john joseph adams – Cannonball Read 17

A pretty disappointing anthology, to be honest.

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by ed. Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams

May 21, 2024 by narfna Leave a Comment

While there were a handful of really good stories in here, overall I was disappointed with this collection. Way too many confusing or unsatisfying endings. (This was edited by Jordan Peele, but also by John Joseph Adams, whose anthologies in the past I have not really liked, either, and I wish I would have known he was involved before I read it. Would have had more accurate expectations.) “Reckless Eyeballing,” N.K. Jemisin — Okayyyy, but what does it meaaaan. 4/5 stars “Eye & Tooth,” Rebecca Roanhorse — The […]

The dinosaurs never discovered what caused their extinction, either.

Wastelands by John Joseph Adams (ed.)

April 25, 2019 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This is a strange collection of odds and ends of “apocalyptic” writing or stories of the apocalypse. The writers here include Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Octavia Butler, Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Bear, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin, and various others (many of whom I don’t know very well). Oh, and I forgot Cory Doctorow. So the collection, like any collection is hit and miss. I think the most common kinds of misses, for me, are the ones in which everything is bad and terrible […]

Days of Future Past

A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers by Victor LaValle

March 14, 2019 by Classic Leave a Comment

FYI, the cover of this in person is so cool. You eventually can see the word “history” hidden behind “future”. Wow. What a great collection. I didn’t give any story less than four stars. Some stories resonated with me very much because some of them read as things that could totally happen in a year or less with the ways things are going on in the United States right now. Other stories had a very strong fantasy element (which I liked) but didn’t seem […]

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015

June 11, 2017 by The Chancellor Leave a Comment

I’ve been working reading more contemporary Sci Fi/Fantasy and “The Best American” series is a great resource. The 2015 edition was the first year they’ve compiled an anthology for these genres and it was good premiere. At the outset, they explain the complexities of having an anthology that encompasses both Science Fiction and Fantasy; each one has elements of the other. The editors provide a cursory explanation of each genre, however, without being too technical. It was entertaining to try and guess into which some […]

An epic fantasy anthology, cherry-picked from other sources.

February 28, 2015 by narfna 2 Comments

This was a pretty great anthology. I was probably destined to like it because it’s pretty hard for me to dislike most kinds of fantasy. This is also different than some anthologies because the editor didn’t commission pieces for this book, but collected them from other already published sources. I sampled a lot of authors I’ve been meaning to try for some time, although I’m annoyed that some of the stories occur halfway through a series or something like that. If you like Epic fantasy […]

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