In the decades since Michael Moorcock's magazine New Worlds and Harlan Ellison's anthology Dangerous Visions shattered taboos and transformed science fiction, editors have yearned to do likewise. But science fiction and Western society have changed greatly since the 1960s, and though new taboos have been born, there aren't many left. They can still be shattered, but any taboo-challenging fiction that appears in the same year as the movie Freddy Got Fingered has a tough job, and Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction is hardly as extreme as promised. For example, nonwhite and homosexual characters are rare; the status quo goes largely unchallenged; and a few of the 30 stories are young-adult in tone and subject, with the others having little that would disturb new-millennium youth, a generation accustomed to wearing bondage/fetish gear to the dance clubs. The rare examples of taboo breaking include a black character with a disturbingly thick accent and a posthuman race that commits mass murder for policy; but the anthology's potentially most challenging story gets there as a result of publication after September 11, 2001: Harry Turtledove's well-written but traditional modern fantasy "Black Tulip" is sympathetic to Afghanis.

Ignore the subtitle. Redshift is a very good anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, with some stories, like Gregory Benford's "Anomalies" and Joyce Carol Oates's "Commencement," that will become classics of speculative fiction. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
For this big, glitzy original anthology, Sarrantonio asked his contributors to write short stories that could "influence the course of sf for the next twenty-five years." That's a fairly pretentious goal. Sarrantonio's working subtitle was "Dangerous Visions for the New Millennium," a nod to Harlan Ellison's revolutionary 1967 story anthology with subjects and/or styles too hot for publishers at the time. Nowadays, there aren't many taboos in SF, so this anthology mostly shows how accessible formerly "extreme" stories have become. Looked at simply as stories, the contents are occasionally disappointing. Some pieces are included because of the writers' reputations, some have a message that overpowers everything else, some are too brief to be much more than displays of style, and some suffer from multiple weaknesses. But there are excellent stories, too, showing the range of contemporary SF, such as Dan Simmons's tale of a human-alien team of mountain climbers, "On K2 with Kanakaredes," and Stephen Baxter's picture of human nature reasserting itself after extreme distortion, "In the Un-Black." In addition, Gene Wolfe ("Viewpoint") and Rudy Rucker and John Shirley ("Pockets") present message stories with real plots. Greg Benford ("Anomalies") offers a short tale as compact and deadly as a coral snake, while Catherine Wells ("'Bassador") and Neal Barrett Jr. ("Rhido Wars") use mind-stretching prose styles effectively. That's a pretty good average, actually, and the rest are worth reading to see how the writers responded to the editor's challenge. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza. (Dec. 4)horror fiction.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Dan Simmons's exhilarating story of a unique mountain-climbing expedition ("On K2 with Kanakaredes") kicks off this collection of original short speculative fiction that includes contributions by Gregory Benford, Michael Moorcock, Harry Turtledove, Ardath Mayhar, and other groundbreaking authors of sf and imaginative fiction. Featuring three novellas, 22 short stories, and five novelettes, this anthology exhibits a wide variety of styles and topics and aptly demonstrates the cutting edge of the genre. Recommended for most sf or short story collections. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Inspired by Harlan Ellison's influential anthology Dangerous Visions (1967), Redshift's intent is to present cutting-edge sf. Editor Sarrantonio points out that Ellison's editorial goal of expanding the very field of speculative fiction always meets a real demand, for science is by nature always changing. Regardless of whether Redshift measures up to Dangerous Visions, it is a well-chosen, satisfyingly hefty anthology of work by a who's who of sf and relative newcomers. Best known of the latter is Joyce Carol Oates, who contributes her first sf story, that of the edgy, creepy, celebratory ritual in "Commencement." The old hands include Ursula K. Le Guin, whose "The Building" is characteristically thoughtful; Larry Niven, with a delicious piece about aliens playing at being gods; and Michael Moorcock, whose "A Slow Saturday Night at the Surrealist Sporting Club" is indubitably . . . Moorcockian. Some of the strongest contributions by newer authors are award-winning Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "Between Disappearances" and "steampunk" pioneer Paul Di Filippo's "Weeping Walls"--not to mention previously unpublished writer Laura Whitton's "Froggies." Cutting-edge often seems to mean risque language and taboo subjects. Dangerous Visions obliged, and so does Redshift, yet even its most risque story is beautifully crafted. Humor is here in plenty, too, and many thoughtful, atmospheric pieces that will haunt your mental landscape for days. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

These thirty extraordinary works encompass the expanding universe of speculative fiction, including hard and soft science fiction, fantasy, horror, and experimental and conventional literary fiction. This is the province of the mind -- where the possibilities are endless and anything can happen. And these are the authors whose work has shaped the evolution of science fiction and will continue to influence the genre for years to come. From the universally acclaimed Pushcart Prize winner Ursula K. Le Guin to the master of alternate history Harry Turtledove, from promising newcomer Laura Whitton to bestselling veteran Larry Niven. Writers in the tradition of Asimov and Heinlein -- and in ways completely their own. Handpicked by Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Al Sarrantonio to revolutionize and galvanize the field of speculative fiction, the tales in Redshift span the spectrum of creative thought and expression and take readers into the future...

FROM THE CRITICS

Chicago Sun-Times

Redshift [continues] Dangerous Visions' tradition of literate, cohesive, well-plotted stories untrammeled by inhibitions or prohibitions.

SF Site

A fine collection of stories.

Chicago Sun-Times

Redshift [continues] Dangerous Visions' tradition of literate, cohesive, well-plotted stories untrammeled by inhibitions or prohibitions.

Publishers Weekly

For this big, glitzy original anthology, Sarrantonio asked his contributors to write short stories that could "influence the course of sf for the next twenty-five years." That's a fairly pretentious goal. Sarrantonio's working subtitle was "Dangerous Visions for the New Millennium," a nod to Harlan Ellison's revolutionary 1967 story anthology with subjects and/or styles too hot for publishers at the time. Nowadays, there aren't many taboos in SF, so this anthology mostly shows how accessible formerly "extreme" stories have become. Looked at simply as stories, the contents are occasionally disappointing. Some pieces are included because of the writers' reputations, some have a message that overpowers everything else, some are too brief to be much more than displays of style, and some suffer from multiple weaknesses. But there are excellent stories, too, showing the range of contemporary SF, such as Dan Simmons's tale of a human-alien team of mountain climbers, "On K2 with Kanakaredes," and Stephen Baxter's picture of human nature reasserting itself after extreme distortion, "In the Un-Black." In addition, Gene Wolfe ("Viewpoint") and Rudy Rucker and John Shirley ("Pockets") present message stories with real plots. Greg Benford ("Anomalies") offers a short tale as compact and deadly as a coral snake, while Catherine Wells ("'Bassador") and Neal Barrett Jr. ("Rhido Wars") use mind-stretching prose styles effectively. That's a pretty good average, actually, and the rest are worth reading to see how the writers responded to the editor's challenge. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza. (Dec. 4) FYI: Sarrantonio is the editor of 999 (2001), an anthology of horror fiction. Copyright 2001 Cahners BusinessInformation.

Library Journal