Grants Pass: A Post-apocalyptic Anthology

by Jennifer Brozek (Editor), Amanda Pillar (Editor), Ed Greenwood

The apocalypse has arrived.

Humanity was decimated by bio-terrorism; three engineered plagues were let loose on the world. Barely anyone has survived.

Just a year before the collapse, Grants Pass, Oregon, USA, was publicly labeled as a place of sanctuary in a whimsical online, “what if” post. Now, it has become one of the last known refuges, and the hope, of mankind.

Would you go to Grants Pass based on the words of someone you’ve never met?

Prelude: Kayley Allard
An Unkindness of Ravens: Stephanie Gunn
Boudha: KV Taylor
Hells Bells: Cherie Priest
Ascension: Martin Livings
Animal Husbandry: Seanan McGuire
Men of Faith: Ivan Ewert
The Chateau de Mons: Jennifer Brozek
The Few that are Good: Scott Almes
Rites of Passage: Pete Kempshall
A Perfect Night to Watch Detroit Burn: Ed Greenwood
Final Edition: Jeff Parish
The Discomfort of Words: Carole Johnstone
Newfound Gap: Lee Clark Zumpe
Ink Blots: Amanda Pillar
Black Heart, White Mourning: Jay Lake
By the Sea: Shannon Page
Remembrance: James M. Sullivan
Epilogue: Kayley Allard

Genres: Anthologies, Horror, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic, Fiction

252 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2009

About the author

Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of the Never Let Me Sleep, and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her BattleTech tie-in novel, The Nellus Academy Incident, won a Scribe Award. Her editing work has netted her Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Award, and Hugo Award nominations. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, and Predator. Jennifer is also the Creative Director of Apocalypse Ink Productions.

Jennifer has been a freelance author and editor for over ten years after leaving her high paying tech job, and she’s never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com.

Reviews

[Brainycat · Rating 5 out of 5]

keywords: horror, post-apocalyptic, bioterrorism, plague, anthology
brainycat's "5 Best B"s (on a scale of one to five):
boobs: 1 / blood 3 / bombs 2 / bondage 1 / blasphemy 3

Grant's Pass is an excellent concept anthology that I enjoyed reading. The authors of each of the twenty pieces were provided with the following scenario: Bioterrorists unleash plagues across the globe that leave a survival rate of 0.001 percent. While the plagues were buring through the population, a blog post written by a young woman goes viral. This post, written before the plagues started, is a letter to her friends asking them to meet her in Grant's Pass, Oregon if the world comes to an end. Each of the stories in this book are about characters deciding to go to Grant's Pass, trying to get to Grant's Pass or trying to keep people from going to Grant's Pass. The city becomes an analogy for hope and community, for safety and a chance at reconnecting with people assumed lost during the plague.

I really, really like post-apocalyptic stories. Like most fans, I enjoy imagining myself as a survivor and I put myself into the desolation and destruction,  daydreaming about a world without deadlines, traffic, bills or legions of stupid people; where my wits and my physicality are the difference between life and death - every day. I also daydream about people in extraordinary circumstances. What if I were far from home when the extinction even occurs? How will the infrastructure (power, water, sewage, internet) fall apart? What about researchers in Antarctica or isolated cultures living the way they have for thousands of years deep in the rainforest? What is the mathematical model to determine if a group of survivors are open and welcoming to strangers or likely to subjugate or kill people who come across them? These are the things that I think about when I'm staring off into space. I can divine how cynical I'm feeling at any given time by the answers I provide for myself.

And these are the questions posed by in this collection. As with other post-apocalyptic books, a major theme throughout most of the stories can be summed up with a Rousseau-ean supposition: When the chains of civilization are broken, how do free people behave? Some of the answers gave Stacey nightmares. I don't disagree with her assesment that people are capable of doing amazingly horrific things to each other when there's little to no liklihood of reprisal (eg Animal Husbandry by Seanan McGuire, The Few That Are Good by Scott Ames, and Men of Faith by Ivan Ewert). Each of the characters in those stories believe they are forced into their actions by the conditions they're in and are totally justified in everything they do, leaving the reader mute witness to the downward spiral into madness and anarchy the characters throw themselves. If I didn't get nightmares but instead felt entertained, it's because I'm a cold heartless bastard.

"Somebody once wrote 'Hell is the impossibility of reason'", and by this measure some of these stories are truly hellish. I'm not speaking of the nature of the plagues; this is not a medical thriller and the editors made a better-than-half-assed-attempt at making the science plausible, so I'm willing to buy into the disease etiology. Some of the stories explore an alienation and dysphoria so overwhelming that we watch the characters' psyches splinter apart and flutter like so many tiny pieces of confetti in the wind. The character quirks and oddities that endear us to our friends today can become the faultlines that rupture and bring us down in times of stress, and this idea is explored especially well in Final Edition by Jeff Parish, Ink Blots by Amanda Pillar, By The Sea by Shannon Page, Hell's Bells by Cherie Priest and especially The Discomfort of Words by Carole Johnstone. Perhaps egomaniaclly, I didn't especially relate to any of these protagonists, but rather enjoyed watching their descent into madness from a smug perch, confident (hubristically) that I'm stronger than they are.

Is it the responsibility of every survivor to keep clawing at life, fending off the extinction of the human species for as long as possible, or is it every person's responsibility to make their death have meaning? Can anyone's death, or life, mean anything when total extinction is just a few years away? This is an important question, and is being wrestled with today (albeit in a wildly differnt context) in the debates around assisted suicide. For the staff trapped in orbit on the International Space Station, it's not an abstract question and Martin Livings provides his answers in Ascension. Jennifer Brozek also broaches the idea in The Chateau de Mons, and the most romantic story in the collection Rights of Passage by Pete Kempshall shows this choice is not always one's own to make.

Ultimately, the post-apocalyptic genre is about showing us hope. In the personal sense, we each hope that we would survive an apocalyptic even and as readers we hope the protagonists survive their disasters. Exploring stories like this allows us to explore the banal cruelty humans can so casually commit, which makes kindnesses, small and large, seem so much more significant. Hope and the redemption of the social fabric we know today are powerful motivators for heroes and antiheroes alike, and they drive several stories including An Unkindness of Ravens by Stephanie Gunn, Boudha by K.V. Taylor, A Newfound Gap by Lee Clarke Zumpe, Black Heart White Mourning by Jay Lake and especially A Perfect Night to Watch Detroit Burn by Ed Greenwood.

I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. It's not just another "driving around the burning remains of North America with a truck full of guns" fantasy, it's a collection of thought provoking and intelligent short stories bound together by a brilliant concept. The writing is consistently solid through the book; while none of the stories struck me as drop-what-you're-doing-and-read-this-now caliber, the lack of weak pieces elevates the overall average and made it very easy to get through the book. I got the .azw from Amazon, and somewhere between it's production and my converting to epub enough formatting errors showed up that it was a bit distracting, and there were several typos. I say this because it triggered my OCD, but at no point were any of the pieces unreadable. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror and post-apocalyptic fiction with an intelligent, emotional edge to it.

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's another apocalyptic anthology for me here and I quite enjoyed it. I came across this after having read The Book of the Unnamed Midwife and it sounded worth a read. As with all anthologies, some stories click more than others. I was already familiar with Seanan Maguire but the other authors here were new to me. My favourites:

Ascension by Martin Livings (probably my favourite of all because it deals with the fate of those on the ISS when everything on Earth fails)
Animal Husbandry by Seanan McGuire
The Chateau du Mons by Jennifer Brozek
The Few That are Good by Scott Almes
A Perfect Night to Watch Detroit Burn by Ed Greenwood
Final Edition by Jeff Parish
Newfound Gap Lee by Clarke Zumpe
By the Sea by Shannon Page
Remembrance by James M Sullivan (if you read through this wanting to know if people made it to Grants Pass, this is the one for you.)

After listing my favourites, it seems this picked up for me in the last half. Your results may vary. There were some very good passages I found worth highlight and I really liked the author's note at the end of each story that gave a bit more insight as to why they choose to write what they had. I'd hoped for more looks at people having successfully made the journey to Grants Pass but I also found myself very pleased with stories of those in such far-flung places they'd no hope of getting there but could take it as inspiration to do a similar thing where they were. I have more authors to keep on the lookout for and that's always a good thing.

I'd recommend this to fans of apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to finish this today so I could read something else and hopefully push this out of my brain. That should not be taken as a negative review. The stories in this anthology gave me nightmares, precisely because they were so incredibly believable. They're stories of people alone, together, making decisions for themselves, imposing them on others, greed, generosity, deception and innocence.

Two of them (Hell's Bells, and Animal Husbandry,) were so chilling I found myself holding my breath.

The thing that struck me the hardest, was how easy it would be for this to NOT be fiction. There were no zombies, no werewolves, no urban magic. The only monsters were of the human variety, full of reason and justification. The lines between survival and monstrosity are blurred. This ambiguity was impactful, and the realism remained intact.

As with all anthologies, some stories resonated with me more than others, but as a whole, it's a very strong entry in post-apocalyptic fiction.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well done anthology of stories about a modern apocalypse and the fabled safe haven of Grants Pass, Oregon. The world falls apart due to bioengineered plagues and the chaos that ensues from them. The stories here, like many anthologies, vary in terms of their ability to grab each reader, but they're all well written even if they're not one's cup of tea. Stories that stood out in my mind as the best or most intriguing were "Animal Husbandry" by Seanan McGuire; "Chateau de Mons" by Jennifer Brozek; "A Perfect Night to Watch Detroit Burn" by Ed Greenwood; "Final Edition" by Jeff Parish; and "Black Heart, White Mourning" by Jay Lake.

And to answer the leading question of the anthology, yes, I'd go to Grants Pass. Hope is one of the things that keeps us going when everything else demands we give up.

[Note--I read this in PDF format before the book's release, but I'll be looking to get a copy soon to put on the shelf.:]

[♥Meagan♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fabulous anthology. There were only a few stories that I did not like, and that was more because of the writing style than the content. I thought the idea of an anthology with a similar plotline was great.

I'm super happy I read this!

I would definitely recommend it for fans of the post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre, especially if you like short stories!

[Kris Davidson · Rating 1 out of 5]

One or two of the stories would have been ok on their own. Having to shoehorn the premise of getting to Grants Pass Oregon into every story really hurt the anthology and was outright ridiculous in the case of the stories set internationally.

[Jesse (cyborgpotato) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm such a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction, especially short stories.

[Mark Vetter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an outstanding and fascinating read, if you are a fan of apocalyptic fiction you will love this book

[Reenie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty much a cliche to say that an anthology is a mixed bag - it's sort of the point, right? There's always going to be stories you really really like (hopefully), and ones that you could really do without.

Grant's Pass, an anthology of stories about people who survived a plague-ridden end of the world and now have to decide whether to answer a call to join other survivors in Grants Pass, Oregon, is of course no exception. There are great stories, good stories, decent stories, and not-so ones. In the category of 'could really do without', mine are likely going to be quite different than other people's, so I'll skip going over them here.

In the category of great stories, mine may also not match up, but I'm not going to stop myself from singling out my two favourites all the same, because I thought they were both truly awesome. Stories about survivors of an apocalypse necessarily have a tough road to pick around the pitfalls of cliche in both character and emotion - there's enough literature out there on the set-up, not to mention the part where we all likely have our own internal script for it already - and yet these two stories still managed to create well-defined main characters with unique perspectives on the situation.

Other than that, and having a female lead, they don't have too much in common. There's Animal Husbandry, by Seanan Maguire, about a Californian vet making her way up the West Coast to find out whether her daughter also survived, and Boudha, by K.V. Taylor, about a girl in Kathmandu watching her family & her neighbourhood disintegrate around her. Those descriptions don't really do either of them justice, but rather than spoil anything, I'll just say that they both were the sort of short stories that I like to take breaks in while reading, to extend the amount of time I get them for.

[Dan C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book right after I read A Land of Ash. Grants Pass was mentioned in several of the Goodreads reviews of A Land of Ash so I picked it up from the B&N Nook store for $4.95. Grants Pass is the place in Oregon that everyone is trying to get to after a combination of Ebola, superflu and bubonic plague wipe out 99.99% of the human population. To add insult to injury, "the big one" finally hits southern California - as if global epidemics weren't bad enough. In stark contrast to A Land of Ash, most of the stories in Grants Pass were international. This gave the anthology a bit of a different flavor. It really did feel like a global apocalypse. The eruption of Yellowstone would have global ramifications, but it would have nothing on the bioterrorism that wiped out the world in Grants Pass. On the whole, I didn't enjoy this as much as A Land of Ash. In many ways, it reminded me of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books without any of the choosing. Many were chilling and scary - the scariest ones accenting the isolation that an end of the world scenario such as this would bring. But overall, I kind of felt like I was always waiting for "how are they going to work Grants Pass into this?" Sometimes it was convincing, other times it felt very shoehorned in. It also suffered from more proofreading errors than A Land of Ash which is always a pet peeve of mine. So it was a little bit more of a mixed bag than A Land of Ash. Still, it was worth the read because it too was a really fast read.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck.

I picked this up to read Cherie Priest's story which was ok, but the other stories I read were just not my taste.


Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It had earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Martin Livings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grants Pass really is an extraordinary collection; every single one of the contributors avoided the possible expected apocalyptic cliches like the plague(s) and gave me something I wasn't expecting, which was a surprise and a delight. My faves in the collection were probably "Animal Husbandry" by Seanan McGuire and "Black Heart, White Mourning" by Jay Lake, but having said that, it was genuinely hard to pick highlights from amongst these stories, they were all of the highest quality (not counting my own, since I can't really comment on that!). Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar did an astounding job, and this book comes highly recommended.

[Krisaundra · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Than Expected...

When I first read the premise for this book I was super sceptical at the idea of various writers all writing their own version of TEOTWAWKI as well as maintaining the same central figure. I expected a lot of confusion but instead I picked up the book and thank goodness for insomnia because I didn't put this book down again until I finished it! There were a couple of the stories that I didn't relate to over all, but at the end of the day the majority of stories in this book ran together cohesively enough to feel like one novel written by one primary writer! Success in my books!

[Lynn K : Grimmedian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong collection of post apacolyptic earth stories.

The stories in this anthology center around an exercise in "what if" with some of the best writers of UF and horror contributing pieces which all center with the guidelines based on a web post by a girl named Kayley. "If the end of the world comes, meet me in Grants Pass, OR."
The resulting book is a great read. The authors present tales of many places and different people after the decimation of mankind. Each story no matter how different, all incorporate Grants Pass and the choices made by those who are left behind, alive, to find other survivors, and to rebuild a safe society. Highly recommended!

[Elle Shang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the concept, but it kinda falls apart on the execution.

Like every post-apocalyptic books out there, this one looks promising. At first. Some of the accounts were too boring not because of the lack of “human factor” which PA books mostly touch, but because some writers just simply failed to give birth to a character that would actually make you care about. Out of the 20+ names I’ve encountered I only liked 2-3 of them and honestly wished that the rest of the book revolved around them instead.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was pretty good. The concept was great. But some of the stories weren't. The book had a feeling of hopelessness about. Most of the people going to Grants Pass were awful, planning to kill or steal from the people. I realize that the end of the world wouldn't leave only good people to colonize a utopian society but I have to believe that there's more good than evil in the world. Because if there's not maybe we deserve to be wiped out.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating: 2-1/2 stars.
I found the concept of this book very intriguing - 20 stories, by 20 different authors, all starting with the same background story: A blog post suggests that if the world ends, survivors meet at Grants Pass. The world as we know it comes to a sudden and tragic end and the blog post becomes urban legend.
Each author gave their story an interesting twist; however, unfortunately too many of the writers were unable to impress me enough to recommend this book.

[Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting collection of tales and how people from different walks of life, ages, even cultures would cope/deal with an end of the world scenario. While some stories I devoured, others took a bit to push through. Food for thought, though...and giving some of the people who thought to head out west here to G.P. - I'm thinking I'd rather not be here to greet them. ;)

[Elspeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology is a must read for any apocalypse enthusiast. The many and varied stories all based around the same central theme are wonderfully vivid and thought provoking. What would you do if the world ended and you survived?

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing and diverse collection of post-apocalyptic short stories. If you like the genre, it is a must read. I did have to read the stories intermingled with other readings due to the content as well as I wanted to make certain I fully ingested each story. Do not miss!

[Jonathan Bolte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok this is a reread
An end of the world anthology...I liked the Idea and bought it.

Now I am not very big into short stories, I love long term Character development too much so saying it was great is big praise from me

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An awesome collection of short stories based on a girl's blog post to meet at Grants Pass, OR in the event of the end of the world. Some of the stories hopeful, some of them sad, all of them poignant. Well worth the read.

[Cjlang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh - I love apocalyptic fiction and this book was based on an excellent premise. Some of the writers were quite good but many were .... juvenile. The writing, thankfully, wasn't awful but it was the sort of thing you might read in an honors English class.

[Cissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good anthology- lots of variety within a loosely-defined format.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Forced and overly dramatic tone, couldn't finish it.

[Pete731 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good anthology, very enjoyable read. I liked the old school apocalyptic nature of it, no zombies for example.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't give a lot of 5 star reviews, but in free single story in this collection was really solid and thought provoking and heart-tugging

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark, engaging, and ultimately hopeful anthology of shared-world tales set against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic. If you enjoy post-apocalyptic fare, you'll greatly enjoy this book.

[William R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little book of shorts written around an apocalyptic theme