The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction: New Generation Far-Future SF (Paperback)

by Mike Ashley (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction is a new collection that features 25 hard sci-fi stories that really push the boundaries, from names like Charles Stross, Robert Reed, Peter Hamilton, and Neal Asher. Highlights feature a perpetual war fought within a cosmic string; a machine that detects alternate worlds and creates a choice of Christs; murder in virtual reality; and a spaceship so large that there’s an entire planetary system within it.

About the Author

Mike Ashley is editor of The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction and New Jules Verne Adventures.

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Product Details Paperback: 512 pages Publisher: Running Press (May 8, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 0786717270 ISBN-13: 978-0786717279 Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #640,936 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books) Popular in this category: (What's this?) #6 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( A ) > Ashley, Mike

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (3) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 25 of 30 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars The SF is extreme, but not all that interesting, December 20, 2006 By  William Merrill "eclecticist" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)       Unlike a previous customer review of the Extreme Science Fiction anthology, I'm writing this review after reading the entire book, every story, all 562 pages. First I'd like to address the fact that most of the stories have been previously published. (Although there are actually three new stories original to this book.) I've been reading science fiction on and off for nearly four decades and have been a subscriber to F&SF for almost all of that time, and there were only one or two of these stories I had read before. In a couple of cases the editor explains that the stories had never been reprinted since their original publication. Anyway, I did not find that aspect of the book to be a problem. In fact, I appreciated the editor's sequencing of the stories from least to most extreme (except for the final one). He possibly could not have done that so well without drawing from prepublished material, including several tales from the early days of the genre. What I DID have difficulty with was the relatively uninteresting nature of the majority of the stories. There were too many that were either baffling - i.e., the author's striving to write an "out there" tale meant they left understandability behind - or densely scientific at the expense of good storytelling. To illustrate the latter problem, here is a quote from "Wang's Carpets" by Greg Egan: "Catalytic sites strewn along the sides of each unit trapped the radicals in place, long enough for new bonds to form between them. Some simple sugars were incorporated straight into the polymer as they were created..." There's a LOT of stuff like that throughout the various stories. Too much Scientific American, not enough FICTION in this SF. I also found the degree of overlap or redundancy between stories to be a problem. Two separate stories had almost identical plots, and there was also a bad editing choice to put two stories back to back with each having a secondary character named Elena, each the lover of the main character. There were really only two stories in this entire collection I liked a lot, the entries by Theodore Sturgeon and James Patrick Kelley. I was also grateful to the book for steering me clear of any writing by Pat Cadigan in the future - the Cadigan story is so awful I know I will never want to read anything by her ever again. Otherwise, the Extreme Science Fiction anthology was one of the least worthwhile books I've read this year. 20 of 25 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive Title, October 5, 2006 By  S. Schwartz (Near Philadelphia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    I was looking forward to this as cutting-edge SF. However, despite the title "New Generation Far-Future SF," 11 of the 19 stories in this anthology are pre-2000. I dislike the experience of being halfway through something and realizing I've read it before, so I'm moving this from my high-priority-read to my whenever-I-get-around-to-it pile. 3.0 out of 5 stars Hit and Miss, January 31, 2008 By  Adam R. Callaway - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Some of the stories in this book are great examples of extreme science fiction. They are well written, well thought out, and just a blast to read. Others, though, are not at all. They are contrived, boring, and don't really have anything in their subject matter that could be considered 'extreme.' If you can find it cheap, I'd still suggest buying it.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars More Science Fiction is good These days, the "Science Fiction and Fantasy" section in the bookstores (and here, in metaphor) is way to much fantasy and too little science fiction. Read more Published 6 months ago by J. L. Gillaspy 4.0 out of 5 stars Nice snapshot of edgy SF If you like edgy SF or are interested in what lies near the horizons of SF thinking, then give this one a whirl. Read more Published 8 months ago by R. Thomas 5.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader Ashley has done very well here, putting together an excellent collection of stories (3.95 average), even including one he has resurrected from 1909. Read more Published 23 months ago by Blue Tyson Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (May 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786717270
• ISBN-13: 978-0786717279
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #640,936 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #6 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( A ) > Ashley, Mike

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The SF is extreme, but not all that interesting, December 20, 2006

By	William Merrill "eclecticist" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Unlike a previous customer review of the Extreme Science Fiction anthology, I'm writing this review after reading the entire book, every story, all 562 pages. First I'd like to address the fact that most of the stories have been previously published. (Although there are actually three new stories original to this book.) I've been reading science fiction on and off for nearly four decades and have been a subscriber to F&SF for almost all of that time, and there were only one or two of these stories I had read before. In a couple of cases the editor explains that the stories had never been reprinted since their original publication. Anyway, I did not find that aspect of the book to be a problem. In fact, I appreciated the editor's sequencing of the stories from least to most extreme (except for the final one). He possibly could not have done that so well without drawing from prepublished material, including several tales from the early days of the genre.

What I DID have difficulty with was the relatively uninteresting nature of the majority of the stories. There were too many that were either baffling - i.e., the author's striving to write an "out there" tale meant they left understandability behind - or densely scientific at the expense of good storytelling. To illustrate the latter problem, here is a quote from "Wang's Carpets" by Greg Egan: "Catalytic sites strewn along the sides of each unit trapped the radicals in place, long enough for new bonds to form between them. Some simple sugars were incorporated straight into the polymer as they were created..." There's a LOT of stuff like that throughout the various stories. Too much Scientific American, not enough FICTION in this SF.

I also found the degree of overlap or redundancy between stories to be a problem. Two separate stories had almost identical plots, and there was also a bad editing choice to put two stories back to back with each having a secondary character named Elena, each the lover of the main character.

There were really only two stories in this entire collection I liked a lot, the entries by Theodore Sturgeon and James Patrick Kelley. I was also grateful to the book for steering me clear of any writing by Pat Cadigan in the future - the Cadigan story is so awful I know I will never want to read anything by her ever again. Otherwise, the Extreme Science Fiction anthology was one of the least worthwhile books I've read this year.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive Title, October 5, 2006

By	S. Schwartz (Near Philadelphia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was looking forward to this as cutting-edge SF. However, despite the title "New Generation Far-Future SF," 11 of the 19 stories in this anthology are pre-2000. I dislike the experience of being halfway through something and realizing I've read it before, so I'm moving this from my high-priority-read to my whenever-I-get-around-to-it pile.

3.0 out of 5 stars Hit and Miss, January 31, 2008

By	Adam R. Callaway - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Some of the stories in this book are great examples of extreme science fiction. They are well written, well thought out, and just a blast to read. Others, though, are not at all. They are contrived, boring, and don't really have anything in their subject matter that could be considered 'extreme.' If you can find it cheap, I'd still suggest buying it.