Wastelands
I finished up a book of short stories called Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams. It's a weird grouping of stories, many pretty pessimistic. Some deal with a world that's gone downhill but not dead, like "Bread and Bombs", while others are about a really bleak and dead world, like "Salvage" and "The Last of the O-Forms".
I'd say the best stories for me were "And the Deep Blue Sea" about a motorcycle courier's deal with the devil, "The People of Sand and Slag" which is about a what happens when future race of beings who can eat anything and regrow limbs find a normal dog, "Artie's Angels" about a kid who compels others to rise above the baseness of their circumstances, "Ginny Sweethip's Flying Circus" which is puts a new twist on the world's oldest profession, and "Judgement Passed" about some astronauts who come back to find the population of Earth raptured away.
Worst? I was surprised i didn't really like the Stephen King story "The End of the Whole Mess". It's a first person story in which the narrator describes how he and his brother caused the world to end. I also had NO CLUE what was going on in Gene Wolfe's "Mute". Are the kids dead? abandoned? trapped in some computer alternate reality? I even looked it up online but couldn't find too much. oh well.
Overall, i'd give this a 5. I also would recommend reading it slowly. A few stories every week until finished, to give yourself time to take them in. There is also a huge "For Further Reading" list in the back that i had to completely ignore but others might enjoy, if you need a few more book ideas!
Other's feelings: I can't believe i didn't know Carl had reviewed this one, SQT, Adventures in Reading, Graeme's Fantasy Book Review, Grasping for the Wind, and Working Title.
Currently: chilling after my hike today.
I'd say the best stories for me were "And the Deep Blue Sea" about a motorcycle courier's deal with the devil, "The People of Sand and Slag" which is about a what happens when future race of beings who can eat anything and regrow limbs find a normal dog, "Artie's Angels" about a kid who compels others to rise above the baseness of their circumstances, "Ginny Sweethip's Flying Circus" which is puts a new twist on the world's oldest profession, and "Judgement Passed" about some astronauts who come back to find the population of Earth raptured away.
Worst? I was surprised i didn't really like the Stephen King story "The End of the Whole Mess". It's a first person story in which the narrator describes how he and his brother caused the world to end. I also had NO CLUE what was going on in Gene Wolfe's "Mute". Are the kids dead? abandoned? trapped in some computer alternate reality? I even looked it up online but couldn't find too much. oh well.
Overall, i'd give this a 5. I also would recommend reading it slowly. A few stories every week until finished, to give yourself time to take them in. There is also a huge "For Further Reading" list in the back that i had to completely ignore but others might enjoy, if you need a few more book ideas!
Other's feelings: I can't believe i didn't know Carl had reviewed this one, SQT, Adventures in Reading, Graeme's Fantasy Book Review, Grasping for the Wind, and Working Title.
Currently: chilling after my hike today.
I'm working my way through this one a story or two per month. I do agree that People of the Sand and Slag is fantastic. The best story in the collection so far.
ReplyDeleteI am reading Wastelands and the story 'Mute' has me puzzled as well.
ReplyDeleteFrom the online searching I have done, it is either an Adam and Eve parallel, or the kids are dead in their own private hell because of the sin of incest.
Either way, I don't think this story really belongs in a Post Apocolypse Anthology.
CB- Glad you like it so far.
ReplyDeleteKurt- i didn't think Mute worked with the other stories either.