Fast Forward 2

Jonathan Hamilton

by Lou Anders (Editor), Paul Cornell, Kay Kenyon

When Fast Forward 1 debuted in February 2007, it marked the first major all- original, all-SF anthology series to appear in some time – and it was met with a huge outpouring of excitement and approbation from the science fiction community. No less than seven stories from Fast Forward 1 were chosen to be reprinted a total of nine times in the four major "Best of the Year" retrospective anthologies, a wonderful testament to the quality of contributions in our inaugural book. What’s more, Fast Forward 1 was hailed repeatedly as leading the charge in a return of original, unthemed anthologies series (several more have since appeared in our wake).

Now the critically-acclaimed, groundbreaking series continues, featuring all new stories from:

Lou Anders - The Age of Accelerating Returns (Introduction)
Paul Cornell - Catherine Drewe
Kay Kenyon - Cyto Couture
Chris Nakashima-Brown - The Sun Also Explodes
Nancy Kress - The Kindness of Strangers
Jack Skillingstead - Alone With An Inconvenient Companion
Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow - True Names
Jack McDevitt - Molly’s Kids
Paul McAuley - Adventure
Mike Resnick and Pat Cadigan - Not Quite Alone in the Dream Quarter
Ian McDonald - An Eligible Boy
Kristine Kathryn Rusch - SeniorSource
Karl Schroeder and Tobias S. Buckell - Mitigation
Jeff Carlson - Long Eyes
Paolo Bacigalupi - The Gambler

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

359 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2008

About the author

LOU ANDERS is the author of the novel Once Upon a Unicorn, the Thrones & Bones trilogy of fantasy adventure novels (Frostborn, Nightborn, and Skyborn), and the novel Star Wars: Pirate’s Price. He is the recipient of a Hugo Award for editing and a Chesley Award for art direction. In the tabletop roleplaying game world, Anders is the creator and publisher of the Thrones & Bones: Norrøngard campaign setting. He has also done game design for Kobold Press, River Horse, and 3D Printed Tabletop. In 2016, he was named a Thurber House Writer-in-Residence and spent a month in Columbus, Ohio, teaching, writing, and living in a haunted house. When not writing, designing, and editing, he enjoys playing roleplaying games, 3D printing, weightlifting, and watching movies. He lives with his wife, children, and two golden doodles in Birmingham, Alabama. You can visit Anders online at louanders.com or on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks.

Reviews

[H. R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were enough 'five star' short stories in this collection, Kress Bacgigalupi and Carlson were my favorites, to optimistically see this series as a new annual pipeline for short fiction. Most novel-length SF can be short-formed, and are often better at conveying the concept or message intended by the author. The SF genre as an 'idea factory' will lose much when the mags like Asimov's eventually disappear.

If you read SF at all, consider buying this annual as a survey of some of the genre's best short-form.

[Give-Me-A-Second · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this collection of short stories, but most of them lacked focus. I had absolutely no idea what the first story was about - it was clearly a moment of the author struggling to express what they saw in their head in writing. Some of the stories also lacked good conclusions, instead these stories just ended and I was left wanting more. And by good conclusions, I mean that the story reached a natural conclusion - a lot of the stories were ended by the author and this made the stories' endings clumsy and unnatural.

1.5 stars, rounded up

[Ryun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lou Anders puts his money where his mouth is. A champion of new authors, he’s committed to redefining science fiction’s essential reading list. In a 2007 story about Ray Bradbury in THE NEW YORK TIMES, he said, “I hope that anyone who comes to science fiction and fantasy cold — readers for whom THE ILLUSTRATED MAN or I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC! are their doorway in — will be inspired to look beyond these classic works to the new masters.”

As editorial director for sci-fi publisher Pyr, he has delivered, bringing new classics like RIVER OF GODS, BRASYL and INFOQUAKE to shelves. And short fiction — a cornerstone of the genre — got a shot of adrenaline last year thanks to Anders’ spectacular FAST FORWARD anthology. This year he’s been kind enough to give us another helping with FAST FORWARD 2, and it’s a worthy successor: Anders has assembled a batch of stories that span the breadth of modern science fiction and provide a better introduction to today’s scene than the musty copies of FAHRENHEIT 451 lingering in high school English classes ever could.

http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so happy to be reading and enjoying short fiction, and if you're a sci fi fan this one is absolutely worth it.

My favorite stories:
- Catherine Drew: I wasn't crazy about the story line here, but crackling with unique ideas and strong sense of story.
- Cyto Couture: A well wrought tale that so beautifully described the environment. I felt I was looking through Nat's eyes into his world.
- The Kindness of Strangers: A bit of an over-wrought tale, but I was pulled right into it. Strong characterization that stayed wonderfully focused.
- An eligible boy: I did not like this story for the first two-thirds, but it snuck up on me and the end nailed it. Yes, it was too convenient of a fable, but somehow the characters charmed me anyway.

Other thoughts:
- The Gambler: I love this story, but it is a bit too regimented in its structure - I wanted more integration between his present and the past that so obviously shaped him. I love Ong - great character.
- True Names: Wow, a hell of an attempt although the story did not have much of an axis.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't care for the Cory Doctorow/Benjamin Rosenbaum collaboration, which featured no "real" characters [the story is entirely about AIs in various electronic worlds and simulations thereof]. The inherent flaw in the story, to me, was the fact that it partly centered on the question of whether a sufficiently advanced AI could tell whether it was inside a sufficiently advanced simulation of reality. At some point, a "who cares" factor kicked in.
The other stories, however, were outstanding. Ian McDonald's story, "An Eligible Boy," takes place about 40 years in the future in India, and is a wonderful social commentary. Kristine Katherine Rusch's story, "Seniorsource," is an interesting take on the concept of outsourcing skilled work. While not all perfect, I found most of the stories to be ones I couldn't put down.

[Shannon Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories including many from some of my favorite Science Fiction authors (and a few friends). Not every story was as good, but many of the stories were among the best I've read in quite some time.

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another ok but underwhelming based on expectations anthology. I could not connect with most stories.

[DaughterDaDa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

not sure what the fuzz is all about, a mediocre colection imo.

[Justus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first volume ("Fast Forward") was pretty meh. This one was had quite a few excellent short stories.

[Cathy]

I only read Paul Cornell's Catherine Drewe, which was quite good. It's the first story he wrote about Jonathan Hamilton. It's an alternate history sci-fi spy thriller sort of thing.