When the call went out to science fiction and fantasy writers to contribute brand-new stories for a book to benefit survivors of the December 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, many big names answered, including Brian Aldiss and Sherrilyn Kenyon. The proof is in the end result, ELEMENTAL: THE TSUNAMI RELIEF ANTHOLOGY, edited by Steven Savile and Alethea Kontis.

None other than Arthur C. Clarke provides the introduction, which – though surprisingly a little self-congratulatory – suggests the giant wave will be far from Earth’s last. From there, you’re on to 23 stories with no unifying theme, other than being printed here for the first time. Many are written in the worlds of some of their authors’ famous franchises, including Tim Lebbon and David Drake.

It begins with a real winner: David Gerrold’s “Report from the Future: Crystallization,” in which the Los Angeles freeways – thanks to a chain reaction of events – congest to the point where nobody is able to go anywhere. Dialogue-free, the speculative piece reads like a ticking-clock account of a Hollywood disaster flick before slyly revealing itself as social criticism. Without being preachy, his points make sense and serve the story.

In fact, the best pieces in ELEMENTAL are those that are more speculative in nature, rather than straight sci-fi or fantasy. Among them: Larry Niven’s brief “The Solipsist at Dinner” and Syne Mitchell’s “The Last Mortal Man,” in which death has been cured, yet one person refuses to take it. For a more absurdist angle, Stel Pavlou delivers marvelously with the very funny “The strange case of Jared Spoon, who went to pieces for love.”

I also enjoyed Joe Haldeman’s bleak look at the future, “Expedition, with Recipes,” with children foraging for food in 2075, and Janny Wurtz’s “Moebius Trip,” with a retired old man getting a taste of the future … or is it the past? Either way, it’s strange and charming. But most delicious is “Perfection” by Lynn Flewelling, where an arrogant king hires an elderly designer to build him the most perfect castle. She responds by doing just that, adding in hidden passageways, automated fountains and other secrets that won’t be discovered until after her passing. More short fantasy should have similar themes of diabolically clever revenge.

With so many stories and disparate styles at work, ELEMENTAL is not likely to be the type of anthology that pleases the reader 100 percent. Indeed, there were several stories I either disliked or abhored to the point where I couldn’t finish them. One of these is an all-new DUNE tale by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. With its mention on the cover, this is obviously a big selling point for the book, but if you’re like me and don’t know your “Honored Matres” from your “Scattered Ones,” it’s like walking into Spanish 101 on the first day and being told to translate Cervantes.

But that’s what attracts me to anthologies: choices, differences, discoveries. They’re like a buffet: Pick your favorites and, what the hell, maybe try something new, because what do you have to lose? Because of that, ELEMENTAL is a no-brainer buy for fans of the genre. That profits support Save the Children is feel-good icing on the multi-flavored cake. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.