Wednesday 28 December 2022

Through the Aftermath ed. by Shawn Schuster



Have you ever wondered what the world will be like when everything ends? Why will it end? HOW will it end?

This anthology was created as an opportunity for a variety of voices to be heard in one place. From best-selling authors to first-time writers, this collection showcases some of the best short stories in modern apocalyptic fiction.

Anthologies are always hit and miss. Because there are so many writers, it's unusual to find one where every story is amazing. On the other hand, it's unheard of for them all to be bad - and this collection definitely has more hits than misses.

I love post-apoc stories, for many of the reasons given in the intro to the book (I don't want to spoil things so I won't repeat them here!) This is a good mix of different stories, from plagues to zombies to climate change to EMPs and several others. Truly something for everything, no matter your flavour of choice.

I did find that, while most of these are self contained and easy to follow, a few rely too heavily on made up lingo or have obvious back story that we aren't given, so I couldn't understand what was happening. I did end up skimming two that I just couldn't follow. Added to that, there's one or two that seem to be setting up other writing by the author. I don't object to that at all but it does mean the stories just stop rather than ending.

On the whole, though, I really enjoyed these. There's a lot of imagination here, both in the range of stories and within each one. Those creepy bugs will be living in my mind for quite a while to come.

A fantastic anthology that's introduced me to several new writers I'll be watching with interest!



Through the Aftermath is available now. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment