Wastelands

Stories of the Apocalypse

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 eschatological tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. In doing so, these visionary authors have addressed one of the most challenging and enduring themes of imaginative fiction: the nature of life in the aftermath of total societal collapse.

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. Whether the end of the world comes through nuclear war, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm, these are tales of survivors, in some cases struggling to rebuild the society that was, in others, merely surviving, scrounging for food in depopulated ruins and defending themselves against monsters, mutants, and marauders.

Complete with introductions and an indispensable appendix of recommendations for further reading, Wastelands delves into this bleak landscape, uncovering the raw human emotion and heart-pounding thrills at the genre's core.

Cover Art by Daniel Kvasznicza

Hardcover
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, December 2008

Distributed by Night Shade Books
1423 33rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122

ISBN-13: 978-1-59780-105-8
ISBN-10: 1-59780-105-4

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Electronic version by Baen Books
https://www.baen.com

Acknowledgments

"The End of the Whole Mess" © 1986 by Stephen King. Originally published in Omni, October 1986. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Salvage" © 1986 by Orson Scott Card. Originally published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 1986. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The People of Sand and Slag" © 2004 by Paolo Bacigalupi. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Bread and Bombs" © 2003 by M. Rickert. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2003. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"How We Got In Town and Out Again" © 1996 by Jonathan Lethem. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" © 1973 by George R. R. Martin. Originally published in Vertex, December 1973. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Waiting for the Zephyr" © 2002 by Tobias S. Buckell. Originally published in Land/Space, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Never Despair" by Jack McDevitt © 1997 by Cryptic, Inc. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, April 1997. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" © 2006 by Cory Doctorow. Originally published in Jim Baen's Universe, August 2006. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Last of the O-Forms" © 2002 by James Van Pelt. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Still Life with Apocalypse" © 2002 by Richard Kadrey. Originally published in The Infinite Matrix, May 29, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Artie's Angels" © 2001 by Catherine Wells Dimenstein. Originally published in Realms of Fantasy, December 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Judgment Passed" © 2008 by Jerry Oltion. Appears for the first time in this volume.

"Mute" © 2002 by Gene Wolfe. Originally published in 2002 World Horror Convention Program Book. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author's agents, the Virginia Kidd Agency.

"Inertia" © 1990 by Nancy Kress. Originally published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, January 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"And the Deep Blue Sea" © 2005 by Elizabeth Bear. Originally published in SCI FICTION, May 4, 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Speech Sounds" © 1983 by Octavia E. Butler. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, Mid-December 1983. Reprinted by permission of the estate of Octavia E. Butler.

"Killers" © 2006 by Carol Emshwiller. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2006. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" ©1988 by Neal Barrett, Jr. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, February 1988. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The End of the World as We Know It" © 2004 by Dale Bailey. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"A Song Before Sunset" © 1976 by David Rowland Grigg. Originally published in Beyond Tomorrow, 1976. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers" © 2007 John Langan. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 2007. Reprinted by permission of the author.