Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse by John Joseph AdamsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
3 stars on my scale is a book I enjoyed, but would not read again. That is a pretty accurate assessment of my experience with this book.
Most of the stories in this collection were pretty good. As expected, Stephen King and George R.R. Martin had entries that hit it out of the ball park. The rest of the stories were intriguing and thought provoking.
Three stories stuck out as being truly sub-par within the context of this collection.
Salvage by Orson Scott Card - The nut of this story is that you shouldn't be surprised if you don't fit in with the dominant group if you don't share the dominant group's religion. Please, keep religion out of science (fiction).
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow - The nut of this story is that as the world failed, a group of sysadmins kept the internet alive due to their presence in over pressured server farms. The excess air pressure kept the bug that was killing everyone out. There were two obvious holes in the plot. 1) that there would be enough server farms with auxiliary power supplies to maintain some sort of network. 2) that a bunch of computer geeks writing lengthy treatises could create a better world.
I am those geeks. Even I know better.
Killers by Carol Emshwiller - Combines all of the worst propaganda about PTSD with the worst propaganda about climate change. Erg.
Those three stories aside, give this collection a chance. I'm sure you will find quite a few very thought inspiring stories.
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