Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon - these are our guides through the Wastelands... From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Watch the spoilers:
I don't have much substantive to add to the many reviews here. I was pleasantly diverted and can't think of any better collection devoted specifically to post apocalyptic fiction. My comment is for anyone reading a collection edited by Mr. Adams. I can now be assured of this as I have read By Blood We Live and one of his zombie anthologies. Mr. Adams must like these stories so much he just has to show the reader how much he gets it and what context they are coming from. As a consequence his... more info
Plenty o' Post-Apocalyptica:
Post-apocalyptic stories are always popular in genre fiction. This is a collection of recent tales (all reprints) in that subgenre. Stephen King's "The End of the Whole Mess," printed a while back in NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES, leads off, and is a good one. Among the other stories that I really liked in this volume are:
"Waiting for the Zephyr" by Tobias S. Buckell -- This rather optimistic, Bradburyesque tale involves land-sailboats.
"Never Despair" by Jack McDevitt -- A woman on a... more info
It's the end of the world as we know it (not)!:
Agood range of stories relating to the end of the world and how the characters cope. The stories range from very good to awful, but there's only a couple of stinkers, and they make the others stand out even more. If you're sick of family, colleagues, friends and other people in general, this is a book about the ultimate life style change.
Good Book:
So far this is a great book, Many good writers. looking forward to finishing it.
