 | Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
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 2008-10-26 - Excellent collection
I enjoyed every story in this collection. I would say my favorite was "When Sysadmins Rules the World", but each story had it's own strengths. The stories really rekindled my interest in post-apocalyptic sci-fi.
 2008-10-03 - A few really good...and a lot of so-so
This was a collection of short stories all somehow themed around an apocalpyse - something has gone horribly wrong with the world. I picked it up after enjoying "Earth Abides" by George Stewart so much.
Overall some of the stories were good, some not so good, but on the whole I definitely like longer books as opposed to short stories. I'd rather really get to know characters and see a story unfold than the short stereotypes that are given in this type of collection with the "catchy" endings. I'd certainly prefer to read a good 5-book series as opposed to a collection like this. However it should give me some good ideas for future reading.
Here are my thoughts on each individual story:
Stephen King - The End of the Whole Mess - I liked it, good story, well done, etc... But I've always liked Stephen King so this was sort of a gimme.
Orson Scott Card - Salvage - This story did nothing for me. It's funny, Orson Scott Card is so highly regarded, yet I read "Ender's Game" and didn't love it like so many people do. This story did nothing at all for me.
Paolo Bacigalupi - The People of Sand and Slag - Good one. Deep apocalpyse stuff, and really thought provoking about some of our assumptions about the world. One of the best in the book I'd say.
M. Rickert - Bread and Bombs - This story was "Ok", not the best nor the worst. Interesting twist ending.
Jonathan Letham - How We Got In Town and Out Again - Very entertaining - not the deepest story but a good tale that really kept moving. I liked it.
George R. R. Martin - Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels - My favorite story in the collection. Thought provoking, tense, interesting. Brutal ending. Just really well done and I'll definitely check out something else by him based on this.
Tobias S. Buckell - Waiting for the Zephyr - Good one, not great. Short story (even within the collection) and more hopeful than many.
Jack McDevitt - Never Despair - So-so. Interesting use of a real historical figure, but I felt like the story gave me more questions than answers.
Cory Doctorow - When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - You know, being a programmer you'd think I'd have liked this more, but I didn't. I found it rather boring. Not one of my favorites. But I may check out some of his other stuff simply because of his knowledge on the topic of technology.
James Van Pelt - The Last of the O-Forms - Wow I don't even remember this one, after flipping through it. Clearly didn't make much of an impact on me.
Richard Kadrey - Still Life with Apocalypse - Short, but interesting. But only 3 pages.
Catherine Wells - Artie's Angels - Again, so-so. Painted a good picture and good imagry, but the story didn't really compel me. Still I liked the writing.
Jerry Oltion - Judgment Passed - Very, very good. Of course I like the questioning of the Rapture that's implied here, it meets with my own personal religious beliefs. So I really enjoyed this one.
Gene Wolfe - Mute - Didn't like it at all. Just didn't do anything for me.
Nancy Kress - Inertia - This one was pretty good, interesting. Definitely made you think a bit. She even tried to do some characterization in addition to just moving the story along.
Elizabeth Bear - And the Deep Blue Sea - I think this was a good story, but it was a bit hard for me to understand eactly what was going on all the same. I'd check out more by her though, it was that compelling at least.
Octavia E. Butler - Speech Sounds - Very good one, really made you think, and a good, hopeful ending. Also an author I'd check out more from.
Carol Emshwiller - Killers - Did nothing for me. Sort of interesting start but then got really flat.
Neal Barrett, Jr. - Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - This was a good story, interesting and compelling, though it felt a bit like a deux ex machina ending.
Dale Bailey - The End of the World As We Know It - Another very good one - it really in its own way made fun of the apocalypse genre, which was entertaining near the end of this book. I liked the tone and style.
David Grigg - A Song Before Sunset - Another good one - thought provoking and deep while still a bit soft on the surface. Well done.
John Langan - Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers - By the time I started this story I was bored with the collection, and this story reads sort of like one long run-on paragraph, and it just didn't do anything for me. I stopped reading it, though it maybe would have been more interesting to me had it been earlier in the book, I don't know. I probably judged this one a bit unfairly.
And that's it. I'll take some notes on future reading based on authors I liked and some of the "for further reading" listed in the book.
2008-09-25 - Some really great stories, littered with...waste.
This book has several/numerous great short stories that take a varied look at, well, the end of the world. Fans of the genre may enjoy reading this, but only if they don't mind short stories rather than elaborate stories...which was my biggest complaint about the book.
Interspersed throughout the good stories are lots of little mindless stories - some of which seem like they could be "the first 3 pages of the sixth chapter of an entire book." It's not that some of these don't have "endings" that wrap things up, but the problem with them is that they don't have interesting characters (since its so short), a beginning, a climax, or an ending to speak of: some of the short "stories" are more of an idea for a story.
Also, I wish the book would have ended with a "grand finale," but was greatly disappointed. The final story (Episode Seven) was almost unreadable as the author (John Langan) decided that he was far too clever and insightful, to use grammar. Yep, the use of grammar was too limiting for him, so the 20-page story reads as pretty much a single sentence. (OK, to be fair, I think there might be 3-4 sentences that end with punctuation other than a comma, semi-colon or hyphen.)
All in all, the good stories are really good and bring new ideas to the table. The bad ones are awful, and seriously take away from this collection.
2008-09-24 - A fine collection of Apocalypse stories by great authors
With anthologies, I normally list the Table Of Contents, however because it can be viewed by rolling your mouse over the second available image below the book picture, I won't list it. There are 22 stories in this collection, by such authors as Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Nancy Kress, and many more. Each story begins with a short paragraph of notes and achievements by each author.
Religion, Armageddon, virus, plague, bombs, accidents, incidents, pollutants, natural disaster, and more, are all waiting to destroy the earth as we know it. Rising like the phoenix comes the new earth, explored in these tales of apocalypse. Barren landscapes, alternate ways of life, deserts, oceans, mangled cities, ragged suburbs: all are settings typical of destruction. Some of the stories in this collection are "realtime", meaning the apocalypse as it happens, such as The End Of The Whole Mess by Stephen King, When Sysadmins Ruled The Earth by Cory Doctorow, and The End Of The World As We Know It by Dale Bailey. Most, however, are post-apocalyptic, documenting humanity's struggle in the aftermath of destruction.
My favorites are The People Of Sand And Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi, a tale of futuristic inhabitation, human regeneration, and the finding of a real flesh-and-blood dog wandering the sere landscape. Dark, Dark Were The Tunnels by George R.R. Martin is a tale of two separate surviving factions, one Lunar faction and another faction deep beneath the earth. The question is, who are the real people of the long lost earth civilization? Waiting For The Zephyr by Tobias S. Buckell is a short but impacting tale of desperation to leave behind the scavenged farmlands. The Last Of The O-Forms by James Van Pelt highlights the journeys of Dr. Trevin's Traveling Zoological Extravaganza. This is a fun tale of a traveling freak show, with the question of who and what are the real freaks. Artie's Angels by Catherine Wells is the tale of teenagers growing up in a Kansas Habitat shelter, hoping for a better life in an off-world colony. Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus by Neal Barrett Jr. is another fun story of a traveling entertainment van offering $ex, Tacos, and Dangerous Drugs. The End Of The World As We Know It by Dale Bailey offers a real time look at the confusion and loneliness of a single survivor.
There are some great stories and some mediocre stories, but there are no bad stories in this collection. A special, not to be missed feature is the For Further Reading guide at the end of the book. John Joseph Adams has created a list of books whose tales are based on the apocalypse and post-apocalyptic civilizations. Many of these I've read, but to my delight there are many I haven't. It's like having your own personalized reference of future reading material.
I'm a fan of apocalypse novels and a fan of short story anthologies, so Wastelands was a double treat for me. If you're into End-Of-Times or an aficionado of anthologies (or both), I highly recommend you pick up this book. Enjoy!
2008-09-21 - A great collection
You already know how these stories go, there's been enough "what happens after?" stories and movies. In fact, you've probably read some of these already.
Still, it's a great collection. There's got to be a few stories here you haven't read yet, and after you're done with those, you can go back to the others and see how they compare.
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