Terminal Visions [Hardcover]

Richard Paul Russo (Author), Karen Joy Fowler (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Richard Paul Russo is known for his dark and sinister views of the future and the human spirit. In his first collection of short fiction, Russo presents a wide variety of tales—“More Than Night” and “In the Season of the Rains,” tales of gritty alien encounters, and the ultimate road story, “Just Drive, She Said.” In other stories, the hopelessness of the human condition is examined—on Earth in “Cities in Dust,” in space in “The Open Boat,” and in an alternate reality in “Prayers of a Rain God.” Of the 14 tales, 11 are set on Earth—and Russo’s Earth can be far more alien than other worlds.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Russo combines heart, and soul and intellect into a winning recipe, bitter yet bracing. -- scifi.com, October 23, 2000

Russo's stories are gorgeously written, in an understated style that lets the stories tell themselves... -- January Magazine, December 2000

The stories in Terminal Visions are skillful and quirky and truly quite marvelous... -- Analog, September 2000

About the Author

Richard Paul Russo is the award-winning author of several novels that have developed a cult following, most notably Carlucci’s Edge and Carlucci’s Heart. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 237 pages
• Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965590135
• ISBN-13: 978-0965590136
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,068,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nominated for the Arthur C. Clark Award, February 10, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terminal Visions (Hardcover)

Terminal Visions is an outstanding anthology showcasing fourteen short story writings of Richard Russo. The compelling selections include science fiction themes (eleven set on Earth). The themes run from alien encounters to the human condition to triumph over seemingly overwhelming conditions. Terminal Visions very nicely documents why Russo, who has won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award and been nominated for the Arthur C. Clark Award, is considered on of the best of today's speculative fiction authors.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Concise Russo, January 4, 2001

By 

Robert Carlberg (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Terminal Visions (Hardcover)

Russo's novels (at least the ones I've read, Carlucci's Edge and Carlucci's Heart) offer a dark, Blade-Runneresque vision of a near-future San Francisco in which chaos rules the streets and cops keep their heads down.

Terminal Visions is both wider and narrower -- wider in that these short stories are set in a variety of locales with differing casts, different premises, and different tones (although 'noir' seems to be the prevailing one). Narrower in that, like John Varley's short stories, these are miniature universes unto themselves, sketching out in a few hundred words an entire scenario for a possible future. Russo's spare use of language, and haunting ideas, make this one of the best and most thought-provoking collections of shorts I've read since The Barbie Murders.

Wonderful stuff.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terminal Visons, September 16, 2000

By 

Gary S. Potter (Mt. Pleasant, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terminal Visions (Hardcover)

Russo's stories are grim and gritty, stark and bleak glimpses into the dark dystopia of the near future. His vision is powerful and haunting, darkly perceptive and prophetic in the terminal rites of passage...

Gary S. Potter Author/Poet