Reviews
- Starred Review. “This harrowing reprint anthology of 22 apocalyptic tales reflects the stresses of contemporary international politics, with more than half published since 2000. All depict unsettling societal, physical and psychological adaptations their authors postulate as necessary for survival after the end of the world.” –Publishers Weekly [whole review]
- “The 22 stories in this end-of-days anthology run the gamut from nuclear devastation to environmental debacle to the Second Coming. […][Wastelands] belongs in most sf or short fiction collections.” — Library Journal [whole review]
- “John Joseph Adams deserves a great deal of credit for the extensivity and reach of his research […] and for picking recent post-apocalyptic stories that have not been heavily anthologized. […] Mr. Adams demonstrates the sub-genre is not a static, but is a dynamic, continuously evolving fractured mirror, in dialogue with, and sometimes refuting, its basic assumptions […] [A]n excellent cross-section of post-apocalyptic stories well worth reading.” — Ideomancer [whole review]
- “I know if you’re like me you view ‘theme’ books with a bit of skepticism. Assembling a collection of any size with only one “type” of story can be daunting. I have often found many of these types of books containing one or a few really top notch stories and the rest relegated to filler. Collections like Ellison’s Dangerous Visions is a shining example of how to do it right. Is Wastelands in that league? Not quite, but DAMN close. […] The tales in Wastelands are the crème de la crème of this genre and for that matter science fiction as a whole.” — Beam Me Up [whole review.]
- “Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse offers a great selection of end-of-the-world stories proving that stories in a single setting (or a single subgenre of science fiction) need not be similar. While the prevailing theme, as would be expected, is one of hope, the stories are presented with unique focus and voice. But the mood is as dark as it should be with such serious subject matter. With rare exception (Neal Barrett, Jr.’s comical ‘Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus’) these stories are gloomy indeed. But isn’t that the appeal of post-apocalyptic fiction after all? John Joseph Adams has culled a great selection of stories here dating back to 1973, with more than half of those written in the last seven years. […] In then end, Wastelands proved to be more entertaining than the average yearly ‘Best of’.” –SF Signal [whole review]
- “It’s [the] diverse mix of reactions that make the collection a gripping read. […] Wastelands is well worth a look.” — Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review [whole review]
- “If you are looking for a perky, uplifting read, you’d best avoid Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. But if you are interested in a wide variety of end-of-the-world fiction, you shouldn’t miss it. […] [S]cience fiction should stimulate, start arguments, and incite discussion. Adams has done his job well.” — Fantasy Magazine [whole review]
- “The bottom line is that collectively the stories John Joseph Adams has put together here in Wastelands shows off the range of the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of fiction. Wastelands is an excellent anthology of short fiction and one that would easily fit on any collector’s shelves.” –Adventures in Reading [whole review]
- “There’s a wry, fatalistic charm to Dale Bailey’s ‘The End of the World as We Know It,’ an unusual and highly self-conscious tale of the apocalypse. It begins with a brief description of the Bubonic plague, and interspersed throughout the subsequent narrative are a number of digressions reflecting on the conventions of the ‘end-of’the-world’ story to which, as Bailey observes, his protagonist fails to conform. Alongside these dissections of the mechanics of the sub-genre, Bailey also cites a number of real life apocalypses—Pompeii, Krakatoa, 9/11, the extinction event that did in the dinosaurs, the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda. One event he mentions—the death of Elvis Presley—hints at the real point of the story, which is that for both victims and survivors, the apocalypse is largely a personal event.” –The Fix [whole review]
- “A good chopped salad of an anthology, with tangy bits of description, crisp action, and zesty, memorable characters.” — S. M. Stirling, bestselling author of Dies the Fire
Editor John Joseph Adams has also been the subject of a number of interviews: