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UNNATURAL
SELECTION
Edited by Gord Rollo
Cosmos Books
TPB 234 pp
$15.00 |
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Several of
last year’s best horror anthologies were only available as e-books. In
fact, half of the anthologies on the final Stoker ballot were e-books:
Brian A. Hopkin’s Extremes: FANTASY AND HORROR FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
and Steve Eller’s BRAINBOX: The Real Horror. The other excellent e-anthology,
which unfortunately didn’t make the ballot, was Gord Rollo’s UNNATURAL
SELECTION.
Eller’s Brainbox has at last seen print from Irrational Press. So, also,
has UNNATURAL
SELECTION - with a bonus
story by Gene O’Neill that was not in the e-version.
Rollo’s inspiration
comes not from the works of a late horror master, but from Charles Darwin’s
controversial theories of evolution and natural selection. Evolution is
an ongoing process. That which doesn’t evolve becomes extinct. Survival
belongs to the fittest. Man has certainly evolved technologically, but
spiritual growth seems to have stalled long ago. We had our shot at being
the top of the food chain, but we blew it. Now Mother Earth is looking
for a new dominant species. Rollo and sixteen other authors present their
visions of what might replace us.
Some, like Rollo,
Robert J. Sawyer and J. F. Gonzalez, see reptiles becoming dominant again.
Others, like Nancy Kilpatrick, Michael Laimo and Brian A. Hopkins, envision
super insects taking over. For Edo van Belkom it’s fish, and for Brian
Lumley, plants. Mammals still rule in John Shirley’s world, but not human
mammals. Not everyone saw we humans losing our grip on power, though.
Terry Sheils, John Passarella, Sephera Giron, Butch Miller, Mort Castle,
Gene O’Neill and Richard Wright hypothesize the next step in mankind’s
evolution will emerge triumphant. Steve Savile and Brett A. Savory suggest
entirely new lifeforms will reign.
The strength of Rollo’s
concept has brought out the best in these authors, whether established
or new. Never before have so many creatures rampaged across the pages
of one book. Whatever form of life you’re phobic about, you’ll find something
in here to make your skin crawl. It’s as fun as a “big bug” movie marathon,
but with more intellectual and philosophical depth.
If you want to see
how horror fiction is evolving, gobble this one up before Mother Nature
exacts her revenge. I give UNNATURAL
SELECTION four highly evolved BookWyrms.
This
review copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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