The Best of Subterranean

Once, there was a great SF&F magazine from Subterranean Press, publishing reviews, news, and stories between 2005 and its final issue in 2014. What you will find here is an anthology of 30 stories spread over some 750 pages from that magazine. The stories are diversified over every field of speculative fiction, including SF comedy, magical realism, ghost stories, steampunk, weird, and horror fiction. The overall tendency is heading towards weird fiction. There is an awesome line of authors, that lures you into the book, in some cases only because of the name. how else could Scalzi's story have found the way into a Best Of anthology or a piece of arrogant crap like Ellison's puzzle for the reader? As usual, Subterranean Press adds a high price tag for which you get a nice hardcover edition.

First of all: "Best of"? I'm not convinced, as I'm missing the great novellas which I consider as the best assets of this magazine, e.g. "After the Siege" by Cory Doctorow, Ted Chiang's "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", "Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)" and "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window" by Rachel Swirsky, or "Vacancy" by Lucius Shepard. Some of the collected pieces are questionable with regard of their status as "best of", as already mentioned.

The collection's tension bow left a lot to be desired: It started very good with stories from Shiner and Headly, but then lost traction and got lost in boredom with only a few highlights like Baker's Bohemian Astrobleme story. Some authors that I longed for really where a let down. But right at the end, when I nearly gave up all hopes, two stories pulled out the anthology's lethargy: K.J. Parker's wonderful novella and Ted Chiang's Near Future SF novelette.

There is something in it for everyone, and if you think that you don't like the setup and don't consider the book, then you might want to read at least a couple of the stories: All are still freely available online, just check out the metainformation in the reviews.

I loved this collection! I will add more detailed thoughts later, but first I just want to say it would great to get more collections like these. :)

The Best of Subterranean, William Schafer, Ed.- The Subterranean Press Magazine sadly is no more, but to get a glimpse of the high wattage talent it once featured, here is an anthology of 29 stories from some of the most honored and awarded practitioners in the field. I managed to get three or four issues of this quarterly before it stopped and there were always wonders inside. Different genres mix it up and there should be something for everyone, science fiction, horror, steampunk, fantasy, etc. K. J. Parker gives a story of music and the strange and sometimes dangerous lives of composers on some unnamed medieval world. Harlan Ellison talks about cause and effect, action and reaction, and what really happens as a result. I love Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space stories usually, but this one was a bit to dark and unfulfilled. Maria Dahvana Headley hunts mystical tigers in the Indian jungles in "Game". Add to this list, stories by Lewis Shiner, Robert Silverberg, Rachel Swirsky, Michael Bishop, Joe R. Lansdale, Ted Chang, Joe Hill, George R.R. Martin, and many more- you get the picture. Sure, not everything is going to be your favorite, but that's the usual case with most anthologies. At least the standards are set very high here. I think I can safely say, if you are going to read one anthology this year, this entry should be at the top of your list.

The last log of the Lachrymosa di Alastair Reynolds è il raccont, dalle tinte nemmeno tanto vagamente horror, di una missione su un pianeta alieno - una missione che va decisamente, decisamente male;

The seventeenth kind di Michael Marshall Smith è il rutilante resoconto di una vendita televisiva dai risvolti - e dai contatti col "pubblico" - decisamente imprevisti;

lo spegnersi della razza umana è raccontato nello stupendo Dispersed by the Sun, Melting in the Wind by Rachel Swirsky;

un automa, un bambino e un geniale inventore affetto da demenza sono i protagonisti dello steampunk Tanglefoot di Cherie Priest, che nasconde una delicata rappresentazione della malattia;

Hide and Horns è la città in cui arriva il riluttante eroe western di Joe Lansdale, protagonista di un'avventura ai confini dell'horror, ma con un tocco di surreale umorismo;

Younger women di Karen Joy Fowler racconta il rapporto contrastato tra una madre e una figlia adolescente, e come il vampiro di turno, da vero parassita, riesca a sfruttarne le crepe;

Last breath di Joe Hill porta il lettore in visita a un museo molto speciale - che non tutti apprezzano, purtroppo;

White Lines on a Green Field di Catherynne M. Valente conferma il mio giudizio - e i miei dubbi - sull'autrice: il talento per una scrittura evocativa, l'abilità nel rimaneggiare miti e leggende di ogni parte del mondo, e il sospetto che usi questi suoi talenti per impacchettare splendidamente quelle che sono scatole vuote. Rimane un racconto straniante e interessante;

The Least of the Deathly Arts di Kat Howard è un'inusuale storia d'amore e poesia, fra la Morte e la giovane studiosa che si è dedicata anima e corpo al suo studio;

Water Can’t be Nervous di Jonathan Carroll è un'altra inusuale storia, ma di un amore (più amori, nei secoli) che finiscono, perché l'eternità porta inevitabilmente noia; e di come un dio faccia ammenda della sua incostanza con le sue amanti, realizzando un sogno:

The Crane Method di Ian R. MacLeod ci porta nella pericolosa giungla della vita accademica degli studiosi di storia medievale inglese - e se pensate che sia un argomento noioso, sapete meno di Jon Snow;

The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn di Robert Silverberg conferma il meraviglioso talento di questo scrittore; un'altra storia di passioni accademiche si trasforma nella cronaca di un sogno d'infanzia realizzato;

A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong di K.J. Parker è il racconto più bello di tutta la raccolta: una storia di musica, passione, talento e degli abissi dell'animo umano;

The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling di Ted Chiang è una profonda, affascinante riflessione sulla verità e la menzogna; la verità e la menzogna dei ricordi individuali, la verità e la menzogna delle parole, orali o scritte. E il fatto che, forse, non esiste una sola, univoca verità.

I thought this to be a collection of sci-fi and fantasy stories and it turned out that its tales are mostly from urban fantasy, horror and alternate reality. Some are stunning, some are ok, others did not appeal to me at all. However, for the above genre’s lovers I think it will be much more enjoyable than it was for me. I recommend it though because there is a wide variety of ideas and styles and it is impossible not to find something to please you. Even for the few I very much liked, I still think it was worthy of my time.

Great selection! Well worth grabbing a copy, even though I read the ARC, i'm picking up a copy for my shelf. This one you will be picking up and reading through again and again.