Afterlives

by Pamela Sargent (Editor, Contributor)

Contents
Introduction / Pamela Sargent and Ian Watson
The American Book of the Dead / Jody Scott
Time of Passage / J.G. Ballard
Of Space-Time and the River / Gregory Benford
Out of My Head / James E. Gunn
A Work of Art / James Blish
The Rapture / Thomas M. Disch (as Tom Disch)
Wood / Michael N. Langford
A Woman's Life / W. Warren Wagar
Into That Good Night / James A. Stevens
Prometheus's Ghost / Chet Williamson
Small Change / Ursula K. Le Guin
A Draft of Canto CI / Carter Scholz
Dust / Mona A. Clee
Diary of a Dead Man / Michael Bishop
Fair Game / Howard Waldrop
In Frozen Time / Rudy Rucker
Tropism / Leigh Kennedy
If Ever I Should Leave You / Pamela Sargent
Time's Hitch / Robert Frazier
The Rooms of Paradise / Ian Watson
Checking Out / Gene Wolfe
The Region Between (Afterlife of Bailey) / Harlan Ellison

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

494 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Pamela Sargent has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. In 2012, she was honored with the Pilgrim Award by the Science Fiction Research Association for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship. She is the author of the novels Cloned Lives, The Sudden Star, Watchstar, The Golden Space, The Alien Upstairs, Eye of the Comet, Homesmind, Alien Child, The Shore of Women, Venus of Dreams, Venus of Shadows, Child of Venus, Climb the Wind, and Ruler of the Sky. Her most recent short story collection is Thumbprints, published by Golden Gryphon Press, with an introduction by James Morrow. The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre's best writers.”

In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published by Harcourt Brace in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” Her most recent anthology is Conqueror Fantastic, out from DAW Books in 2004. Tor Books reissued her 1983 young adult novel Earthseed, selected as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and a sequel, Farseed, in early 2007. A third volume, Seed Seeker, was published in November of 2010 by Tor. Earthseed has been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Melissa Rosenberg, scriptwriter for all of the Twilight films, writing the script and producing through her Tall Girls Productions.

A collection, Puss in D.C. and Other Stories, is out; her novel Season of the Cats is out in hardcover and will be available in paperback from Wildside Press. The Shore of Women has been optioned for development as a TV series by Super Deluxe Films, part of Turner Broadcasting.

Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.

Reviews

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a little over a year to get through this thing. I picked it up at a used bookstore on a whim because I liked the cover art, and thought it would be interesting to read stories on the theme of death that may also be quaintly reflective of a certain historical time (the book was published in 1986). It was okay. There were a few interesting ideas in there, but nothing that stuck with me over the long course of 365+ days it took me to finish. If I had to pick standouts, it would be the Le Guin story and the Harlan Ellison, but that's almost too predictable, right? Okay, if you pressed me, I think "Tropism" by Leigh Kennedy had a memorable concept, and also "The Rooms of Paradise" by Ian Watson. Maybe if I had read this faster, or as part of a book club where we could have discussed each story, I would have been more engaged.

[Fábio Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best science fiction anthologies I've read this year. Afterlives is all about what happens after you die: it might have easily been a fantasy or magical realism antho, but Sargent and Watson do their job well. Specially haunting to me were Gregory Benford's Of Space-Time and the River, Ian Watson's The Rooms of Paradise and J.G.Ballard's Time of Passage. This book is currently out of print, but I recommend it highly - and I urge it to whoever has its rights to republish it in digital format. It's more than worth it.

[Lydia Burris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opened me up to the vast and unusual directions various authors can take with a subject - I have been haunted by this anthology ever since I read it, and many of the stories have stuck with me.

[Mario D'Amore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bella raccolta di storie brevi, tutte di buon livello e alcune che spiccano. Una piacevole lettura.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those books I look back upon & wonder why I originally bought, but some good stories.