Review of Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

Wastelands

Anthology books can often be a tough read because the tone can shift sharply from one author to the next. The editor of an anthology shares in my mind the majority of the responsibility for the success or failure of the collection. Add to this the subject matter of the end of the world (where stories can range in tone from deadly serious to farcical) and you have the potential for an uneven, scattershot collection. Thankfully, John Joseph Adams’ collection Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse is a taunt, often harrowing view of the aftermath of a lost world.

Review of Death Be Not Proud

     Death Be Not Proud (P.S.)

      When a writer wants to tell the truth, they write fiction but when they want to tell a good story, they write nonfiction. A good story can be made of many parts, equal in measure to the subject on whom it is based. John Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud is a great story based on a tragedy that I cannot even begin to imagine: the slow, deteriorating death of one’s child.