A Dying Planet Short Stories by Flame Tree Studio

A Dying Planet Short Stories Reviews

• 
  Joseph Carrabis

  The cover of this book has "Gothic Fantasy" on it. Evidently I don't know what "Gothic Fantasy" is because the stories went everywhere from notes on Norse mythology to Wells' The Time Machine (always a favorite), to some Clark Ashton Smith to Egyptian myth to authors brand new to me and recently (past five or so years) published.
  As with any anthology, I wonder what the qualifying elements were. "This story made it in because...?" A rough count shows a third of the stories in the public domain.
  Some of the stories were story-wise uncomfortable reads. Good job. Some of the stories were craft-wise poorly written. See my question re qualifying elements above.
  Three authors new to me with standout stories were E.E. King's The Rediscovery of Plants, Ken Liu's Mono no aware, and Francesco Verso's Two Worlds. Incredible craft and wonderful reads, these. I'll be looking for other work by these authors.
• 
  Jasmine Banasik

  For the most part, this was an excellent collection of short stories exploring what it means to face the end of your world. Most (although not all despite the foreword) focus on a lack of hope, a lack of a possibility of something continue. What is important when nothing is really important.
  Unfortunately, there is a lack of clear organization. There are beautifully poignant and gripping short stories and then everything will come to a standstill for fifty pages of Le fin Du Monde which reads entirely differently and feels like it is dragging in comparison. There isn't even a substantial attempt to stay to the dying world vs. apocalypse dichotomy the foreword sets up.
  Some of the best stories: Mono no aware, The rediscovery of plants, Communal, How to Reclaim Water.