes shocking, though, in how society solves its own irrational prejudices. There are no grand speeches of morality here.
5. How We Got In Town and Out Again - (2 Stars) - by Jonathan Lethem - I just couldn't get into it. The premise was interesting - a traveling carnival, of sorts, that places people in a virtual reality environment where they must outlast the other competitors. The problem was the execution. The competition was based solely on who lasted the longest without collapsing from exhaustion, but not by interaction with the others. Also, the virtual reality encountered by the main characters were...well...boring. In its defense, this boredom is a plot point, but should it be boring to the reader?
6. Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels - (2 Stars) - by George R.R. Martin - A too short story from a very talented writer. I liked the overarching purpose - the humans who survived the collapse of Planet Earth by fleeing the planet, return to see what survived. Within it, they encounter an underground evolved 'human'. The conclusion, though, came very quickly, so there was no exploration of either the evolved human race or the escaped survivors. I yearned for more, though I don't doubt what happens when the two races first interact.
7. Waiting for the Zephyr - (1 Stars) - by Tobias S. Buckell - The weakest story of the collection, thus far, because it just ends. Main character wants to flee home - for example, small town girl wants to leave to explore the World - and is hindered by her family. Ok, fair introduction. Small town girl finally breaks free (on the Zephyr, of course) and...end of story. It's not that I yearned for more like other stories, it's that I wasn't given enough in the first place to want more.
8. Never Despair - (3 Stars) - by Jack McDevitt - I admit, I've read an alternate history story or one where historical characters play a role, so this was a first. In general, it was good, if kind of bland. The historical intrusion of Winston Churchill was interesting, but was very underwhelming. In fact, the connection to Churchill is so weak, the main character could have been interacting with anyone. The reason to read the story, though, is for its message of never losing sight of progress. Not just progress for selfish gain, but for the sake of all. It is a message, that I feel current society has lost to a point and one that the story really describes well.
9. When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - (5 Stars) - by Cory Doctorow - Awesome story. I look forward to reading more Doctorow (adding yet another author to the long list!). The apocalypse hits Earth, most likely by terrorism, and the only left are system admins who keep the internet running. Crazy right? In description, it seems like a stretch, but the story is well thought out. The plot follows a Sysadmin who has lost everything, but recognizes the opportunity to rebuild the World in a better form instead of just giving up. Out of all the stories thus far, this one is the most positive and may be the most realistic in the sense that after the initial shock the "End of the World" (who knows how long that shock would last though), someone, somewhere, will find the hope and energy to start over. Though frightening and sad, the ending is heart warming.
10. The Last of the O-Forms by James Van Pelt -
11. Still Life with Apocalypse by Richard Kadrey -
12. Artie's Angels by Catherine Wells -
13. Judgment Passed by Jerry Oltion -
14. Mute by Gene Wolf -
15. Inertia by Nancy Kress -
16. And the Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth Bear -
17. Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler -
18. Killers by Carol Emshwiller -
19. Ginny Sweethip's Flying Circus by Neal Barret Jr. -
20. The End of the Word as We Know It by Dale Bailey -
21. A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg -
22. Episode Seven: The Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers by John Langan -
annvsted87's review against another edition
The animal abuse in the second story was hard for me, so I just decided to quit this audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
civil6512's review against another edition
4.0
[b: Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse|1705697|Wastelands Stories of the Apocalypse|John Joseph Adams|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391343189s/1705697.jpg|2661660] is a collection of short stories, all having in common that they happen after the world as we know it has ceased to exist. The reason of the apocalypse is stated in some of them, and left unmentioned in others, and goes from the typical nuclear holocaust to some deadly virus.
I enjoyed most of the stories, and will leave a brief summary of each of them for future self-reference.
The End of the Whole Mess, by [a: Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg], is an interesting account about how the side-effects of a cure can go terribly wrong. I specially liked the concept and development.
Salvage, by [a: Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1294099952p2/589.jpg], left me unimpressed: Mormons trying to get something from the bottom of a lake.
The People of Sand and Slag by [a: Paolo Bacigalupi|1226977|Paolo Bacigalupi|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1375566282p2/1226977.jpg], describes genetically modified super-humans with incredible healing capabilities that find an unmodified animal. I found it quite interesting.
Bread and Bombs by [a: M. Rickert|126765|M. Rickert|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1381955473p2/126765.jpg] is a really good short story set in a small town in the United States where some war refugees settle. It covers topics such as trust, prejudices, war, children and vengeance, and had a powerful ending.
How We Got In Town and Out Again, by [a: Jonathan Lethem|6404|Jonathan Lethem|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1431787014p2/6404.jpg]. Two characters join a VR thing touring, in order to get food and shelter for a while.
Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels, by [a: George R. R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg], is a story where humans colonise the Moon, only to later engage in some nuclear war on the Earth. Many generations later, Moon dwellers manage to go back to the Earth in search for answers, and what they find there is quite disturbing. I really liked the concept and its development.
I didn't like Waiting for the Zephyr, by [a: Tobias S. Buckell|107891|Tobias S. Buckell|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1370963821p2/107891.jpg], too much. In the future described here, communication between cities (or even communities) is no longer viable, roads are almost gone, and some ship-like vehicles using sails are used to go between settlements. The main character is waiting for one of these ships to come, since she wants to enrol into its crew. This could be a good introduction for a bigger book, but in this shape seemed to lack something.
Never Despair by [a: Jack McDevitt|73812|Jack McDevitt|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1225722326p2/73812.jpg] displays a nice concept. Two explorers are taking shelter from a storm, in what seems to be some ruins from a collapsed past, and somehow "someone" from that past is able to communicate with them. Quite Fallout-ish!
I found When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, by [a: Cory Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg], quite interesting due to my own background (Software Engineering). Things go quite wrong due to some terrorist attack, and due to how it was arranged, it happens to leave many sysadmins unharmed around the world. Soon after, they start to organise. While the idea and the initial development are quite good, I think it loses interest after a while.
The Last of the O-Forms, by [a: James Van Pelt|645132|James Van Pelt|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1276554006p2/645132.jpg], describes one of these futures that don't seem necessarily impossible. In this story, nature has gone wrong (I can't remember if it is stated that we are to blame or not), and most living beings start producing malformed offspring. The idea is sad and scary, and the story makes it look quite plausible.
Still Life With Apocalypse, by [a: Richard Kadrey|37557|Richard Kadrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1252945001p2/37557.jpg], is more a description of the collapse of the world due to people going on a violent rampage rather than a short story.
I liked Artie’s Angels, by [a: Catherine Wells|528175|Catherine Wells|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. After the world is no longer safe to stay outdoors, some communities exist under "domes" protecting them. However, these domes have a limited capacity, and you have to be valuable somehow to be allowed in. This is a sort of futuristic, cavalry tale, about some of the inhabitants in the dome.
I found Judgment Passed, by [a: Jerry Oltion|12580|Jerry Oltion|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], very, very good. It describes some astronauts coming back to the Earth to find out that God arrived and the Last Judgement took place. Simply brilliant!
Mute, by [a: Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg], was a disturbing story about two brothers that get home somehow, and find that nobody is there. But somebody was there when they were arriving. Or maybe not. Really unsettling.
Inertia, by [a: Nancy Kress|21158|Nancy Kress|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1232323985p2/21158.jpg], tells the story of the inhabitants of a community of diseased people that somehow survive against all odds. When people in the outside join them to study why they still survive and how their society manage their limitations, some struggle happens between the changes proposed by the outsiders and the attitude from the insiders.
And the Deep Blue Sea, by [a: Elizabeth Bear|108173|Elizabeth Bear|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1422586829p2/108173.jpg], talks about a courier that has to deliver a package in a wasted world. I didn't like it too much.
Speech Sounds, by [a: Octavia E. Butler|29535|Octavia E. Butler|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1242244143p2/29535.jpg]: take [a: Saramago|1285555|José Saramago|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1437073728p2/1285555.jpg]'s [b: Blindness|2526|Blindness (Blindness, #1)|José Saramago|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327866409s/2526.jpg|3213039] and replace sight with speech. A nice setting and development, I liked this story.
To me, Killers, by [a: Carol Emshwiller|54462|Carol Emshwiller|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1334335881p2/54462.jpg], was a story about how, even in a post-apocalyptic world, primary instincts like lust or jealously still define everything. A sick and injured person gets to a town, it is helped by one of the residents, and then things get ugly when she introduces him to the rest of the community.
Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus, by [a: Neal Barrett, Jr.|7065145|Neal Barrett Jr.|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383457304p2/7065145.jpg], is a story about a small party that try to earn some money to survive in a wasted world, tricking people using sex as a bait, and their guns as a deterrent. It was OK.
The End of the World as We Know It, by [a: Dale Bailey|91717|Dale Bailey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1335278122p2/91717.jpg], is probably the best one in this collection. It is a reflection on what we expect from end of the world stories, on what the stereotypes are, on how the end of the world already happens every day for people that experience a terrible lost or trauma. With plenty of references to classic books in the genre, this story is a must read.
A Song Before Sunset, by [a: David Grigg|12868490|David Grigg|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], is an example about how priorities would shift if the end would come, about barbarians, about appreciating arts... About how humans could survive but still Civilization could fall.
Episode Seven... by [a: John Langan|7083558|John Langan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] is an interesting story about a deadly chase that gets the best out of these survivors, but also the worst, things that even they didn't know about.
I enjoyed most of the stories, and will leave a brief summary of each of them for future self-reference.
The End of the Whole Mess, by [a: Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg], is an interesting account about how the side-effects of a cure can go terribly wrong. I specially liked the concept and development.
Salvage, by [a: Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1294099952p2/589.jpg], left me unimpressed: Mormons trying to get something from the bottom of a lake.
The People of Sand and Slag by [a: Paolo Bacigalupi|1226977|Paolo Bacigalupi|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1375566282p2/1226977.jpg], describes genetically modified super-humans with incredible healing capabilities that find an unmodified animal. I found it quite interesting.
Bread and Bombs by [a: M. Rickert|126765|M. Rickert|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1381955473p2/126765.jpg] is a really good short story set in a small town in the United States where some war refugees settle. It covers topics such as trust, prejudices, war, children and vengeance, and had a powerful ending.
How We Got In Town and Out Again, by [a: Jonathan Lethem|6404|Jonathan Lethem|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1431787014p2/6404.jpg]. Two characters join a VR thing touring, in order to get food and shelter for a while.
Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels, by [a: George R. R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg], is a story where humans colonise the Moon, only to later engage in some nuclear war on the Earth. Many generations later, Moon dwellers manage to go back to the Earth in search for answers, and what they find there is quite disturbing. I really liked the concept and its development.
I didn't like Waiting for the Zephyr, by [a: Tobias S. Buckell|107891|Tobias S. Buckell|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1370963821p2/107891.jpg], too much. In the future described here, communication between cities (or even communities) is no longer viable, roads are almost gone, and some ship-like vehicles using sails are used to go between settlements. The main character is waiting for one of these ships to come, since she wants to enrol into its crew. This could be a good introduction for a bigger book, but in this shape seemed to lack something.
Never Despair by [a: Jack McDevitt|73812|Jack McDevitt|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1225722326p2/73812.jpg] displays a nice concept. Two explorers are taking shelter from a storm, in what seems to be some ruins from a collapsed past, and somehow "someone" from that past is able to communicate with them. Quite Fallout-ish!
I found When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, by [a: Cory Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg], quite interesting due to my own background (Software Engineering). Things go quite wrong due to some terrorist attack, and due to how it was arranged, it happens to leave many sysadmins unharmed around the world. Soon after, they start to organise. While the idea and the initial development are quite good, I think it loses interest after a while.
The Last of the O-Forms, by [a: James Van Pelt|645132|James Van Pelt|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1276554006p2/645132.jpg], describes one of these futures that don't seem necessarily impossible. In this story, nature has gone wrong (I can't remember if it is stated that we are to blame or not), and most living beings start producing malformed offspring. The idea is sad and scary, and the story makes it look quite plausible.
Still Life With Apocalypse, by [a: Richard Kadrey|37557|Richard Kadrey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1252945001p2/37557.jpg], is more a description of the collapse of the world due to people going on a violent rampage rather than a short story.
I liked Artie’s Angels, by [a: Catherine Wells|528175|Catherine Wells|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. After the world is no longer safe to stay outdoors, some communities exist under "domes" protecting them. However, these domes have a limited capacity, and you have to be valuable somehow to be allowed in. This is a sort of futuristic, cavalry tale, about some of the inhabitants in the dome.
I found Judgment Passed, by [a: Jerry Oltion|12580|Jerry Oltion|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], very, very good. It describes some astronauts coming back to the Earth to find out that God arrived and the Last Judgement took place. Simply brilliant!
Mute, by [a: Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg], was a disturbing story about two brothers that get home somehow, and find that nobody is there. But somebody was there when they were arriving. Or maybe not. Really unsettling.
Inertia, by [a: Nancy Kress|21158|Nancy Kress|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1232323985p2/21158.jpg], tells the story of the inhabitants of a community of diseased people that somehow survive against all odds. When people in the outside join them to study why they still survive and how their society manage their limitations, some struggle happens between the changes proposed by the outsiders and the attitude from the insiders.
And the Deep Blue Sea, by [a: Elizabeth Bear|108173|Elizabeth Bear|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1422586829p2/108173.jpg], talks about a courier that has to deliver a package in a wasted world. I didn't like it too much.
Speech Sounds, by [a: Octavia E. Butler|29535|Octavia E. Butler|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1242244143p2/29535.jpg]: take [a: Saramago|1285555|José Saramago|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1437073728p2/1285555.jpg]'s [b: Blindness|2526|Blindness (Blindness, #1)|José Saramago|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327866409s/2526.jpg|3213039] and replace sight with speech. A nice setting and development, I liked this story.
To me, Killers, by [a: Carol Emshwiller|54462|Carol Emshwiller|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1334335881p2/54462.jpg], was a story about how, even in a post-apocalyptic world, primary instincts like lust or jealously still define everything. A sick and injured person gets to a town, it is helped by one of the residents, and then things get ugly when she introduces him to the rest of the community.
Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus, by [a: Neal Barrett, Jr.|7065145|Neal Barrett Jr.|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383457304p2/7065145.jpg], is a story about a small party that try to earn some money to survive in a wasted world, tricking people using sex as a bait, and their guns as a deterrent. It was OK.
The End of the World as We Know It, by [a: Dale Bailey|91717|Dale Bailey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1335278122p2/91717.jpg], is probably the best one in this collection. It is a reflection on what we expect from end of the world stories, on what the stereotypes are, on how the end of the world already happens every day for people that experience a terrible lost or trauma. With plenty of references to classic books in the genre, this story is a must read.
A Song Before Sunset, by [a: David Grigg|12868490|David Grigg|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], is an example about how priorities would shift if the end would come, about barbarians, about appreciating arts... About how humans could survive but still Civilization could fall.
Episode Seven... by [a: John Langan|7083558|John Langan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] is an interesting story about a deadly chase that gets the best out of these survivors, but also the worst, things that even they didn't know about.
millennial_dandy's review against another edition
4.0
I suppose one could say that going into year three of the Covid-19 pandemic has got me in the mood for a bit of cathartic apocalypse reading. Enter 'Wastelands.'
With stories from 22 different authors, 'Wastelands' as a collection really does have something for everyone: technology and nuclear-warfare run amok, check. Inter-planetary travel, check. Commentary on religion, check. And plague and mutants, of course. We get to see the world end 22 different times, in 22 different ways.
To say that 'cynicism' runs as rampant as some of the viruses in this collection would be a collosal understatement, so no new ground was trod there, yet the stories were picked with enough care that this rather bleak messaging at least didn't feel redundant.
There are some big names in 'Wastelands': we start off with Stephen King, we get George R.R. Martin, Octavia Butler, Orson Scott Card, and a slew of others that, based on the brief biographies, seem like fairly heavy-hitters in sci-fi/dystopian fiction.
Were there any standouts? Well, this is where we get subjective. The very stories I found to be the least punchy could easily be someone else's favorite, but I will say that I was personally more impressed by some of the authors I'd never heard of than the ones I had. Not because the more famous names had done less impressive work, just that if you've read one King or Butler story, you kind of know what to expect, and you get it.
My personal favorites, i.e. the ones I found the creepiest, the most uncanny, the ones that really got under my skin, were:
1. The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi -- If you're an animal lover, this one is tough, but Bacigalupi does an amazing job really taking a look at the dark side of things like cloning and hyper-advanced medicine.
2. A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg -- A truly heartbreaking counterpart to the infinitely more optimist 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel, this story explores a similar thesis: 'survival is insufficient.'
3. When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow -- This wasn't so much creepy as it was novel in its perspective. The apocalypse itself was your standard 'everyone catches a mysterious illness and dies instantly' fare, but our POV characters are a group of data scientists and programmers who try to keep the internet running post-apocalypse by networking with small groups like theirs around the world. Some of the lingo likely went over my head, as I've limited proximity to that sphere, but it was an interesting thought experiment.
4. Judgment Passed by Jerry Oltion -- What if the Day of Reckoning Comes, but you were off-planet and so you missed it? That's the premise of this short story. A small group of astronauts return to Earth only to discover that in their absense, God or Jesus swooped down and took away all the people, leaving them the sole humans to populate the planet. This sparks discussion among them of whether or not to try to get God's attention and let Him know He missed a few. Though seemingly an on-the-nose examination of religious fanaticism, Oltion does it in such a smart way that it feels fresh.
With stories from 22 different authors, 'Wastelands' as a collection really does have something for everyone: technology and nuclear-warfare run amok, check. Inter-planetary travel, check. Commentary on religion, check. And plague and mutants, of course. We get to see the world end 22 different times, in 22 different ways.
To say that 'cynicism' runs as rampant as some of the viruses in this collection would be a collosal understatement, so no new ground was trod there, yet the stories were picked with enough care that this rather bleak messaging at least didn't feel redundant.
There are some big names in 'Wastelands': we start off with Stephen King, we get George R.R. Martin, Octavia Butler, Orson Scott Card, and a slew of others that, based on the brief biographies, seem like fairly heavy-hitters in sci-fi/dystopian fiction.
Were there any standouts? Well, this is where we get subjective. The very stories I found to be the least punchy could easily be someone else's favorite, but I will say that I was personally more impressed by some of the authors I'd never heard of than the ones I had. Not because the more famous names had done less impressive work, just that if you've read one King or Butler story, you kind of know what to expect, and you get it.
My personal favorites, i.e. the ones I found the creepiest, the most uncanny, the ones that really got under my skin, were:
1. The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi -- If you're an animal lover, this one is tough, but Bacigalupi does an amazing job really taking a look at the dark side of things like cloning and hyper-advanced medicine.
2. A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg -- A truly heartbreaking counterpart to the infinitely more optimist 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel, this story explores a similar thesis: 'survival is insufficient.'
3. When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow -- This wasn't so much creepy as it was novel in its perspective. The apocalypse itself was your standard 'everyone catches a mysterious illness and dies instantly' fare, but our POV characters are a group of data scientists and programmers who try to keep the internet running post-apocalypse by networking with small groups like theirs around the world. Some of the lingo likely went over my head, as I've limited proximity to that sphere, but it was an interesting thought experiment.
4. Judgment Passed by Jerry Oltion -- What if the Day of Reckoning Comes, but you were off-planet and so you missed it? That's the premise of this short story. A small group of astronauts return to Earth only to discover that in their absense, God or Jesus swooped down and took away all the people, leaving them the sole humans to populate the planet. This sparks discussion among them of whether or not to try to get God's attention and let Him know He missed a few. Though seemingly an on-the-nose examination of religious fanaticism, Oltion does it in such a smart way that it feels fresh.
danielv64's review against another edition
5.0
Some amazing stories including many set it well established SF universes
suzemo's review against another edition
4.0
If you're looking for a good, solid anthology of post-apocalyptic short stories, then this book is awesome. I've seen complaints that this book is too sci-fi or not sci-fi enough or that the stories aren't well fleshed out, and I think it's unfair. This is a collection of short stories, not a collection of novellas, and to be honest, I like that the stories don't tend to focus on what caused the end of the world; I want the reactions of the people and what happens to the lives in that world.
Most of these stories are very well written. Yes, some of them have a political bent, but I think that the post-apocalyptic sub-genre is inherently political since much of it involves societies, why they fall, how they react to extreme stress and how they form (or don't).
Like any anthology, this series has its highs and lows. I think that the stories in this book were largely good, off-setting any not-so-great stories.
My favorites were:
"The People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi
"Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" George R R Martin
"Judgment Passed" by Jerry Oltion
"Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler
and
"The End of the World as we Know it" by Dale Bailey (My favorite, perfectly written)
I did not like three stories. Coincidentally, the first two stories ("The End of the Whole Mess" by Stephen King and "Salvage" by Orson Scott Card) were two of the three I did not enjoy, and when I started the book I was really disappointed, thinking that I had made a drastic error in picking up this book. Luckily other stories make up for the bad start quickly. The story I liked the least was one I was really looking forward to after reading the introduction, "Episode Seven..." by John Langan. It was written as a kind of "answer" to Bailey's story, but the style of narration and the stream of consciousness writing did not work for me and distracted greatly from the story.
My only real complaint was that I don't think "Mute," by Gene Wolfe, should have been included. I think the story is absolutely fantastic and loved it, but I don't feel it belongs in this anthology because it is not post-apocalyptic, but pure horror (about Death, not a post apocalyptic world in any way).
Most of these stories are very well written. Yes, some of them have a political bent, but I think that the post-apocalyptic sub-genre is inherently political since much of it involves societies, why they fall, how they react to extreme stress and how they form (or don't).
Like any anthology, this series has its highs and lows. I think that the stories in this book were largely good, off-setting any not-so-great stories.
My favorites were:
"The People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi
"Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" George R R Martin
"Judgment Passed" by Jerry Oltion
"Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler
and
"The End of the World as we Know it" by Dale Bailey (My favorite, perfectly written)
I did not like three stories. Coincidentally, the first two stories ("The End of the Whole Mess" by Stephen King and "Salvage" by Orson Scott Card) were two of the three I did not enjoy, and when I started the book I was really disappointed, thinking that I had made a drastic error in picking up this book. Luckily other stories make up for the bad start quickly. The story I liked the least was one I was really looking forward to after reading the introduction, "Episode Seven..." by John Langan. It was written as a kind of "answer" to Bailey's story, but the style of narration and the stream of consciousness writing did not work for me and distracted greatly from the story.
My only real complaint was that I don't think "Mute," by Gene Wolfe, should have been included. I think the story is absolutely fantastic and loved it, but I don't feel it belongs in this anthology because it is not post-apocalyptic, but pure horror (about Death, not a post apocalyptic world in any way).
bkeving_74's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed stories but not as captivating as I had hoped
This book was abit of hit and miss for me. I am not sure that I like short story form for this genre. I have read The Road, Swan Song, The Stand and others that reached their full potential because their was time and length to do so. I have a couple of other anthologies for this genre to read and perhaps I will change my mind.
This book was abit of hit and miss for me. I am not sure that I like short story form for this genre. I have read The Road, Swan Song, The Stand and others that reached their full potential because their was time and length to do so. I have a couple of other anthologies for this genre to read and perhaps I will change my mind.
mellabella's review against another edition
3.0
After reading the first, few of the stories, I almost didn't go on...
They were weird and not holding my interest. I don't need zombies, other monsters, and special powers to hold my interest. But... I'm glad I kept reading. They got much better as they went on.
3.5 stars.
They were weird and not holding my interest. I don't need zombies, other monsters, and special powers to hold my interest. But... I'm glad I kept reading. They got much better as they went on.
3.5 stars.