Genre-bending anthologists Kelly and Kessel (Rewired
) select a wide range of post-1970 stories by authors who occupy the nebulous land between “literary” and “genre.” Offerings like Margaret Atwood's “Homelanding,” a vignette about alien life, and Steven Millhauser's “The Wizard of West Orange,” which conclusively demonstrates that any story centering around a new science is science fiction, make it clear that nongenre authors have been writing stories that appropriate many genre tropes. But while the title will attract genre fans, “li-fi” readers who might otherwise be drawn in by T.C. Boyle and Don DeLillo may well be put off by the Tachyon imprint and the words “science fiction,” undermining the editors' assertion that “the walls that separate the mainstream from science fiction are, in fact, crumbling.” (Nov.)
