Marty Halpern

Best scifi anthology I have read so far (and I have read plenty, I love anthologies since I think the best form of scifi is the short prose).
From 26 stories there were 4 I did not like (one as expected, since I never ever could like a Doctorow story no matter how often I try), and all the rest were 4 /5 or full 5/5s. That is amazing for me - I do not give 5 stars easily, but obviously Halpern is my doppelganger from beyond the seas in regard to scifi taste - they were EXACTLY the scifi I show more want (realistic, logical, tangible, facts first, surprizing points of view, varied, original but still credible, extra-dark sometimes - no dreamy hippie metaphors here).
I will look for more of Halpern's selections (if there are more) and buy them all! Thank you, scifi doppelganger! show less

I'm not normally much for short story collections, but something about this book just spoke to me, so I couldn't resist taking the chance to read it, especially after seeing such a stellar (if you'll encuse the pun) list of contributing authors. Neil Gaiman, Ursula K LeGuin, Stephen King, and yet more. There's all kinds of talent evident in this collection, and I'll say right off the bat that this is a book that no sci-fi fan should really be without.

The stories contained within the book's show more pages don't keep to one tone or theme beyond "there are aliens, and we know about it." There are stories about people accidentally running across extraterrestrials while on vacation, scientists meeting them for the first time, or cases far into the future where we've been collaborating with aliens for decades. The aliens themselves range from anything that we can recognise in a humanoid shape, which is sometimes disturbing enough, to completely unlike anything we've seen, where the aliens are more blobby insectoids with a hive mind. Sometimes, such as in Stephen King's tale, the aliens are not so much seperate entities as things that possess and twist humans into something new again. The variety here is rich and highly demonstrative of the varying degrees of creativity that can come when a dozen brilliant literary minds look at the same basic concept in a dozen different ways. Sometimes amusing, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes deeply disturbing, always entertaining.

The fun thing that I find about alien encounter stories is that they end up saying more about humanity than about any alien culture we can dream of. Whether it's displaying our own human arrogance about the universe and all within it, or displaying our sheer curiosity about what lies beyond us, all stories I've found that involve humans and some unknown sentient life form end up showcasing humanity in ways that a human-only cast of characters just couldn't. There's suddenly contrast, something to compare ourselves to, which brings out our innate traits in ways that are more difficult in other settings or stories. I find that more than a little fascinating.

As I said previously, this is a book that no science fiction fan can afford to be without. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book, and considering my usual dislike for short story anthologies, I like to think that says a great deal about not just the writers or the editor, but the book as a whole, being more than the sum of its parts. When this one hits the shelves, don't wait to grab a copy for yourself. You won't be disappointed! show less

This collection was supposed to "range in style from dark comedy to laugh-out-loud farce", but in point of fact only one of the 26 was funny (that being Hoffman's piece, of course). According to the preface, these stories are supposed to be an injection of fun into the specfic genre. Judged by that standard, this collection is a miserable failure. (Jeffrey Ford's ridiculous attempts at humor via run-on sentences and pulp fiction cliches are particularly fail-tastic.) That said, there were a show more few stories whose premise or execution set them above the rest.
What I liked:
James Morrow's fertility-obsessed dystopia in "Auspicious Eggs"
Nina Kiriki Hoffman's adorable revenge fantasy set in a Mad-Men like world, "Savage Breasts"
Pat Murphy's "The Wild Girls," another retread of the classic "two kids have an intense friendship that is not understood by the outside world, and explore the woods a lot" trope, but with the extra spice that the kids are girls

The best story in the collection was easily Laurent McAllister's "Kapuzine and the Wolf: a Hortatory Tale." Kapuzine and her older sister Maureen live in the suburbs, where the rebel Woodcutters have pushed back the greenery and the forests and restored mankind's supremacy over nature. As part of a Woodcutter scheme, Kapuzine is sent deep into enemy territory (the City, where Gardeners and their minions reign) with plasticine hidden in her basket of goodies. The world is fascinating, and the tale is told as though it were a legend used as propaganda many years thence. For this story alone, it's worth seeking out [b:witpunk|1822860|Witpunk|Marty Halpern|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1188840116s/1822860.jpg|1822517]. show less

et’s start with the fact that I don’t, as a rule, enjoy speculative short stories. Some of them are fun and entertaining, yes, some make you really think about the world, and most are very well-written and do absolutely nothing for me. A good anthology, for me, will have about 75% of the first two categories. This one… despite its promises of “modern, funny SFF”, only a few had me laughing or gave me the joy and zing I want when I read. A month and a bit later, I can’t even show more remember that many of them without looking at the index. I’m not sure if this is because it’s an older anthology, or because my humour is very twisted sometimes, or because of my usual short story problems, or because it’s pretty heavily male, or what, but …. A few good stories in this one, but on the whole, an average anthology.

5/10 show less