When the Music's Over

When the Music's Over, a science fiction anthology edited by Lewis Shiner, has a good short story by Robert Anton Wilson, "Von Neumann's Second Catastrophe," which as far as I know has never appeared anywhere else.

But that's not the only reason to hunt up a copy. It's a science fiction anthology, mostly originals, devoted to advancing peace and nonviolence. (Shiner donated his proceeds to Greenpeace). Many of the authors from the 1991 book are still major authors in the field -- I'm current reading Cowboy Angels, written by one of the writers here, Paul McAuley. I particularly liked the Bruce Sterling's and Pat Cadigan's stories, but the overall quality is quite good.

One oddity of the book, which I obtained from an Internet used book swapping site, is that many of the authors autographed my copy to "Ed." The autographs were inscribed in May 1991 in Austin. Who is Ed, and how did I wind up with his book?

All of Lewis Shiner's novels are available again, in definitive editions, from Subterranean Press. Shiner's interview with RAW is one of my favorites, and he went out of his way to be helpful when I asked to reprint it here.