Semiotext[e] SF Book

What a disappointment this book turned out to be, particularly considering the awesome reputations and writings of its three editors, Rudy Rucker, Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey), and Robert Anton Wilson. While a few of the stories were really thought-provoking or well written (four- or five-star material), they were few and far between, buried beneath an avalanche of dross. Far too many of the authors in this book mistook stories about fucking for cutting edge, "transgressive" science fiction, and sadly, the editors apparently went along with this misidentification. An overwhelming number of 1-2 page hypershort stories, craptastic "poems," and shitty black-and-white, 3rd- or 4th-generation, photocopy-quality collages serve to hide the good stuff and render it less than memorable. Only two stories really stand out, "We See Things Differently," by Bruce Sterling, and "Rapture in Space," by Rudy Rucker, and it wouldn't surprise me if these two stories were widely anthologized elsewhere. It also chapped my ass to see so many friggin' typos, particularly in a book published by Columbia University.