AFTER THE APOCALYPSE is a collection of short stories by Maureen F. McHugh that concern people coping with massive change. The aftermath of a bird flu pandemic, a plague of mad cow-like disease, zombies, a computer that becomes sentient, economic collapse–the scenarios are varied and interesting. The stories focus less on the sensational and more on average people trying to live their lives in the face of massive change. The worlds McHugh creates are believable and colored with disruption, and the characters are engaging in their mundane concerns. I liked it; I’m not normally a fan of short stories, but I read the book straight through in several sittings. Some readers might find it a little too mundane, however, as the world never really ends, and the disruption in many of the stories is not global, but instead very localized.
Leave a Reply