Edited by Keith Brooks & Nick Gevers // Solaris // Out Now

In a nutshell: Huge anthology collecting the best short fiction as chosen by the editors of notable SF website, infinityplus.co.uk.

Review: There is no medium more important to science fiction than the short story. The genre was virtually born out of the short story, where new ideas and new perspectives can be introduced and explored at a rate simply not possible in the longer form. In the early days of science fiction, magazine editors, requiring vast numbers of short stories each and every month, would happily publish stories far more varied in style and content than those to be found in most novels. The result was stories introducing a vast number of hugely imaginative creations, forming the basis for much of the genre as we now know it.

Today, however, the short story’s dominance has faded somewhat. With SF and fantasy established markets, publishers inevitably focus on the more profitable novel, as do a public often keen on the perceived value for money offered by the longer form. Lack of circulation for the remaining fiction magazines means many of the finest examples of the short story fail to gain the exposure they deserve, quickly going out of print and becoming unobtainable. Founded a decade ago, infinityplus.co.uk began as an attempt to prevent this, offering a free repository where the best short fiction could find a permanent home, available to much wider audience. This, the anthology, attempts to achieve the same aim via the more traditional method of the printed page.

As an example of the sheer variety offered by the short story, Infinity Plus: The Anthology succeeds admirably. Just as an author can more quickly and easily experiment with new styles and new ideas in the short form, so too is the reader offered a chance to depart from their normal fare and consider stories the like of which they might otherwise never chance to sample. Such great variety means that, inevitably, for every reader there will be some amongst the twenty-six stories presented here which disappoint, though those that do will be vastly outnumbered by stories that amuse, entertain, intrigue and excite. That many of the stories presented here are not really science fiction at all may be a surprise to some, but it should be a pleasant one.

This review originally appeared in issue 4 of Death Ray magazine.

Click here to read reviews of the twenty-six stories contained in this anthology.