Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future

Mind-expanding explorations of the future of the human form Our bodies and minds are malleable, and only the imagination is the limit to the possible improvements. From genetics to artificial enhancements, humanity will alter the course of its own evolution. Included here are more than twenty stories from the most imaginative writers in the field, including: Poul Anderson * James Blish * Eric Brown * Ted Chiang * Tony Daniel * Samuel R. Delany * Greg Egan * Joe Haldeman * Geoffrey A. Landis * Paul McAuley * Ian MacLeod * David Marusek * Tom Purdom * Robert Reed * Joanna Russ * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Liz Williams * Gene Wolfe * Roger Zelazny

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312275692
• ISBN13: 9780312275693
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The Great Stories Make it Worth It

Anthologies aren't for everyone. Here you have 26 different stories by different authors with different narrative styles and completely different views of the future. Every time you start a new story you have to figure out what's going on and get to know a whole new cast of characters. Sometimes it's nicer to just sit down and read a great book by one author that tells one story - Dune, for example. But this anthology has some really mind-blowing stories that it would be a shame to miss out on. They are counter balanced by a few stories that are just a chore to read that weigh the book down. So I will sort it out for you so you know which ones to read and which to skip. First, two of my all time favorite stories: Understand / Ted Chiang - A brain damaged man is given an experimental treatment that makes him smarter - much much smarter, and he keeps getting smarter. What would you do if you suddenly understood everything around you? The Wedding Album / David Marusek - at their wedding, a young couple poses for a sort of AI scan that captures their personalities and their feelings at that moment. The rest of the story follows the bride's AI over the course of the momentous years that follow. There are also very excellent stories by some of the Big Names in science fiction, each of these is fascinating and awesome: Dancers in the Time Flux / Robert Silverberg The Chapter Ends / Poul Anderson The Hero as Werwolf / Gene Wolfe Spook / Bruce Sterling None So Blind / Joe Haldeman Border Guards / Greg Egan Brother Perfect / Robert Reed But there are several stories that are boring and confusing or just plain unenjoyable, I recommend you skip these: Mortimer Gray's History of Death / Brian Stableford Aye, and Gomorrah / Samuel R. Delaney A Child of the Dead / Liz Williams Nobody's Home / Joanna Russ Slow Tuesday Night / R. A. Lafferty The rest of the stories are readable but non-awesome. In my opinion, the great stories in this volume are good enough to warrant a 5-star review, and if you skip the 5 stories I listed above, you'll enjoy this anthology all the way through.

Super Reader

This is Supermen in the SF sense. Although in tales like Brother Perfect, there are, indeed, your standard superhumans. Then you have stories like Mortimer Gray's History of Death, a look at immortality and death, which definitely does not fall into the prior category, so a variety. These two stories form part of longer works, or when edited became parts of books. There is certainly a broad range here, from some talented authors. Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 01 The Chapter Ends - Poul Anderson Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 02 Watershed - James Blish Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 03 Slow Tuesday Night - R. A. Lafferty Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 04 Aye and Gomorrah... - Samuel R. Delany Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 05 Nobody's Home - Joanna Russ Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 06 The Hero as Werwolf - Gene Wolfe Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 07 Halfjack - Roger Zelazny Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 08 Dancers in the Time-Flux - Robert Silverberg Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 09 Spook - Bruce Sterling Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 10 Understand - Ted Chiang Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 11 None So Blind - Joe Haldeman Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 12 Mortimer Gray's History of Death - Brian Stableford Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 13 Brother Perfect - Robert Reed Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 14 A Child of the Dead - Liz Williams Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 15 Nevermore - Ian R. MacLeod Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 16 The Wisdom of Old Earth - Michael Swanwick Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 17 Toast A Con Report - Charles Stross Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 18 The Gardens of Saturn - Paul J. McAuley Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 19 Grist - Tony Daniel Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 20 Fossil Games - Tom Purdom Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 21 The Wedding Album - David Marusek Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 22 Steps Along the Way - Eric Brown Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 23 Border Guards - Greg Egan Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 24 Homo Sapiens Declared Extinct - Bruce Sterling Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 25 A History of the Human and Post-Human Species - Geoffrey A. Landis Supermen Tales of the Posthuman Future : 26 The Great Goodbye - Robert Charles Wilson Last person off Terra please close the door and prepare for mutation. 4 out of 5 Seal Man gives lecture on change and equality, minority basic types grumpy. 3.5 out of 5 There really are Morning People. Whenever you sleep, get rich quick. 4 out of 5 Gender altered space workers provide exotic rough trade on shore leave. 3 out of 5 Only smart girls at parties, please. 4.5 out of 5 Postapocalyptic necrophiliac cannibal culture. 4 out of 5 Cyborg bodyglove = get no love. 4 out of 5 Travelling titan t

A Solid Collction

I found most of the selections in this anthology to be quite entertaining. Some of them were a bit rough, but none were what I would call poor quality. There is variation from hard SF to far future "high tech as magic" within the collection. I recommend this collection as a good introduction to the post-human genre.