The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction

These days, the "Science Fiction and Fantasy" section in the bookstores (and here, in metaphor) is way to much fantasy and too little science fiction. So my rating of this collection may be affected by my nostalgia for the time when that section was less popular but was mostly SF. Anyway, I enjoyed all of the stories except the one by Harlan Ellison -- I have never understood the reverence many give his writing. The ideas may not have been extreme, as other reviewers have pointed out, but they were all interesting, and all were science fiction.

If you like edgy SF or are interested in what lies near the horizons of SF thinking, then give this one a whirl. It's far from encycolpedic, just one editors view, but the selections are reasonable and stretch far beyond your standard space opera's. The stories are engaging, by known authors and the science (where it's used) is effective and good enough to suspend belief for the duration.

Ashley has done very well here, putting together an excellent collection of stories (3.95 average), even including one he has resurrected from 1909. Nice work indeed on his extreme them. Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Extreme Science Fiction - Mike Ashley Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Anomalies - Gregory Benford Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : ...And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon - Paul Di Filippo Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Crucifixion Variations - Lawrence Person Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The Pacific Mystery - Stephen Baxter Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Flowers from Alice - Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Merlin's Gun - Alastair Reynolds Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Death in the Promised Land - Pat Cadigan Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The Long Chase - Geoffrey A. Landis Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Waterworld - Stephen L. Gillett and Jerry Oltion Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Hoop-of-Benzene - Robert Reed Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The New Humans - B. Vallance Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The Creator - Clifford D. Simak Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The Girl Had Guts - Theodore Sturgeon Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The Region Beyond - Harlan Ellison Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : The Days of Solomon Gursky - Ian McDonald Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Wang's Carpets - Greg Egan Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Undone - James Patrick Kelly Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Judgement Engine - Greg Bear Mammoth Book of Extreme SF : Stuffing - Jerry Oltion Error observation religion. 4 out of 5 Needy girlfriend and too much combined crap a very bad situation. 4 out of 5 Schrodinger's Christ. 4 out of 5 Alternate nazi monster zeppelin expedition shows Pacific that time forgot lives up to hyperbole. 4 out of 5 Post-human furniture with passions. 4 out of 5 Black hole shooter crucial in prevention of stellar duo's stupendous collapse and civilisation sterilisation. 4.5 out of 5 Digital deadly doings. 3.5 out of 5 Soldier's marathon space race conversion. 4 out of 5 Resupply when dry is a problem in O2 atmosphere fry. 4 out of 5 Planet nuking and nicking plotter captain finally undone by ritual. 4 out of 5 Malleable bunch not fond of miscegenation. 3.5 out of 5 Puny humans to save a universe or three. 2.5 out of 5 New planet exploratory team has basically a face-hugger episode, without the large monster phase. 4 out of 5 Fomenting anti-Succubus insurrection. 3.5 out of 5 Dead rebellion expansion. 4.5 out of 5 A conservative transhuman polis sets out to search for alien life on other planets. The planet they find surprises them in a bit way, as the carpetlike inhabitants seem to grow by a pattern described by an obscure mathematician. Their nature allows them to perform as a Turing machine, and they are running one pretty impressive simulation. A story you might just have to read a bit of twice. 4 out of 5 Future escape a problem of many dimensions. 4.5 out of 5 Large scale librar