Beyond Armageddon: Twenty-One Sermons to the Dead

From the depths of the Cold War, an anthology of stories of what happens after a 'Megawar', generally nuclear, and of varying degrees. Miller is pretty pessimistic in outlook in this, not surprising at the time this was published when you had idiot presidents making stupid jokes, etc. Even going so far as saying, hope everyone gets nukes, might actually encourage major power disarmament. There's an intro by the editor to each story, talking about the particular type of scenario that is going on. A pretty good book, with a 3.60 story average. Beyond Armageddon : Salvador - Lucius Shepard Beyond Armageddon : The Store of the Worlds [The World of Hearts Desire] - Robert Sheckley Beyond Armageddon : The Big Flash - Norman Spinrad Beyond Armageddon : Lot - Ward Moore Beyond Armageddon : Day at the Beach - Carol Emshwiller Beyond Armageddon : The Wheel - John Wyndham Beyond Armageddon : Jody After the War - Edward Bryant Beyond Armageddon : The Terminal Beach - J. G. Ballard Beyond Armageddon : Tomorrow's Children - Poul Anderson Beyond Armageddon : Heirs Apparent - Robert Abernathy Beyond Armageddon : The Music Master of Babylon - Edgar Pangborn Beyond Armageddon : Game Preserve - Rog Phillips Beyond Armageddon : By the Waters of Babylon [The Place of the Gods] - Stephen Vincent Benet Beyond Armageddon : There Will Come Soft Rains - Ray Bradbury Beyond Armageddon : To the Chicago Abyss - Ray Bradbury Beyond Armageddon : Lucifer - Roger Zelazny Beyond Armageddon : Eastward Ho! - William Tenn Beyond Armageddon : The Feast of Saint Janis - Michael Swanwick Beyond Armageddon : If I Forget Thee Oh Earth - Arthur C. Clarke Beyond Armageddon : A Boy and His Dog - Harlan Ellison Beyond Armageddon : My Life in the Jungle - Jim Aikin Spooked Special Forces pill popper's spinout. 3.5 out of 5 Secret longing viewing. 3 out of 5 "To make a long story short and sweet, I gave the network the royal screw. I signed the Horsemen to a contract that made me their manager and gave me twenty percent of their take. Then I booked them into the American Dream at ten thousand a week, wrote a check as proprietor of the American Dream, handed the check to myself as manager of the Four Horsemen, then resigned as a network flunky, leaving them with a $10,000 bag and me with 20% of the hottest group since the Beatles. What the hell, he who lives by the fine print shall perish by the fine print." Apocalypto Rock and Rollo. 4 out of 5 ## Getting out of town is very important. 3.5 out of 5 Bald and hungry. 3.5 out of 5 Burning fear. 3.5 out of 5 Come on, come on now touch me babe...for I am not afraid. 3.5 out of 5 The centre has a hold. 3 out of 5 Post-apocalyptic mutation multiplicity. 4.5 out of 5 Commie? Khan do better than that, I reckon! 4 out of 5 An elderly survivor of some nuking lives in a museum, and one day comes across a couple of primitive kids, nascent musicians. 4 out of 5 Smart Elf kid cull. 4 out of 5 Reli

I enjoyed this collection of short stories mainly because I was a child of the Cold War. Nuclear annihalation was always a thought in the back of America's mind then, and many science fiction authors wrote chilling stories based on the 'what if' of a nuclear exchange. Although the threat has receeded, we still face the possibility, even if it is not in the forefront of our conciousness like it was during those fifty years of fear. There are some excellent examples of the gripping stories that kept me up as a kid here, anyone who remembers that time will appreciate this book as both fiction and history. For those who love post apocalyptic fiction I would also point you to two of the best books written in this genre, also by the co-editor of this anthology, Walter Miller: A Canticle for Leibowitz and Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman. These two books are truly the benchmark for thoughtful writing on the consequences of a nuclear exchange.

This anthology contains the very best of apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic short fiction, including such hard-to find classics as Harlan Elison's "A Boy and His Dog". Other personal favorites are Norman Spinrad's "The Big Flash", Edgar Pangborn's "A MAster of Babylon", Stephen Benet's "By the Waters of Babylon", William Tenn's "Eastward Ho!", Lucius Shepard's "Salvador" and... it's all there, really. Include an interesting and to-the-point foreword by editor Walter M. Miller (author of "A Canticle for Leibowitz"), and you've got the ultimate treat for a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction.(Note: Published in the UK as "Beyond Armageddon: Survivors of the Megawar" Robinson, 1985)

Yes, the book is out of print, but when I ordered it, the page said that it was still available, and I received it in 2 days. Hmmm... There's good and bad to this collection of 21 stories of nuclear devastation. *Bad* - Walter M. Miller's lengthy, rambling, and ultimately pointless foreword and story introductions, and the abundance of typos (did anyone proofread this?). *Good* - The selection of works. Bradbury, Ellison, Clarke, Zelazny, Pangborn, and many others. Plus, it includes one of my personal favorites, "By the Waters of Babylon" by Steven Vincent Benet. The cover is intriguing, as well... looks like Stanislaw Fernandes?