Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

ByJohn Joseph Adams,Paolo Bacigalupi,+20 more

2008 • 352 pages

Ratings25

Average rating3.6

An anthology of post-apocalyptic short fiction from some of the biggest names in science fiction and speculative fiction - including Stephen King, George R. R. Martin and Orson Scott Card

Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon - these are our guides through the Wastelands . . . From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity.

Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.

Genres

Want to edit this book?Become a Librarian

Series

Featured Series

4 primary books

Wastelands

Wastelands is a 4-book series with 4 released primary works first released in 2008 with contributions by John Joseph Adams, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Cory Doctorow.

Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Jase

It's hard to rate short story collections as a whole when it contains so many different writers and styles. I loved a few of the tales, hated a few of them, and was indifferent on a few more. My favorite story of the bunch was “Judgment Passed” by Jerry Oltion, and as a computer programmer myself I had a soft spot for “When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth” by Cory Doctorow.

It is totally worth reading just to see 22 different views on the Apocalypse in rather short order.

May 3, 2010

Kelly Corn

Great compilation of post apocalyptic stories! I look forward to Wastelands II and I just saw an announcement of another compilation of Pre-apocalyptic stories. I really wanted to do a long review, and point out the stories I liked and didn't like. For the most part, I enjoyed them all, with some standouts.

June 19, 2013