In 2005 Steve Eley started the science-fiction podcast Escape Pod in which short stories of different writers are read aloud. Afterwards he launched a second podcast for horror stories, PseudoPod, and later a third one for fantasy, PodCastle.
After posting an episode every week for five years on Escape Pod, he passed the torch and made a transformation to Serah Eley (who also wrote the foreword of this book).
Since 2017 the podcast is co-edited by Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya.

To celebrate the 15th year anniversary of Escape Pod they decided to compose an anthology of exactly 15 stories (one for each candle apparently) written by authors whose works were covered in the podcast previously.
Some of those stories can be found on Escape Pod, but most of them are written especially for this book.
The line-up is really impressive. Just look at the names below!

The good thing about anthologies is that there's always something to everyone's taste.
That's no different here. Humor, ethical questions, time travelling, AI, steampunk, … You can find it all in this book.
But the plus is at the same time a minus: it's very well possible that not all the stories will appeal to you equally.
Read other reviews and you'll see that every reader has different experiences.
One thing is for certain though: everyone agrees that there are some real gems in this book.

Here's my personal appreciation of the 15 stories in this SF-anthology, but it's highly recommended to judge them for yourself.
For me, this was a fascinating voyage of discovery during which I got to know many different authors and appreciated the stories of T. Kingfisher, Ken Liu and Cory Doctorow the most.
Without further ado:

Citizens of Elsewhen - Kameron Hurley ⭐⭐
A feminist take on time travelling midwives.
To say it in the author's writing style: "What a fucking moralizing story!"
It's not that swearing has to be banned out of a story, but it has to serve some purpose and that doesn't seem the fucking case here. So it's real shit that these words are thrown in at every fucking moment.
For the rest the story begins intriguing, although a bit confusing as well. It holds the attention till about two third, but then it begins to lecture the reader. There's no refinement at all and the 'message' is delivered (pun intended) far too explicitly, which actually nullifies it completely.

Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five - T. Kingfisher ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you're a bit reticent because this is another midwives-story, there's absolutey no need to.
What a wonderfully humorous story!
It reminds of Douglas Adams in the best of ways and will certainly make you curious to discover other works of this author, who writes in different genres btw.

A Princess of Nigh-Space - Tim Pratt ⭐⭐
After an exciting start this story falls rather flat. Actually, it's as if you're reading a child's essay. The plot doesn't rise above the level of a predictable ten-year-old adventurer (except maybe for the end).
This story was written especially for this anthology.

An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition - Ken Liu ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pure poetry!
For everyone with a broad field of scientific interests (neuroanatomy, physics, chemistry, …).
For people who like to eat food for thought and love to look at images painted by words.
For those who are eternally searching for that sparkling sense of wonder.

Tiger Lawyer Gets It Right - Sarah Gailey ⭐⭐⭐
Original, but there's something missing which causes your attention to wander away.
The whole story revolves around one central idea. And even though it's a good one, somehow it doesn't generate an overall feeling of satisfaction.
2,5* rounded up to 3*, because this story was better than the other 2*-stories.

Fourth Nail - Mur Lafferty ⭐⭐
After an interesting start things get in a muddle rather quickly.
An open ending can be good, but in this case the story just has no ending at all. It stops abruptly somewhere in the middle of the action, as if the word count was reached and the "That's all folks"-tune was already within hearing range.
It would definitely come better into its own if it were elaborated into a longer story or if the short story was well-rounded.

Alien Animal Encounters - John Scalzi ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nice concept of little stories in a short story.
Each entry pulls you right away into the world of strange creatures and manages to evoke suspension of disbelief.
With a humorous finishing touch.

A Consideration of Trees - Beth Cato ⭐⭐⭐
An original mix of very different elements like robots, faeries, 'felizards', …
They're brought together in a nice way, although the story could use some more tension.
And sometimes it seems that there are too many 'messages' forced upon the reader, which doesn't feel natural anymore.
2,5* rounded up to 3*, because this story was better than the other 2*-stories.

City of Refuge - Maurice Broaddus ⭐
Science-fiction is all about imagination, endless possibilities and the feeling of exploration.
This story doesn't reflect that point of view at all as it focusses almost entirely on anger and negativity.
There are a few elements that can be qualified as 'science-fiction', but they're just details that don't contribute anything to the story and could've been left out without any problem. In fact, this story would completely come into its own in a BLM-anthology. But in a SF-anthology it may not always be fully appreciated as some readers have other expectations.

Jaiden’s Weaver - Mary Robinette Kowal ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Delightful story about a twelve-year-old girl and her teddy bear spider.
What the latter is exactly, that's for you to find out.
One thing is certain: the author draws you immediately in her imaginative world.

The Machine That Would Rewild Humanity - Tobias Buckell ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Interesting take on AI and human behaviour.
Except for one little thing that kept nagging (view spoiler on Goodreads), this story was absolutely worth the read.

Clockwork Fagin - Cory Doctorow ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Great story for everyone who likes to be immersed in a steampunk world.
The beginning reminds of a scene in Nobody's Boy from Hector Malot, only much better written.
Although it's the longest story in this anthology, it reads much more smoothly than some of the shorter ones and it keeps you guessing what will happen next.

Spaceship October - Greg van Eekhout ⭐⭐⭐
Life on a generation spaceship forms the background to some ethical questions.
Again a story with a message, but brought with more subtlety this time.

Lions and Tigers and Girlfriends - Tina Connolly ⭐
About queer students in space who want to start a drama department in their school.
Whoa, whoa, wowowow!!! This is SOOOOOO Young Adult-like with all the abbr.'s and SHOUTING and teenage drama queen acts (yep, pun intended).
Good for those who like this kind of writing style. Although most adults probably won't be as overwhelmed by it as young teenagers.

Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death - N.K. Jemisin ⭐⭐
Very short story which rambled on and on and which - just like some of the other stories in this book - shoved its message down the reader's throat and didn't show much refinement by doing that.
Nor is it the best one to end a SF-anthology with, as it is more fantasy with dragonlike creatures.
Nevertheless, an extra star as the characters didn't act like victims all the time (although not the same can be said about the written thoughts) and did defend themselves in a creative way.


*Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This anthology is beyond amazing. In every story, I was impressed by the vibrancy, unique takes in sci fi, and range of emotions they evoked. I picked this up because of the stories by Ken Liu and NK Jemisin, neither of which disappointed, but I also met several new authors I'll need to start following. I also have never listened to Escape Pod before, but I'll be changing that!

Escape Pod- Anthology- S.B. Divya Ed.- Celebrating fifteen years of Escape Pod podcast, we have fifteen stores by well recognized authors. My favorite is Tobias Buckell's The Time Machine That Would Rewind Humanity, about an AI who tries at bringing back the extinct human being. Also great stories from, Kameron Hurley, M.K. Jemisin, Cory L. Doctorow, Sarah Galley, and many others. Of course, with most anthologies, not everything is your cup of tea, but there are many evocative flavors to offer here. I think this is the best anthology I've read in quite a while.

First of all, I had never heard of the podcast Escape Pod. I immediately smashed that subscribe button!!! I don't know how I missed it; I've literally searched my podcast app for "science fiction". I must be blind. Very excited to start listening!

Anyway, this anthology of stories is a really eclectic mix of various flavors of sci-fi... I think almost anyone can find stories they like in this book. I was drawn to the sheer star power (Ken Liu? N.K. Jemisin? John Scalzi?!). The stories range from serious social commentary to silly YA space romance to funny interview style articles. I think my favorites were Jaiden's Weaver (all I need to say is "teddy bear spider") and Clockwork Fagin (steampunk orphanage kids go ham!).

To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Escape Pod, some of the driving forces behind the podcast have compiled an anthology containing one story for each year. Editors Mur Lafferty en S.B. Divya have selected stories of which some have appeared as podcast in the past already, but also brand new ones. Each of the stories is preceded by a short introduction from one of the editors.

Serah Eley, the original founder of the podcast, introduces the entire anthology extensively. Readers who don’t make a habit of skipping intros, will find that this foreword is actually quite interesting. It combines the birth and growth of Escape Pod and its spin offs with some glimpses into Eley’s personal life.

Science fiction is a broad genre that can go in any direction our imagination takes us. There is much diversity to be found in it, and an anthology preferably reflects that. The stories in this book do touch a range of subjects, but nevertheless it’s remarkable how many of them actually are about subjects that matter very much in our current society. Some authors have integrated the subjects very well into a science fiction decor, others not so much. Kameron Hurley (Citizens of Elsewhen) opens the book with a feminist story about midwives and time travel. Mur Lafferty (Fourth Nail) brings racism to the table by means of tension between ordinary people and cloned people. N.K. Jemisin (Give me Cornbread or Give me Death) and Maurice Broaddus (City of Refuge) both are in this anthology with stories about racism too, but Broaddus’es story is an example of one that hardly fits the science fiction label. On the other hand, of the four mentioned stories, this was by far the best. The other three each contained some interesting ideas but didn’t seem to go anywhere near the end so they disappointed somewhat. Also, the idea of an editor choosing a story of their own in a “best of” doesn’t really work for me.

Three stories were funny. T. Kingfisher (Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five) really is hilarious when writing about multiple baby deliveries at the same time on a remote colony, a goat and an AI. I won’t spoil any of the fun by telling more. The story comes second in the anthology, meaning nothing that follows seems to be that funny anymore. Tough luck for Ken Liu (An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition) and John Scalzi (Alien Animal Encounters), this means. But they still succeed to some extend, as I’ve chuckled at least once during each story. The editor’s picks were in this case not bad at all.

I’m glad Cory Doctorow (Clockwork Fagin) has a story in the book. It’s the longest one, and is one of my favourites. Great steampunk! I’ve already mentioned T. Kingfisher’s story as a favourite, and also Mary Robinette Kowal’s story (Jaiden’s Weaver) about the universal love of children for animals, appealed very much to me. Finally, Greg van Eekhout (Spaceship October) explores a possible outcome of what might happen if a generation ship leaves Earth to find another planet to live. It’s about ethics evolving over time and it is very well written.

Stories I haven’t mentioned yet:
– A Princess of Nigh-Space – Tim Pratt: below average story involving parallel worlds. Way too simple.
– Tiger Lawyer Gets it Right – Sarah Gailey: a law suit story involving an alien species. The alien was interesting, the language joke was original, but the story was nevertheless boring.
– A Consideration of Trees – Beth Cato: a space detective. I usually like such stories, but not this one. It has more of an average fairy tale than of a detective. And I didn’t like that it spoils the end of H.G. Wells’es War of the Worlds. Not done imho.
– The Machine that Would Rewild Humanity – Tobias Buckell: another story about ethics, this time related to reviving extinct species from their DNA. Original view on things and I liked how it sets you on the wrong foot at first.
– Lions and Tigers and Girlfriends – Tina Connolly: Connolly is a regular host of the podcast which is why I have mixed feelings about the inclusion of this story too, like with Mur Lafferty’s story. If it would have been a good story, then okay, but now… This is a teenage love story for a teenage audience. To me this is one of the weakest contributions.

Overall, this anthology is not the best I’ve ever read. Not the worst either. It’s okay, with several good to very good stories, but the lesser ones (always a matter of personal taste with this kind of books) were so disappointing to me that they bring the overall rating down.

This anthology of science fiction stories, Escape Pod, is drawn from the Escape Pod podcast to celebrate its fifteenth anniversary. As with all anthologies, there were some stories that worked for me better than others. I was disappointed to find a cluster of stories that committed the common SF error of introducing really promising concepts, but then spelling out the message of the story so clearly near the end that it ceased to be interesting. This was the case with Kameron Hurley's 'Citizens of Elsewhen', Beth Cato's 'A Consideration of Trees' and Tobias Buckell's 'The Machine that Would Rewild Humanity', among others. However, in contrast to other SF collections I've read, this anthology was really strong on stories that were thoughtful and funny, or at least more light-hearted. I loved T. Kingfisher's 'Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five', Mary Robinette Kowal's 'Jaiden's Weaver', John Scalzi's 'Alien Animal Encounters' and Cory Doctorow's 'Clockwork Fagin'. I'd already read NK Jemisin's 'Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death', in another collection, A People's Future of the United States, but it's a great story that's worth revisiting. Overall, this anthology definitely picked up in its second half, and has introduced me to a number of writers I hadn't heard of before. 3.5 stars.

It can be hard to maintain consistent quality across an anthology, and I sometimes have difficulty with short stories regardless - however, that's not the case here. Escape Pod is a very strong anthology, which I greatly enjoyed - I was going to list some of my highlights, and realised it was a solid 50% of the content. I think Sarah Gailey's Tiger Lawyer Gets It Right and Cory Doctorow's Clockwork Fagin have stuck with me most thoroughly, though they were not my only favourites by any means.
As with all anthologies, there were some stories I got on less well with, but they were definitely in the minority. There's a nice mix of stories from favourite authors here, and those from authors who I now want to read more of.

A mixed bag of short pieces, drawn from the archives of the podcast Escape Pod. Some of these were familiar--they've been widely reprinted--and others were new. I enjoyed the stories by Cato, which was quite clever, Kowal, Kingfisher, and Jemisin, but a good many of the others were just meh.

Collecting together short fiction by a variety of authors, this is an anthology specially put out to celebrate 15 years of Escape Pod, the science fiction podcast. As befits something that's been going for so long, there's a number of big names in here (NK Jemisin, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow) as well as some less well-known to people outside the genre - it's a mixture of stories previously published on the podcast, also some specifically written for this anthology.

In general terms, the quality is pretty solid throughout, as you'd expect with the writers involved but there were a couple of stories I just couldn't get on with and skimmed to the end. That's the thing about anthologies, I guess? Something for everyone, or at least the editors hope so. Unfortunately, a regular thing I find with short fiction is that I end up reading stories that, instead of leaving me feeling sated, find me wanting more - where's the rest of this great idea and why was it 'wasted' on short fiction? Sometimes authors come back and pillage their own short fiction for novels, sometimes all that good stuff is just left there.

Highlights for me of this volume were Beth Cato's story 'A Consideration of Trees' and, unsurprisingly, NK Jemisin's story 'Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death', the latter of which I would definitely love to see novel-length or more. All in all, an enjoyable enough collection but no major surprises and no stand-out stories that made me rethink a particular author and go look for more by them, which is always part of short fiction for me.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley for free, in exchange for an honest review.

This anthology is brilliant. There are some short stories in it that I would definitely read to my students and I’d happily recommend this to colleagues and scientist friends! There’s really something for everyone.... Some thoughts on the individual stories:

Citizens of elsewhere (Kameron Hurley) - I Loved the idea of a group trained in changing the past and losing their own identity in the process - do they even get debriefed after a mission? Who is in charge now that they’ve changed their own future?

Report of Dr Hollowmas on the incident at Jackrabbit 5 (T Kingfisher) - I’m honestly not too sure what I just read.

A princess of Nigh Space (Tim Pratt) - Ok the concept is there, it would make an interesting book, but the lead characters a stone cold b*tch.

An advanced readers picture book of comparative cognition (Ken Liu) - This was my favourite, as a scientist I loved reading about the different alien species. This was a cute story about how there are a million ways to say I love you in the universe across all species.

Tiger lawyer gets it right (Sarah Gailey) - The court case of Vibrania vs Blick - good people versus the evil corporation. Again, the concept was interesting - but it just got a little bit too... silly?

Fourth nail (mur lafferty) - Clones, dangerous creatures, computer viruses and a survival game like a spaceship hunger games - this needs to be made into a full length book!

Alien animal encounters (John scalzi) - Alien animals are quite commonplace in this version of the world. This made me laugh reading about how humans would interact with alien animals and how some of our weirdest animals can look alien to us anyway (platypus)

A consideration of trees (Beth Cato) - aAn investigator who believes humans have been ‘decisively immoral’. Combining folklore and fairytales with a sci fi future. Brilliant idea for a career as a ‘xenoarbitrator’ between species. This would make a really cool TV show....

City of refuge (Maurice broaddus) - I couldn’t really get into this. Drugs, blackmail and lost hope...

Jaidens weaver (Mary Antoinette Kowal) - A parable or fable about a young girls desire to help her family, her love for her pet and an alien spider species spinning a web. This story actually made me emotional! It was lovely - I would read this to my students.

That machine that would rewild humanity (Tobias Buckell) - There are now extinction reintroduction schemes for humans who have become an extinct species - except they’ve chosen to reintroduce a particular subset of humans that were traders in New York - how would they cope in this new world? How would they treat the machines they’d helped create? Kensington zoo has a few humans they’ve brought back from extinction but unfortunately they keep trying to escape...

Clockwork fagin (Cory Doctorow) - Honestly, a little bit boring. It wasn’t ‘Sci-fi’ enough for me! A little bit steampunk...

Spaceship october (Greg van eekhout) - A generation ship that’s miscalculated how much power is needed to keep the ‘firsts’ alive - at what point do you turn off their power supply to support the humans already alive on the generation ship?

Lions and tigers and girlfriends (Tina Connolly) - it takes a real talent to relate The Wizard of Ox to an onboard teenage mutiny of a spaceship, but somehow it was successful.

Give me cornbread or give me death (N. K. Jemisin) - genetically mutated dragons, collard greens and hot sauce ? There was no clear start, middle or end to this and it seems instead like someone’s crazy dream.


Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

I am not always a fan of anthologies as they tend to be like the Clint Eastwood film the good the bad and the ugly, happily for me and anyone that is lucky enough to read this book it is actually the good, the very good and excellent

I’m a recent discoverer of Escape Pod and its siblings (PodCastle, PseudoPod and Cast of Wonders). Like many new converts, I have the zealous fire in the belly of some sort of sci fi Jonathan Edwards. So I leaped at the chance to review the new anthology of short fiction from contributors to the podcast.

I was not disappointed!

This collection brings together emblematic stories from some of the greats writing today, including the tough but tender military tale of Kameron Hurley, the humour of T. Kingfisher or John Scalzi, the intricate profundity of Ken Liu, the intrigue of Mur Lafferty and an exciting resistance story by N.K. Jemisin where the oppressed turn the tools against the oppressors.

I particularly enjoyed work by two of my personal literary idols: Cory Doctorow’s re-working of Dickens and Mary Robinette Kowal’s heartwarming Laura Ingalls Wilder in space story.

There are also great contributions by Tim Pratt, Sarah Gailey, Beth Cato, Maurice Broaddus, Tobias Buckell, Greg Van Eekhout and Tina Connolly. I would personally love to read more of Cato’s xenoarbitrator and her felizard partner, Petey.

Like all anthologies, one of the most fascinating things in this collection is how the stories speak to each other…the harmonic distortion that arises when very different sources are placed next each other despite different aesthetics. There are resonating themes that arise touching on issues of gender and societal roles, on embodiment and memory, on encounters with otherness and discovery of the self.

Without a doubt, as with all multi-author collections, it is impossible to appeal to all readers with every story. But with such a wide variety of approaches, styles and voices, any science fiction fan will find something to thrill to and enjoy.

First Disclaimer: I would like to thank the publisher, Titan Books, for kindly providing a review copy of this book.

Second Disclaimer: I have been enjoying Escape Pod since its first year, so I am not an impartial reviewer.

There are so many positive things I can say about "Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology". Let me start by mentioning that Escape Pod is one of the first podcasts that I subscribed to back around 2006 to make my commute more enjoyable. I find the selection of thought provoking science fiction stories and excellent narration in Escape Pod to remind me of my favorite radio show, Mind Webs from WHA Radio in Madison, Wisconsin. If I had to limit myself to a single podcast, it would be Escape Pod.

Next, the All-Star lineup of authors is fantastic. Ten of the 15 authors are multiple winners of prestigious awards such as Hugo, Campbell, Locus, Nebula, Parsec, and others. And most of the remaining authors have been nominated for these awards. Nine of the 15 authors have instant name recognition to me as I enjoyed their novels that they are on my "I will read anything they write" list. Since I believe that other science fiction fans may feel the same way, let me list their names: Kameron Hurley, Tim Pratt, Ken Liu, Sarah Galley, Mur Lafferty, John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal, Cory Doctorow, and N.K. Jemisin. And the remaining authors, T. Kingfisher, Beth Cato, Maurice Broaddus, Tobias Buckell, Greg van Eekhout, and Tina Connolly are on the fast track to becoming my newest favorite authors because their stories vividly came to life for me, in some cases even more than the author's I already knew.

Next, the selection of short stories themselves was fantastic. Well written short stories instantly grab the readers attention and do not let go until the end. These are all well written short stories. These stories have everything from a recent college grad learning that she is actually a princess from a parallel universe, galactic communication enabled by the Sun's gravitational lens, travelers who send their mind via telecommunication to be recreated as clones at their destination, previously unknown "supernatural" creatures migrating from Earth to space stations, generation ships, steampunk as Dickens would have written, extra-solar colonies, and much more.

This was a wonderful anthology. I can't wait to read the next one!

A great gathering of Sci-Fi short stories. The collection of stories was interesting and held my attention.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.