This Way to the End Times: Classic Tales of the Apocalypse

by Robert Silverberg (Editor), Ursula K. Le Guin (Contribution by), Connie Willis (Contribution by), Megan Arkenberg (Contribution by), Brian W. Aldiss (Contribution by)

Overview

THIS WAY TO THE END TIMES: Classic Tales of the Apocalypse, gathers 21 compelling, gripping stories of the not-too-distant demise of the earth as we know it. And what a collection. From little-known, brilliant tales by sci-fi legends Jules Vernes and Olaf Stapledon, to intense short works by sci-fi masters Ursula K. Le Guin, Connie Willis, Jack Vance, and Brian W. Aldiss, to haunting works by contemporary authors Dale Bailey, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Karen Haber and Megan Arkenberg, THIS WAY TO THE END TIMES paves the road to the fantastical future, alternating humor with grit, and hope with ghastly post apocalyptic visions. Guest editor Robert Silverberg—beloved sci-fi master—hand-picked each story, and offers an introduction to each, as well as an introduction to the anthology as a whole. A unique collection for longtime and new fans of speculative fiction, THIS WAY TO THE END TIMES roars into the future wide-eyed and full speed ahead.

Complete list of authors:
Jules Verne, James Elroy Flecker, Frank Lillie Pollock, G. Peyton Wertenbaker, Philip Latham, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, Brian W. Aldiss, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Silverberg, James Tiptree, Jr., Malcolm Edwards, Connie Willis, Karen Haber, by Dale Bailey, Megan Artenberg, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Olaf Stapledon

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941110478
Publisher:	Three Rooms Press
Publication date:	10/31/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	468
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert Silverberg, editor and contributor, is one of science fiction’s most beloved writers, and the author of such contemporary classics as Dying Inside , Downward to the Earth and Lord Valentine’s Castle , as well as At Winter’s End . He is a past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the winner of five Nebula Awards and five Hugo Awards. In 2004 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America presented him with the Grand Master Award. Silverberg is one of twenty-nine writers to have received that distinction.

Ursula K. Le Guin, contributor, is an American author of novels, children's books, and short storiHer work has often depicted futuristic or imaginary alternative worlds in politics, the natural environment, gender, religion, sexuality and ethnography.

Connie Willis, contributor, is an American science fiction/fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards—more major award than any other writer. She was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and is a SFWA Grand Master. Her novels include Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog.

Megan Arkenberg, contributor, is an award-winning writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Her work has appeared in over fifty publications and in anthologies such as The Apocalypse Triptych, Heiresses of Russ, and The Best Horror of the Year. She lives in Davis, CA.

Brian W. Aldiss, contributor, is an English writer and anthologies editor, best known for his short story “Super-Toys Last All Sumer Long,” the basis for the Stanley Kubrick-developed Steven Spielberg film “A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” He has two Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award, and is a Sci-Fi Grand Master.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/12/2016
A pessimist’s dream comes true in 21 exceptional tales of Earth’s devastation and humans’ inventive, and often ironically self-destructive, ways of surviving. Themes of religion, flooding, Adam and Eve, Atlantis, aliens, misogyny, and government oppression permeate the collection, which contains works written between 1906 and 2016 by science fiction legends as well as new authors. The epic opener, Jules Verne’s “The Eternal Adam” (1910), set 20,000 years in the future, chronicles a flood covering Earth, the rise of an Atlantis-like continent, and man’s barbaric struggle to rebuild civilization. Earth is destroyed in other creative ways. In Fritz Leiber’s “A Pail of Air” (1951), after a dark star pulls Earth beyond Pluto, a family survives amid frozen oxygen and liquid helium. An Indian woman seeks enlightenment through ritual as the future collapses into the past in Alvaro Zinos-Amaro’s elegant “Prayers to the Sun” (2016). As energy sources dwindle, an Orwellian police state emerges in Ursula K. LeGuin’s “New Atlantis” (1975). Dale Bailey’s “The End of the World as We Know It” (2004) is a primer on “last man alive” clichés. The funniest story, Brian W. Aldiss’s “Heresies of the Huge God” (1966), reveals an unusual visitor to Earth that causes continental destruction, and the malevolent religion created to appease it. These stunning stories contemplate survival while questioning whether life is worth saving, and many have such rich ideas and settings that they could easily spark full-length novels. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Twenty-one exceptional tales of Earth’s devastation and humans’ inventive, and often ironically self-destructive, ways of surviving . . . These stunning stories contemplate survival while question whether life is worth saving, and many have such rich ideas and settings that they could easily spark full-length novels." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Demands applause and attention. . . . An overstuffed tour of various doomsday scenarios, proving that version of Murphy’s Law that observes that there are more ways to screw something up than there are to make something right." —Asimov's Science Fiction

"A science fiction collection for the ages." —Tulsa Book Review

"Whether it’s Jules Verne’s story detailing a young civilization uncovering a past apocalypse or Philip Latham’s tale of a scientist recording in detail the last days on Earth when no one else will listen, these stories form the incredible foundation of all the dystonian tales that dominate modern YA. This is a science fiction collection for the ages.” — Tulsa Book Review

"See how writers such as Jules Verne and Connie Willis have embraced the apocalypse and used it to tell chillingly prescient narratives that reach across time and space. Silverberg reminds us that while the end of the world seems to be a hot trend today, it is actually only a blip in a long tradition of dystopian storytelling." — Library Journal
"With its range of contributors, this is a much needed volume that will both satisfy the high demand for apocalyptic tales and remind readers of the actual breadth and depth of this literature of the end of the world." —ALA Booklist, Starred Review

"The variety of ways in which these stories choose to end the world offers a great deal—nightmarish, funny, lonely, or hopeful—for the imagination. Wonderfully written, surprisingly varied apocalyptic tales." —Kirkus Reviews

"Science fiction legend Robert Silverberg has picked the best of the very best stories for this volume. Absolute gold, from first word to last gasp!" —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Mars One and Kill Switch

Past praise for Robert Silverberg, editor:

"The John Updike of science fiction." — The New York Times Book Review

"No matter if Silverberg is dealing with material that is practically straight fiction, or going way into the future . . . his is the hand of a master of his craft and imagination." — Los Angeles Times

"Robert Silverberg is our best . . . Time and time again he has expanded the parameters of science fiction." — The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

From the Publisher

2016-08-03
In a substantial anthology of stories about the end of the world, editor Silverberg (Tales of Majipoor, 2013, etc.) brings together works by both classic science-fiction writers and contemporary authors.The 21 stories here have a pleasing range of styles and contexts, offering a much-appreciated texture to the potentially dispiriting common theme of apocalypse and post-apocalypse. The oldest hail from the early 1900s (Jules Verne started writing “The Eternal Adam” in 1904), and the most recent story (“Prayers to the Sun By a Dying Person” by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro) has its debut in this book. Each story is preceded by a short introduction in which Silverberg gives readers a chatty and often charming tidbit of the author’s biography and explains why he chose the story. The reader learns not only that James Tiptree Jr. was the pen name of Alice Sheldon, but also that she once worked for the CIA; that Malcolm Edwards only ever published one story but is a celebrated editor; and that Silverberg has no compunction about including multiple stories by certain authors, or stories by himself, or a story by his wife (“Three Days After” by Karen Haber). The sense of genuine personal delight and admiration as a guiding editorial principle lends the anthology the friendly air of someone showing off a beloved and much-studied collection, despite the often dire content of the stories themselves. The stories are uniformly good and frequently excellent. Only five are by women, but those five are genuinely exciting, and while a more diverse group of authors might be desired, the variety of ways in which these stories choose to end the world offers a great deal—nightmarish, funny, lonely, or hopeful—for the imagination. Wonderfully written, surprisingly varied apocalyptic tales.

Kirkus Review