John Adams - Wastelands 2

James Van Peltteaches high school and college English in western Colorado. His fiction has made numerous appearances in most of the major science fiction and fantasy magazines. He has been a finalist for a Nebula Award, the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, and been reprinted in many year’s best collections. His first novel, Summer of the Apocalypse , was released in 2006. His third collection of stories, The Radio Magician and Other Stories , received the Colorado Book Award in 2010. His latest collection, Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille , was released in October of 2012.

Christie Yantis a science fiction and fantasy writer, and editor of the Women Destroy Science Fiction! special issue of Lightspeed Magazine . Her fiction has appeared in anthologies and magazines including Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011 (Horton), Armored, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, io9, Wired.com , and China’s Science Fiction World . She lives on the central coast of California with two writers, one editor, two dogs, three cats, and a very small manticore. Follow her on Twitter @christieyant.

For bonus features including exclusive interviews with the contributors, visit the official Wastelands 2 website: www.johnjosephadams.com/wastelands-2

JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy , published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Armored, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands , and The Living Dead . Recent and forthcoming projects include The Apocalypse Triptych (consisting of The End is Nigh, The End is Now , and The End Has Come ), Help Fund My Robot Army & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects, Operation Arcana , Press Start to Play, Robot Uprisings , and Dead Man’s Hand . Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated eight times) and is a six-time World Fantasy Award finalist. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare , and is a producer for Wired’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him at www.johnjosephadams.comand on Twitter @johnjosephadams.

An anthology of the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today’s most renowned authors of speculative fiction.

Featuring prescient tales of Armageddon and its aftermath, by twenty-two of today’s finest writers, including: Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Jonathan Lethem, Nancy Kress, Gene Wolfe, Octavia E. Butler and many others.

Together they reveal what it will mean to survive and remain human after the end of the world…

From a kill-or-be-killed gunfight with a vampire to an encounter in a steampunk bordello, the weird western is a dark, gritty tale where the protagonist might be playing poker with a sorcerous deck of cards, or facing an alien on the streets of a dusty frontier town.

Here are twenty-three original tales—stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic—produced specifically for this volume by many of today’s finest writers. Included are Orson Scott Card’s first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade, and an original adventure by Fred Van Lente, creator of Cowboys & Aliens.

Other contributors include Tobias Buckell, David Farland, Alan Dean Foster, Jeffrey Ford, Laura Anne Gilman, Rajan Khanna, Mike Resnick, Beth Revis, Ben H. Winters, Christie Yant, and Charles Yu.

WASTELANDS 2: MORE STORIES OF THE APOCALYPSE

Print edition ISBN: 9781783291502

E-book edition ISBN: 9781783291526

Published by Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark St, London SE1 0UP

First Titan Books edition: February 2015

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This is a work of fiction. Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.

“Introduction” by John Joseph Adams. © 2015 by John Joseph Adams. Appears for the first time in this volume.

“Foundation” by Ann Aguirre. © 2012 by Ann Aguirre. Originally published in Tor.com. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Final Exam” by Megan Arkenberg. © 2012 by Megan Arkenberg. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Tamarisk Hunter” by Paolo Bacigalupi. © 2006 by Windup Stories, Inc. Originally published in High Country News . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Survival Before, During, and After the Apocalypse” by Christopher Barzak. © 2013 by Christopher Barzak. Originally published in Before and Afterlives . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Chislehurst Messiah” by Lauren Beukes. © 2011 by Lauren Beukes. Originally published in Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Postman” by David Brin. © 1982 by David Brin. Originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Elephants of Poznan” by Orson Scott Card. © 2000 by Orson Scott Card. Originally published in Fantastyka . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Monstro” by Junot Díaz. © 2012 by Junot Díaz. Originally published in The New Yorker . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Beat Me Daddy (Eight to the Bar)” by Cory Doctorow. © 2002 by CorDoc-Co, Ltd (UK). Originally published in Black Gate . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Patient Zero” by Tananarive Due. © 2000 by Tananarive Due. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Outer Rims” by Toiya Kristen Finley. © 2011 by Toiya Kristen Finley. Originally published in Daily Science Fiction . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Soulless in His Sight” by Milo James Fowler. © 2012 by Milo James Fowler. Originally published in Shimmer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Traditional” by Maria Dahvana Headley. © 2013 by Maria Dahvana Headley. Originally published in Lightspeed . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Deep Blood Kettle” by Hugh Howey. © 2013 by Hugh Howey. Originally published in Lightspeed . Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Advertising at the End of the World” by Keffy R. M. Kehrli. © 2009 by Keffy R. M. Kehrli. Originally published in Apex Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.