John also reviews Fast Forward 2 on his blog.
There’s no theme to the Fast Forward series, other than excellence in storytelling. The stories in FF2 cover the spectrum of sub-genres, from near-future parables to far-future space opera, from post-cyberpunk to hard SF; from cautionary tales a la The Twilight Zone to uplifting vignettes that affirm the best in human nature. With such a wide selection of styles and themes, it should come as no surprise that not every entry will appeal to every reader. At the very least, FF2 is like a Whitman Sampler; a little something for everyone, and if you find a story you like, it’ll be from a writer with plenty of other work you can chase down later.
4 comments:
Although I buy and enjoy theme anthologies, I grew up on "sampler" anthologies -- Dangerous Visions, Orbit, New Dimensions, Universe, etc.
One of the best things about FF 1&2is that they *are* "Whitman samplers."
I've always liked potluck dinners, too, so maybe there's a connection...
Robert
My own introduction was finding battered copies of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthologies in my grandfather's basement, so I hear you!
Those were great, too -- and you remnded me also of searching for used copies of Fred Pohl's old Star SF series, Groff Conklin's stuff...
I am really glad they reprinted the Hall of Fame volumes in hardcover recently.
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