Rick Klaw

I must make a small confession: I'm not an ape person. I like 'em just fine, and they're interesting and all, but left to my own devices, it's cephalopods all the way. Still, I have numerous friends (I can think of nine off the top of my head) who are Monkey Boys through and through. The question is, can this anthology satisfy the Monkey Boys out there while still entertaining those of us not quite so close to the topic?

The answer is a resounding “yes!”

From James P. Blaylock's show more steampunk-flavored romp of an opening to Karen Joy Fowler's bittersweet conclusion, The Apes of Wrath is a joyride, a roller-coaster that makes you shriek, makes you laugh, and, like those old funhouse mirrors of Ray Bradbury, shows you things about yourself that you might not be all that happy to see.

All of the stories here appear with their original attitudes intact, which can be difficult to read. As Rupert Wyatt points out in his foreword, part of our historical fascination with apes is how close they are to us: how familiar the gestures; how recognizable the expressions.

Apes have been used as a stand-in for many things through the years, including some of our less enlightened attitudes towards members of our own species. But I think that it's important that we look at these attitudes, even if we now (rightly) decry those attitudes. How can we chart a path to better understanding and behavior if we can't clearly see where we've been?

Some of my favorite stories are Blaylock's Victorian slapstick “The Ape-Box Affair,” Pat Murphy's devastating story of a little girl's consciousness transplanted to a chimpanzee “Rachel in Love,” Howard Waldrop's monster-movie saturated “Dr. Hudson's Secret Gorilla,” and Joe R. Lansdale's profane and hilarious tale of monsters in recovery “Godzilla's Twelve-step Program.”

I also love the non-fiction essays giving us the history of apes in literature, in comics, and on film. A little context is a beautiful thing.

I am a sucker for a good anthology. Show me an interesting theme, unfamiliar stories and authors nestled up against old favorites, and a good flow from one story to the next and I'm in love. The Apes of Wrath by Rick Klaw manages all of that and manages to be darn pretty to look at, too.

(This review originally appeared on RevolutionSF.com) show less

Collection of SF ape stories from throughout history, along with a number of essays on apes as portrayed in literature and film. Interesting stuff. Pretty sure this was intended to fit in with the Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie. If so, well done. I liked the collection overall, although some did not age well from their original publication. I think my favorite was Lansdale's "Godzilla's Twelve-Step Program." YMMV.

There were a few authors I was familiar with in this collection of short stories like, Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Phillip Jose Farmer, Robert E. Howard, and Franz Kafka. The stories I liked best was Edgar Rice Burroughs “ Tarzan in Love”, Philip Jose Farmers “After Kong Fell”, Robert E. Howards “Red Shadows”, Pat Murphy’s “ Rachel In Love”, and Joe R. Lansdale’s “Godzilla’s Twelve Step Program”.
All in all this was a pretty good selection of stories and show more some of the essays that talked about the Ape in literature and movies were interesting. show less