Customer Reviews

Eclipse One : New Science Fiction And Fantasy (v. 1)

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I am more of a fan of "hard" science fiction, but bought this kind of on a whim. It wasn't really for me. I'm willing to take a risk on anthologies because if a writer's style or whatever doesn't grab me, I can just go to the next story. The problem with this book was that most of the stories didn't work for me. Make sure you are familiar with a few of the writers before you buy this, if you like their work I'm sure you will like the book. Oh well, live and learn...

After decades of reading science fiction anthologies, this is the first I've seen from an editor in Perth Australia. The stories are drawn from all over the world. With a few set in Australia, which American or British readers might not typically encounter.

But the overall impression is disappointing. To be sure, the editor states that he includes both science fiction and fantasy; as ecumenical as can be. However, there was nothing in any of the selections that seemed memorable to me. One example was a story set in the near future [2014 or so], in the aftermath of dirty bombs exploding in an American city. Where a kid became separated from his family and then developed an amensia, totally forgetting them. Banal and boring. What did the editor see in this tripe?

The most interesting was a horror-type scenario of grave robbers and teeth robbers, in escapades spanning decades. It has some evocations of the classic "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" by Robert Bloch. Alas, it fell far short in drama. Granted, it may be unfair to compare a story with Bloch's timeless tale, but I am comparing to the best.

Yes, the authors of this book include some first rank writers, like Bruce Sterling and Lucius Shepard. But their contributions might well disappoint their fans.

This is one of the best original anthologies that I have read in some time. Several of the stories here made my Hugo nominations ballot. I am not a huge fan of fantasy, but I loved "The Last and Only, or Mr. Moscowitz Becomes French" by Peter S. Beagle, "In the Forest of the Queen" by Gwyneth Jones, and "Larissa Miusov" by Lucius Shepard. Considering all the bad short fiction that I have read in other anthologies, this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Bravo, Johnathan!