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I've just started reading an anthology called (and I don't really like this title at all) The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction New Generation Far-Future SF edited by Mike Ashley.

Ashley puts forth the idea that there is a sub-genre he dubs "extreme science fiction" that I am hard pressed to figure out how it is different from the root genre. He definitely favors hard SF, and that with really big ideas, and makes the distinction that "extreme SF" isn't avant-garde literature in any fashion (which I thin some of the authors in his collection might dispute). It says something about his concept and how well it has (not) caught on, that when you google "extreme science fiction" the first two pages are entirely about his book.

Regardless, he has certainly collected a great bunch of solid authors to read, which is why I checked out the book: Charles Stross with Cory Doctorow, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, Paul Di Fillipo, Ian McDonald, Clifford D. Simak, and others.

I do note, not a lot of female writers, but he at least acknowledges this on the introduction to Pat Cadigan's story. She's likely the only female author in the whole collection unless B. Vallance was a woman as well (this one dates from 1909 and Ashley is upfront that he doesn't know a thing about the author!)

He writes snappy little intros for each of the authors as well, which are nice, if overly tied to his questionable theme.

Yes, it looks like Mike Ashley is at least usually the editor too. He obviously reads a whole lot, since he seems to really know the authors well.

I like the idea of a book devoted to the furry ancestors of elephants, but perhaps "The Mammoth Book of Mastodons" would be a less redundant title...

A short story anthology is proving to be a great book for rearing a newborn. I only get a few small pages at a time, so it's nice for that to amount to a significant part of a given story.