Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0451458591 ISBN 13: 9780451458599

Publisher: Roc Hardcover, 2001

Synopsis

A revolutionary anthology of remarkable works of speculative fiction encompasses contributions by Ursula K. Le Guin, Joyce Carol Oates, Larry Niven, Harry Turtledove, Gregory Benford, Michael Moorcook, Joe Haldeman, Stephen Baxter, Catherine Asaro, and other acclaimed authors.

About this title

About the Author

Al Sarrantonio, the author of twenty-eight books, is a winner of the Bram Stoker Award and has been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award. He is the editor of numerous books, including the highly acclaimed anthology 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense. His short stories have appeared in magazines such as Heavy Metal, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, Analog, Fantastic and Amazing, as well as in anthologies such as The Year’s Best Horror Stories, Visions of Fantasy: Tales from the Masters, Great Ghost Stories, and The Best of Shadows. His best stories have been collected in Toybox.

Reviews

For this big, glitzy original anthology, Sarrantonio asked his contributors to write short stories that could "influence the course of sf for the next twenty-five years." That's a fairly pretentious goal. Sarrantonio's working subtitle was "Dangerous Visions for the New Millennium," a nod to Harlan Ellison's revolutionary 1967 story anthology with subjects and/or styles too hot for publishers at the time. Nowadays, there aren't many taboos in SF, so this anthology mostly shows how accessible formerly "extreme" stories have become. Looked at simply as stories, the contents are occasionally disappointing. Some pieces are included because of the writers' reputations, some have a message that overpowers everything else, some are too brief to be much more than displays of style, and some suffer from multiple weaknesses. But there are excellent stories, too, showing the range of contemporary SF, such as Dan Simmons's tale of a human-alien team of mountain climbers, "On K2 with Kanakaredes," and Stephen Baxter's picture of human nature reasserting itself after extreme distortion, "In the Un-Black." In addition, Gene Wolfe ("Viewpoint") and Rudy Rucker and John Shirley ("Pockets") present message stories with real plots. Greg Benford ("Anomalies") offers a short tale as compact and deadly as a coral snake, while Catherine Wells ("'Bassador") and Neal Barrett Jr. ("Rhido Wars") use mind-stretching prose styles effectively. That's a pretty good average, actually, and the rest are worth reading to see how the writers responded to the editor's challenge. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza. (Dec. 4)horror fiction.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

*Starred Review* Inspired by Harlan Ellison's influential anthology Dangerous Visions (1967), Redshift's intent is to present cutting-edge sf. Editor Sarrantonio points out that Ellison's editorial goal of expanding the very field of speculative fiction always meets a real demand, for science is by nature always changing. Regardless of whether Redshift measures up to Dangerous Visions, it is a well-chosen, satisfyingly hefty anthology of work by a who's who of sf and relative newcomers. Best known of the latter is Joyce Carol Oates, who contributes her first sf story, that of the edgy, creepy, celebratory ritual in "Commencement." The old hands include Ursula K. Le Guin, whose "The Building" is characteristically thoughtful; Larry Niven, with a delicious piece about aliens playing at being gods; and Michael Moorcock, whose "A Slow Saturday Night at the Surrealist Sporting Club" is indubitably . . . Moorcockian. Some of the strongest contributions by newer authors are award-winning Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "Between Disappearances" and "steampunk" pioneer Paul Di Filippo's "Weeping Walls"--not to mention previously unpublished writer Laura Whitton's "Froggies." Cutting-edge often seems to mean risque language and taboo subjects. Dangerous Visions obliged, and so does Redshift, yet even its most risque story is beautifully crafted. Humor is here in plenty, too, and many thoughtful, atmospheric pieces that will haunt your mental landscape for days. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Dan Simmons's exhilarating story of a unique mountain-climbing expedition ("On K2 with Kanakaredes") kicks off this collection of original short speculative fiction that includes contributions by Gregory Benford, Michael Moorcock, Harry Turtledove, Ardath Mayhar, and other groundbreaking authors of sf and imaginative fiction. Featuring three novellas, 22 short stories, and five novelettes, this anthology exhibits a wide variety of styles and topics and aptly demonstrates the cutting edge of the genre. Recommended for most sf or short story collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Roc Hardcover
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451458591
• ISBN 13: 9780451458599
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 608
• Editor: Al Sarrantonio