Book Review: "Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse"
War. War never changes... But it’s not just war, is it? There’s a lot of terrible scenarios that could happen to ruin civilization. I love reading about these terrible things and how they affect people. Which is why I was up for reviewing Titan Books’ “Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse” anthology. MORE stories from the apocalypse?! Sign me up.
Thanks to the success of “Game of Thrones” and the “Song of Ice and Fire” book series, Martin is probably the best known name in the anthology. Martin’s story (“…for a single yesterday”) is about a hippie commune that made it through the apocalypse, and became an open community for other peaceful survivors. Every night, they all gather around Keith – a man who was once a well-known musician, who is now the commune’s only link to the old world’s culture. But Keith is a troubled man. He lost the love of his life in the apocalypse event, and his pain is reflected in his music. When a few soldiers join the commune, the issue of raising the morale and changing Keith’s repertoire comes up. This is far from the last problem Keith has, though. If you only know Martin as the “Game of Thrones” guy, this story will be a big surprise for you, but it’s as good as the man’s epic saga. It’s bleak and sad, as you’d expect from the genre, but it also has some very interesting science-fiction concepts in it. Definitely one of the highlights. Doctorow’s story “Beat Me Daddy (Eight to the Bar)” is another of my favorites, and the second music-themed story. It’s about a band of ragtag survivors of the great war, playing every evening for those few others they live among. The name of the band is “Eight to the Bar”, because they have to stop playing every eight bars – that’s because that’s how much time passes before the drones fly above them and drown their music out. The drones dropped their bombs years ago, but the automated things still fly over the USA, reminding people of the apocalypse. Most of the people just scavenge for food and resources, until one enterprising lady joins the group, with ideas about restarting civilization. This is another great story, full of interesting concepts and imagery that stayed with me. It’s quite incredible how much great writing can be packed into a very short story. The story that I enjoyed the most, though, was Orson Scott Card’s 2000 novelette “The Elephants of Poznan”. Maybe because it had a very different setting than the other stories (Poznań, Poland), maybe because I was on a trip to Poznań while reading, or maybe because it’s pretty damn offbeat, as far as post-apocalyptic fiction goes. The fifty surviving members of the human race move into an untouched, but completely empty Poznan, to live there on the Rynek Główny square. All of them are sterile, but one day, a baby is born. That’s about when elephants from all across the world start migrating to the region, following the baby’s father through Poznan’s streets every day. It’s a bizarre read, with an even weirder ending. It’s great! These stories I mentioned are just about 10% of what you’ll find in Adams’ anthology. None of the stories featured are weak, and you will be surprised how many different takes on the genre “Wastelands 2” offers. It is normally much harder for me to get invested in an anthology than it is to get hooked on a novel, but I had no problems here. Great writing follows great writing; when one story ends, the next one immediately sinks its teeth into you. Highly recommended! "Wastelands 2" is out now on Titan Books. It is definitely worth your time and money, if you're a fan of the genre! What good post-apo fiction have you read lately? Leave us a comment! 
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