This book is an anthology of dystopian short stores. The quality of the stories and writing varies widely from unreadable to fairly good. None of the stories I would asses as truly excellent.

I don't usually read short stories but a good Post-Apocalyptic theme is hard to resist, also some of the aithors featured are favourites.
As usual with anthologies, it's a mixed bag, some stories grab you more than others. But the ones that do are fascinating in their unusual ideas and I'm really glad to have been granted the arc.

For those wanting to dip their toes into some truly good short stores this is the book. It is also really good to see if the writing style or ideas of an author suit you as a reader.
I would recommend this to anyone who is already an SF fan, but also to all those who are wandering if SF is for them or not.

Definitely one of the most interesting collection I've read so far. Every story was stunning and simply mind-blowing. I couldn't put it down. I just had to abandon my life for a couple of day to finish this.

Even the cover looks amazing and this is partly the reason why I jumped on this book

I need a physical copy of this book! There are some really good stories in this book. I wish some of the stories were longer, they had very abrupt endings

It's a mixed bag of stories, it features some of my favorite authors but I was a bit disappointed.
some of them are quite good but they're like the start of a novel and you are left wondering what will be next.
Some are so enigmatic that you are left wondering what was the meaning.
Some are easily forgotten.
One moved me: Ramsey Campbell never disappoints.
I also love the one by Lavie Tidhar but I want to know what will happen.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Imaging the world after a disaster has been around for a long time from HG Well’s Time Traveller to various zombies, disasters and alien invasions various authors have examined our futures and in return are trying to understand our present. But in 2021 we are reading these stories right in the middle of a global disaster. Does this change how we read these stories? I suspect it will and reading Out of the Ruins edited by Preston Grassman provided a varied mix of tales to give us food for thought.

Particular stories and poems that grabbed me in this collection were

The Green Caravanserai by Lavie Tidhar – a captivating yet unusual tale taking place in a forever changed african coastline filled with strange ideas such as terrorartists and bombs that destroy in extreme slow motion. I really liked the visually strange world offered and the sense that however things get bad then we find a way out of it.

As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders – a delightfully funny yet thoughtful tale on why art matters. A playwright who also cleans toilets finds herself after the end of the world stuck in their employer’s panic room. After a long time watching endless tv shows on the recorder she finds a genie in a bottle who could offer three wishes. A wonderful story about how we get through dark times and creating art out of it. My favourite in the collection.

Reminded by Ramsey Campbell – an imaginative tale that uses something many of us fear the UK driving test and turns it into something much stranger and increasingly making the reader uneasy. An elderly couple of hoping they can finally pass but we start to realise we are in a world where memories are now quite precious and easily lost. A good puzzle for a reader to deconstruct what actualy is going on and the fear of meeting the Examiner will be shared by many.

Inventory by Carmen Maria Machado – a tale of lust, love and loss as characters recall their sexual partners and sexual encounters in the time of a pandemic. A powerful tale of human seeking connections even when all falls apart. Very powerfully delivered and charged with emotion.

On top of this we have a poem from Clive Barker and tales from the likes of Nina Allen, Emily St Mandel and Samuel L Delaney. For me the collection didn’t really quite spark into life in many other stories, but I do wonder if this is because my own experiences have coloured my view of what comes next or given me expectations of what humans will really do. An interesting collection worth a look.

Although I am not obsessed with apocalyptic ideas, I find the notion of the end of the world as we know it both fascinating and terrifying. If I had a choice, I would prefer to avoid such events altogether, but I can't help but wonder what would it look like? What would trigger it? Would it wipe us all out, or would there be survivors? And if so, what would their lives look like?

In Out of The Ruins, Grassman delivers 20 stories (including 2 poems) that offer a fresh look at post-apocalyptic tropes and themes. Most of them are introspective and literary rather than fast-paced or survivalist. I prefer them this way.

There are no throwaway stories here. Some are outstanding, others less so, but they still deserve their place in the anthology. Among the standout stories here is Emily St. John Mandel s "Mr. Thursday." Her Station Eleven is, probably, my favorite book ever, and her writing style has that wonderfully melancholic atmosphere I can't resist. I understand why some readers won't like it (slow, episodic, with no clear ending), but I adored it. What is it about? Well, it shows how one small decision can affect more than one life.

Another story I loved was Tidhar's The Green Caravanserai that opens the anthology and delivers lots of thrills. Certainly, there are also weaker stories here, such as As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders, which has a great premise (genie in a bottle after the apocalypse) but disappointing execution. I had high hopes for China Mieville's Watching God but I ended up feeling lukewarm about it. No idea why, to be honest; it's well written, inventive, dreamy.

Preston Grassmann did a great job here, making sure Out of the Ruins has a fantastic mix of styles and approaches to the post-apocalyptic themes. I highly recommend Out of the Ruins to readers looking for thoughtful and touching short stories.

"Out of the Ruins" is an anthology of post-apocalyptic fiction written by some of the very best authors around. Each story is brilliantly written, with great characters, and plots that instantly grabbed me. Though, with most, I wished for a much larger story (even full-length novels) I can't rate the book down for that because I thoroughly enjoyed them just the way they are, and wanting more is just me being greedy!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.