The End Is Now

This is a second in a series of short story anthologies called the "Apocalypse Triptych." The first volume contained stories that occurred just before an apocalyptic event. This stories in this volume take place during the apocalypse, and many continue from where the stories in Volume 1 left off.

This collection was not as strong as the first volume. There are fewer stories, for one thing, and despite the intention that they stand alone, many suffer from being in the middle--they don't feel truly complete. I skipped a couple of continuing stories when I didn't care for the opening in the first collection. The strongest stories were again by Tananarive Due and Seanan McGuire; both were nicely horrific, and neither were about zombies. show more Yes, there were several zombie stories. What is the fascination with zombies, anyway? I personally have had enough to last a lifetime.

I will probably continue on with the third volume, just to see how my favorite stories end. show less

I didn't like this one nearly as much as the first volume in the "Triptych", and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it has been too long since I read the first book. Perhaps it was that I lost the connection with the characters from the first group of stories (several of the stories in this volume didn't even have the same main characters). Perhaps I like the intensity of knowing that some great disaster/invasion/event is coming and how people react to that pressure. Nonetheless, I ended up skimming over many of the stories here. Hopefully, the next volume will tie everything together.
My favorites here were "Fruiting Bodies" by Seanan McGuire, "Agent Isolated" by David Wellington, and "In the Mountain" by Hugh Howey.

I didn't like this one nearly as much as the first volume in the "Triptych", and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it has been too long since I read the first book. Perhaps it was that I lost the connection with the characters from the first group of stories (several of the stories in this volume didn't even have the same main characters). Perhaps I like the intensity of knowing that some great disaster/invasion/event is coming and how people react to that pressure. Nonetheless, I ended up skimming over many of the stories here. Hopefully, the next volume will tie everything together.
My favorites here were "Fruiting Bodies" by Seanan McGuire, "Agent Isolated" by David Wellington, and "In the Mountain" by Hugh Howey.

This is a second volume of The Apocalypse Triptych. If the first volume set its stories just prior to apocalyptic event of some sort, the second is set during the apocalypse, or at least this was the intention of editors, who collected the stories. In reality it is hard to pinpoint the moment or even period of the great disaster, thus actually I’d say some of the stories are post-apocalyptic, not apocalyptic if such a distinction can be made.

The volume has fewer stories than the first and almost all stories are a continuation of some sort of stories from the first volume. Several stories have the same protagonists but the majority are just set in the same universe as their predecessors. I think it is a good thing because it gives more show more liberty to the authors, who if they want may e.g. kill their protagonist in the end.

It is easy to write an apocalyptic story – just throw in some calamity, a brave or lucky survivor and a few bits of this and that. However, it is hard to write a good apocalyptic story, which goes beyond ‘a single tear ran on his chick as he watched the birth of new world’. I think that most authors presented in this book wrote good ones.

My personal favorites are:
• Herd Immunity by Tananarive Due a story of survivors and longing. I haven’t selected Due’s story in the first volume in my short list, but this one I cannot leave out.
• Fruiting Bodies by Seanan McGuire, where flesh-eating mold takes over the world. I also haven’t selected McGuire’s story in the first volume in my short list, assuming t a bit lame, but the second one is quite solid.
• Angels Of The Apocalypse by Nancy Kress, where peaceful new generation that is unable to protect themselves is protected.
• Agent Isolated by David Wellington, where zombie apocalypse is dealt not like in the movies but on really industrial scale.
• The Gods Will Not Be Slain by Ken Liu, where human-based AI war among themselves
• Dancing With Batgirl In The Land Of Nod by Will McIntosh, another great instalment on how people behave when the world is over.
• To Wrestle Not Against Flesh And Blood by Desirina Boskovich, an alien invasion vs crazy rednecks
• In The Mountain by Hugh Howey, on whether it is worth to live if the world is over
• Dear John by Robin Wasserman, a series to letters of survivor to her (presumably dead) boyfriends show less

A great anthology; I thoroughly enjoyed every story. Of special note: Fruiting Bodies by Seanan McGuire; Agent Isolated by David Wellington; The Gods Will Not be Slain by Ken Liu; In the Mountain by Hugh Howey.

The second book in the Apocalypse Triptych doesn't disappoint just as the first didn't either. Many of the stories here continue from before and should finish with the third creating a view of the end from start to finish. From some well established authors to a few obscure ones there isn't really any of the stories that disappoint here.

Anxiously waiting for the final installment.

I read these 3 books ([b:The End is Nigh|18870640|The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378542s/18870640.jpg|26869750], [b:The End is Now|18870656|The End is Now (The Apocalypse Triptych, #2)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378585s/18870656.jpg|26869773], [b:The End Has Come|18870662|The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378625s/18870662.jpg|26869779]) simultaneously, aided by a spreadsheet (feel free to copy/use) that I created to keep track of the individual authors’ series. Overall, I found nearly all series to be at least minimally enjoyable.

Thanks to my spreadsheet, I was show more able to determine the average rating of the stories for each book:

[b:The End is Nigh|18870640|The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378542s/18870640.jpg|26869750] - 4.5, which I’ll round up to 5 Stars
[b:The End is Now|18870656|The End is Now (The Apocalypse Triptych, #2)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378585s/18870656.jpg|26869773] - 4.5, which I’ll round up to 5 Stars
[b:The End Has Come|18870662|The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378625s/18870662.jpg|26869779] - 4.3, which I’ll round down to 4 Stars

These are the 3-story series that I liked the best:

Ken Liu - The Gods Will Not Be Chained / THE GODS WILL NOT BE SLAIN / THE GODS HAVE NOT DIED IN VAIN

Tananarive Due - Removal Order / HERD IMMUNITY / CARRIERS

Hugh Howey - In the Air / IN THE MOUNTAIN / IN THE WOODS

Annie Bellet - Goodnight Moon / GOODNIGHT STARS /GOODNIGHT EARTH

Nancy Kress - Pretty Soon the Four Horsemen are Going to Come Riding Through / ANGELS OF THE APOCALYPSE / BLESSINGS

Seanan McGuire - Spores / FRUITING BODIES / RESISTANCE

Sarah Langan - Love Perverts / BLACK MONDAY / PROTOTYPE

My least favorite:
Jamie Ford - This Unkempt World is Falling to Pieces / BY THE HAIR OF THE MOON / THE UNCERTAINTY MACHINE


Standalone stories

[b:The End is Nigh|18870640|The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378542s/18870640.jpg|26869750]
Best:
Matthew Mather - Enlightenment
Tobias S. Buckell - System Reset

Worst: Paolo Bacigalupi - Shooting the Apocalypse

[b:The End is Now|18870656|The End is Now (The Apocalypse Triptych, #2)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378585s/18870656.jpg|26869773]
Best: (None)
Worst: Daniel H. Wilson - AVTOMAT

[b:The End Has Come|18870662|The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3)|John Joseph Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392378625s/18870662.jpg|26869779]
Best: Carrie Vaughn - BANNERLESS
Worst: Chris Avellone - ACTS OF CREATION show less