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A review by tobin_elliott
2113 : Stories Inspired by the Music of Rush by Michael Z. Williamson, Fritz Leiber, David Farland, John McFetridge, Richard S. Foster, Greg Van Eekhout, David Mack, Kevin J. Anderson, Mark Leslie, Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon, Ron Collins, Brad R. Torgersen, David Niall Wilson, Dayton Ward, Brian Hodge, Tim Lasiuta
1.5
This was a trainwreck. I should have known better. I should have seen that name on the cover and walked away.
I love Rush. I love everything about Rush. Three insanely talented musicians, and one of them also the talented wordsmith behind the brilliant, insightful, incisive lyrics. I'd hoped this collection would be a testament to the creativity of Neil Peart.
Instead, it was an exercise in bloated, dull storytelling, usually with a SF bent. Now, yes, Peart often went in an SF direction for his songs...but more often, especially from the latter two-thirds of the Rush catalogue, he more examined the human condition, without the SF trappings.
Many of these stories honestly felt as though they'd been pre-written, then a couple of Rush lyrics were shoehorned in to make it fit to the anthology concept. Some very obviously came directly from the songs, but twisted the intent of the song so far out of true as to be virtually unrecognizable. I'll be honest, the only story that held any interest was "A Nice Morning Drive" simply due to its place in history for inspiring "Red Barchetta".
And the less said about the Fritz Lieber story that inspired "Roll The Bones" the better. While it may have inspired the song, it was so blatantly racist I was shocked at its inclusion.
I'd had high hopes for a good anthology inspired by one of Canada's best, but with KJA at the helm, I really should have known better. If this anthology serves any purpose, it's to show what a brilliant writer Peart was.
Never again.
I love Rush. I love everything about Rush. Three insanely talented musicians, and one of them also the talented wordsmith behind the brilliant, insightful, incisive lyrics. I'd hoped this collection would be a testament to the creativity of Neil Peart.
Instead, it was an exercise in bloated, dull storytelling, usually with a SF bent. Now, yes, Peart often went in an SF direction for his songs...but more often, especially from the latter two-thirds of the Rush catalogue, he more examined the human condition, without the SF trappings.
Many of these stories honestly felt as though they'd been pre-written, then a couple of Rush lyrics were shoehorned in to make it fit to the anthology concept. Some very obviously came directly from the songs, but twisted the intent of the song so far out of true as to be virtually unrecognizable. I'll be honest, the only story that held any interest was "A Nice Morning Drive" simply due to its place in history for inspiring "Red Barchetta".
And the less said about the Fritz Lieber story that inspired "Roll The Bones" the better. While it may have inspired the song, it was so blatantly racist I was shocked at its inclusion.
I'd had high hopes for a good anthology inspired by one of Canada's best, but with KJA at the helm, I really should have known better. If this anthology serves any purpose, it's to show what a brilliant writer Peart was.
Never again.