Blogger Kayley Allard has included a post in her online journey about meeting a friend at Grants Pass USA in the event of an apocalypse. Naturally you should be careful what you wish for in the dark genre and the end of days has arrived. An earthquake has devastated California, climate change is going down, and three artificial viruses have been released by terrorist groups. Only 1 in 10,000 people have survived the apocalypse onslaught world wide. Many turn their thoughts to Grants Pass as a possible safe Haven in the chaos of post society.

Editors Jennifer Brozek & Amanda Pillar present twenty tales set in Kayley Allard's post-apocalyptic universe loosely tied together by the concept of Grants Pass as a final bastion for people wanting safety and security in a world that has quickly descended into barbarism. Naturally this last beckon of light will also attract the sociopaths and less desirable survivors. Lets trudge through the wastelands.

Grants Pass is framed by stories featuring an apocalypse surviving Kayley Allard, who in other tales almost reaches mythical status as a beacon of last hope, but surprisingly we never get to learn who made it to the Pass and what sort of society evolved there. The anthology is more to do with people living in the ashes of civilisation and a lot less to do with the survivors re-establishing some sort of society. So don't go into this one expecting a sort of Survivors (1975, remake 2008) style outing. Hope exists in some stories, but is notably absent in others. To ensure some sort of standard party line across the included tales from the fall we have a number of newspaper articles in the Plague piece that highlight apocalypse attractions. From there individual Authors present their own visions that might or might not involve people making their way to Grants Pass.

And before anyone asks no there are no zombies lumbering through deserted streets.

It's not often that I pick up an anthology and manage to get through every single story contained within it, there's always a couple that don't engage me on any level, but Grants Pass almost achieved that feat. There was only one story that I flicked through and then passed on, so that's got to be a heck of a batting average right there. The wide ranging styles and approaches taken present the Reader with a collection of tales that remain interesting and that will take you down surprising paths you might not have expected to travel. While the comparison to the first block of Stephen King's The Stand (1978) is probably the obvious choice, though a largely lazy option, I would go so far as to say Grants Pass surpasses King's novel in it's exploration of individual situations. Of course King was more interested in his good v evil confrontation, while Brozek and Pillar focus more on individual motivations and situations. So expect to immerse yourself in an anthology that will entertain, surprise, and hopefully have you clamouring for a second anthology.

For dark genre fans, okay we're talking an apocalyptic anthology here, but there's a singular lack of the supernatural going down. I would have liked to have run across a tale involving some metaphysical shenanigans, but then I don't get to edit books, probably for a very good reason. On the bright side of the virus containment room for those after some sort of Cormac McCarthy The Road (2006) goodness, you wont be disappointed. A Perfect Night to Watch Detroit Burn (Ed Greenwood) sees a bit of cross border violence between Canadians and Yanks, with a real gritty feeling. Hey it even mentions wolves, how cool is that! Jeff Parish adds a bit of the Roos loose material with his antagonist in Final Edition, and Jay Lake with Black Heart, White Mourning points out that not only the well adjusted are likely to survive.

While I would love to report that the anthology is overflowing with Downunder talent, this is unfortunately not the case. Stephanie Gunn, Martin Livings, Pete Kempshall, and Amanda Pillar, represent the South with some of the best stories in the Anthology, but are mixed in with North American and European Authors. Grants Pass is well worth investing in regardless, as I'm not so sure the stories from local Writers will find their way into other collections. For the record no New Zealand writers appeared in the anthology.

Editors Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar do an excellent job of presenting each story. We get to read the yarn, then get a short Author Bio, followed by the Author explaining how the story came about. Okay that might not get a nod of approval from everyone but I dig the approach in my anthology consumption.

Overall I had a real nice time with Grants Pass and enjoyed reading the different takes on events post apocalypse. We have stories from different perspectives, Martin Livings even takes us into space, and from different Countries. This isn't, as I thought initially, a North American centric take on things. While the anthology dropped just short of “masterpiece” classification it went damned close. If you have an interest in post-apocalyptic writing or just simply very good writing then dial into this anthology, you are going to have a hoot of a time.

For further information, and purchasing options, check out Morrigan Books. There's a bunch of other anthologies worth scoring from the same source while you are there.