Wastelands

Starred review from November 26, 2007
This harrowing reprint anthology of 22 apocalyptic tales reflects the stresses of contemporary international politics, with more than half published since 2000. All depict unsettling societal, physical and psychological adaptations their authors postulate as necessary for survival after the end of the world. Keynoted by Stephen King’s “The End of the Whole Mess,” the volume’s common denominator is hubris: that tragic human proclivity for placing oneself at the center of the universe, and each story uniquely traces the results. Some highlight human hope, even optimism, like Orson Scott Card’s “Salvage” and Tobias Buckell’s “Waiting for the Zephyr.” Others, like James Van Pelt’s “The Last of the O-Forms” and Nancy Kress’s “Inertia,” treat identity by exploring mutation. Several, like Elizabeth Bear’s “And the Deep Blue Sea” and Jack McDevitt’s “Never Despair,” gauge the height of human striving, while others, like George R.R. Martin’s “Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels,” Carol Emshwiller’s “Killers” and M. Rickert’s “Bread and Bombs,” plumb the depths of human prejudice, jealousy and fear. Beware of Paolo Bacigalupi’s far-future “The People of Sand and Slag,” though; that one will break your heart.

January 15, 2008
From Steven King's take on the end of humanity through science gone wrong ("The End of the Whole Mess") to John Langan's horrific tale of a small group's valiant last stand against an unbeatable enemy ("Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers"), the 22 stories in this end-of-days anthology run the gamut from nuclear devastation to environmental debacle to the Second Coming. Also featuring Orson Scott Card, Octavia E. Butler, and Gene Wolfe, and including an original story by Jerry Oltion ("Judgement Passed"), this title belongs in most sf or short fiction collections.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2008
With this well-chosen set of postapocalyptic stories, editor Adams provides a bit of everything that is best about the trope, from bleak, empty worlds to beacons of hope in an otherwise awful situation. Only Jerry Oltions Judgment Passed, about what happens when a space expedition returns to an Earth to which Jesus has returned, and the rapture has come without them, is original to the collection. Stephen Kings bleak The End of the Whole Mess opens, John Langans much more recent Episode Seven: Last Stand against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers closes, and they are wildly different. Highlights in between include Octavia Butlers Speech Sounds, in which civilization has ended because a disease has made most people unable to talk, read, or do any number of once-taken-for-granted things, and Elizabeth Bears And the Deep Blue Sea, a brilliant take on a world laid waste and a devils bargain that treads in Roger Zelaznys manic footsteps. A well-chosen selection of well-crafted stories, offering something to please nearly every postapocalyptic palate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)