Startling Sci-Fi: New Tales of the Beyond

This collection of stories is a keeper! Each tale was unique, with thought provoking futuristic scenarios and interesting twists at the end of quite a few. Special praise for Adam Sass' "98% Graves." A vision of the future that could actually be a reality someday. Bravo!

sci-fi is not my usual genre, but I really enjoyed this. Great writing, imaginative and edgy. Adam Sass is a writer to take notice of.

Love the publication!

This is a terrific new collection of sci-fi shorts by emerging writers with assured and confident voices. The bios at the back provide an interesting roll call of contributors and guiding us to what to look for next from each of them. Uniting disparate stories in a coherent anthology is always challenging, and accomplished very well here, with well-presented stories placed in an order that flows. Each tale is enhanced by evocative hand-drawn greyscale images which have a dreamlike quality about them. The stories I liked best were the ones that were written with a twinkle in the eye and a sense of mischief, rather than the apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic - the ones that left me smiling wryly (le but then, that's my personal preference as an optimist and an old-school sci-fi enthusiast (H G Wells, Jules Verne et al). I'd take slight issue with the title - not all of the stories were startling, and in any case, by definition one will be less startled if told in advance to expect to be startled - but many were tales of the unexpected, and all were well worth reading. Highly recommended.

The best science fiction can take you to other worlds without leaving behind the basic human condition; the stories of Startling Sci Fi do this with an effortlessness that charms. Prepare to encounter cyborg assisted-living centres, virtual reality drag queens, and love rebooted from stored back-ups of transferred consciousnesses. Explore our world alongside benevolent alien symbiotes - or join the humans who resist them. No matter what dimension, time, or world you’re visiting, virtual or physical, bloody or calm, character remains king in this collection. Each tale reflects that universal human character in a different way, creating a whole that leaves the reader fully immersed and hard pressed not to read “just one more” before returning to reality. Startling Sci Fi manages to be both grounded in the genre and refreshingly unique. Casey Ellis should be very proud - this is a great collection of voices adding worthy stories to the science fiction world. I’ll be hunting for more from these authors, and I hope Ellis gathers more great talent in collections to come.

These stories will stay with you like the old "Twilight Zone" tales. The writers pull you into their worlds and you can't get out!

Great book with great authors!

This is a terrific new collection of sci-fi shorts by emerging writers with assured and confident voices. The bios at the back provide an interesting roll call of contributors and guiding us to what to look for next from each of them. Uniting disparate stories in a coherent anthology is always challenging, and accomplished very well here, with well-presented stories placed in an order that flows. Each tale is enhanced by evocative hand-drawn greyscale images which have a dreamlike quality about them. The stories I liked best were the ones that were written with a twinkle in the eye and a sense of mischief, rather than the apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic - the ones that left me smiling wryly (le but then, that's my personal preference as an optimist and an old-school sci-fi enthusiast (H G Wells, Jules Verne et al). I'd take slight issue with the title - not all of the stories were startling, and in any case, by definition one will be less startled if told in advance to expect to be startled - but many were tales of the unexpected, and all were well worth reading. Highly recommended.