The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction: New Generation Far-future SF

by Mike Ashley

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.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.

Reviews

[Tommy Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extreme Science Fiction is a nice collection of extreme science fiction, hence the title. I love short stories and it's an unfortunate reality that authors don't make much from them. So I'm always glad for nice collections like this one. Still, it's a great way to find new authors. (Well, new to me, anyway.)

Many of the stories are great. A few are merely good. I don't think there was a truly bad one in the lot. The main weakness is in the ordering. The collection is ordered from least extreme to most extreme. But, frankly, the most extreme stories were those kind of far-future, humanity-transcending-itself blather that just don't thrill me. For that genre, these were really good. But there's a clear drop-off about halfway through where the stories start to lose their impact. Oh, gee, another story about Pan-Humanity at the end of the Universe. Still, none of them were bad. It wasn't a chore to read through them by any means.

But all is forgiven by the last story. It's a delightful little tale with a great ending. Even if the last half of the collection doesn't thrill you, it's worth it for the end.

[useFOSS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anomalies (2001) by Gregory Benford 4/5
And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (2003) by Paul Di Filippo 5/5
Crucifixion Variations (1998) by Lawrence Person 4/5
The Pacific Mystery by (2006) Stephen Baxter 4.5.5
Flowers from Alice (2003) by Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow 3/5
Merlin's Gun (2000) by Alastair Reynolds 5/5
Death in the Promised Land (1995) by Pat Cadigan 3/5
The Long Chase (2002) by Geoffrey A. Landis 4.5/5
Waterworld (1994) by Stephen L. Gillett and Jerry Oltion 3/5
Hoop-of-Benzene (2006) by Robert Reed 4/5
The New Humans (1909) by B. Vallance 4/5
The Creator(1935) by Clifford D. Simak 4/5
The Girl Had Guts (1957) by Theodore Sturgeon 4/5
The Region Between (1970) by Harlan Ellison 4/5
The Days of Solomon Gursky (1998) by Ian McDonald 3/5
Wang's Carpets (1995) by Greg Egan 3/5
Undone (2001) by James Patrick Kelly 3.5/4
Judgment Engine (1995) by Greg Bear 3/5
Stuffing (2006) by Jerry Oltion 5/5

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mine is an RNIB edition for blind people that I got from my local library as a download. There are several readers, all good, & it's about 25 hours long.

Ashley & I don't agree on what makes a good SF short story. Most of these were far too long & not particularly interesting. If you like Greg Bear's writing, you'll probably like this collection. He wrote one of the stories. For all his popularity, I've never found it worthwhile to wade through his prose, though. Too many words for too little return.

The last story was "Stuffing" by Jerry Oltion it was great. It was the only one that was, though. There were a few other good ones, so I'm glad this was free from the library.

[Marie Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a great collection of sci-fi -- maybe not as extreme as I'd hoped but thought-provoking and unpredictable. Of course I enjoyed some, particularly the longer stories toward the end, more than others, but none of them felt like a waste of time. Not surprisingly, some of the hard sf is quite dense, and I did find myself skimming some of the very scientific exposition (like passages in "Wang's Carpets" and "Judgment Engine"). On the whole it's a good mix -- some are stronger in the story department ("Anomalies," "Crucific Variations," "The Long Chase," "The New Humans," "The Girl Had Guts") and others in their extraordinary visions of sf futures (especially "Death in the Promised Land," "Hoop of Benzene," "The Days of Solomon Gursky," and "Judgment Engine"). No matter what your taste in sf, there's something here for you, particularly if your taste lean toward the hard sf (I like almost all of sf, so I was happy).

However, the anthology does suffer one weakness that is common particularly to hard sf, which is that many of the characters are privileged male characters, even some of the far-future pan/transhumans. Ah well, there are some excellent female characters ("Hoop of Benzene," "Undone," and "Pacific Mystery" particularly come to mind), probably some genderbending ones ("Flowers from Alice" has a nice twist on this) and nonhuman characters to bring different perspectives to the mix.

My favorites were: "Crucifix Variations," "Pacific Mystery" (a cool piece of sf alt history), "The Long Chase," "The Days of Solomon Gursky," and "Undone." Of all these, I think "Undone" is my very favorite -- I thought about it a lot after I read it. It has a great main character, a beginning that hooked me immediately, cool ideas of both a future Earth and the war being fought by the MC, and it's really well plotted and thought out, in that hints of the ending are sprinkled throughout the story. I had to read it twice to really get the ending(s), but it was so worth it.

I actually bought this book, and I'm glad I did because I have a feeling that some of these will be great to re-read.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

***** Anomalies by Gregory Benford
*** ...& the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Paul Di Filippo
**** Crucifixion Variations by Lawrence Person
***** The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter
***** Flowers from Alice by Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross
**** Merlin's Gun by Alastair Reynolds
*** Death in the Promised Land by Pat Cadigan
***** The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis
**** Waterworld by Stephen L. Gillett & Jerry Oltion
***** Hoop-of-Benzine by Robert Reed
**** The New Humans by B. Vallance
**** The Creator by Clifford D. Simak
***** The Girl had Guts by Theodore Sturgeon
**** The Region Between by Harlan Ellison
**** The Days of Solomon Gursky by Ian McDonald
**** Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan
**** Undone by James Patrick Kelly
*** Judgement Engine by Greg Bear
* Stuffing by Jerry Oltion

[Reet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated the stories in this book that fell within 3 🌟 or above.

3 🌟 Anomalies by Gregory Benford
The moon skips forward a mile in its orbit, in a fraction of a second. There is a"cone of interference" behind its path, affecting the stars. Then, well, you have to read it.

5 🌟 Crucifixion Variations by Lawrence Persons
Quantum Physics is going to prove the existence or not, of Jesus Christ. The Christian Research Council is bankrolling the project. Given the 100-trillion electron super-collider in the basement of a major university, the physicist heading the project would use "a process based on complex energy transfer model to Trace E-particle energy loss back through history, and once you learn how to properly model, manipulate, and record E-particle energy states at that specific specified time, it is possible to "see" the past via a computer recreation based on E-particle positions." Thus, we could"see" the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ...."Without a truth...ANY truth... we're all alone in the dark."

5 🌟 The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter
Bliss Stirling of the BBC is invited on a trip aboard the Goering, an "aircraft carrier" in the sky, in the days after the Phoney War, which Adolf Hitler won. (This is historical fiction.) Heading east, they pass the coasts of China and Japan, and head out over the Pacific, which noone has ever managed to cross!

4 🌟 Death in the Promised Land by Pat Cardigan (the only woman author in the collection!)
Artificial Reality (AR) is so real that some players will begin to confuse AR with reality. So real that if they are killed in AR their brain convinces them to die in real life? Following Detective Konstantine into Apocalyptic New Yawk Sitty, I actually began to visualize the AR.

5 🌟 Waterworld by Stephen L. Gillett & Jerry Oltion
A colonizing/exploring ship/ark, with a crew awake and colonists in SLO/Mo is hit with a bit of meteor, which punches holes through the hull, kills a bunch of the crew, and quite a few of the SLO/Mo-ers. They lose much of their organics and most of their water. Now, they urgently must find a source of water in order to survive and continue their voyage to find a planet that can support life. Great tension is felt between the four remaining crew members as they try, and fail, at one proposed solution after another.

5 🌟 The New Humans by B. Vallance
Have you read the story "The Country of the Blind" by H.G.Wells? This is a spoof of that story. Hilarious.

4 🌟 The Girl Had Guts by Theodore Sturgeon
We found a planet that was .9999 compatible with Earth. But the two survivors of the scientific expedition there were 40 lbs underweight and had to eat 15,000 calories a day and were losing ground fast.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine in parts – though somewhat padded with stories that simply are not Extreme Science Fiction as claimed by the anthology’s title and I am not just talking about the obviously out of place, predictable, and forgettable story entitled Stuffing by Jerry Oltion.

However the book is worth it alone for the excellent: The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter, The Region Between by Harlan Ellison, Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan, and The Days of Solomon Gursky by Ian McDonald. In the next rank also well worth reading are The Creator by Clifford D. Simak, Merlin's Gun by Alastair Reynolds, and Judgement Engine by Greg Bear (the last if only because it is by far the most intriguingly extreme science fiction conception set out in the book).

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a better-than-average collection of science fiction which I read to get a sense of what was happening in the field since I'd stopped being a voracious reader of the genre.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good value for money. Most of the stories are good, some very good, a few are truly mind-blowing. Highly recommended.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily 4,5 stars. One of the best collections I have read the past years, consisting of (mostly) the kind of SF that I personally like. Of course, some stories I liked or engaged with more than others, but most were just right for me. I like this kind of high concept, science based, far future (and sometimes almost incomprehensible) SF, that asks me to wrestle with concepts and mental imagery of identity, deep time, personality and meaning. These stories accomplish what is promised on the back of the book, and what I think all good SF ought to do, which is: 'pushing the boundaries, beyond what we would normally think or even dream, and taking us into worlds we might never imagine'. I'm in awe of the kind of imagination on display here, especially by Ian McDonald, Greg Egan and Greg Bear. I try and write far future SF myself, but I know I can not touch these pinnacles of the genre, my imagination falls short. Still, I felt inspired reading them. Some hight points in the collection (it grew better in the second half I thought). The pacific mystery is an interesting story, featuring an old timey tale of exploration conveyed by a re-discovered journal, even dinosaurs, on a very weird alternative earth. Baxter is good at coming up with these high concepts. Merlin's gun by Alastair Reynolds was not that extreme, I thought, but a very good SF-story, dealing with one of the threats life in our galaxy faces. I liked it, but then I like almost everything Reynolds writes. The Long Chase was a shorter tale, but well conceived! It was about the conflict between individuality and cooperation (a lot of the stories here were). Waterworld featured a well thought out planet, and a spaceship having to gain access to it, thinking their way to several obstacles, not in the least the ferocious fauna ... 'The new humans' is more than a century old. The story was not that fresh, but the imagination still managed to shock. 'The girl had guts' was a nice example of extreme body horror, well built up to an interesting end. I liked 'The days of Solomon Gursky' a lot, the imagination building and building from a seemingly simple incident towards the end of our universe (and beyond). 'Wang's carpets' featured an interesting post-singularity society searching for answers to their philosophical dilemma's on another planet and discovering an interesting form of life. 'Judgment Engine' by Greg Bear was a tour de force, but ultimately turned on the love of a couple from our time. The dilemma at the heart was interesting, also from a theological point of view. The final story managed to make me laugh! I liked 'Crucifixion variations' less, as the conclusion showed the author did not understand the nature of faith - it would never faze a believer, as for faith proof is not required. I thought 'Death in the promised land' lacked a clear resolution, and 'The region between' was to much about form, too little about substance. All in all, a very good collection, especially for those interested in how far SF can go in conceiving of other possibilities. It helps having read some SF before, but if you have any interest in SF as a literature of ideas and in the far future, then this must be on your 'must read' list!

[Ratiocination · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good anthology all told, though the format is a little misleading. A high proportion of the stories are only a few years older than the book. I haven't been all that up on new SF recently, so they were new to me, and generally pretty good... but not really a thorough overview of extreme-concept science fiction as a whole. Some might also have benefited from not being read so close together, given similarities in premise. It's hard to read a third or fourth nanotech immortality story with quite the same eye.

The older stories in the anthology seem to be chosen at least partly for obscurity. I can understand not wanting to reprint, say, "The Final Question" or "All You Zombies" again, or not wanting to tread too closely on the heels of Dangerous Visions, but I still feel like there's probably better stuff out there that would have fit the concept of the anthology without being well-known standards. In particular I didn't think the Clifford Simak and Theodore Sturgeon stories showed either author in top form, which is a shame, because they're both less well known than they deserve.

Still, even second-string Simak and Sturgeon is still pretty good, and an anthology this size with only one story I'd read before is a pretty good deal. Most of my concerns are about the book as a whole rather than the individual stories (although I didn't think much of the last one, so the book ended on something of a weak note.) Possibly The Fairly Large Book of Cutting-Edge Science Fiction and The Fairly Large Book of Conceptually Extreme Science Fiction would have been sounder undertakings, but overall an enjoyable read even so.

[Voodoo Shampoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only stories really worth reading:
Anomalies by Gregory Benford - great
Crucifixion Variations by Lawrence Person - decent
Death in the Promised Land by Pat Cadigan - very interesting, quite original
The Long Chase by Geoffrey A. Landis - great
The Creator by Clifford D. Simak - great
The Region Between by Harlan Ellison - great

The other stories:
...& the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Paul Di Filippo - funny ending, but overall lacking
The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter - sort of bland and pale, although still somewhat interesting
Flowers from Alice by Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross - lame cybersex
Merlin's Gun by Alastair Reynolds - very dull and boring
Waterworld by Stephen L. Gillett & Jerry Oltion - too melodramatic, but still decent
Hoop-of-Benzine by Robert Reed - very uninteresting
The New Humans by B. Vallance - very childish imagination
The Girl had Guts by Theodore Sturgeon - somewhat interesting, could be better
The Days of Solomon Gursky by Ian McDonald - boring zombie apocalypse with a different ending
Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan - interesting, but still irritatingly boring
Undone by James Patrick Kelly - greatly lacking, needs improvement
Judgement Engine by Greg Bear - family drama taken into a SF setting
Stuffing by Jerry Oltion - too dull to even bother finishing it

[Sean Roach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is more extreme than jumping off a cliff without a bungee cord, unless of course, you were jumping off said cliff while reading this book. Extreme!

[Sylvain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good stories, all well (to very well) written.

[Kristýna Obrdlíková · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tichomořská záhada (Stephen Baxter) - fajne nápad o neeukleidovské zemi a navíc zařazený do zajímavé epochy první poloviny 20. století.
Merlinova zbraň (Alastair Reynolds) - Měl smůlu, že jsem na nápady nadhozené tady narazila už dřív u Neala Ashera.
Smrt v zemi zaslíbené (Pat Cadiganová) - takový poctivý cyberpunk, probudil ve mně nostalgii.
Dlouhý Hon (G. A. Landiss) - to bylo fakt dobré a styl i myšlenka mi sedly. Asi i pro možnosti transhumanismu.
Vodní svět (S. Gillet a J. Oltion) - dobře zpracované prostředí a zápletka i řešení, akorát s postavami jsem měla problém. Byly dost realistické na to, abych tu partu nesnášela (asi proto, že to nebyla parta). Dobré nebo ne?
Jader Benzen (Robert Reed) - povídka z jeho světa, který je dosti extrémní a mě úplně nezaujal. Ale pointu má skvělou.
Měla na to žaludek (Theodore Sturgeon) - peckovní vetřelčí vyprávění, které jsem si skvěle užila!
Dny Solomona Gurskyho (Ian McDonald) - velmi povedené a pěkné. Mám toho autora ráda. S touto myšlenkou jsem se setkala už dřív v jiné povídce, ale tentokrát vyhrál způsob vyprávění. :-)
Wangovy koberce (Greg Egan) - obsah fajn, styl mi dal zabrat. Nebaví mě, jak to píše, ačkoli myšlenky má skvělé. Pointa to taky zachránila.
Soudce (Greg Bear) - Vedu si ho tu v patrnosti jako ukázku značně extrémní SF, které exkluzivitou a hloubkou myšlenek přesáhlo moje chápání a tedy požitek z četby. Varování před přílišnou intelektualizací textu.

[Charles Yearsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this is a decent anthology. Some of the examples of "really" extreme tales exemplify fiction that gets too off the wall for me or even difficult to follow, so my opinion of them is not as good as I would like. I thought it really interesting Mike included a story from over a century ago. It was an inspired choice. Ted Sturgeon's story really stood out to me and I will not likely forget it.

One last word, the typeset "proofing" for this tome is disgraceful. Ashley or whomever is responsible should be SEVERELY reprimanded. As an example, the title of Sturgeon's story was ludicrously misspelled: "Thg Girl Had Guts" I think it was. Come on!

This book probably has some of the most egregious examples of misspellings and other oddities I have ever seen in ebooks. Some of these publishers are a joke.

[Blogul · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, it's ordinary scifi, not extreme. Good scifi, not bad (except some stories) but... nothing extreme here.
Second, out of 19 stories, I found only 5 to be 5/5s, with just 2 really memorable: Alastair Reynold's "Merlin Gun" (good story with amazing ending of galactic implications that caught me into a loop of "What should be done?") and Harlan Ellison's "The Region Between" (a great mix of different blends of scifi and an extremely original form). I also found stories I just couldn't finish (Doctorow, Cadigan, McDonald), not that good (Baxter, Gillet, Kelly) or really bad (Oltion's "Stuffing"), with plenty of middle-range (average) others.
The average is 3,5/5, but as a whole I felt the anthology is a 3/5. Not that bad, not that good.

[Jordan Dodson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read anthologies for the opportunity to discover truly exceptional short-stories. Here are the standouts from this collection:

Flowers from Alice by Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross
** The Long Chase by Geoffrey Landis **
Waterworld by Setphen Gillett & Jerry Oltion
The Creator by Clifford Simak
The Region Between by Harlan Ellison
Stuffing by Jerry Oltion

Some of the other stories in this anthology were pretty boring, and I don't think this editor is necessarily the best judge of what counts as an 'extreme' story. However, one story in particular instantly became one of my all-time favorites. That story was The Long Chase by Landis.

[Tomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

{4.5 rounded up}
This anthology represents an impressive collection of authors, both old and new with various stories each with their own tools pushing the plot into extremes. This may either involve the essence of characters and their perceptions in digital \ biologically enhanced or the surrounding itself spanning the vast extents of space and time even if some universal constants are skewed to examine different exercises of being.
Obviously the stories vary in quality and affinity, but having quite a few familiar names which in part made me swoon in delight and fond memories, while others unknown names which certainly warrant further exploration into additional works.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should be the big book of extremely bad science fiction.
Seems the editor, and the authors, were more interested in the central concepts of the stories, and to hell with the rest. Things like whether whatever came next was sensical or not. Like a bunch of modern "action" movie scenes. Whatever goes on from one moment to the next doesn't matter except that each should be a big "ooh! Shiny!" Ball of something or other.
I made note to search through my Goodreads lists and remove anything else from any of these writers.

[William E. Ferreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

From excellent to terrible

For the price, there is a good collection of stories. A few have become classics. One disappointment was the story written by a female author. Most female written Sci-fi is actually fantasy (an exception being the great Martha Wells who writes both) so I was hoping the female author included here is... But no such luck.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was phenomenal! It has novellas and short stories from many of the heavy hitters in popular science fiction today. Some of the stories were not extreme per se where others were very much so. I loved the variety and quality. It kept me glued until the very last page.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction is a great collection of stories by some of today's most talented writers. All of the stories are good and a few were exceptional. I highly recommend this book.

[Jxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it. Some good, some terrible, overall worth the time. As always with short stories, I find that whatever mood I am in when listening to one influences my rating more than when spending several days on a book.

Anomalies (2001) by Gregory Benford: 3/5 - The moon jumps ahead in the sky. Cool concept, short and engaging.

And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (2003) by Paul Di Filippo: 2/5 - Cucked by your home electronics. Three star idea, one star story.

Crucifixion Variations (1998) by Lawrence Person: 4/5 - Replaying history. Remarkably good hash of a well known trope.

The Pacific Mystery by (2006) Stephen Baxter: 3/5 - The Earth is not a Sphere. Enjoyable, but a bit contrived alt-history.

Flowers from Alice (2003) by Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow: 1/5 - In Doctorow's words a "pervy, weird story of transhuman romance". Boring relationship issues and yuck for yuck's sake. And from two of my favorite writers. Shame.

Merlin's Gun (2000) by Alastair Reynolds: 2/5 - Planet killer weapon hunt. Cool at times, but lacked the magic I've felt in AR's longer stories.

Death in the Promised Land (1995) by Pat Cadigan: 1/5 - VR 101 + detective story. Would have been mind blown if read in 1996; satisfied in 2006; fast forwarding in 2017. Full of tech expositions that have not aged well.

The Long Chase (2002) by Geoffrey A. Landis: 5/5 - Millenia-long spaceship hunt at sub light speeds. Straight to the good stuff and keeps it flowing right till the end. Reminds me that I have a paper copy of Landis' Mars Crossing that I should get around to.

Waterworld (1994) by Stephen L. Gillett and Jerry Oltion: 4/5 - Scientists bickering while solving a complex problem. Refreshing variation with multiple POVs of faulty characters. Solid world building.

Hoop-of-Benzene (2006) by Robert Reed: 3/5 - Diplomacy and old grudges on a planet+ sized ship. Sweet setting and an interesting (albeit too humanoid) alien.

The New Humans (1909) by B. Vallance: 3/5 - Quirky and charming abduction story with imaginative posthumans/aliens. Aged fairly well, impressive imagination for a one-shot author.

The Creator (1935) by Clifford D. Simak: 4/5 - Wonderfully blasphemous trip outside the universe with a dash of the simulation argument. Remarkably modern with a never stated but tenderly portrayed gay couple as protagonists.

The Girl Had Guts (1957) by Theodore Sturgeon: 2/5 - Gory first encounters. Plus for preceding Alien by 22 years, deductions for outdated machismo and view on women.

The Region Between (1970) by Harlan Ellison: 5/5 - After-death-before-birth ultimate LSD-trip in text form. Straight to the action, epic scope, truly alien aliens, fabulous prose and a very likable bastard of a protagonist. Really something different with all the right ingredients.

The Days of Solomon Gursky (1998) by Ian McTiny McGrabby Hands: 2/5 - The long journey to the end of time of a thrice dead posthuman. Good premise and vast scope, but suffers from unnecessary sex and ranting about the power of love. The audio version is marred by a poor narrator.

Wang's Carpets (1995) by Greg Egan: 5/5 - One of the best parts of Diaspora. Highly ingenious first contact story with interesting posthuman protagonists. As with the rest of Egans work, this story makes me feel stupid in a good way.

Undone (2001) by James Patrick Kelly: 1/5 - Time traveller jumps ahead in time, picks up a bartender and decides to become a housewife or something. I had to skip parts to get through this.

Judgment Engine (1995) by Greg Bear: 2/5 - Thawed human wakes at the end of the universe, understands nothing, goes to marriage counseling.

Stuffing (2006) by Jerry Oltion: 2/5 - Haha funny posthumans don't poop. Haha.

Average 2.8

[Jorrit De Klerk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[K.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of great stories and some that were challenging with no payoff. I would still recommend it though.

[Brent Claflin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great thought provoking short stories. And some duds... I love short story anthologies. For the most part its good.

[Janet Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this. I like the out there ideas & ordering them from least to most weird was a good choice

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess the emphasis on "extreme" SF left me uninvolved in the stories... just couldn't get into this one.

Having said that, the last story, Stuffing, (their palette cleanser, as it were) was pretty much worth the price of admission. That one was a lot of fun.

[Michael Lichtenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

extreme

Great stories started slow ended mind numbing with a little laughter at the end. I like this book and would recommend it to science fiction enthusiasts