Read enough anthologies in a row and pretty soon the stories all seem the same in your memory. The ones that stand out are the ones you mention when suggesting to a friend they read it. If I were to tell one of my friends to read In the Outposts of Beyond, I’d mention Ralan Conley’s “The Walking Man” or Eugie Foster’s “A Little Soul Music”. Maybe Jeste de Vries’s “Bridge Across Forever.” These are the stories I think that best take the theme of the anthology and make it into something that fits the story but doesn’t dwell on it.

In the Outposts of Beyond is an anthology of stories containing some link to a bar, a spaceport, a watering hole, anyplace where people gather. The story need not focus on this aspect, but it does have to be included somewhere in the story. These three stories I just mentioned, I think, handle that best. The theme is used as a way to get the story rolling, but the authors take over from there and do their own things with them, telling very interesting stories.

I’ve never been big on fantasy or science fiction. As a horror fan, those genres have their place in my realm of interest, but I rarely read stories that are strictly fantasy or science fiction. So when I got into this book and realized it was mostly fantasy and science fiction, I was a little hesitant. But editor Tyree Campbell did a solid job of picking the good ones from what I’m sure was a mountain of submissions, and each story in here is able to hold its own against the others. There are a few lesser stories, but nothing I would think of taking out altogether.

I also like that he didn’t stick with just stories, including also a number of poems, and one advertisement. It’s rare to find a fiction anthology that also uses poetry, but it’s a nice touch and I applaud that decision on Campbell’s part.

In the entire book I have only 2 complaints. One, the font used is smaller than normal, and two, the margins are also smaller, meaning smaller words placed in wider lines across the page, which at times can make reading one page seem like reading two because they’re just so packed with words. It’s a small complaint and probably an insignificant one, but from a book design standpoint, it’s a important decision, how the words look on the page. I also noticed a few more typos in some stories than in others, but that’s bound to happen with small press anthologies. Most small press publishers/editors are writers themselves with limited time and a lot of anthologies, I’m sure, rely on the authors to proof their own work, something writers are known for being bad at. We can spot a mistake in someone else’s work at a glance, but give us a glaring typo in our own and it’s invisible to us. But like I said, it’s bound to happen. It happens in even the biggest publishing houses.

I love to see a small company like Sam’s Dot put out a real quality product like this. It gives me hope for small presses everywhere, and also sets the bar on what the other houses should be doing. I hope it’s a challenge well-met.

Recommended: Yes