Full Spectrum 5

“The most important original anthology series in [science fiction].”—The Washington Post Book World
 
The winner of three consecutive Locus Awards, nominated ten times for Hugo and Nebula Awards, Full Spectrum is the most critically acclaimed original science fiction anthology series published today.

Now Full Spectrum returns its fifth incarnation, with twenty-eight cutting-edge stories that range from Gene Wolfe’s unforgettable tale of snowbound cabin where a man receives a terrifying and wondrous visitation, to Michael Bishop’s furiously funny fable of a Supreme Being named Joe who barges onto a cable talk show to relinquish his job to humanity, to Jean-Claude Dunyach’s shattered landscape fit only for macabre performance artists and the roving camera-eyes that broadcast their art and their deaths.

Diverse, original, and provocative, here is a full spectrum of short science fiction as practiced by today’s best writers.
 
Featuring: William Barton · Doug Beason · Michael Bishop · Mark Bourne · Richard Bowes · Emily Devenport · Jean-Claude Dunyach · Lauren Fitzgerald · Karen Joy Fowler · Jean Mark Gawron · Michael Gust · Howard V. Hendrix · John M. Landsberg · Andrew Lane · Jonathan Lethem · Karawynn Long · Pat McEwen · Lisa Mason · Patricia A. McKillip · Paul Park · Alan Rodgers · Neal Stephenson · S. A. Stolnack · Tricia Sullivan · William John Watkins · Lawrence Watt-Evans · Gene Wolfe · Pat York

Among the handful of sf anthologies that consist solely of previously unpublished fiction, Full Spectrum reigns supreme. As the title suggests, the anthology's contents cover a broad range of cutting-edge sf and fantasy, and the editors give special consideration to innovation and craftsmanship. The fifth FS includes only a few veterans (e.g., Michael Bishop, Gene Wolfe), filling out the volume with bright offerings from relative newcomers such as Neal Stephenson, Jonathan Lethem, and Karen Joy Fowler. Examples of the collection's imaginative range include S. A. Stolnack's story about a virtual reality device that allows one to step inside the paintings of Monet and Matisse, Pat York's vision of a surrealistic future when fashion has assumed religious significance, and John M. Landsberg's account of the effect a sophisticated alien weapon has on an Indian tribe of the 1600s. All 28 stories exemplify the best in imaginative short fiction and together serve as a reliable indicator of the leading edge of sf and fantasy. Carl Hays

Contributions by Michael Bishop ("Simply Indispensable"), Patricia A. McKillip ("Wonders of the Invisible World"), Lisa Mason ("The Sixty-Third Anniversary of Hysteria"), and other contemporary sf authors enrich this volume of 28 original tales. One of the genre's strongest collections, this title is a good addition to most libraries.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.