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sjstuart's review
2.0
This is a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories from amateur and (previously) unpublished writers, that have done well in a contest judged by professional and well published writers. Although this competition is known for discovering several well known authors, and some of the authors in this volume did go on to successful writing careers, there's a reason that most of them were unpublished at the time of this book, and remained only lightly published thereafter.
I'm usually pretty easy to please when it comes to short-story anthologies: the quality doesn't have to be high throughout, and I'm happy if I discover only one or two stories that stick with me, or make me think, or are artfully crafted. But this collection didn't quite reach that bar. Many of the stories were quite amateurishly written (because they were written by amateurs, after all), and several were closer to creative writing exercises than publication-quality sci fi.
It also doesn't help that the book was poorly produced. I'm no typography snob, but the fonts seemed intentionally chosen to make the book more difficult to read.
The best sections of the book are the three essays about writing sci fi, by [a:Frederik Pohl|22996|Frederik Pohl|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1226540337p2/22996.jpg], [a:Gregory Benford|22645|Gregory Benford|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1224059011p2/22645.jpg], and [a:Jerry Pournelle|39099|Jerry Pournelle|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1216417671p2/39099.jpg].
I'm usually pretty easy to please when it comes to short-story anthologies: the quality doesn't have to be high throughout, and I'm happy if I discover only one or two stories that stick with me, or make me think, or are artfully crafted. But this collection didn't quite reach that bar. Many of the stories were quite amateurishly written (because they were written by amateurs, after all), and several were closer to creative writing exercises than publication-quality sci fi.
It also doesn't help that the book was poorly produced. I'm no typography snob, but the fonts seemed intentionally chosen to make the book more difficult to read.
The best sections of the book are the three essays about writing sci fi, by [a:Frederik Pohl|22996|Frederik Pohl|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1226540337p2/22996.jpg], [a:Gregory Benford|22645|Gregory Benford|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1224059011p2/22645.jpg], and [a:Jerry Pournelle|39099|Jerry Pournelle|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1216417671p2/39099.jpg].
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