Ruined Cities edited by James Tallett (2013) – I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this anthology before. I like beginning writers and original stories, so independent publications’ short story collections are right up my alley. I’m not wild about dystopian or post-apocalyptic stories, but this one is large and meaty (420 pages) and has some exceptional writing. I’ll talk about a few of my favorites. “The City Over Hell” by Jennifer Povey – A young illiterate girl discovers her city is actually a dying space […]
Okay, But I Have Questions
So, this series apparently got a lot of hype when the first book, The Passage, first came out. I was, presumably, living under a rock at the time, and so hadn’t heard of it. In fact, I didn’t really hear about the series until the final book came out, at which point I decided to read them all. And, well, the first half of the first book was great, the second half was good. The second book was okay, verging on bad and the third book was […]
Say Hello to My Little Friend
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (2008, but originally published in 1978) – First of all, I’ll admit to being a big Vonda N. McIntyre fan since I read this in the seventies and loved it. It’s one of her earliest works (and a Nebula and Hugo winner). I’ve always enjoyed her Star Trek movie adaptations and consider her to be one of the best writers around. In this post-apocalyptic world (it might be Earth or it might not), Snake, a healer who uses snakes who […]
You are saving their lives for a life not worth living
Bird Box is proof that you don’t need to be inventive to be creative and thrilling. There is nothing new in this novel that hasn’t been introduced by someone else, and yet it’s a phenomenal and magical combination of a whole pile of often-used ingredients. It’s haunting, and tense, and violent, and touching. Without dropping too many spoilers, I’ll say that this is the story of a young woman who survives a world-ending event along with a handful of strangers who find themselves tied to […]
You are entering the Red Zone. Proceed at own risk. When in doubt, run.
I consider myself very lucky that I discovered Justin Cronin’s “The Passage” series only last summer, so the wait for City of Mirrors was much less painful and dramatic than it would have been if I’d been reading in real time: The Passage was published in 2010 and The Twelve in 2012. City of Mirrors came out four weeks ago. That’s not on a George R. R. Martin level, but still could have been a brutal wait for me. Whew! I love this series. I […]
This is not my first apocalypse
As a fan of post-apocalypse fiction who cut her literary teeth on Stephen King, it was nearly impossible for me not to compare this book to The Stand. Both tell the story of a worldwide global Armageddon and its aftermath. Both follow the forces of good and evil as they converge for a final confrontation. Despite those very big similarities, they are very different books. In fact, I could probably write a short essay comparing the two. But since this review is supposed to […]