Rating:

Genre: Science Fiction, Short Stories

Redshift, a collection of science fiction, edited by Al Sarrantonio, is described as the best collection of new science fiction in recent memory. It contains forty short stories by various science-fiction writers. Sarrantonio describes this book as an anthology of speculative fiction stories. His goal was to collect and expand on works of science fiction. He received submissions from new writers as well as established science fiction writers. This collection contains three novellas, five novelettes, and twenty-two short stories.  

Their are many stories in this collection, some of them are gems while others seem to lack a plot. Overall I found many of the stories interesting and entertaining. The first story, on K2 with Kanakaredes, a short story by Dan Simmons, really grabbed my attention. It is a story about climbing Everest sometime in the future. The twist to this story is that the three mountain climbers are accompanied by a spider-like alien who is a representative of his visiting species. Immediately following the story, Ursula Le Guin shares her story The Building. After the first story I was expecting more but found the plot to the short story lacking. The next few stories also seem to lack much of a plot. I did find some of the ideas interesting and unique, but there wasn't enough "meat" for me to continue finishing reading the book.  

I was a little disappointed by this book. I love reading science fiction, but felt that the book could have been edited differently with higher-quality stories. I did not feel that this book lived up to its tagline of "the best collection", or that these authors "had shaped the evolution of science fiction". On the contrary, I would suggest reading classic science-fiction rather than spend time on this compendium.