Diverse Energies
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-A variety of characters populates the well-written, future-set short stories in this aptly named anthology. Protagonists represent different ages, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. They all exist in unique, fully dimensional, and bleak worlds that are populated by children held in slavery, street people, the underprivileged, time travelers, and heroes who courageously fight to improve humanity's plight. The thread that binds these selections is the bravery of the main characters. Whether facing governmental, societal, or individual corruption, the protagonists find their own way to rise above it. Malinda Lo's "Good Girl" is a particularly engaging tale about an obedient daughter whose search for her missing brother leads her to an underground world that reveals some startling truths about her identity and the government. Daniel H. Wilson's "Freshee's Frogurt" stands out with its distinctive format; it's written as an interview conducted by a police officer investigating a robot-gone-rogue case. Each story entertains and provides the opportunity for underrepresented readers to find themselves on the pages. Contributors range from newly published authors to award winners, such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Cindy Pon. A first purchase for collections needing diversity titles or where short stories and dystopia are popular.-Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CTα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining science fiction anthology with a multi-racial theme
November 23, 2012
By CurlyGeek04
Format:Kindle Edition
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. It's a science fiction anthology that includes stories from Paolo Bacigalupi and Ursula LeGuin. While I don't read a lot of anthologies, I like the idea of finding new authors to read. The theme of this anthology is diversity. Its editor, Tobias S. Buckell, who is Caribbean and British, explains that he wants science fiction to represent many races and cultures, not just one.
This anthology introduced me to new ideas and authors, and scary visions of the future that could very well exist. I skipped around a little, and there are a couple of stories I didn't finish. A few stories I didn't like at first but once I gave them ten pages I was deeply drawn into them. I definitely enjoyed the book as a whole, not just for the statement it's making, but because it's good sci-fi/dystopian fiction. If you like your science fiction heavy on science and technology, this won't be the book for you. But if you're looking for good fiction about strange worlds and cultures, or what race and class conflicts might look like in the future, you'll enjoy this.
Some of my favorites:
"The Last Day" by Ellen Oh. Set in Japan, this story is the closest thing I've ever seen to what it might feel like to be around when a nuclear bomb goes off. I won't forget this story any time soon.
"Good Girl" by Malinda Lo. About a dystopian future where mixed-ethnicity people are considered to have terminal illnesses and forced to live underground. And there's an outside world that nobody's seen.
"A Pocket Full of Dharma" by Paolo Bacigalupi. If you've read Pump Six, Bacigalupi's book of short stories, you'll be disappointed because this story comes from that book. A fascinating story though and one of the best in this collection.... Read more ›
This anthology introduced me to new ideas and authors, and scary visions of the future that could very well exist. I skipped around a little, and there are a couple of stories I didn't finish. A few stories I didn't like at first but once I gave them ten pages I was deeply drawn into them. I definitely enjoyed the book as a whole, not just for the statement it's making, but because it's good sci-fi/dystopian fiction. If you like your science fiction heavy on science and technology, this won't be the book for you. But if you're looking for good fiction about strange worlds and cultures, or what race and class conflicts might look like in the future, you'll enjoy this.
Some of my favorites:
"The Last Day" by Ellen Oh. Set in Japan, this story is the closest thing I've ever seen to what it might feel like to be around when a nuclear bomb goes off. I won't forget this story any time soon.
"Good Girl" by Malinda Lo. About a dystopian future where mixed-ethnicity people are considered to have terminal illnesses and forced to live underground. And there's an outside world that nobody's seen.
"A Pocket Full of Dharma" by Paolo Bacigalupi. If you've read Pump Six, Bacigalupi's book of short stories, you'll be disappointed because this story comes from that book. A fascinating story though and one of the best in this collection.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A dark collection of dystopian short stories, with diverse settings & characters - some stories I loved more than others, but overall, I would recommend this book. Below is a recap mf my thoughts on each of the stories.
The Last Day, Ellen Oh. What a way to start off this collection of short stories. This dystopian society is damn dreary and depressing ... kind of the tone of the entire collection. It's an alternate history of WWII set in Japan. The World has been divided into 2 super-powers - The President of the West and The Emperor of the East - and they are at war. Nobody is winning, and The Emperor has resorted to forcibly drafting kids as young as 12.
Freshee's Frogurt, Daniel H. Wilson. This story seemed out of place, lacking both diversity and a strong dystopian society. In it, a convenience store clerk tells a detective how he ended up in the hospital thanks to a malfunctioning domestic robot ... apparently the first of many incidents. This is an exerpt from Robopocalypse.
Uncertainty Principle, K. Tempest Bradford. Excellent story that left me hoping this gets turned into a full length novel. A teenager, Iliana, experiences 'temporal shifts' where she experiences something that causes a change in the World, but nobody else sees it.
Pattern Recognition, Ken Liu. Kids in an orphanage are told that they've been rescued from a hellish world outside, and are made to play video games all day. But only later do the children find out the truth. Gripping, and I liked the emotional conflict at the end - are they being used and abused, or are they better off because they have been removed from their damaged environments?!
Gods of the Dimming Light, Greg van Eekhout.... Read more ›
The Last Day, Ellen Oh. What a way to start off this collection of short stories. This dystopian society is damn dreary and depressing ... kind of the tone of the entire collection. It's an alternate history of WWII set in Japan. The World has been divided into 2 super-powers - The President of the West and The Emperor of the East - and they are at war. Nobody is winning, and The Emperor has resorted to forcibly drafting kids as young as 12.
Freshee's Frogurt, Daniel H. Wilson. This story seemed out of place, lacking both diversity and a strong dystopian society. In it, a convenience store clerk tells a detective how he ended up in the hospital thanks to a malfunctioning domestic robot ... apparently the first of many incidents. This is an exerpt from Robopocalypse.
Uncertainty Principle, K. Tempest Bradford. Excellent story that left me hoping this gets turned into a full length novel. A teenager, Iliana, experiences 'temporal shifts' where she experiences something that causes a change in the World, but nobody else sees it.
Pattern Recognition, Ken Liu. Kids in an orphanage are told that they've been rescued from a hellish world outside, and are made to play video games all day. But only later do the children find out the truth. Gripping, and I liked the emotional conflict at the end - are they being used and abused, or are they better off because they have been removed from their damaged environments?!
Gods of the Dimming Light, Greg van Eekhout.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Oh anthologies... you are so difficult to review. Diverse Energies was an anthology that appealed to me because I usually do enjoy dystopian stories, but have been a little burnt out on them and it focused on stories from underrepresented cultures.
But the thing about reviewing anthologies is that I feel differently about all of the stories in it. I thought that some were very strong and some seemed very weak. The anthology opened on a strong note with Ellen Oh's The Last Day, though and with that note in mind, I kept reading even when the stories were a bit weaker. But let's break it down to the strongest and the weakest points...
Favorite stories:
Good Girl by Malinda Lo- Lo managed to create a vivid and bleak world in only pages and the allure between Kyle and Nix jumps from the page.
Blue Skies by Cindy Pon- Her main character is so interesting. He does something technically "bad," but I couldn't judge him for it. I loved how so much of this story is about just... wistfulness, I guess? That's not quite the right word, but that's close to it. Pon's character wants higher standing, wants blue skies and I loved the ending to the story as well.
Least favorite story:
Freshee's Frogurt by Daniel H. Wilson- I nearly put the book down and this was the second story. I kept having to remind myself that the first story was strong, and I'm glad I did so as I discovered several stories that I really enjoyed. Freshee's Frogurt was told like a police interview and seemed so stilted. Perhaps because it's technically all dialogue, but the voice of the main character in this anthology irritated me beyond measure.
To sum up: A little uneven, but that tends to happen in anthologies. I'd recommend this one if you're tiring of dystopians.... Read more ›
But the thing about reviewing anthologies is that I feel differently about all of the stories in it. I thought that some were very strong and some seemed very weak. The anthology opened on a strong note with Ellen Oh's The Last Day, though and with that note in mind, I kept reading even when the stories were a bit weaker. But let's break it down to the strongest and the weakest points...
Favorite stories:
Good Girl by Malinda Lo- Lo managed to create a vivid and bleak world in only pages and the allure between Kyle and Nix jumps from the page.
Blue Skies by Cindy Pon- Her main character is so interesting. He does something technically "bad," but I couldn't judge him for it. I loved how so much of this story is about just... wistfulness, I guess? That's not quite the right word, but that's close to it. Pon's character wants higher standing, wants blue skies and I loved the ending to the story as well.
Least favorite story:
Freshee's Frogurt by Daniel H. Wilson- I nearly put the book down and this was the second story. I kept having to remind myself that the first story was strong, and I'm glad I did so as I discovered several stories that I really enjoyed. Freshee's Frogurt was told like a police interview and seemed so stilted. Perhaps because it's technically all dialogue, but the voice of the main character in this anthology irritated me beyond measure.
To sum up: A little uneven, but that tends to happen in anthologies. I'd recommend this one if you're tiring of dystopians.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed Collection of POC SFF
DIVERSE ENERGIES is like a Halloween trick-or-treat bag: you get some real good `uns, but you also get some duds that you always kind of throw back into the bag and hope that you... Read more
Published 3 months ago by S. Su
4.0 out of 5 stars
A review from Bookworm1858
I was grabbed by the mention of three of these authors who have either written books I enjoyed or have written books I hope to read soon (those three being Ellen Oh, Malinda Lo,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by bookworm1858
