Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
Book Review: Not a waste of time.
Summary: 4 Stars
As with any compilation there is good and bad. More good than bad, and the bad is based on my personal taste. if you enjoy end of the world, or post end of the world stories, this is a must. My only solid compliant is that some of these stories would have made excellent full length novels.Book Review: A Post-Apocalyptic Primer
Summary: 5 Stars
The individual stories that make up this collection are very good. Tastes differ from reader to reader, but there's something for everyone in this long, varied collection. The best thing about this book, as others have mentioned, is the range of stories included.
Most of us come to post-apocalyptic literature from one angle or another, and Adams provides a good mix of the range of ideas that have swirled around the sub-genre since its inception. If you're new to the sub-genre, this is a great place to start. If you're familiar with it, these stories (and the appended bibliography) tell you where to go among today's authors for contemporary visions of Life After.
Book Review: Excellent Post-Apocalyptic Anthology.
Summary: 5 Stars
What an excellent anthology! I believe it takes a great effort and definitely talent and experience to create good anthologies. There are thousands of excellent short stories out there of post-apocalyptic nature. I am sure it takes an enormous amount of time to select few that encompass this greatly dramatic subject. John Joseph Adams has done an incredible job. Wastelands is definitely worth reading.
The stories collected here are hopeful, hopeless, romantic, dramatic, and in some cases even comedic. The range of emotions I felt while reading these stories is incredible. Honestly, I am a bit too emotional sometimes, so reading "The People of Sand and Slag" by P. Bacigalupi has truly saddened me, I wish I skipped this one. However, there are other stories that are in some ways more optimistic and positive, for example "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" by N. Barrett and even "Judgment Passed" by J. Oltion (although I don't think many will agree with me on this one). And of course there are really scary stories like " Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" by G. Martin and "Episode Seven" by John Langan. I think every person will feel a bit differently about each story.
I really like reading post-apocalyptic books, so maybe I am a bit biased when it comes to this subject. However, I do believe that even for people who've never read any "end of the world" books before, this one would be an excellent first read. So, again Wastelands is a great anthology, and I 100% recommend it!
Book Review: Apocalyptical fiction at it's best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have long enjoyed apocalyptical fiction. What happens after the final disaster or war? Will mankind survive? How? How will he adjust to a changed world? What qualities will help him to survive? You will find answers to those questions and more in the pages of this well written book. Each story is a new world... a new adventure... a new beginning - after the end.Book Review: Tomorrow never comes.
Summary: 5 Stars
Somebody once said that after a disaster there is always at least one survivor to tell the story to others. But what if you are the sole survivor and there is no-one else on Earth to talk to?
Long ago I read a SF-story (or should I say a post-apocalyptic story? Oh well, what's in a name?) about a man who was not only the sole survivor of the human species but of all existing life including vegetation. Because of his injuries he could only crawl. After several months he finally reached the Ocean, crawled into the water and died. His decomposing body would provide the Ocean with atoms and molecules so that in a far future, new life could emerge from it.
Because of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and the Cold War, post-apocalyptic literature was popular. But the fall of the Berlin Wall meant also the end of post-apocalyptic literature.
Today there is a revival of this genre. Probably because adventure and the possibility of starting all-over have a kind of charm. Maybe the most notorious example is Cormac McCarthy who received the Pulitzer-Price for his novel 'The Road'.
In this collection, you won't find stories where an invasion by Aliens or an uprising of Zombies are responsible for wastelands all over the globe. The editor of this anthology, John Joseph Adams, says that they could be the subject for another anthology.
The best thing I can do right now is to give you the name of each author and the title of his/her story.
The End of the Whole Mess - Stephen King
Salvage - Orson Scott Card
The People of Sand and Slag - Paolo Bacigalupi
Bread and Bombs - M. Rickert
How We Got In Town and Out Again - Jonathan Lethem
Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels - George R.R. Martin
Waiting for the Zephyr - Tobias S. Buckell
Never Despair - Jack McDevitt
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - Cory Doctorow
The Last of the O-Forms - James Van Pelt
Still Life with Apocalypse - Richard Kadrey
Artie's Angels - Catherine Wells
Judgement Passed - Jerry Oltion
Mute - Gene Wolfe
Inertia - Nancy Kress
And the Deep blue Sea - Elisabeth Bear
Speech Sounds - Octavia E. Butler
Killers - Carol Emshwiller
Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - Neal Barret, Jr.
The End of the World as we Know It - Dale Bailey
A Song Before Sunset - David Grigg