Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology

The fifteenth anniversary of the Hugo-nominated science fiction podcast Escape Pod, featuring new and exclusive stories from today’s bestselling writers.

Finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.

Celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of cutting-edge science fiction from the hit podcast, Escape Pod. Escape Pod has been bringing the finest short fiction to millions of ears all over the world, at the forefront of a new fiction revolution.

This anthology gathers together fifteen stories, including new and exclusive work from writers such as from Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, Mary Robinette Kowal, T. Kingfisher and more. From editors Mur Laffterty and S.B. Divya comes the science fiction collection of the year, bringing together bestselling authors in celebration of the publishing phenomenon that is, Escape Pod.

Many thanks to Titan Books for an copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

When I saw the author list for this anthology, I absolutely knew I had to read it! Let no one say there’s a lack of talent in this book, because that’s for sure not the case! I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest science fiction fan, but I love so many of these authors that I just had to see their spin on the genre.

Escape Pod is an anthology that runs the gamut between humor and horror, light sci-fi and whole other planets, with every author lending their own style and unique take on the genre.

While I had a lot of fun with this anthology (and I whipped through the thing in a day, despite its length), I can’t say that I loved it. There were stories that I loved, and there weren’t any stories that I particularly disliked, but I feel like this fell into the trap that many anthologies fall into in that variety often means that, just by sheer probability, there are going to be stories I just didn’t feel.

My biggest complaint, in general, were the number of stories that seemed to just … end. Right in the middle of the story. Sometimes right before the big, exciting thing is going to happen.

If you like open endings, this might go well for you, but I hate them, and oh my gosh, this is so frustrating to me! You can’t just build up to the inciting action that’s going to launch you into a quest and then just write THE END! *flails* Okay, I mean, clearly you can, but I’m not gonna be happy about it, and I’ll … I don’t know … utter disgruntled sounds when I hit the end of the story?

That being said, there were so many things to love about this anthology, and there were several stories that just blew me away!

So I’m going to highlight these today, because obviously, you all should read them. Duh. So let me take a moment to introduce you to a few of my favorite stories from this anthology.

Also … I apologize for the soundtracks right upfront. I feel like you can tell I’ve maybe been on a “Halloween vibe” music kick lately …

Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five

by T. Kingfisher

One-Line Synopsis: Having a baby on a small colony is much more entertaining and colorful than one might have expected when a mysterious ship appears instead of the midwives that have been summoned.

Story Soundtrack: The Mississippi Squirrel Revival (sorry, but this story just reminded me of this type of humor and the whole things keep going wrong in the strangest way vibe!)

First Lines:

Favorite Quote:

What I Loved:

Imagine trying to get through an incident report with an AI that takes everything you say literally. Welp, Doc Hollow here definitely knows the struggle. This story was just entertaining, with things escalating in ways I didn’t expect. Plus, poor Doc Hollow trying to navigate interaction with the AI just made me laugh more times than I can count.

A Princess of Nigh-Space

by Tim Pratt

One-Line Synopsis: When Tamsin’s grandmother dies, she’s not exactly tore up about it, but she’s also not expecting to be chased by two mysterious men-for-hire who seem to want something from her.

Story Soundtrack: Men In Black

First Lines:

Favorite Quote:

What I Loved:

This one ended right as it was getting good, which was frustrating, but I loved the first part so much that it’s hard being too angry. The voice in this was so strong and fun that I was immediately sucked in. Tamsin is such a fun, relatable character. Then you throw in the characters of Bollard and Chicane, who are undeniably creepy but also larger than life in an interesting, threatening sort of way. I thought the way they play off each other is just perfect!

An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition

by Ken Liu

One-Line Synopsis: A thoughtful examination into the way different alien species love as a foil for the love of a single human family to explain the choices a child’s mother made.

Story Soundtrack: Swan Lake (Epic Trailer Version)

First Lines:

Favorite Quote:

What I Loved:

I absolutely love stories that dig into philosophy and really force you to walk away thinking deeply about things. This is exactly that sort of story. It’s about love and life, human and otherwise, and the things parents do for their children and the many ways people love each other, none of which are “right” or “wrong”. I really appreciate how beautifully this is interwoven together so that it feels both contemporary and sci-fi all at the same time; both comfortably familiar and yet entirely alien.

Alien Animal Encounters

by John Scalzi

One-Line Synopsis: In a universe full of aliens, humans are bound to run into a few, and sometimes first impressions can be … interesting.

Story Soundtrack: What’s This? (Nightmare Revisited)

First Lines:

Favorite Quote:

What I Loved:

This reminds me of the sort of memes I saw going around Reddit years ago about if aliens landed on Earth and had to first encounter Earth species … except, you know, flipped! The stories were mostly funny, but all were entertaining, at least, and the range of aliens was so interesting. I’d read a whole book filled with just these random encounters, because they’re bite-size and succinct but also wholly entertaining.

A Consideration of Trees

by Beth Cato

One-Line Synopsis: When a young man is mysteriously found in the woods dead of old age, his widow approaches Alameda, along with her lizard sidekick, takes the case to find out what happened to him.

Story Soundtrack: Ghostbusters (I’m Not Afraid)

First Lines:

Favorite Quote:

What I Loved:

Who doesn’t love a bit of alien murder mystery?! Since this is a short story, the mystery was pretty short and sweet, but not without its own appeal. I enjoyed every step of this story as Alameda finds more clues and eventually unravels exactly what happened and why. I was able to guess the culprit, but that only made me more excited to keep reading and find out if I was right. I’ve also realized that “alien murder mystery” isn’t really a thing that was on my list of must-reads, but now I definitely want more of this. Why isn’t this a genre? It’s like Supernatural, but with aliens.

Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death

by N.K. Jemisin

One-Line Synopsis: You can’t keep the downtrodden … well, downtrodden … if you give them dragons, yo.

Story Soundtrack: This Is War

First Lines:

Favorite Quote:

What I Loved:

DRAGONS! Hell yes. But more than that, this is officially my first N.K. Jemisin work, and I am most definitely going to check out more of her work. The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and such a strong point to end the anthology on. The story is about rising up, about refusing to be kept down. About taking risks and working together, when the only thing you have to cling to is the fact that you’re alive.