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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.3

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse) - (2008) - essay by John Joseph Adams
• The End of the Whole Mess - (1986) - novelette by Stephen King
• Salvage - (1986) - novelette by Orson Scott Card
• The People of Sand and Slag - (2004) - novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Bread and Bombs - (2003) - shortstory by M. Rickert
• How We Got In Town and Out Again - (1996) - novelette by Jonathan Lethem
• Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels - (1973) - shortstory by George R. R. Martin
• Waiting for the Zephyr - (2002) - shortstory by Tobias S. Buckell
• Never Despair - (1997) - shortstory by Jack McDevitt
• When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - (2006) - novelette by Cory Doctorow
• The Last of the O-Forms - (2002) - shortstory by James Van Pelt
• Still Life with Apocalypse - (2002) - shortstory by Richard Kadrey
• Artie's Angels - (2001) - shortstory by Catherine Wells
• Judgment Passed - (2008) - novelette by Jerry Oltion
• Mute - (2002) - shortstory by Gene Wolfe
• Inertia - (1990) - novelette by Nancy Kress
• And the Deep Blue Sea - (2005) - novelette by Elizabeth Bear
• Speech Sounds - (1983) - shortstory by Octavia E. Butler
• Killers - (2006) - shortstory by Carol Emshwiller
• Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - (1988) - novelette by Neal Barrett, Jr.
• The End of the World as We Know It - (2004) - shortstory by Dale Bailey
• A Song Before Sunset - (1976) - shortstory by David Grigg
• Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of Purple Flowers - (2007) - novelette by John Langan
• For Further Reading - (2008) - essay by John Joseph Adams

In WASTELANDS: THE NEW APOCALYPSE, veteran anthology editor John Joseph Adams is once again our guide through the wastelands using his genre and editorial expertise to curate his finest collection of post-apocalyptic short fiction yet. Whether the end comes via nuclear war, pandemic, climate change, or cosmological disaster, these stories explore the extraordinary trials and tribulations of those who survive.

Featuring never-before-published tales by: Veronica Roth, Hugh Howey, Jonathan Maberry, Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Richard Kadrey, Scott Sigler, Elizabeth Bear, Tobias S. Buckell, Meg Elison, Greg van Eekhout, Wendy N. Wagner, Jeremiah Tolbert, and Violet Allen--plus, recent reprints by: Carmen Maria Machado, Carrie Vaughn, Ken Liu, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kami Garcia, Charlie Jane Anders, Catherynne M. Valente, Jack Skillingstead, Sofia Samatar, Maureen F. McHugh, Nisi Shawl, Adam-Troy Castro, Dale Bailey, Susan Jane Bigelow, Corinne Duyvis, Shaenon K. Garrity, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Darcie Little Badger, Timothy Mudie, and Emma Osborne.