by ed. Bryan Cholfin

isbn: 0312867409
subject: SF, Fiction and Literature, Short Stories
finished: 2/8/2001

I bought The Best of Crank since it contains Empires of Foliage and Flower, a Gene Wolfe story that hasn't been collected elsewhere. It's a great story. Happily, this volume contains a number of other gems that, although they loosely fit into the genres of science fiction and fantasy, stretch the boundaries of these genres and are in general quite eclectic. One of my favorites, a collaboration between Jonathan Lethem and Carter Scholz, has the perfect premise: Franz Kafka wrote the screenplay for the movie that eventually became It's a Wonderful Life. Recommended.