some very good stuff, but some so-so ( )

This is a collection of science fiction short stories linked by a common theme - how will civilisation, humanity, the Earth end? There are 24 stories, only 9 written before the year 2000 and 4 of those written before 1990. Perhaps the apocalypse is more popular nowadays. There is a good mix of authors, both familiar and new to me.

That there will be an end is inevitable, whether it is the ever-looming personal end of death, the end of our particular civilisation, the end perhaps through evolution of the human race and ultimately the end of our environment with the death of the Sun and the ultimate end of the Universe. The interest is in the different approaches to these events. In this collection I detect two distinct strands of thought.

Firstly, that the end is a good thing and a welcome relief. The most prominent idea here is that we are all so jolly beastly that our ending is a good thing for all concerned. A lesser thread through this collection is that we become debased as a penance for past sins - hubris, arrogance, ignorance - and continue as a race, but with all our best times and greatest achievements in the past.

Secondly, there is a group of stories here that give a sense of hope through continuity. Yes, people will die and civilisations will rise and fall, but the essence of the Universe will continue, enriched, perhaps, by our particular contribution to it. Evolution may alter the balance of life and geologic time may alter the very ground we walk on, but something remains and carries on.

My favourite story? ‘Guardians of the Phoenix’ by Eric Brown. ( )

Most of the stories were interesting with a few memorable ones and one or two that I just skipped, overall good enough to buy another one in this series. ( )

I was hoping for survival stories against the odds, society breakdown, firearms, ravaging gangs and smoke on the horizon, instead I got a lot of mediocre science fiction. This is not post apocolyptic SF but rather SF that has "apocalypse " in the title only. Some of these stories are readable, but the majority are not. Avoid. ( )

The Mammoth Book of the End of the World is an anthology compiled by Mike Ashley. All in all, it is a good collection of stories. My favorites:

* The Clockwork Atom Bomb by Dominic Green: In the near future where the world is falling apart, an inspector checks on some hot bombs in a suburb in Africa.
* Bloodletting by Kate Wilhelm: Very chilling story about a woman whose husband is responsible for creating a deadly plague.
* When Sysadmins Ruled the World by Cory Doctorow: Good, fun story about network administrators who survive a plague because they are in the controlled environment of server rooms.
* Fermi and Frost by Frederick Pohl. A scientist and a boy survive a nuclear winter in Iceland, one of the only places on earth prepared for dealing with cold.
* Sleepover by Alastair Reynolds is a fascinating story about a man woken up from a cryogenic sleep to a new world.
* Pallbearer by Robert Reed is a very interesting story about a non believer who lives near a small, religious community in a world a few generations after a plague.
* And the Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth Bear is about a motorcyclist delivery girl who transverses a desolate world to deliver mail.
* The Man Who Walked Home by James TiptreeJr. is about a apparition that appears over the centuries in a post-apocalyptic world, and the advanced civilization that finally works out what is occurring.
* A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber. Great story about a small family that survive a cataclysm by living in a "Nest" and discover after many years hat they are not alone.
* Guardians of the Phoenix by Eric Brown takes place in a "mad max" world, where a small team of survivors battle the elements (and other survivors) in search of water.
* Terraforming Terra by Jack Williamson is a very fascinating story about clones sent to the moon to wait, and occasionally be reborn, to repopulate the earth after an asteroid hits & destroys the earth.
* A Star Called Wormwood by Elizabeth Counihan is about the last man in the world. He is surrounded by intelligent, genetically altered animals and uses glass to create beautiful music. ( )