Beyond Armageddon. edited by Walter M. Miller, Jr. and Martin H. Greenberg. 1985
BEYOND ARMAGEDDON
RATED 79% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 3.95 OF 5
21 STORIES : 8 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 5 AVERAGE / 2 POOR / 0 DNF
Walter Miller died by his own hand in 1996 after decades, and perhaps a lifetime, of depression … We began work on Beyond Armageddon in late 1983 and it was published in 1985. Walt took it very seriously, rejecting some stories and writing extensively for the book. In fact, his introduction constitute most of his published work after the seminal A Canticle for Leibowitz was released in 1959…
—Martin H Greenberg “Postscript to the Introduction”
This shocking bit of context comes after Miller’s wildly unhinged introduction. One can only nod solemnly. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
The ravings of an educated mad man whose mind swirls with Theophobia, word games, 1980s Cold War politics, and Science Fiction. It is sadly ironic that this is a book about how intelligent people kill themselves, and it is easy to imagine MegaWar as a kind of suicide.
The book is bipolar with a higher percentage of Great Stories and also a higher percentage of average to poor stories. Most anthologies stay comfortably in the middle. Beyond Armageddon isn’t comfortable.
It also isn’t full dystopia in the modern sense of that word. No tyrannical governments; they’ve already killed themselves. No plucky teenage heroes; the only YA-aged character is an amoral monster which his heart set on sexual assault.
Instead the stories lead us to think of what would be left behind. After the apocalypse. What would we be? How would we live? Would it be worth it? When all the stuff of civilization is stripped away, what will we become?
Eight Stories Make the All-Time Great List:
The Store of the Worlds • (1959) • short story by Robert Sheckley. A “Twilight Zone Style” story about a man who visits the Store of the Worlds. For the cost of all your possessions and 10 years of your life, you can experience a world that fulfills all your desires. But this man has to think about it first.
Lot • [David Jimmon] • (1953) • novelette by Ward Moore. The dark internal monologue of an awful father and husband as he tries to escape L.A. by car during a time of nuclear war. Captivating unlikeable protagonist and the interesting use of a biblical story as a framing device.
Day at the Beach • (1959) • short story by Carol Emshwiller. A quietly bleak tale of dystopia. It might be Saturday and in an attempt at normalcy, a family tries to spend a simple day at the beach. But nothing is normal about the state of this world. Flashes of horror amongst attempts at humanity.
The Terminal Beach • (1964) • novelette by J. G. Ballard. Vivid and surreal. A man has gone mad, tortured by the death of his family and his involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb. He spends his time on an island used for atomic testing. The wild character of the prose here is what will make you love it or bounce off hard. I loved it.
A Master of Babylon • (1954) • novelette by Edgar Pangborn. A story that feels incredibly modern and fresh. A concert pianist - who may be the last man in the world - lives in a flooded Museum of Human History.
There Will Come Soft Rains • (1950) • short story by Ray Bradbury. One of the true masterpieces of SF. A fully mechanized house continues the rhythms of the day even though its family are long gone. Beautiful prose, cadence, and sense of saudade.
The Feast of Saint Janis • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick. A First World African travels to Third World America and falls in with a charismatic young woman who channels Janis Joplin each night. Swanwick has built a super world of an America that has mostly collapsed. Through the attitude and voice of our protagonist, we get a perspective on how we subconsciously judge the people in poor foreign lands. Riveting.
A Boy and His Dog • (1969) • novella by Harlan Ellison
Great. An ugly and depraved masterpiece. A violently horny young man and his telepathic dog hunt a young woman alone through the dangerous streets of a post apocalypse city. We can’t look at away from this man, even though we want to.
BEYOND ARMAGEDDON
21 STORIES : 8 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 5 AVERAGE / 2 POOR / 0 DNF
Salvador • (1984) • short story by Lucius Shepard
Good. A disturbed soldier in a Jungle War takes the war home with him. Well written with very minimal SF elements and little new to say in 2023.
The Store of the Worlds • (1959) • short story by Robert Sheckley
Great. A “Twilight Zone Style” story about a man who visits the Store of the Worlds. For the cost of all your possessions and 10 years of your life, you can experience a world that fulfills all your desires. But this man has to think about it first.
The Big Flash • (1969) • novelette by Norman Spinrad
Good. A band “The Four Horseman” give a performance to convince the population and military to accept the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Poetic language that works pretty well.
Lot • [David Jimmon] • (1953) • novelette by Ward Moore
Great. The dark internal monologue of an awful father and husband as he tries to escape L.A. by car during a time of nuclear war. Captivating unlikeable protagonist and the interesting use of a biblical story as a framing device.
Day at the Beach • (1959) • short story by Carol Emshwiller
Great. A quietly bleak tale of dystopia. It might be Saturday and in an attempt at normalcy, a family tries to spend a simple day at the beach. But nothing is normal about the state of this world. Flashes of horror amongst attempts at humanity.
The Wheel • (1952) • short story by John Wyndham
Average. A message story that is too on the nose as a future society is so suspicious of technology that they murder anyone who creates the wheel
Jody After the War • (1972) • short story by Edward Bryant
Average. A woman and man have a strained relationship because she is a “survivor” of the nuclear war and are suspicious of what kind of children she might produce.
The Terminal Beach • (1964) • novelette by J. G. Ballard
Great. Vivid and surreal. A man has gone mad, tortured by the death of his family and his involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb. He spends his time on an island used for atomic testing. The wild character of the prose here is what will make you love it or bounce off hard. I loved it.
Tomorrow's Children • [Tomorrow's Children • 1] • (1947) • novelette by Poul Anderson and F. N. Waldrop [as by Poul Anderson]
Good. A returning spy after a brutal war is sent to try to bring the surviving Americans together and finds mutated children.
Heirs Apparent • (1954) • novelette by Robert Abernathy
Average. After a global war, a communist and a capitalist meet in a town in Siberia. They argue and debate, but both of their ideologies won’t matter much in the new world.
A Master of Babylon • (1966) • novelette by Edgar Pangborn (variant of The Music Master of Babylon 1954)
Great. A story that feels incredibly modern and fresh. A concert pianist - who may be the last man in the world - lives in a flooded Museum of Human History.
Game Preserve • (1957) • short story by Rog Phillips
Average. Barely intelligent human live in a near state of nature after a MegaWar. One of the humans is more intelligent than the others.
By the Waters of Babylon • (1986) • short fiction by Stephen Vincent Benét? (variant of The Place of the Gods 1937) [as by Stephen V. Benet]
Good. A young man goes out on a form of vision quest and disobeys convention by traveling to the east and the City of the Gods. Beautiful and full of awe as the young man explores a city that he cannot understand, but that means a great deal to us.
There Will Come Soft Rains • [The Martian Chronicles] • (1950) • short story by Ray Bradbury
Great. One of the true masterpieces of SF. A fully mechanized house continues the rhythms of the day even though its family are long gone. Beautiful prose, cadence, and sense of saudade.
To the Chicago Abyss • (1963) • short story by Ray Bradbury
Average. A man will not stop reminding others of what abundance they once had. Even when it becomes dangerous to do so.
Lucifer • (1964) • short story by Roger Zelazny
Good. A man descends from the mountains to briefly return light to a city long dead.
Eastward Ho! • (1958) • short story by William Tenn
Poor. America has fallen apart and the Confederacy isn’t much better. The land is dominated by Native American tribes ascendant. Very on-the-nose. Lacking much of a story or characters.
The Feast of Saint Janis • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick
Great. A First World African travels to Third World Boston and falls in with a charismatic young woman who channels Janis Joplin each night. Swanwick has built a super world of an America that has mostly collapsed. Through the attitude and voice of our protagonist, we get a perspective on how we subconsciously judge the people in poor foreign lands. Riveting.
"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth ..." • (1951) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
Good. A nice little mood piece about a son, living on a lunar colony, who is finally allowed to visit the surface of the planet and look into the sky to see what is left of Earth.
A Boy and His Dog • [Vic and Blood • 2] • (1969) • novella by Harlan Ellison
Great. An ugly and depraved masterpiece. A violently horny young man and his telepathic dog hunt a young woman alone through the dangerous streets of a post apocalypse city. We can’t look at away from this man, even though we want to.
My Life in the Jungle • (1985) • short story by Jim Aikin
Poor. A mathematician becomes a monkey one day and discusses in detail what he monkey-life is like.
