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jodicleghorn's review
3.0
A solid three and a half stars. Like most anthologies there were stories that resonated strongly and others that were a complete miss with me. Many I felt were let down by simplistic premises (stories without some kind of consequence for what was happening) or weak endings. Overall, there was much beautiful writing to be enjoyed, even in the stories with weaker narratives.
The anthology got off on the wrong foot with me, in placing Claire McKenna and Dave Versace's stories side by side as opening stories and I found myself irritated to the point of giving up on the anthology half way through with the editor's placement of the stories.
Coming back to the stories after many months break, the second half read far better in the curation of the ToC.
Favourite stories:
Claire McKenna's 'The Ninety Nine'
Dave Versace's 'Imported Goods-Aisle Nine'
Suzanne J Willis's 'Of Starfish Tides'
Tracie McBride's 'Wooden Heart'
Gillian Pollock's 'Someone's Daughter'
Helen Stubb's 'Casino Five'
Rik Legarto's 'The Wild Hunt'
Alan Baxter's 'Quantum Echo'
Richard Harland's 'Here's Glory For You'
And my favourite of them all... Elizabeth Fitzgerald's 'Phoenix Down'
The anthology got off on the wrong foot with me, in placing Claire McKenna and Dave Versace's stories side by side as opening stories and I found myself irritated to the point of giving up on the anthology half way through with the editor's placement of the stories.
Coming back to the stories after many months break, the second half read far better in the curation of the ToC.
Favourite stories:
Claire McKenna's 'The Ninety Nine'
Dave Versace's 'Imported Goods-Aisle Nine'
Suzanne J Willis's 'Of Starfish Tides'
Tracie McBride's 'Wooden Heart'
Gillian Pollock's 'Someone's Daughter'
Helen Stubb's 'Casino Five'
Rik Legarto's 'The Wild Hunt'
Alan Baxter's 'Quantum Echo'
Richard Harland's 'Here's Glory For You'
And my favourite of them all... Elizabeth Fitzgerald's 'Phoenix Down'
rivqa's review
3.0
Next is filled with intriguing ideas, humour and excellent writing. It's a dense collection (30 stories!) with some great work, and as most are rather short, great bite-sized reading for busy people.
michelle_e_goldsmith's review
4.0
I really liked it!
Full review forthcoming when I'm not being besieged by final assignments for uni.
Full review forthcoming when I'm not being besieged by final assignments for uni.
daveversace's review
4.0
(Disclaimer: I have a story in this collection. I think it's pretty good, but that's as much of a review as you're getting out of me).
Every year the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSfG) makes an open call for submissions for its annual themed anthology. The themed for this year's volume, co-edited by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine veteran Simon Petrie and first-timer Robert Porteus, was "Next": "Sequence. Succession. Cause and Effect. Show us what happened next."
As you'd expect with a theme as intentionally broad as this one, the only real unifying feature of the thirty stories in this volume are that they all contain a speculative element. There are stories from hard science fiction futures, whimsical fairy tale fantasies, clockwork adventures; there are historical survival horror stories, body horror stories, lost monsters, lonely robots, Faustian bargain, haunts, zombies and possibly the odd time traveller.
Some of the stories that particularly stood out to me included the especially strong opener Claire McKenna's brutal (and funny) portrait of a tyrannical footballer "The Ninety Two", along with (in no particular order) "Almost Beautiful", Angela Rega's tale of glassmaking and infdelity in a fantastic Venice; Gillian Polack's "Someone's Daughter", about a fraught archaeological discovery; Martin Living's gloomy chaos theory yarn "Cause and Effect"; "Hell is Where the Heart Is", Janeen Webb's rather Dahl-esque organ transplant horror; and Rik Lagarto's childhood brush with the supernatural in "The Wild Hunt".
Next is a strong collection with so much of the speculative range covered that a reader is sure to find something to appeal. Contrary to what I see as a bit of a trend in Australian speculative fiction, Next tilts slightly towards the lighter side of things (though the grimdark and the serious are also both well represented). It has a fun streak of whimsy and the occasional outright comedic moment, but mostly in the service of clever, thoughtful storytelling.
Next is a great showcase for emerging Australian short fiction writers. I'm pretty sure I'd recommend it even if I were not one of those writers.
Every year the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSfG) makes an open call for submissions for its annual themed anthology. The themed for this year's volume, co-edited by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine veteran Simon Petrie and first-timer Robert Porteus, was "Next": "Sequence. Succession. Cause and Effect. Show us what happened next."
As you'd expect with a theme as intentionally broad as this one, the only real unifying feature of the thirty stories in this volume are that they all contain a speculative element. There are stories from hard science fiction futures, whimsical fairy tale fantasies, clockwork adventures; there are historical survival horror stories, body horror stories, lost monsters, lonely robots, Faustian bargain, haunts, zombies and possibly the odd time traveller.
Some of the stories that particularly stood out to me included the especially strong opener Claire McKenna's brutal (and funny) portrait of a tyrannical footballer "The Ninety Two", along with (in no particular order) "Almost Beautiful", Angela Rega's tale of glassmaking and infdelity in a fantastic Venice; Gillian Polack's "Someone's Daughter", about a fraught archaeological discovery; Martin Living's gloomy chaos theory yarn "Cause and Effect"; "Hell is Where the Heart Is", Janeen Webb's rather Dahl-esque organ transplant horror; and Rik Lagarto's childhood brush with the supernatural in "The Wild Hunt".
Next is a strong collection with so much of the speculative range covered that a reader is sure to find something to appeal. Contrary to what I see as a bit of a trend in Australian speculative fiction, Next tilts slightly towards the lighter side of things (though the grimdark and the serious are also both well represented). It has a fun streak of whimsy and the occasional outright comedic moment, but mostly in the service of clever, thoughtful storytelling.
Next is a great showcase for emerging Australian short fiction writers. I'm pretty sure I'd recommend it even if I were not one of those writers.
sidhe's review
4.0
Full disclosure: I have a story in this book but I'm ignoring it in my review. I also know several of the other authors personally but I've tried to not let that bias my opinion on this anthology.
That said, I thought Next contained a high quality collection of stories. Not all were to my taste but there were many original ideas and some impressive writing from seasoned and emerging writers alike.
That said, I thought Next contained a high quality collection of stories. Not all were to my taste but there were many original ideas and some impressive writing from seasoned and emerging writers alike.
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