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You're All Alone
Contents:
· You’re All Alone · n. Fantastic Adventures Jul ’50
· Four Ghosts in Hamlet · nv F&SF Jan ’65
· The Creature from Cleveland Depths · na Galaxy Dec ’62
What if all the world were a clockwork mechanism, and its people merely toys? All are trapped within the mechanism, but a few learn the secret of escape from their programmed lives. Carr Mackay was one such—"awakened" one day by a chance meeting with Jane, an-other "living" person. He soon learned, with her help, to enjoy the freedom of invisibility—for the machine kept going as if he were in his proper place.
But they were not alone. There were other living souls sharing their special world; others who enjoyed the power even more than the freedom. They would stop at nothing to remain invulnerable—and Carr and Jane had no one to turn to for help.
· You’re All Alone · n. Fantastic Adventures Jul ’50
· Four Ghosts in Hamlet · nv F&SF Jan ’65
· The Creature from Cleveland Depths · na Galaxy Dec ’62
What if all the world were a clockwork mechanism, and its people merely toys? All are trapped within the mechanism, but a few learn the secret of escape from their programmed lives. Carr Mackay was one such—"awakened" one day by a chance meeting with Jane, an-other "living" person. He soon learned, with her help, to enjoy the freedom of invisibility—for the machine kept going as if he were in his proper place.
But they were not alone. There were other living souls sharing their special world; others who enjoyed the power even more than the freedom. They would stop at nothing to remain invulnerable—and Carr and Jane had no one to turn to for help.
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
5 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
Fritz Leiber
1,338 books1,051 followersFritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was one of the more interesting of the young writers who came into HP Lovecraft's orbit, and some of his best early short fiction is horror rather than sf or fantasy. He found his mature voice early in the first of the sword-and-sorcery adventures featuring the large sensitive barbarian Fafhrd and the small street-smart-ish Gray Mouser; he returned to this series at various points in his career, using it sometimes for farce and sometimes for gloomy mood pieces--The Swords of Lankhmar is perhaps the best single volume of their adventures. Leiber's science fiction includes the planet-smashing The Wanderer in which a large cast mostly survive flood, fire, and the sexual attentions of feline aliens, and the satirical A Spectre is Haunting Texas in which a gangling, exo-skeleton-clad actor from the Moon leads a revolution and finds his true love. Leiber's late short fiction, and the fine horror novel Our Lady of Darkness, combine autobiographical issues like his struggle with depression and alcoholism with meditations on the emotional content of the fantastic genres. Leiber's capacity for endless self-reinvention and productive self-examination kept him, until his death, one of the most modern of his sf generation.
Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー
Used These Alternate Names: Maurice Breçon, Fric Lajber, Fritz Leiber, Jr., Fritz R. Leiber, Fritz Leiber Jun., Фриц Лейбер, F. Lieber, フリッツ・ライバー
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 23, 2024
This book is a collection of three stories, the titular novel from the July 1950 issue of Fantastic Adventures, a novelette from The Magazine of F & SF's January 1965 issue called Four Ghosts in Hamlet, and The Creature from Cleveland Depths, a novelette from the December 1962 issue of Galaxy. Four Ghosts in Hamlet is a very good theatre/ghost story, and The Creature from Cleveland Depths is a fine sf satire in the spirit of Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth. You're All Alone has a lot of odd backstory. Leiber wrote a short novel (around 40,000 words) intended for John W. Campbell's Unknown Worlds magazine, but the magazine was discontinued due to the wartime paper shortage, and it remained unsold. After the war ended, Sloan began publishing hardback fantasy novels, and Leiber expanded his original idea to 75,000 words, but the Sloan line was discontinued due to poor overall sales. Leiber then sent his 75,000-word version to Howard Browne's Fantastic Adventures magazine, and Browne agreed to buy and publish the story if Leiber would edit it down to 40,000 words. The short version that appeared in 1950 (with the craziest cover (by Robert Gibson Jones) ever; a giant green dog head with huge wide eyes holding a young woman who is losing her clothes in its mouth) is the one included in this book, but Leiber sold the longer version a few years later to Universal, where it was published in an omnibus edition that looks like a copy of the Ace Doubles, packaged with Bulls, Blood, and Passion by David Willians, a bull-fighting novel. Universal had altered Leiber's story heavily, mainly to add sexual content, and it was published under the title of The Sinful Ones. Leiber sold that version to Pocket in 1980, and did a heavy revision on the text, incorporating but updating the sex, etc. It's all very involved, and there are many, many versions of what is essentially the same story out there. It's a good story, though my least favorite of the three included. It's a little more philosophical than Fantastic usually ran, about reality and existence and we're all parts of a big machine that doesn't always run correctly... think The Matrix, except WWII era.
September 8, 2018
"You're All Alone"
A clever sci-fi/pulp romp based more or less on an existential (as in the philosophical field of inquiry) idea. Not bad. It's fairly telegraphic. Could, in my opinion, have been fleshed out into a full novel and might actually have been better that way. It's a fascinating and pretty chilling concept and I would have welcomed even more detail about the world the narrative creates. What I enjoyed most about this, though, were Leiber's witty and knowledgeable details--hobo marks, the Dewey Decimal system, the seediness of late-1940s Chicago, the life of gunpowder, etc. Amazing to me how much more literate and savvy this pulp tale published in 1950 is, how much more clever, informed, adult, and intellectual that the Hemingways of the period, or the moronic fifth grade reading level bestselling novels of today (Dan Brown et al.). Solid stuff. You could do a lot worse.
PS I just read on Wikipedia that "You're All Alone" was expanded into a novel under the title The sinful Ones. Don't think I've ever come across a copy--I'll have to see if I can find it!
(Reviews of the other two tales to follow shortly.)
PPS: Awesome cover story!
"Four Ghosts in Hamlet."
A perfectly serviceable ghost story of the theater. Again, learned as hell--and Lieber grew up in the theater as his parents were actors so the backdrop and characters here are aces. My only gripe is that the set up is so much better than the denouement that it's a bit lopsided in the wrong direction, which hinders a totally satisfying dramatic climax.
"The Creature from the Cleveland Depths"
Maybe the best of the three stories! Either because of or in spite of the witty, humorous tone, the most chilling of the three. Pretty straight sci-fi here, which also shows Leiber's flexibility--something of the same tone as A Specter is Haunting Texas, Leiber's pseudo-political satire of all conceits American. Then, in the last five pages, this story takes a surprising and beautiful turn toward philosophy for its denouement. Wow--didn't see that coming! Reminded me a bit of the ending of Matheson's The Shrinking Man
Of all of my teenage pulp heroes--Lovecraft, Matheson, Bloch, and Leiber--I think Leiber's the best. The most flexible and the best pure writer. He's got a great mind and is more than a serviceable stylist.
A clever sci-fi/pulp romp based more or less on an existential (as in the philosophical field of inquiry) idea. Not bad. It's fairly telegraphic. Could, in my opinion, have been fleshed out into a full novel and might actually have been better that way. It's a fascinating and pretty chilling concept and I would have welcomed even more detail about the world the narrative creates. What I enjoyed most about this, though, were Leiber's witty and knowledgeable details--hobo marks, the Dewey Decimal system, the seediness of late-1940s Chicago, the life of gunpowder, etc. Amazing to me how much more literate and savvy this pulp tale published in 1950 is, how much more clever, informed, adult, and intellectual that the Hemingways of the period, or the moronic fifth grade reading level bestselling novels of today (Dan Brown et al.). Solid stuff. You could do a lot worse.
PS I just read on Wikipedia that "You're All Alone" was expanded into a novel under the title The sinful Ones. Don't think I've ever come across a copy--I'll have to see if I can find it!
(Reviews of the other two tales to follow shortly.)
PPS: Awesome cover story!
"Four Ghosts in Hamlet."
A perfectly serviceable ghost story of the theater. Again, learned as hell--and Lieber grew up in the theater as his parents were actors so the backdrop and characters here are aces. My only gripe is that the set up is so much better than the denouement that it's a bit lopsided in the wrong direction, which hinders a totally satisfying dramatic climax.
"The Creature from the Cleveland Depths"
Maybe the best of the three stories! Either because of or in spite of the witty, humorous tone, the most chilling of the three. Pretty straight sci-fi here, which also shows Leiber's flexibility--something of the same tone as A Specter is Haunting Texas, Leiber's pseudo-political satire of all conceits American. Then, in the last five pages, this story takes a surprising and beautiful turn toward philosophy for its denouement. Wow--didn't see that coming! Reminded me a bit of the ending of Matheson's The Shrinking Man
Of all of my teenage pulp heroes--Lovecraft, Matheson, Bloch, and Leiber--I think Leiber's the best. The most flexible and the best pure writer. He's got a great mind and is more than a serviceable stylist.
November 20, 2007
Imagine waking up one day and something's...not quite right. People all smile and talk and refer to a blank space as if someone was there. Everyone ignores a scared girl who is trying her best to look unnoticed, just like everyone else.
Leiber's novella here is one of his strongest, and one of his least-known - a story where it only takes one jarring event to pull you out of the machine-like reality around you and into a separate world, the true workings of the universe, where good people hide and do their best to look like the mindless automatons around them, and the evils of the world jump out of the shadows, taking advantage of their surroundings before scattering as the universe attempts to repair its surroundings, including those cast out.
A fascinating and short read, even if it doesn't always quite live up to the promise of its ideas. And, like the best of Leiber, quite terrifying.
Leiber's novella here is one of his strongest, and one of his least-known - a story where it only takes one jarring event to pull you out of the machine-like reality around you and into a separate world, the true workings of the universe, where good people hide and do their best to look like the mindless automatons around them, and the evils of the world jump out of the shadows, taking advantage of their surroundings before scattering as the universe attempts to repair its surroundings, including those cast out.
A fascinating and short read, even if it doesn't always quite live up to the promise of its ideas. And, like the best of Leiber, quite terrifying.
July 25, 2018
Eerie, lurid, suspenseful, pulpish and oddly magical story of a man waking up to the literal falseness of his society.
August 15, 2012
Leiber's short novel has a wonderfully creepy opening. Carr Mackay works in a large Chicago employment agency. One afternoon he has a kind of spell.
Then a "frightened girl " enters the large office. She is terrified and closely followed by "a big blonde handsome woman," a woman she studiously avoids acknowledging. No one else notices the pair. The frightened girl comes into Carr's office and when he speaks to her she is even more terrified. Carr coworkers can clearly not see either of the women. One fellow employee casually interrupts Carr's conversation with the frightened girl to ntroduce him to an invisible companion. The frightened girl drops Carr a quickly scribbled message and leaves, but in the outer office her way is blocked by the big blonde. The big blonde slaps her hard across the face. The frightened girl leaves. The big blonde follows.
I was hooked. This was weirdness of the highest order, amplified as Carr comes to realize that he himself has become invisible, although he can still talk on the telephone. He reads the note left by the frightened girl.
I was primed to settle into 100 pages of entertaining perplexity, but Leiber kills the story by excessive episodes of strangeness that succeed only in making Carr Mackey come off as a clueless idiot. Leiber establishes early on that Mackey has been "awakened." He knows that Chicago and for all he knows the entire world is a machine with people moving about as automatons playing out their roles. Only he, the frightened girl, and the ghoulish triumvirate of evil characters live outside this mechanized world. Actually there are others, like the six men in black hats. But they are even deadlier than the first three we meet. (Remember this is all written 50 years pre-Matrix.)
Readers will catch onto all this pretty quickly, but the story, for all its brevity, is then padded with episodes and interminable blocks of conversation that attempt to explain what we have already figured out. After the knockout opening scene, the only good piece of writing is an outrageous car chase through downtown Chicago that with the right special effects could be inserted into a Batman movie. The plot slogs it way to a uninspired ending. Mr. Leiber disappoints big time with this one,.
You've all had the experience. Suddenly the life drains out of everything. Familiar faces become pink patterns. Commonplace objects look weird. All sounds are loud and unnatural. Of course it lasts only a few moments, but it can be pretty disturbing.
Then a "frightened girl " enters the large office. She is terrified and closely followed by "a big blonde handsome woman," a woman she studiously avoids acknowledging. No one else notices the pair. The frightened girl comes into Carr's office and when he speaks to her she is even more terrified. Carr coworkers can clearly not see either of the women. One fellow employee casually interrupts Carr's conversation with the frightened girl to ntroduce him to an invisible companion. The frightened girl drops Carr a quickly scribbled message and leaves, but in the outer office her way is blocked by the big blonde. The big blonde slaps her hard across the face. The frightened girl leaves. The big blonde follows.
I was hooked. This was weirdness of the highest order, amplified as Carr comes to realize that he himself has become invisible, although he can still talk on the telephone. He reads the note left by the frightened girl.
Watch out for the wall-eyed blonde, the young man with one hand, and the affable seeming older gentleman. But the small dark man with glasses may be your friend.
I was primed to settle into 100 pages of entertaining perplexity, but Leiber kills the story by excessive episodes of strangeness that succeed only in making Carr Mackey come off as a clueless idiot. Leiber establishes early on that Mackey has been "awakened." He knows that Chicago and for all he knows the entire world is a machine with people moving about as automatons playing out their roles. Only he, the frightened girl, and the ghoulish triumvirate of evil characters live outside this mechanized world. Actually there are others, like the six men in black hats. But they are even deadlier than the first three we meet. (Remember this is all written 50 years pre-Matrix.)
Readers will catch onto all this pretty quickly, but the story, for all its brevity, is then padded with episodes and interminable blocks of conversation that attempt to explain what we have already figured out. After the knockout opening scene, the only good piece of writing is an outrageous car chase through downtown Chicago that with the right special effects could be inserted into a Batman movie. The plot slogs it way to a uninspired ending. Mr. Leiber disappoints big time with this one,.
December 29, 2023
En bok läst utan några som helst förväntningar, men det visade sig att jag blev nöjsamt överraskad av Fritz Leibers sätt att skriva. Han använde väldigt angenäma personbeskrivningar, och karaktärernas känslor. Inslag av särskilda detaljer vittnar dessutom om författarens kunnighet och pålästa skrivande, vilket ger ytterligare nöje till läsaren.
Historien var fascinerande och samtidigt skrämmande, och innehöll dessutom en viss filosofisk underton över vårt stilla vardagsmak som fortgår likt kugghjulen i en maskin.
Historien var fascinerande och samtidigt skrämmande, och innehöll dessutom en viss filosofisk underton över vårt stilla vardagsmak som fortgår likt kugghjulen i en maskin.
December 9, 2017
The title story is the weakest of the three in this book. It doesn't lead anywhere and feels like the first third of a larger work. Four Ghosts in Hamlet has a nice atmosphere to it and would fit right in with a collection of Tim Powers ghost stories. The Creature From Cleveland Depths clanks a fair bit but has some genuinely creepy moments. While I was reading it I mentally replaced "tickler" with "iPhone" and nothing seemed out of place.
October 31, 2013
This book contains three stories. The title story, which takes up about half the length and two shorter stories. My favourite was probably the middle story, Four Ghosts in Hamlet, which had only only tenuous fantasy elements, being a first person narrative of an actor in a touring Shakespeare company telling the story of what happened when they let an old, but now alcoholic, actor join the company and play the ghost of Hamlet's father.
The title story is an odd one. It starts off with shades of Sartre's Nausea, with the protagonist having feelings of isolation and extreme loneliness before veering into deterministic territory, positing that most of the people in the world are automatons, running without consciousness, and only a few people are truly 'awake', and how nasty and unpleasant those people could be. Our protagonist is accidentally awoken by a girl, who is herself, fleeing for her life from one of these gangs. The intriguing concept is worried around the edges, but never really tackled head-on, but I think the story benefited transitioning from a philosophical tract into a romantic thriller.
The last story, The Creature from Cleveland Depths, is set in a future where most inhabitants of the US have retreated underground, seeking safety from Soviet missiles. One of the few who remain above ground has a friendship with the research director of one of the underground companies, Fay. In a fit of pique over a missed TV programme, our protagonist suggests that Fay have his people build a device that can remind people about important events. This story takes that idea to its extreme, quite disturbing, conclusions. This was an enjoyable, creepy story with a oddly amusing denouement.
So all in all, some solid and enjoyable storytelling by Leiber in this volume.
The title story is an odd one. It starts off with shades of Sartre's Nausea, with the protagonist having feelings of isolation and extreme loneliness before veering into deterministic territory, positing that most of the people in the world are automatons, running without consciousness, and only a few people are truly 'awake', and how nasty and unpleasant those people could be. Our protagonist is accidentally awoken by a girl, who is herself, fleeing for her life from one of these gangs. The intriguing concept is worried around the edges, but never really tackled head-on, but I think the story benefited transitioning from a philosophical tract into a romantic thriller.
The last story, The Creature from Cleveland Depths, is set in a future where most inhabitants of the US have retreated underground, seeking safety from Soviet missiles. One of the few who remain above ground has a friendship with the research director of one of the underground companies, Fay. In a fit of pique over a missed TV programme, our protagonist suggests that Fay have his people build a device that can remind people about important events. This story takes that idea to its extreme, quite disturbing, conclusions. This was an enjoyable, creepy story with a oddly amusing denouement.
So all in all, some solid and enjoyable storytelling by Leiber in this volume.
April 30, 2012
This book was in a haul I got from a used book sale. If you've ever been to one when it opens you know decisions need to be made quickly lest you be trampled underfoot. So I bought this despite I'm not a big Fritz Leiber fan. The fact that it was a 1972 edition in excellent shape added to the appeal. So I got a nice copy of an out of print book cheap, right? The only problem is it was barely worth reading.
This book is 3 stories. The first and longest one shares the title and is the old chestnut about are we the only real humans walking the face of this planet. The idea is fine but the execution isn't. Of the 3 characters, one is a blockhead who takes a hell of a long time to figure out what's going on, one is rather annoying because for the most part all she does is run away from said blockhead and the last could be a manniquin in a store window for all he contributes to the story.
Next up is Four Ghosts in Hamlet which is not science fiction. More of a ghost story, it's a one-trick deal that reveals early on who will be behind the mysterious doings. Not very suspenseful.
The best story is the last one, The Creature from Cleveland Depths, despite the ye olde heads up the machines are going to take over the joint schtick.
Not very original and marginally interesting with occasional corny dialogue sprinkled in sums it up. Recommended only for those heavily into the author.
This book is 3 stories. The first and longest one shares the title and is the old chestnut about are we the only real humans walking the face of this planet. The idea is fine but the execution isn't. Of the 3 characters, one is a blockhead who takes a hell of a long time to figure out what's going on, one is rather annoying because for the most part all she does is run away from said blockhead and the last could be a manniquin in a store window for all he contributes to the story.
Next up is Four Ghosts in Hamlet which is not science fiction. More of a ghost story, it's a one-trick deal that reveals early on who will be behind the mysterious doings. Not very suspenseful.
The best story is the last one, The Creature from Cleveland Depths, despite the ye olde heads up the machines are going to take over the joint schtick.
Not very original and marginally interesting with occasional corny dialogue sprinkled in sums it up. Recommended only for those heavily into the author.
October 19, 2021
In the title story, a man meets a frantic young woman who causes him to awaken into one of the only living people because the whole world is a pantomimed clockwork going through predetermined actions. This book is about an idea most of us have probably had—that the world isn't real. It's since been addressed in underrated films like Dark City, overrated films like The Matrix, and modern speculation like the simulation theory.
The modest 112 page story is packed with dark existentialism and reality-questioning. The people who are awake are basically metaphors for people who don't move with the world's rhythm. The outsiders and weirdos that don't understand the point of it all; the 9-5, the marriage and kids, the mortgage, the materialism, the hustle and bustle. People that feel out of sync with the great, modern machine of the world and its many moving parts. It's sort of the obvious symbolic cog-in-the-machine bit we've been doing for ages.
The other people that are awake are mostly sinister. Drunk on cruel power, they go freely about a lawless, amoral world doing whatever they please to whomever they want, including other awake people, who they see as competition and sadistic entertainment. The story has a great opening and good ideas that are sadly underdeveloped. It was expanded into the novel The Sinful Ones, which I own and will read, but that appears to be a bit of mess too.
The second story is a serviceable but long-winded not-exactly-a-ghost tale about a Shakespeare theater troupe. The third one feels like a semi-spoof of Jack Williamson's With Folded Hands. Taking place in a future where much of war-fearing humanity lives underground, a machine is invented that is basically a crazy smart watch, or that chip we're all afraid of getting implanted in our heads even though we're totally going to do it. It's a machine called a Tickler that sits strapped to your shoulder, pumping you with mood altering drugs and feeding you reminders. Eventually they become self-aware.
This is just an okay collection of stories.
The modest 112 page story is packed with dark existentialism and reality-questioning. The people who are awake are basically metaphors for people who don't move with the world's rhythm. The outsiders and weirdos that don't understand the point of it all; the 9-5, the marriage and kids, the mortgage, the materialism, the hustle and bustle. People that feel out of sync with the great, modern machine of the world and its many moving parts. It's sort of the obvious symbolic cog-in-the-machine bit we've been doing for ages.
The other people that are awake are mostly sinister. Drunk on cruel power, they go freely about a lawless, amoral world doing whatever they please to whomever they want, including other awake people, who they see as competition and sadistic entertainment. The story has a great opening and good ideas that are sadly underdeveloped. It was expanded into the novel The Sinful Ones, which I own and will read, but that appears to be a bit of mess too.
The second story is a serviceable but long-winded not-exactly-a-ghost tale about a Shakespeare theater troupe. The third one feels like a semi-spoof of Jack Williamson's With Folded Hands. Taking place in a future where much of war-fearing humanity lives underground, a machine is invented that is basically a crazy smart watch, or that chip we're all afraid of getting implanted in our heads even though we're totally going to do it. It's a machine called a Tickler that sits strapped to your shoulder, pumping you with mood altering drugs and feeding you reminders. Eventually they become self-aware.
This is just an okay collection of stories.
September 24, 2023
A strange and mysterious story about a stranded man and woman hidden amongst a land of human puppets or life sized dolls. I was intrigued but let down when the story follows these two as they encounter strange scenes which reveal people in their lives to be puppets but then the next chapter slows down completely as they settle down to enjoy their company and the whole novella continues this way. The violent ending did not reveal who I in control or why people are puppets but I was let to believe that all people and some animals are puppets but a small few wake up sometimes.
The writing is quite excellent and deserving of a four star rate.
The other story is about a man who invents a new contraption which latches on to a person's shoulder while connecting to their ear and begins life as a reminding device but eventually takes over the consciousness of the person as itself becomes its own being. Where in the end they rise up into space to explore the entire universe. I found this one boring as the story follows the inventor and his writer friend as they discuss the new tickler invention for most of the book before the ending which should have been focused on much more. Amazing writing regardless
The writing is quite excellent and deserving of a four star rate.
The other story is about a man who invents a new contraption which latches on to a person's shoulder while connecting to their ear and begins life as a reminding device but eventually takes over the consciousness of the person as itself becomes its own being. Where in the end they rise up into space to explore the entire universe. I found this one boring as the story follows the inventor and his writer friend as they discuss the new tickler invention for most of the book before the ending which should have been focused on much more. Amazing writing regardless
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2023
A collection of three stories (short stories or novellas, not sure which). I read it a while back, so I only remember the two of them. The first is a story about a guy waking up in a kind of dystopic world where everyone besides him is a robot, and trying not to stick out to much as he works to figure out what is going on. It's a theme you often encounter in sci-fi, from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to "The Matrix," touching on the fear of being overconditioned and living a limited and meaningless life. Don't recall what he figures out.
The second story I remember is about a travelling Shakespearian troupe that is performing Hamlet, and has a spooky mystery where it appears that an actual ghost is playing the role of the Ghost. It's basically a poignant character study, narrated by one of the other actors. I enjoyed both stories, and I'm sure the third one was good as well.
The second story I remember is about a travelling Shakespearian troupe that is performing Hamlet, and has a spooky mystery where it appears that an actual ghost is playing the role of the Ghost. It's basically a poignant character study, narrated by one of the other actors. I enjoyed both stories, and I'm sure the third one was good as well.
April 1, 2022
Always interesting to read early sci-fi. What is it that people were predicting about the future, 70 years ago? This one is something of a early version of the Matrix, with 2 additional very entertaining shorter stories. The last was a bit of a satire, and I couldn't help thinking the main character was actually trying to invent an iPod.
September 16, 2020
Great little read.
The stories You Are All Alone and the Creature form the Cleveland depths were great.
I’d give it five stars but the middle story was just kind eh.
It’s rad to read fiction from the fifties and sixties. I could really see the Matrix in these stories.
Good stuff.
The stories You Are All Alone and the Creature form the Cleveland depths were great.
I’d give it five stars but the middle story was just kind eh.
It’s rad to read fiction from the fifties and sixties. I could really see the Matrix in these stories.
Good stuff.
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July 30, 2025omläsning av sci-fi från högstadiet
March 13, 2019
Really good collection of three long stories. The title story is a novella-length version of a short novel Leiber had written with Unknown in mind, but which stopped publication before he could finish and sell it to them. He did sell the finished novel much later (late '70s or early '80s) but I think it's weaker than this version: A man begins to step outside reality, seeing the clockwork workings of reality, and then runs into others who can do the same.
"Four Ghosts in Hamlet" is a ghost story that takes place in a theater and is well worth the reader's time and attention, merging its ghost story with some clever dialog and interactions between the actors.
"The Creature from the Cleveland Depths," which I found the weakest story, has a prescient story premise of how our technology can take over our lives, but has a screwball comedy delivery (see, for instance, the movie Bring Up Baby) that, if it ever worked, seems off note now.
"Four Ghosts in Hamlet" is a ghost story that takes place in a theater and is well worth the reader's time and attention, merging its ghost story with some clever dialog and interactions between the actors.
"The Creature from the Cleveland Depths," which I found the weakest story, has a prescient story premise of how our technology can take over our lives, but has a screwball comedy delivery (see, for instance, the movie Bring Up Baby) that, if it ever worked, seems off note now.
August 6, 2010
I had no idea about Leiber being a giant of fantasy fiction when I pulled this book off of someone's list. He also dabbled in horror, too.
The title story is an odd duck. The protagonist has discovered that he lives in a purely mechanical world, where every action taken by man or animal is part of a giant clockwork machine, and this is the story of his struggle to free himself. Leiber seems to come down firmly on the side of chaos. Ninety-nine percent of all science fiction is a commentary on current times but I can't see through to what he wanted to tell us readers.
The title story is an odd duck. The protagonist has discovered that he lives in a purely mechanical world, where every action taken by man or animal is part of a giant clockwork machine, and this is the story of his struggle to free himself. Leiber seems to come down firmly on the side of chaos. Ninety-nine percent of all science fiction is a commentary on current times but I can't see through to what he wanted to tell us readers.
March 17, 2008
A hauntingly written story, one that has stayed with me for over thirty years since I first read it. Leiber presented an idea that is simultaneously a fantasy with huge appeal and a nightmare, a situation I would like to visit but only for a brief time; I won't say anything more than that to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read it but might. He was a great writer, and this is one of his best works.
February 14, 2013
Three short stories. The first one "You're All Alone", I found difficult to get into but it did finally grab me. The second one "Four Ghost in Hamlet" could be shortened into a good tale to tell around a campfire. The third one “The Creature from Cleveland Depths” is the story I liked the best. I found the character more believable and interesting.
July 24, 2014
It was interesting to read this novel after just reading Peter Watt’s Blindsight because they both deal with similar issues of consciousness and it’s utility to our species. In “The Sinful Ones” Leiber writes about the entire Earth and human race being a machine and the ramifications when some people “wake up” out of the machine.
highly recommend!
highly recommend!
December 26, 2007
don't close your eyes for a second people :)
August 22, 2016
Very creepy, felt like proto-Philip K Dick
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