Sunday 15 March 2009

The Mamoth Book of Extreme Sci Fi, edited by Mike Ashley

I find it hard to give an overview of an anthology, particularly one as diverse as this whose stories were chosen specifically because they are unusual. Their very diversity makes it hard to consider the book as a whole. Some of the stories were very good and I cannot remember any bad ones so I guess that makes it a good anthology overall. The list of authors is varied and includes many illustrious names My personal favourites from the collection included Geoffrey Landis's "The Long Chase", Ian McDonald's "The Days of Solomon Gursky" and Greg Bear's "Judgement engine." The last story in particular takes a very ambitious position, set as it is at the end of the universe and deals with big questions of philosophy.