Passing for Human
edited by Michael Bishop and Steven Utley
PS Publishing, $30, 270 pages, ISBN: 9781905834228
reviewed by Barry Hunter

In this, the latest anthology edited by Michael Bishop – ably aided by Steven Utley – he makes me think of some of his earlier works. STOLEN FACES and ANCIENT OF DAYS both cover the different faces someone might wear to keep his identity hidden or that of someone hiding in plan sight without people knowing your true nature. It’s really too bad that neither of them is currently in print. It is also a bitter sweet volume in that the cover is the last cover created by Jamie Bishop, Michael’s son who died in the Virginia Tech shootings.

The stories are filled with terrific stories that cover the many eras of science fiction from the 1940s up until today. "Mimic" by Donald A. Wollheim, "The Man Upstairs" by Ray Bradbury and "The Reality Trip" by Robert Silverberg. Other outstanding tales come from Paul D. Filippo, Howard Waldrop, James Tiptree, Jr, John Kessel, and Lisa Tuttle..

There are other stories here as well to show how some beings go about PASSING FOR HUMAN. I expected to see "Who Goes There" by John Campbell included in this volume, but I’m guessing that most everyone is aware of it. It has appeared in numerous anthologies and been filmed twice. I missed it being here, but there is plenty of good reading for everyone. Kudos to all involved.