Reading the authors' names on the cover will suffice to make you want to read this book.
This is a unique collection of incredible stories, impossible to put this down until you reach the very last page.

There's something for everyone in this collection -- older classics mixed with newer takes. Definitely pick this up if you're a horror fan!

This is a great book of short stories about one of my favourite reading subjects: the end of the world. With most short story collections there are some good and some not as good, but this one defied that by including all good ones; I wasn't disappointed once. With contributions by some of my most respected authors, this collection was original, fascinating and even a bit scary considering the current climate. I was so riveted by each story in this book I barely took my eyes off it and finished it within two days. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

This is a solid collection of horror stories by well-known authors in the genre. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I stopped reading this book about halfway through. Some of the stories were intriguing, but other stories never caught my interest. I have read some of the stories before in other collections and anthologies.

I’m a fan of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. There’s something I really enjoy about reading about the imagined mess our world could be in the future.

So of course, this anthology sounded like a treat.

Except it really wasn’t.

There are some great stories here. The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison and my personal favourite that I’ve read about fifty times, The End of The Whole Mess by Stephen King.

However, just about every story in this anthology is a re-print, many written decades ago. The End of The World by Eugene Mouton is actually an essay which I don’t think should have been in a fictional anthology. The Comet by W.E.B. Du Bois is a good story but is a public domain piece freely available online. I don’t think this should have been in the anthology.

Some of the stories in Grave Predictions are good but many are regurgitated from similar anthologies and collection. Unfortunately, the book has nothing new to offer.

A great read for thriller/horror fans. I'd prefer this book in a hardback on my coffee table. it provides great work from great authors.

This was a great book. The stories were fairly even in quality. I especially liked Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Harlan Ellison’s contributions. Greg Bear’s Judgment Engine is high brow but, as it went along, became very enjoyable. I’m glad I got to read this!

Good collection of fiction from the finest current writers of horror. Like any collection, they were some stories I liked more than others, but overall this was a fine collection.

Grave Predictions -

The End of the World - Eugene Mouton

A prediction from 1872 about how Mouton thought the world would end. Oddly enough, his prediction was from global warming. An interesting assessment from the past. Reads like an essay.

3 out of 5 stars


The Comet - W.E.B. DuBois

Jim and Julia are the last people left alive in NYC after the earth passes through the tail of a comet and the population is decimated by poisonous gas. Jim is a poor black man and Julia is a rich white woman. As they come to grips with their situation, they are about to put racial prejudices aside when Julia's family show up alive and the racist views begin flying again. Sad story.

3 out of 5 stars


The Pedestrian - Ray Bradbury

Leonard takes a stroll every night all alone in this empty world for fresh air and to see what there is to see. Every night he returns, except this night. Even when you're the only person left on earth, Big Brother still messes with you.

3 out of 5 stars


No Morning After - Arthur C. Clarke

Intelligent life on the planet Thaar have discovered that Earth's sun will blow up in three days. They must find someone on earth who has the ability in their mind to receive telepathy so they can save the earthlings. Unfortunately, the only person they are able to communicate with is Bill. And Bill is on a bender due to Brenda leaving him.

4 out of 5 stars


Upon the Dull Earth - Phillip K. Dick

Sylvia is special. She is able to communicate with angel-like beings from the other side. They tell her how wonderful it is in their world and that she will be one of them once she dies. Rick is frightened to death at Sylvia's special ability and would do anything to keep her in our world. Be careful what you wish for. Creative short story with a unique premise, but the ending drags on and on.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars


2BR02B - Kurt Vonnegut Jr

If they discovered the cure for aging and everyone on the planet could live forever, how long would you really want to live. Thought provoking tale

4 1/2 out of 5 stars


I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison

A man against machine story. AM is the all-knowing god now and he hates the creatures that built him. He's destroyed them all except 5. These five are now his play things as he puts them through countless layers of hell.

2 1/2 out of 5 stars



The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas - Ursula K. LeGuin


The residents of Omelas happiness is dependent on the misfortune of one locked up child. About as enjoyable as a root canal.

1 out of 5 stars


The Engineer and the Executioner - Brian M. Stableford

A philosophical showdown between a man that created an artificial world that was deemed too dangerous by the powers that be and the robot that was sent to terminate the creator and his creation. Thought provoking.

4 out of 5 stars


The End of the Whole Mess - Stephen King

Howard's brother, Bobby, is a certifiable genius. And geniuses like to push the envelope. Bobby is obsessed with world peace and discovers a small town in west Texas where violence is non-existent. So, he goes there to discover why. When in doubt, test the water and like all good things, there always has to be a catch. Fun tale that I enjoyed from start to finish.

5 out of 5 stars


Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back - Joe R. Lansdale

For one of the men that helped build the bombs that ended the world, Karma can be a real bitch. Way out there one from Lansdale.

4 out of 5 stars


Judgement Engine - Greg Bear


Just shoot me. I tried. I really tried to get into this, but it was god awful and a complete waste of 25 minutes.

0 (only because I can't do negative) out of 5 stars



The Black Mould - Mark Samuels

Cosmic mould spores take over the universe and control every living thing. Meh.

1 1/2 out of 5 stars



The Pretence - Ramsey Campbell


An endless journey into nothing. This story droned on forever. A confusing attempt to be shadowy and mysterious turned into being a torturous labor to get through. Didn't I tell you to shoot me a couple of stories ago??

1/2 out of 5 stars


Inventory - Carmen Maria Machado

Making lists as the world crumbles around you. Meh.

2 out of 5 stars


There were a few decent stories in this collection, but overall it was a rough one to get through. Way too much boring trash to sift through. Do yourself a favor and read King's and Lansdale's tales in their own collection.

Overall - 2 out of 5 stars

A delightful collection of well-written grim stories with some of my favorite authors and some I hadn't met but totally enjoyed. I would recommend for the writing styles, the language and for thinking beyond.

I have always been fascinated by stories of the end of humanity so I jumped at the chance to pick up a copy of this book especially with greats such as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke gracing the pages. Usually I read one story at a time but I found myself reading more in this book and sometimes could not put it down. Every story was completely original. All in all, I really enjoyed reading this anthology of the last days of Mankind.
I received a copy of this book from the publishers (via) Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

Grave Predictions is an interesting and thought provoking collection of short stories provided by a multitude of very accomplished authors. Each story stands very well on its own.

There are some real hidden gems within the collection and it is always a joy to be able to read King, Dick, Bradbury and Clarke all within the same volume. Each story centres around the end of the world and how it may end. As with short story anthologies, there are some that come across stronger than others but that mainly down to placement and not content.

This is a worthwhile spine tingling read and highly recommended.

End of the world short stories from some of the best authors ever,King Vonnegut,Bradbury some are a little dated and well read already but all worth having in the one volume.

Published by Dover Publications on September 21, 2016

Grave Predictions is a collection of stories about the world’s end. The first several stories are classics. If you haven’t read them, you’ll find it worthwhile to have them collected in one place. I have a mixed reaction to the entries from the current century. I suppose it’s hard to find current writers who match up to Bradbury and Ellison and Vonnegut and the others who penned the majority of the volume’s stories.

The collection begins with an introduction by Harlan Ellison. It rambles a bit, but it makes a good point. Humans are tenacious survivors, but can the human race survive its own capacity for self-destruction?

Here are the stories:

Eugene Mouton, “The End of the World” (1872). More an essay than a story, Mouton predicts that the world will spontaneously combust, making it an early prediction of global warming. He attributes the combustion to man’s obsessive consumption of resources (relentlessly pumping oil from the ground, deforestation, expanding cities to house excess population, etc.). All quite prophetic, even if current science might call some of the details into question.

W.E.B. DuBois, “Grave Predictions” (1920). Gasses from a comet’s tail wipe out the residents of New York and perhaps the entire world. A black messenger who was trapped in a vault and a white woman from a prosperous family are the city’s last survivors. Their disparities of wealth and race become foolish distinctions as they realize they have only each other — at least until reality intrudes. This is probably the kind of classic story that’s taught in high school, although I haven’t read it before.

Ray Bradbury, “The Pedestrian” (1951). In this classic Bradbury story, a man who wanders empty streets at night, choosing to view the world with his own eyes rather than watching television, is picked up by the one remaining police car and taken to the Psychiatric Center. The repressive state against the open-minded individual: an eternal theme of science fiction, and of Bradbury in particular.

Arthur C. Clarke, “No Morning After” (1954). Aliens make telepathic contact with a human to warn him of an impending danger to the planet, but the drunken scientist thinks he’s hallucinating. Bad luck for the human race, but whether humans are worth saving is a question that soon occurs to the benevolent aliens.

Philip K. Dick, “Upon the Grave Earth” (1954). A girl who believes she is a saint attracts blood-drinking creatures (Valkyries, perhaps) from another place. But when she goes to the other side, she realizes it isn’t where she belongs. Eventually it isn’t clear where anyone belongs, as the nature of reality -- a favorite PKD theme -- becomes difficult to separate from illusion.

Kurt Vonnegut, “2 B R 0 2 B” (1962) - The title is the phone number people call when they’re tired of living. After aging was cured, people began to live too damn long. But no new child can be allowed to live unless the parents find someone who is willing to die. A man whose wife gives birth to triplets finds an ironic solution to the problem. Classic Vonnegut.

Harlan Ellison, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” (1967) - One of the most celebrated stories in science fiction. A raw, powerful tale about the last five humans and the machine that tortures them.

Ursula LeGuin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973) - A utopian society is made possible only by the misery and suffering of a child who lives beneath the city. The ones who walk away are those who have a conscience, who will not condition their own pleasure upon the suffering of others. This is apparently another story that is popular with teachers for the lessons it imparts, but I suspect it only resonates with bright and selfless students who would be willing to walk away from pleasures they didn’t earn. Those have become a rare breed.

Brian M. Stableford, “The Engineer and the Executioner” (1976) - An engineer who created a self-contained evolutionary ecosystem within an asteroid confronts the robot who was sent to destroy it. The theme here, one that tracks the history of science, is that anything new and different must be feared and destroyed. The ending is a dark lesson in irony.

Stephen King, “The End of the Whole Mess” (1986) - The narrator’s brother finds a cure for war (it’s in the water), but the cure is worse than the disease. This is an interesting story although not as chilling some of King’s bleak views of the future.

Joe R. Lansdale, “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” (1992) - The people who designed the weapons that ended the world come up from their shelters 20 years later, only to find man-eating roses waiting for them. This is an unsettling story about the consequences of self-inflicted madness, but the worst consequence is the way we punish ourselves for our sins.

Greg Bear, “Judgment Engine” (1995). At the end of the universe, a hive mind restores the consciousness of a human from our time to provide an “objective judgment engine” that will help them decide upon the future at the end of the present. A mathematical proof has established that more complex civilizations will always wipe out those that are less complex, so is it ethical for the various hive minds to avoid death by moving to a different universe? An interesting idea, but as a story it’s a little too contrived.

Erica L. Satifka, “Automatic” (2007). Ganymedeans saved the few surviving humans from the plague … although their generosity comes at a price. I’d rate this story: mildly interesting.

Mark Samuels, “The Black Mould” (2011). Sentient black mold takes over the universe. The story is amateurish. In his introduction, Ellison says he thought one of the stories was silly. I’m betting it was this one.

Ramsey Campbell, “The Pretense” (2013). Predictions of the world’s end are coming true, as the protagonist discovers when he leads his family on a (presumably) fruitless journey away from the disintegration of reality. This is a novella that probably should have been a short story, but it’s worth reading for the unsettling mood that it creates.

Carmen Maria Machado, “Inventory” (2013). A bisexual woman makes an inventory of her sexual experiences before and after the virus that works its way across the country. She finally hunkers down in Maine, but sex partners keep coming. As, eventually, does the virus. The story is touching and surprisingly powerful, sort of like On the Beach with a lot more sex.

RECOMMENDED

*** THE END OF THE WORLD - (Eugene Mouton) - This essay by a 19th-century French writer of the fantastic is unfortunately still awfully relevant. Sure, there are a few predictions here that haven't aged all that well, but the vast majority of Mouton's fears have turned out to be very well founded. (His main concern: global warming caused by increased industry and population density.)

*** THE COMET - (W.E.B. Du Bois) - I never knew that the famed civil rights activist had written a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction! This public-domain piece is also available online, here: http://hilobrow.com/2013/05/21/the-co...
A low-level bank employee is busy with a seemingly-unenviable task in the vaults when the Earth whisks through the tail of a comet. The astronomical event was predicted; its effects were not. When the man emerges from the sealed-off depths of the bank, he is shocked to find that it seems that he may be the last man on Earth: everyone around him has succumbed to toxic vapors from the passing comet.
The language the piece is written in is rather florid and overwrought, to the present-day reader. However, the point of the story is clearly impassioned and still-valuable, even today. DuBois was primarily concerned with human rights, not fiction, and this is a story with a message: (view spoiler)
I'm extremely glad to have read this.
Later thought:
I've been asked many times: What is the appeal of post-apocalyptic fiction? I think DuBois cuts right to the heart of it, here. The question at the core of much of this genre is: What would we be, if everything we take for granted was stripped away?
Often, authors answer that question with "barbaric and terrible in oh so many ways." DuBois has a different answer, and I think his has much truth to it.

***** THE PEDESTRIAN - (Ray Bradbury) - Published in 1951, two years before his most-famed work, 'Fahrenheit 451,' the themes here will be very familiar to anyone who's read that book. The short story also makes very clear what Bradbury meant when he made his controversial statement that his novel was not about the dangers of censorship but about the evils of television. The content of this story is simple: a solitary man takes his habitual evening walk through his neighborhood, passing house after dark house full of people sitting and watching TV. No one else is on the streets - and the man is stopped and arrested by an unmanned police vehicle for his suspicious and deviant behavior.
The message is precisely the same as that of 'Fahrenheit 451' and it's stated even more clearly here. Yes, the faceless government forces are cracking down on "regressive" and anti-social behavior. But the reason is because that is what the masses want. The man we see here - an unemployed writer - has cultivated skills that are undesired by his society. He is single; no one even wants him as a partner. Every single other person in his neighborhood is happy to eschew personal contact. As in the novel, the oppressive dystopian government that we glimpse here is actually doing exactly what the majority of the people wants - and that is the truly frightening aspect of the prediction. The danger is not necessarily that a future society will be crushed by forces from above - but that a future society will no longer see value in intellectual freedom and the diversity of complex and dissenting expression of opinions.
Personally, I don't think that TV is all that bad. It certainly CAN be bad, but it doesn't have to be. It's just another media format, and is perfectly able to convey worthwhile content. I would be more in agreement with the noted TV journalist Edward R. Murrow, who, not long after this story (and Fahrenheit 451) was published, in 1957, said: "It might be helpful if those who control television and radio would sit still for a bit and attempt to discover what it is they care about. If television and radio are to be used to entertain all of the people all of the time, then we have come perilously close to discovering the real opiate of the people."
However, while I might not agree that TV is the danger, I certainly do agree with Bradbury's core idea regarding the dangers inherent in the dumbing down of society and the waning interest in intellectual pursuits in general.

**** NO MORNING AFTER - (Arthur C. Clarke) - A re-read... but I read it long ago. Clarke isn't generally known for his humor, but this is an excellent piece of black comedy. Benevolent, telepathic aliens are desperate to contact humanity with a message of the greatest import for us. However, the only guy they manage to reach is both wildly depressed and three sheets to the wind - and believes he's hallucinating.

**** UPON THE DULL EARTH - (Philip K. Dick) - Horrific and surreal. A woman can summon... things... to her. Angels? Aliens? Vampires from another dimension? She believes she is destined to join them, against the protests of her fiance and her family. She has some sort of scientific? occult? setup in order to facilitate her transformation. But things so wrong... and then they go worse.
I think this is my favorite piece that I've read from Philip K. Dick.

*** 2 B R 0 2 B - (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.) - I've never been a big fan of Vonnegut, though I've tried. I had mixed feelings about this one, as well.
In a near future, the Earth's overpopulation problem has been solved by strict laws. Aging has been "cured" and people can live youthfully indefinitely - but the necessary corollary is that births must be limited. Voluntary euthanasia is encouraged.
In his trademark darkly humorous style, Vonnegut portrays this situation as grotesque and inhumane. I actually disagree, so I couldn't really wholeheartedly embrace the story.
(view spoiler)

***** I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM - (Harlan Ellison) - A re-read, of course - but I was actually surprised at how much of the story I'd forgotten (although, the final scene stayed with me clear as day!)
There are a lot of stories in which humanity's technology turns on us, but this is the ultimate classic example of the theme.
A supercomputer has become sentient - and with consciousness it developed a consuming hatred of its creators. Wiping out civilization was child's play - and now, only five human beings remain, kept alive indefinitely (and interminably) for the sole reason that the AI enjoys torturing and tormenting them, messing with both bodies and minds. Death would be a welcome release.
I can confirm: still horrifically nasty after all these years!

***** THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS - (Ursula K. Le Guin) - Another re-read. This is a powerful and thoughtful story; one that should be read by every student of ethics. (Whether it really fits the theme of this anthology is another question, but...)
LeGuin asks the question: does the good of the many REALLY outweigh the good of the few... or the one? Even if you believe you have answered that question for yourself, to your moral satisfaction, this piece will cause you to question your convictions.
The city of Omelas is a utopia - but it also contains a small, but awful, misery. Is it acceptable? Justified? Opinions will differ.
Every time I read this story, I come away from it convinced that Ursula LeGuin is a better person than I am.

*** THE ENGINEER AND THE EXECUTIONER - (Brian M. Stableford) - Classic-feeling sci-fi. Extremely predictable, but fun... well, fun, in a way.
A robot has been dispatched from Earth with a mission: an engineer's experiment; creating artificial life within a distant asteroid, has been adjudged too dangerous to be allowed to continue. There's a possibility that his self-replicating biota could infect and wipe out all life on Earth. The engineer argues emotionally that this possibility is so remote as to be ridiculous - but there's no arguing with the implacable machine intelligence of a robot.

**** THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS - (Stephen King) - Previously read in both 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes' and the 'Wastelands' anthology. Still worth the third read!
Told as a dying man's last confession and testament; the reader learns what did the world in: an unprecedented discovery, and a well-meaning attempt to save humanity from our own worst natures. As it has been said, 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread,' and, blinded by hubris, a genius researcher failed to correlate the damning data before it was too late...

** TIGHT LITTLE STITCHES IN A DEAD MAN'S BACK - (Joe R. Lansdale) - Not for me. If you like horror that's gross just for the sake of being gross, you may feel differently.
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland full of dangerous and poisonous mutants, a nuclear engineer wallows in his guilt and his wife's hatred, while nursing a bizarre obsession with the daughter who died in the atomic blasts.

** JUDGMENT ENGINE - (Greg Bear) - At the end of the universe, evolved intelligences contemplate a thorny philosophical problem, and a mundanely flawed romantic relationship is examined. I had a hard time getting into this one.

*** AUTOMATIC - (Erica L. Satifka) - A terrible plague nearly wiped out humanity. There would be no one left alive if not for the aliens from Ganymede, who apparently find humans quite fascinating. Earth has been saved... sort of... but (there's always the 'but') as a tourist attraction / zoo / breeding program - after all, we're an endangered species.
Most of the few remaining survivors are grateful or at least content, even though the Ganymedans aren't really necessarily all that good at 'keeping' humans. But our protagonist is a dissatisfied Winston Smith-type who attempts to resist and would most likely rather die free than live to provide entertainment to aliens.

** THE BLACK MOULD - (Mark Samuels) - Sticking in the words "aeons" and "nameless dread" in random places does not Lovecraft make. An unsuccessful imitation of an antiquated writing style mars this recitation of the progress of black mold spores that take over the universe.

**** THE PRETENCE - (Ramsey Campbell) - One of the most interesting end-of-the-world pieces I've read (and I've read a lot). Not plot-oriented, the long piece creates an atmospheric feeling of creeping dread. Our protagonist is a regular guy - a family man and classical music afficionado. He has nothing but disdain for the doomsday cult that's been gaining traction, calling themselves 'The Finalists.' When he wakes up the morning after their prophecied 'end,' obviously, the fanatics were wrong and nothing happened. Or... did it? Everything seems just a bit... off.

*** INVENTORY - (Carmen Maria Machado) - Our protagonist has an affinity for lists. She likes enumerating things. Here, she details the people she has had sexual contact with throughout her life. But gradually, we realize this is not just someone's list of conquests, but the story of a devastating, apocalypse-level epidemic. And since the disease is spread through personal, physical contact, this particular 'inventory' is terribly apropos.

Many thanks to Dover and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this collection. As always, my opinions are solely my own.

This is a compilation of 16 short stories about "The End" of humanity, of earth, of time, of everything! It will take fortitude to read it. It is in some respects grim.

I have taken a few months to pick it up and a few days to read it. There have been times when I put it down, to rest, to escape from the dour prospect within. It has coloured my days a little and I am (honestly) glad to have finished reading it (I intend to read something light and cheerful). 

The stories are:-
The End of the World Eugene Mouton
The Comet W. E. B. Du Bois
The Pedestrian Ray Bradbury
No Morning After Arthur C. Clarke
Upon the Dull Earth Philip K. Dick
2 B R 0 2 B Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream Harlan Ellison
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Ursula K. Le Guin
The Engineer and the Executioner Brian M. Stableford
The End of the Whole Mess Stephen King
Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back Joe R. Lansdale
Judgment Engine Greg Bear
Automatic Erica L. Satifka
The Black Mould Mark Samuels
The Pretence Ramsey Campbell
Inventory Carmen Maria Machado

It sounds like I didn't appreciate the content of the tales, I did, they were thought provoking and each was as different from the others as they could be. There was loads of variety for the ending of things! I would wake in the night with brilliant insights to put into the review to give an idea of what the books were like. Then come the morning my memory had been wiped of these wonderful words and I feel like I'm writing something mundane that cannot really describe what the tales are like!

Next I'm coming to giving the compilation a review score and wondering how I do that. It is almost impossible to decide. I think if you read the book in 16 different sittings you will give each session a different score. The words smithing is extremely good, so I think I will have to score based on the craftsmanship of the work (which is still difficult as there are 16 different styles to consider).

I reckon if you are in the mood for dour destiny then you will enjoy these stories. If you are prone to being affected by dismal predictions, then stay well away. The choice is up to you.