1/10 stars

My full review on my blog (link attached).

Wow. I mean, this type of publication comes around once in a decade, perhaps - or maybe not even that. It is so cringingly, eye-poppingly bad it could serve as an extremely effective guide on how not to: write short stories, choose stories for publishing, edit anthologies, and put your own (badly written) story up front as the editor of said anthologies.

It started off bad and nosedived to worst with impressive speed; of the eighteen stories in this anthology only three got anything equal to 5 stars or above (out of 10); the rest received almost uniformly 1 and 2 star ratings, and a few beat even that “high” score and got a round 0. I thought of DNFing this collection, but two things stopped me: firstly, each story was written by a different author; I could not in good conscience just consign their work to the bin without reading it, since their stories’ placement in the anthology was not their fault. Secondly, the whole experience turned into one of morbid interest, something along the lines of watching a train wreck in slow motion: I could not believe how bad some of these stories could be, how the authors could think of publishing them. Because, you know, the list of names here is really quite impressive: Haldeman, Powell, Weber, Modesitt, Jr., Scalzi, McGuire, Czerneda, Lee… Many of those authors’ works have been reviewed quite favourably on this blog and others. What most of them decided to publish in this anthology, though… probably had been hiding in the deepest recesses of their drawers and should never have seen the light of day.

[...]

Edward Willet, Vision Quest 0/10

A very musty and unoriginal story about an alien mind-linking with angsty teenagers over centuries. Booooring and clunky, and with no idea to serve as an anchor for the boring clunkiness, it peters out in a failed attempt at science fiction.

Tanya Huff, Call to Arms 1/10

Oh, the follies of youth. Stupidity of teenage werewolves and mages is apparently even more pronounced than that of regular teenagers, but you can always count on villains who love exposition. This story might be a part of some larger universe and the earlier character development might have just passed me by, but what I got here was a bunch of walking one-dimensional stereotypes.

[...]

Detailed reviews and ratings of each story available on the blog.

TL;DR: Reading this collection turned into an unexpected effort, but one that was highly educational. The one thing that sustained me through some of these “jewels” was the thought of writing the above review. Consider it my service to you ;)

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

I love good science fiction books and follow several authors. I read often and quickly so am many times left trying to figure out what to read next. In come anthologies, those wonderful books of short stories from many authors, some I'm familiar with, some I'm introduced to for the first time. A short story is a true test of an author's skills. They must quickly grab a reader's full attention and bring them into a story with limited time and space available. I've discovered some really great authors by reading an anthology or two or ten. This one has 18 stories, pieces of time and place to fascinate and entertain. As editor, Edward Willett has done an excellent job of creating a reading experience for everyone's tastes.

I wasn't so much into this anthology, but I did like it enough that I'll check out the podcast by the author (Worldshapers) because there is a lot of creativity here, and I may like it more in the podcast format, which does happen in some cases.

This anthology features plenty of authors I love and had high expectations.
Some of the stories are quite entertaining, some are a bit meh.
It was an entertaining but I'd recommend it to fans of the authors.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

In this anthology, Edward collects stories written by authors he's talked to on the first year of his podcast, The Worldshapers, and the stories here are a wild & entertaining variety of new and reprint science fiction and fantasy.

Listen to our interview with Edward about SHAPERS OF WORLDS:
https://www.writersafterdark.com/writers-after-dark-73/

hapers of Worlds is an anthology based on the Worldshapers podcast, a science fiction podcast, by which I mean it is a podcast about science fiction, not a podcast that consists of science fiction. Instead of audio stories, it consists of interviews with SFF authors. This anthology consists of a mix of both new stories and reprints.

This collection feels rather uneven to me. Just a look at the contents list shows a vast difference in the types of authors included. Highlights are short pieces by John Scalzi and Seanan McGuire, two of my favorite authors and clearly superstars in the field. Surprising is the inclusion of a work by John C. Wright, a Sad Puppy who I think would be shocked to find himself in the same anthology as Scalzi. Frankly, I have no interest in reading anything of his and skipped his story entirely. Overall, a mixed bag of stories.

A mixed-quality, but above average set of stories from top-notch and/or well-known authors. I was surprised I didn't like this more. Nonetheless, a worthwhile collection. 3.5 rounded up.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

This anthology celebrates stories from the first year of Podcast The Worldshapers. It‘s been financed as a Kickstarter project and the 18 stories are released at 14.11.2020.

In summary, most stories are enjoyable and I found two gems in it: „Evanescence“ by Modesitt, and Fonda Lee‘s superhero story „Welcome to Legion Six“. There are a couple of mediocre stories in it, though this is more a matter of personal taste than a literary assessment.
The editor is an author himself, and he included a story from himself - I wouldn’t write home about his „Vision Quest“. His decision not only to include the story but even to start the anthology isn’t bold; it feels questionable like cutting the line or serving yourself before your guests.
More than half of the stories were original for the anthology, the other half reprints, and the oldest one „Tricentennial“ from Haldeman closes the anthology.
While the stories are a broad selection over SF and Fantasy subgenres, I couldn’t identify the proclaimed topic of creating worlds consistently in them. The editor just lined them up one after the other without an introduction.
The average over all stories leads to three stars. Usually, I round up a little, because anthologies work differently than novels - they are more than the sum of its parts. In this case, I thought more about decreasing the average because of the editor‘s questionable choice. In the end, it’s a weak three stars, and I can’t fully recommend this anthology.
Please, find individual reviews for each story linked to my blog.

Contents:

• ★★★☆☆ • Vision Quest • 2020 • SF short story by Edward Willett • an eons old entity contacts a teenager
• ★★★☆☆ • Call to Arms • 2020 • Fantasy novelette by Tanya Huff • A teenage weredog and a mage join to fight the Empire
• ★★★+☆☆ • The Tale of the Wicked • 2009 • Space Opera novelette by John Scalzi • A space ship decides to follow Asimov‘s Laws in the middle of a battle
• ★★★+☆☆ • The Farships Fall to Nowhere • 2020 • Generation ship short story by John C Wright • how is it when a generation ship reaches its target planet?
• ★★★★☆ • Evanescence • 2020 • First Contact short story by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. • solar system formation, Oort Cloud mining exploration, and opera
☆ • Peel • 2004 • by Julie Czerneda • didn’t unterstand, skipped assessment
• ★★★☆☆ • The Knack of Flying • 2020 • Steampunk short story by Shelley Adina • a secret flight vessel contest in 1896
• ★★+☆☆☆ • Ghost Colours • 2015 • SF short story by Derek Künsken • Dehaunting by gentherapy
• ★★★☆☆ • One Million Lira • 2014 • Military SF short story by Thoraiya Dyer • A sniper protects a crashed aircraft from looters
• ★★★☆☆ • Pod Dreams of Tuckertown • 2007 • SF short story by Gareth L. Powell • Pod works off a brutal punishment
• ★★☆☆☆ • In Silent Streams, Where Once the Summer Shone • 2020 • Apocalyptic short story by Seanan McGuire • A virus extinguishes all humans
• ★★★★☆ • Welcome to the Legion of Six • 2019 • Superhero short story by Fonda Lee • New talents interview for a position in a famous group of superheroes
• ★★☆☆☆ • Good Intentions • 2020 • Planetary SF short story by Christopher Ruocchio • A Sun Eater story with a scientist interfering with slavery
• ★★★☆☆ • “Shhhh. . .” • 1988 • First Contact SF short story by David Brin • far advanced aliens are rumored to have a weakness
• ★★☆☆☆ • The Greatest of These is Hope • 2020 • YA first contact novelette by D.J. Butler • a girl on a dying planet meets a dead friend in a Minecraft sim
• ★★★+☆☆ • A Thing of Beauty • 2011 • First contact SF novelette by Dr. Charles E. Gannon • A corporation is about to sell unregistered children to aliens
• ★★★☆☆ • Home Is Where the Heart Is • 2020 • Urban Fantasy novelette by David Weber • a man without memory sells his soul to the devil
• ★★★☆☆ • Tricentennial • 1976 • SF novelette by Joe Haldeman • antimatter propels traveling a generation ship with relativistic speed

I really wanted to like this collection, but although it's got top-notch authors, most of the stories were duds. It's as if someone had swept up the dullest pieces by each author and gathered them here. Many of the stories seem to have been dashed off by authors as filler for other books or magazines--I didn't feel that any of them built or shaped much of a new world. A few had bits and pieces of interesting ideas or language or characters, but overall, this isn't a collection I'd recommend.

My main reason for reading anthologies is my hope to find a story so interesting as to make me chose a book by an author with a work included in the collection. Finding a new author I'm interested in would be the icing on the cake. Well...it didn't happen here. I'm really quite surprised at how I reacted to these stories; they were interesting enough while I was reading them I didn't go exploring at all. Each time I came to a story submitted by an author I had either read about or I had actually read a book authored by them I figured that this one would be different - something about this one would really engage my attention. I read it and then I finished it and then I forgot what it was all about. I had to go back and look it up, but here are some of the story subjects: superhero recruitment, shape shifter, alien visitor, ghost haunting, end of the world, a giant native and memory loss.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadowpaw Press for an e-galley of this anthology.

There is a ton of talent nd talented authors in this anthology and that give us, readers, some great and imaginative story. If you love te genre and love to read short stories, this s a book you don't want to miss. I highly recommend it!!

I enjoyed this anthology. I liked how different the stories were from one another, with a wide range of fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, steampunk and everything in between. My favourites were Fonda Lee's "Welcome to the Legion of Six", Seanan McGuire's "In Silent Streams, Where Once the Summer Shone" and "The Knack of Flying" by Shelley Adina Bates.

Edward Willett hosts a podcast called Worldshapers (I will need to check this out) which is up to 62 episodes. After a year, he decided to Kickstart an anthology with stories from several of the authors that appeared in the first season of the podcast, thus was born Shapers of Worlds. Of the 18 stories in the volume, half are new stores (2020 copyright) and half are stories written earlier. Each tale stands on its own and highlights the author's voice and world building. I became aware of this title via L. E. Modesitt, Jr. answering a question on Goodreads, so when I saw this title on Netgalley, I jumped on the chance to read it. There are tales from Tanya Huff, Modesitt, John Scalizi, D. J. Butler, Seanan McGuire, David Weber, and Joe Halderman, to name a few of the authors. The David Weber story was interesting and not one you would expect from him. And the Charles E. Gannon story was dark but also hopeful. So you have a nice mix of authors and tales to read in this volume. So hears to hoping there will be another volume!

I was given a free ARC by Netgalley. This is my honest review.

In general, it is difficult to review anthologies. However, Shapers of Worlds included stories by wonderful authors such as Tanya Huff and David Weber.

The stories were all winners ranging from very good to excellent. I highly recommend giving it a try

Usually compilation books have a theme ( such as 'Pets in Space') this one however does not - "Shaper of Worlds " ???. However having seen the list of contributors I was eager to read the stories .
These Authors' stories are usually set in worlds that they normally write about - this compilation does not follow the norm , with a few outside the Authors' usual remit .
I found the most of the of the stories did not quite meet the usual standards of the Authors' previous books - yet I could not put my finger on why not . Perhaps it was that some Authors' stories bore no relation to what you might expect of them . For example , David Weber's story whilst entertaining ( this was one of the better stories ) left me feeling put out - I wanted a story set in his Space Opera world . Also Seanan McGuire's story was a ethical/moral story of the world today - was she prescient ??
All that being said I did persevere with the stories - there is something here for everyone to find at least a few interesting stories .

I was given an arc of the book by the Publisherand NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I actively try to read a variety of genres and was definitely due a good science fiction book. This seemed to fit the bill, an overall ambitious collection featuring many well known names and yet…it ended up not quite working for me. In fact, from the very start, right after the friendly enough of a foreword by the editor, it launched with the first story written by that very same editor which was just so lackluster. And also, doesn’t it seem kind of…I don’t know…immodest? Like having a party and serving yourself first. Then another underwhelming story. Then John Scalzi, who’s always fun to read with yet another…you guessed it…underwhelming story. Or at least underwhelming by Scalzi standards. At this time a normal reader might put the book down, but this reader is a determined completist, so the next day I came back to it with a fresh mindset, trying again. And what do you know, eventually the collection did improve, in fact it had a very nice middle section of genuinely compelling stories. And of course, now I should be naming them, but for some reason when it comes to short fiction, my brain just doesn’t seem to register those things, so there was a story about a ghost passively haunting a person and that was probably the turnaround moment, afterwards there were several good ones. There was even a properly serious and eerily in the now sort of story by Seanan McGuire (aha, there, I do remember some names), an author I normally don’t expect that sort of heaviness and seriousness and adultness from. All of the entries in this collection of a pretty uniform length, not too short, not too long, just right. The general idea was to thematically unite these under the flag of shapers of the world. I suppose, to an extent they do. But it’s a very wide theme and the stories range from steampunk to fantasy to the sort of overly technical sci fi I don’t care for to the sort of space operatic sci fi I really don’t care for to a positively Faustian tale by David Weber which seems to have nothing to do with science fiction at all, but it was actually one of my favorites in this book. So there was definitely something for everyone, a grab bag of tales, from luminaries of the genre. Though to be fair, primarily the old timey luminaries, people who’ve been at it for decades and accumulated genuinely obscenely large oeuvres and back catalogs, 70 novels or something like that. That beggars the question of quality or at least repetition, but at any rate, for one thing it definitely proved to be a good way to sample some of those names. I wanted to like it more, I really did, but some of those stories (and this is a terrible thing to say probably) kind of reminded me of why I didn’t care for sci fi for such a long time, especially all the ones with the heavy tech jargon. My idea of good science fiction is Black Mirror (earlier seasons), something that uses scientific advances to highlight socially, politically, economically important things, etc. Something that makes you contemplate the very nature of carbon based lifeforms and their meaning and significance. Not just space ship intrigues. Of course, some might argue space ship sagas are also fundamentally about all those heavy profound subjects, but it just isn’t my bag, too convoluted and flashy for one thing, too enamored by their space armor, etc. And that’s what so many of the authors in this collection are known for, conventional science fiction, space operas, fantasy, etc. So anyway, this being such a grab bag, there was enough to justify reading it and there ought to be something here within these pages for most genre fans. But the overall effect is somewhat underwhelming, not quite a disappointment per se, but light years away from love. Oh well, science fiction quota met for now. Next one. Thanks Netgalley.