Fast Forward 2 [Paperback]

Lou Anders (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2008

When Fast Forward 1 debuted in February 2007, it marked the first major all-original, all-SF anthology series to appear in some time and it was met with a huge outpouring of excitement and approbation from the science fiction community. No less than seven stories from Fast Forward 1 were chosen to be reprinted a total of nine times in the four major Best of the Year retrospective anthologies, a wonderful testament to the quality of contributions in our inaugural book. What's more, Fast Forward 1 was hailed repeatedly as leading the charge in a return of original, unthemed anthologies series (several more have since appeared in our wake). Now the critically-acclaimed, groundbreaking series continues, featuring all new stories from: Paul Cornell, Kay Kenyon, Chris Nakashima-Brown, Nancy Kress, Jack Skillingstead, Cory Doctorow and Benjamin Rosenbaum, Jack McDevitt, Paul McAuley, Mike Resnick and Pat Cadigan, Ian McDonald, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Karl Schroeder and Tobias S. Buckell, Jeff Carlson, Paolo Bacigalupi.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"this is a fine anthology-one of several in what's shaping up to be a remarkable year for original anthologies." -Gardnerspace column, Locus, December 2008, Issue 575, Vol. 61, No. 6 --- "This collection may be all about fast forwarding, but with material this strong, it's worth hitting slow mo and zoom, Over the course of its one Introduction, two epigraphs and fourteen stories, Fast Forward 2 proves itself a rare beast among anthologies of the imagination: one whose content actually provides a materialization of its own theoretical blueprint". -Strange Horizons, November 28, 2008 Fast Forward 2 is the second volume in Lou Anders' excellent science fiction anthology... While all stories herein are at least excellent, there were a couple of absolute knockouts... Paolo Bacigalupe's The Gambler should be required reading at every school of journalism in the world, exploring as it does the question of click-driven news and coming up with genuinely novel and sometimes disturbing things to say about it." --BoingBoing.net, posted by Cory Doctorow, December 2, 2008 "What I hope will be abundantly plain is how strong I found the selection as a whole. It's been suggested to me as a rule of thumb that genuinely enjoying half the stories in an anthology is to be considered a sign of good TOC. If that's the case then one of three things is true: either I'm too easily pleased, or my tastes coincide very closely with Lou Anders, or Fast Forward 2 is an excellent anthology. There's not a single story I actively dislike, and even those I'm lukewarm to have obvious merits." --Futurismic, December 3, 2008 "Looking for some fresh science fiction? The Fast Forward series of anthologies, published by Pyr, prides itself on featuring original stories from science-fiction heavyweights. I love Gardner Dozois' annual The Year's Best Science Fiction collections, but sometimes its great to get something really new, and Fast Forward doesn't disappoint. The latest installment, Fast Forward 2. [is] a great collection, with a good mix of stories ranging from hard science fiction to near magic realism. Stand outs for me included True Names, a novella by [Cory] Doctorow and Benjamin Rosenbaum set in a post-post-post-human universe, and An Eligible Boy, written by Ian McDonald, that takes place in the mid-21st century India that McDonald has used as the backdrop for his 2004 book River of Gods." --Discover Magazine Science Not Fiction blog, October 14, 2008 "First of all, this is a beautiful book. The cover, by John Picacio, is stunning. Within the book, FF2 , like FF1, uses play, pause, and, of course, fast forward icons similar to those on your nearest remote control at line breaks and at the beginning and end of stories in an inspired bit of design. This is a fantastic anthology that I look forward to rereading. I sincerely hope that Fast Forward becomes an annual anthology; the first two volumes are incredibly strong." --Little Bits of Everything, Rene Sears Live Journal, October 17, 2008 "The great Gardner Dozois tagged this as the best sf anthology of 2008, and I'm not gonna argue with him. Great stories here by Paul Cornell, Paolo Bacigalupi, Ian McDonald, Jack Skillingstead, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Cory Doctorow, and many more. It's a special antho, a must-read, and the kind of book that sf readers remember when the awards season rolls around." --John Picacio, replying to SFSignal Mind Meld question, What were the best genre-related books, movies and/or shows you consumed in 2008, December 10, 2008

About the Author

A 2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2007 Chesley Award nominee, and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction imprint Pyr, as well as the anthologies Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, Fall 2008); Sideways in Crime (Solaris, Summer 2008); Fast Forward 1 (Pyr, February 2007); FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006); Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004); Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003); and Outside the Box (Wildside Press, 2001). In 2000, he served as the Executive Editor of Bookface.com, and before that he worked as the Los Angeles Liaison for Titan Publishing Group. He is the author of The Making of Star Trek: First Contact (Titan Books, 1996), and has published over 500 articles in such magazines as The Believer, Publishers Weekly, Dreamwatch, Star Trek Monthly, Star Wars Monthly, Babylon 5 Magazine, Sci Fi Universe, Doctor Who Magazine, and Manga Max. His articles and stories have been translated into Danish, Greek, German, Italian and French, and have appeared online at SFSite.com, RevolutionSF.com and InfinityPlus.co.uk. Visit him online at louanders.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: Pyr (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159102692X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591026921
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #909,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A 2010/2009/2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2008 Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 2009/2008/2007 Chesley Award nominee/winner/nominee, and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr, as well as the anthologies Swords & Dark Magic (Eos, June 2010), Masked (Gallery, July 2010), Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, October 2008), Sideways in Crime (Solaris, June 2008), Fast Forward 1(Pyr, February 2007), FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006), Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004), Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003), and Outside the Box (Wildside Press, 2001). In 2000, he served as the Executive Editor of Bookface.com, and before that he worked as the Los Angeles Liaison for Titan Publishing Group. He is the author of The Making of Star Trek: First Contact (Titan Books, 1996), and has published over 500 articles in such magazines as The Believer, Publishers Weekly, Dreamwatch, DeathRay, free inquiry, Star Trek Monthly, Star Wars Monthly, Babylon 5 Magazine, Sci Fi Universe, Doctor Who Magazine, and Manga Max. His articles and stories have been translated into Danish, Greek, German, Italian and French.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I hope this is an ongoing series, October 9, 2008

By 

Rene - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fast Forward 2 (Paperback)

I had high expectations for this anthology given how delightful Fast Forward 1 was, and they were absolutely met. The stories are far-ranging and all thought-provoking. "True Names," by Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow, the novella-length centerpiece of the book, is downright mindbending in its inventiveness, and incredibly engaging. "An Eligible Boy," by Ian McDonald, examines a near-future India, while Kay Kenyon's "Cyto Couture" focuses on the means of production of genetically-grown fashion. "Catherine Drewe," by Paul Cornell, opens the book with a British spy called to an interplanetary mission. Paolo Bacigalupi closes with "The Gambler," an examination of journalistic ethics versus the number of hits a story generates. I highly recommend this strong anthology.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of stories, December 16, 2009

By 

Cherrie "regular gal" (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fast Forward 2 (Paperback)

This is a great collection of sci-fi stories from a wide range of talented (and award winning) authors. Some of the stories are a little, shall we say, challenging (to a somewhat-novice sci-fi reader), but in a good way. So creative! So thoughtful and interesting!

I'd recommend this book to just-about any fiction fan - anyone with a hankering for something a little different.

3.0 out of 5 stars Average Anthology, March 24, 2010

By 

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fast Forward 2 (Paperback)

Lou Anders is a trusted name. Although I can't recall now why. I think maybe a friend of mine once gave him a ride to a con or something. Which just might trump the time that I helped clean litterboxes at Edward Albee's apartment. But I digress.

This anthology is fairly average, which isn't, after all, altogether surprising. You expect some hits and some misses, since not every single tale is likely to appeal to any given reader's tastes. Still, I was hoping for something a bit better, like the "Adventure!" anthology put out a few years ago by Monkeybrain Books, to which Anders in fact contributed, ahd whose cover was done by John Picacio, an excellent illustrator who also does the honors here.

The stuff I liked: the novella "True Names" by Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow, although it gets a little overly recursive; Paul McAuley's brief and rueful "Adventure"; Karl Schroeder and Tobias S. Buckell's near-future "Mitigation", an unpreachy eco-warning; and the all-too-probable "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi, about the always-connected and perpetually updating world of infotainment a few years from now.

The other stuff: mostly unobjectionable and merely all right. A couple of stories annoyed me. For some reason, Kristine Kathryn Rusch just rubs me the wrong way, so I did not care for her "Seniorsource", about orbital outsourcing to geriatrics. The leadoff story, "Catherine Drewe" by Paul Cornell, is just terrible--some people are doing stuff that other people want to stop, but the tale is told so murkily that it's completely unclear who wants what and which side anyone is on. Ian McDonald's "An Eligible Boy" is not bad, but the writing style is very much a matter of taste, and while I appreciate the world he's created, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Nothing really spectacular here, and nothing really awfully bogus. I'd check out a Volume 3, but only because my friend vouches for Mr. Anders. I think. It might've been some other guy.