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Beyond the Last Star: Stories from the Next Beginning
Volume V of the Darkfire Anthology Series.
340 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2002
About the author
Sherwood Smith
175 books37.6k followersI am a writer,( Patreon here) but I'm on Goodreads to talk about books, as I've been a passionate reader as long as I've been a writer--since early childhood.
I'm not going to rate books--there are too many variables. I'd rather talk about the reading experience. My 'reviews' of my books are confined to the writing process.
I'm not going to rate books--there are too many variables. I'd rather talk about the reading experience. My 'reviews' of my books are confined to the writing process.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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June 17, 2009I edited this anthology, and love the stories in it.
August 9, 2010
Over the years I've had the privilege of having a number of my stories published in anthologies, but this one remains special for me because it was my first professional publication *that didn't fall through*. After so many crashing disappointments, I was afraid that something would go wrong with this one too, and couldn't really trust that it would stay real until my contributor copy was actually in my hands.
At which point I was both proud and humbled by the company my story would be keeping. Poignant ones, like Jennifer Busick's "Hierarchy of Need," about an outcast and his search for belonging. Or Vera Nazarian's "Faces at the End of Time," which reads like Hegel's thesis and antithesis personified. But also heartwarming ones, like Susan J Kroupa's "That Kem May in Safe Pastures Feed," about the world after the Big Crunch births a new Big Bang, and the possibility that maybe something, some bit of information, might slip through. Or "Impossible Odds," in which Linda J Dunn gives us the stubborn human spirit clawing itself back up no matter how hard god tries to remake the world so that humanity is forced into the position of lowly supplicant.
If I have one regret, it would be that I didn't buy a copy to read and keep my contributor copy pristine. But it's a small regret, because I'm not really a book collector, at least not in the sense of seeking books that have value because of their rarity and perfect condition, as opposed to the bibliophile who loves the book as a source of reading enjoyment. I probably would never have even become aware of the value of keeping a book pristine if I hadn't spent a decade selling secondhand books online and having to do condition grading.
At which point I was both proud and humbled by the company my story would be keeping. Poignant ones, like Jennifer Busick's "Hierarchy of Need," about an outcast and his search for belonging. Or Vera Nazarian's "Faces at the End of Time," which reads like Hegel's thesis and antithesis personified. But also heartwarming ones, like Susan J Kroupa's "That Kem May in Safe Pastures Feed," about the world after the Big Crunch births a new Big Bang, and the possibility that maybe something, some bit of information, might slip through. Or "Impossible Odds," in which Linda J Dunn gives us the stubborn human spirit clawing itself back up no matter how hard god tries to remake the world so that humanity is forced into the position of lowly supplicant.
If I have one regret, it would be that I didn't buy a copy to read and keep my contributor copy pristine. But it's a small regret, because I'm not really a book collector, at least not in the sense of seeking books that have value because of their rarity and perfect condition, as opposed to the bibliophile who loves the book as a source of reading enjoyment. I probably would never have even become aware of the value of keeping a book pristine if I hadn't spent a decade selling secondhand books online and having to do condition grading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews