Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“The future may make these famous stories facts of history!”

Man Against Tomorrow by William F. Nolan (Editor)

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This was honestly a pleasant surprise in my continual quest to work through the classic SF/F collections in my possession. I think this is in large part attributable to the fact it’s from 1965, so is pre-New Wave. This era clicks with me, as does contemporary sci-fi/fantasy. It’s really only the 1970s and a chunk of the 1980s where I run aground. Man Against Tomorrow is a reprint collection which I enjoyed almost every story in, a real achievement in my opinion. The one con […]

A Very Solid SF Short Story Collection

The 1976 Annual World's Best SF by Donald A. Wollheim (Editor)

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I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the stories chosen for this collection. As I work through the SFF paperbacks I’ve inherited from my parents, I often end up slogging through some very boring or irritating stories from this era, which was a rough one for the field in my opinion. The New Wave and I do not mix. It could be that by 1976 it was on its way out and that’s why I liked these stories better. You can actually tell what’s […]

(Most of) The Improbable Meet-Cute Collection

Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne

Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jiminez

Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory

The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren

With Any Luck by Ashley Poston

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“Improbable Meet Cute” is a great concept for a short story/not quite a novella collection! The “Amazon Original Stories” branding makes me nervous because it just screams “Do it for the publicity instead of the money because we said so!”,  so I made a point of paying for all five stories to support the authors. In reviewing them, I am tried to decide if they should be appreciated as a delightful, self-contained jewel or as something that leaves you wanting more like a  novella or even […]

No More Robert Bloch For Me

More Nightmares by Robert Bloch

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This is my second time reading a collection of Robert Bloch short stories and my last. His stories are never real standouts for me and there was one in particular in this collection that was so racist it turned me off of him completely as a writer. The cover is great, though, very eye-catching and a fun example of classic 1960s SF/F art. I wish they listed who did it in the copyright page, but at this time I guess it was seen as work […]

Trying to Come Up With Some Pros Here

Orbit 10 by Damon Knight (Editor)

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I’m going to try to list some pros here so that this is not yet another one of my reviews about how I’m grimly slogging through these 1960s/1970s collections (this one in particular is from 1972, so the worst of both worlds). Pro: the cover is very fun and mysterious. I like that it shows a weird space world and I like a painted cover, so this is a win in my book. The cover text is a nice font and has a strong impact. […]

“The stories in this anthology trust their worlds and characters completely, and because we can sense the author’s confidence, we are willing to trust them in return.”

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 by Edited by R.F. Kuang

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This is always one of the highlights of my reading year; I do love a SF/F collection and the contemporary field really clicks with me (more than those 1960s/1970s collections I keep subjecting myself to). John Joseph Adams does a great job setting this up, reviewing all the stories of the year (a gargantuan task), and providing the series editor with 80 stories to choose from. I like seeing what the year’s editor has to say and what picks they make. Having a different editor […]



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