Super Stories of Heroes and Villains

This is a weird book Most anthologies have the purpose of convincing the reader to buy the included authors other books and stories They re supposed to introduce you to authors you haven t read before by including a handful of high profile authors who s stories readers feel they just must read But this book is all reprints of previously published stories, most of which were already printed in other anthologies So it s an anthology that s trying to get me to buy other anthologies It s like realit [...]

Way of a slog than an anthology about superheroes and super villains should have been.

I enjoy superhero prose More accurately, I enjoy some superhero prose, and a few of these stories are the kind I enjoy The usual unevenness of any multi author anthology applies, both in how much I enjoyed the stories and how well they are edited, and some of the stories only fit within the theme by stretching the definition a long way also common for anthologies This particular anthology suffers from another issue, too in some, there are a lot of references within the stories either to the part [...]

A mixed bag of a book First, if fanfic is a turnoff for you, be warned there are two stories in here which are basically fanfic, one with the serial numbers filed off and one which relied on the serial numbers to make its point Maybe it s weird of me, but if I want fanfic, I ll wander the internet I expect creativity from a book I paid for.Now the stories themselves, some I loved, some I enjoyed and immediately forgot, and some had me flipping pages in an effort to get to the next tale So I m n [...]

Overall 4.5 stars for the collection For the full review of each story in the collection visit Not Yet ReadSuper Stories of Heroes Villains was one helluva ride to read From origin stories, romance gone wrong, to aliens from outer space and lets not forget philandering heroes there is a little bit of something of everything to turn your head I m quite happy to say I ve found a handful of new authors to add to my must read soon list Hats off to the editor for compiling a really great collection t [...]

3.5 rounded up to 4A collection of super hero stories not all spandex In fact, as much in the pulpy noir of the Shadow and his ilk Collections of anthologies around a common theme may become over similar, less likely to thrill with the discovery of the new, I think But some, and this collection is one, have a diversity of authorial intent and style that continue to surprise Wolfe, Link and Martin turn in especially strong stories as one might expect given their gifts But most who like fantastic [...]

It took me 10 months but I finally finished this anthology read a lot of books along with this one I have read three other superhero anthologies and I have to say this one ranks last in my opinion For every story I loved like Kim Newman s Ubermensch there was one that I just hated like Kelly Link s Origin Story So the book, in its entirety was flat But there are others that were enjoyable A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows by Chris Roberson which I read in an earlier anthology , Faces of Gemini by A [...]

Overall I enjoyed this collection It started off great with Ubermensch by Kim Newman Still one of my favorites However, As I moved thru the collection many of the heroes villains were derivative That can be okay if there is some new take, and some did a good job at keeping my interest Of course, some authors did the exact opposite by trying to hard to reinterpret an archetype, while getting their own personal views wedged in that it was painful My favorite stories in the order they appear in the [...]

Any compilation that boasts efforts by Jonathan Lethem, Kelly Link, Gene Wolfe, and George R.R Martin is bound to turn heads And, as expected, the stories here are all first rate But the pool for superhero prose is shallow and many of these stories have appeared in similar collections over the years And that, I m afraid, mutes some of the book s thunder Full review here superheronovels 2013 08 11

An uneven collection of comic book and pulp hero influenced short stories, with too many written in imitation pulp or faux historical styles, and a number that would be classified as experimental fiction if they appeared elsewhere The best works here are two selections from George R R Martin s WILD CARDS series, and Carol Emshwiller s Grandma As an alternative, I d suggest reading the similar collection MASKED Lou Anders, editor before picking this one up.

I wish that in the star rating system there was one for MEH I love reading short story collections, I can find new authors that way, find something to read that I never thought I would like I slogged through this book None of the stories in here appealed to me They were well written, well though out just not for me.

The opening story Ubermensch by Kim Newman got me really excited, but ultimately I wasn t as into it as I d hoped That first story and the two Wild Cards pieces were the highlights for me Otherwise it was just all right.

A pretty mixed bag, some good ones and plenty of middling ones These stories range over the decades which makes me think there are not many good superhero stories outside of the comic space.

The main reason for wanting to read this is The Rememberer , which the TV show Unforgettable is supposed to be based on.

This collection of sorta superhero stories left me feeling meh Some of the better ones I had read before in other collections Others were very far afield, too far to keep me interested.

I liked a few of the stories, but mostly, I kind of bored myself through it Will check out of the wild cards anthologies, though.

Less than one star Reading this made me think about being an editor of a series Meaning even an idiot like me could find better One of the few books I actually regret paying for.