The Best of Murray Leinster

by John J. Pierce, Murray Leinster

Contents:
· Introduction: The Dean of Science Fiction by John J. Pierce
· Sidewise in Time
· Proxima Centauri
· The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator
· First Contact
· The Ethical Equations
· Pipeline to Pluto
· The Power
· A Logic Named Joe
· Symbiosis
· The Strange Case of John Kingman
· The Lonely Planet
· Keyhole
· Critical Difference

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Collections

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1978

About the author

John Jeremy Pierce

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two years after Corgi published a book edited by Brian Davies with the same title, Del Rey published this collection edited by J.J. Pierce in 1978 with mostly different contents. I don't believe either book is actually the best of Leinster, who was long known as "the dean of science fiction writers," but it does stand as a sort of testament to his appeal that two such volumes exist. (No Med Service story? C'mon...) The three earliest stories in this one are from Astounding Stories 1934-'35, prior to John W. Campbell's arrival as editor, when F. Orlin Tremaine was in charge. Sidewise in Time and Proxima Centauri are both notable big-idea tales, superior to most of what appeared in the field at the time. Most of the other stories are from Campbell's Astounding (save one from Collier's and a pair from Thrilling Wonder Stories) 1945-'56. First Contact is an undisputed classic, The Ethical Equations won a retro-Hugo for best of the year, and I also quite liked Keyhole and Pipeline to Pluto. And Critical Difference, a Colonial Survey story. A Logic Named Joe is probably the best of the book, foreshadowing as it does AI and the internet. Leinster didn't have a polished prose style, but he was a marvelous storyteller and presented thought-provoking concepts.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories' original copyrights from 1934 to 1956. Aged surprisingly well. Sure, some science is probably wrong, and of course minor details of psychology and sociology... but if you like older SF shorts this is entertaining and sometimes surprisingly thought-provoking.

Includes A Logic Named Joe in which 'logics' are PCs and Google and other popular applications are anticipated, as are some consequences related to their use, such as privacy concerns.

Also includes other insights not explored by other SF writers of the time, at least that I've seen (and I have read a lot). For example, a team has been out of touch from Earth for a long time and are looking forward to their first packet of news. What do they get? Oh, basically the sort of thing that Yahoo calls news, and other useless info.: "The message was a 'cheer-up' program, which began with lusty singing by a popular quartet, continued with wisecracks... and then a congratulatory address by an eminent politician... In short, it was a hodgepodge of trash designed to gain publicity by means of the Earth broadcast for those who took part in it."

[Jonathan Farley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some fascinating short stories from the pulp-scifi era. I particularly enjoyed "A Logic Named Joe", which, written in 1947, was an uncanny prediction of the internet... Desktop PC/Media Units were called 'Logics' and Servers were called 'Tanks', but in every other respect, the story was spot on with its prediction of the censorship issues we have today.

[Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murray Leinster, aka Will F Jenkins, wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles. These stories include a retro-Hugo winner and several that were made into radio plays and sci-fi television episodes. A very good collection overall.

Favorite stories include "A Logic Named Joe" - a story about computer A.I. from 1947; "First Contact" - which doesn't just use but explains a "universal translator" decades before Star Trek; "Sidewise in Time" - time travel by driving down the street. The final story, "Critical Difference", says more about catastrophic climate change than most books today.

In fact, I didn't see a bad story in this collection, which is after all, "The Best of". Really glad I dug into the work of this prolific golden age author, and hope to read more soon. For an impulse buy thrown in my car to pass the time, this has provided huge returns.

[Rob Hopwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sidewise in Time (1934)
This does not describe coventional time travel to the past or future, but rather alternate realities on parallel timelines. The idea is similar to that in Paratime written by H. Beam Piper in the 1940s and 50s, and Richard C. Meredith's Timeliner Trilogy (1970s). There is an interesting take on the possible nature of hyperspace. It must be said that the story is repetitive and drags a little, but the concepts are fascinating.


Proxima Centauri (1935)
This story has been dismissed by some reviewers as pulp fiction having no merits, but I think that is extreme. It is at the very least imaginative, even if the weak and weepy female character makes it feel dated. Prior to the 1970s, well-developed and realistic women are few and far between in science fiction. On the positive side, there is interstellar travel (apparently at half the speed of light), which the author tries to make seem as real as possible. That life on board is similar to that on an ocean-going vessel is probably due to the fact that when this novelette was written space travel was still a couple of decades in the future, so a limited amount was known about it. The aliens are frequently described as 'fiends', but they are nevertheless interesting. Their buildings and spaceships are not built but are grown from plant matter which is then held in stasis. They value animal flesh as men crave wealth or gold. Thus, when we are made to feel disgust at the unreasoning and destructive actions of the Centaurians, we might reflect on similar crimes perpetrated by avaricious humans. Apart from this, the relationship between humans and Centaurians is presented in a very black-and-white manner, and the deus-ex-machina finale does nothing to add sophistication to the story. However, it was probably what most readers in the 1930s would have wanted.

The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator
This short story is a humorous account of a young man who inherits a time machine capable of replicating matter from his uncle. It is a madcap tale of dissatisfied fiancees, cigarette-eating kangaroos and thwarted policemen. It was mildly amusing, but a little over the top. Fortunately, it was not too long.

First Contact
This is one of the works Murray Leinster is remembered for. It was one of the first science fiction stories to address the practical aspects of first contact with an alien race. The aliens are neither all good nor all bad, but are in many ways just like humans. The dilemma is caused by the fact that they encounter each other in deep space and then do not dare to leave in case the locations of their homeworlds are revealed. Both groups would like to trust the other, but cannot take the risk. I immediately thought of the Dark Forest (黑暗森林) principle from Liu Cixin's Three Body Trilogy, even though Liu's aliens are much more predatory in nature. In First Contact, there is a universal translator with similarities to the one in the story Proxima Centauri, which was also written in 1935. The fact that the translator system uses cards in its output makes the story feel a little dated, but at the time the start of the digital age was still four decades away, so it would not really be fair to criticise this point. I guessed the solution to the impasse between the groups slightly before it was revealed, but on the whole this was a compelling read and deserves its place as a classic of early modern science fiction.


The Ethical Equations
This story was published 1945. I must say that I really enjoyed it. Some reviewers raise the point that because the equations mentioned in the title are not based on real scientific principles (the equations state that what goes around comes around, good begets good and vice versa), this story cannot be considered a work of hard science fiction. While this may or may not be true, short stories appearing in Astounding magazine in the 1940s principally had to meet the requirements of being entertaining and thought-provoking, and I think The Ethical Equations certainly succeeds in meeting those standards. Probably owing to the similar titles, I immediately thought of The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin which appeared in the same magazine in 1954 and which I read a few months ago. I am not sure whether the parallelism between the two works is coincidental or not. The Cold Equations ends with the equation balanced by the forfeit of a human life, thereby averting a disaster. A catastrophe is avoided in Leinster's story by satisfying the ethical equations.
A curious point is that, although the protagonist in Leinster's tale is absolutely convinced that the principles behind the ethical equations are real, nobody else in the story seems to care about them one bit. This could mean that the equations are in fact a personal superstition of the lead character, or that they are an established fact which most people choose to ignore. At any rate, acting in accord with the ethical principles embodied in the equations provides a farsighted solution to the problem at hand and saves the day. Even though 'what goes around comes around' is not true from a scientific point of view, if more people believed it the world would probably be a much happier place.

Pipeline to Pluto
This short story was also first published in Astounding magazine in 1945. It is a little different from the first five pieces in this book because it is a science fiction horror story. Despite the fact that it is pretty tame by modern standards of horror, and although I had a premonition of how it would end, it does produce a chilling effect on the reader. That it was successful in its day can be seen from the fact that it was included in an anthology entitled Science Fiction Terror Tales edited by Groff Conklin ten years later in 1955.
A Logic Named Joe
A 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine ran a short story by Murray Leinster that contains an amazingly accurate prediction of the technology and culture of our day. Leinster describes a society in which every home possesses a "logic", a machine that can provide entertainment and virtually unlimited access to information. Each "logic" accesses a central "tank" where raw data are kept on "plates". Sound familiar? The eponymous "logic" becomes self-aware due to a slight flaw in the manufacturing process and, in order to be helpful, decides to provide humans with the answers to any questions they ask through the network. On the surface, this sounds like a good idea, but Leinster continues to show how human moral deficiecies make this a less-than-desirable development. We should keep in mind that this story was written in an age when most people had a naively optimistic view of science and before science fiction was known for warning about the potential dangers of technology. What also makes it fascinating to read is the fact that in 1946 computing machines still filled whole rooms and the first phase of the internet would not come into existence for another 23 years. This story has been included in many science fiction anthologies over the years, and rightly so, since it was predictive of personal computers, computer networks, and artificial intelligence.

Symbiosis
This 1947 tale tells of a small and peaceful country which is invaded by a powerful and ruthless neighbour state. The conquered people, however, are prepared and apply an intriguing medical solution to the problem, much to the dismay of the agressors. I am not sure if it is, but this might be the first example of biological warfare in science fiction literature. Of course, H.G. Wells' invading Martians in The War of the Worlds were wiped out by bacteria, but that was a fortuitous occurrence rather than the result of deliberate action. Symbiosis is certainly a fine example of how to write a short story.


The Strange Case of John Kingman
This tells a story about John Kingman, who is a patient in a mental asylum. Despite the fact that he has an obvious physical anomaly, not much notice is taken of him because he is aloof and uncommunicative. It is assumed that he is foreigner who cannot speak English, and that he is paranoid with delusions of grandeur because his manner is so supercilious. A young and enthusiastic doctor decides to check the asylum records, and is shocked to discover that Kingman has been an inmate of the institution for more than 160 years. When the doctor expresses an interest in him, Kingman draws intricate diagrams which turn out to be explanations of scientific processes not yet known to humans. When this comes to the attention of the authorities, the government is anxious to extract more technological information in order to secure a firm advantage in the arms race against enemy nations. The methods they use eventually render the patient unable to provide any further assistance. On the surface, this might appear to be merely an entertaining story. I think, however, that it possesses hidden depths. Something which is noticeable is that Kingman is thought all along by everybody to be insane, even when doctors conclude that he is probably an extraterrestrial, and when he shows his superior knowledge and a high level of intelligence. Readers may find themselves asking if the patient or the humans who handled his case showed more evidence of madness in thought and action. It is possible that the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan about three years earlier (this story was published in 1948) had caused Leinster to wonder whether military considerations would always be a principal catalyst for technological development, and whether a desire for knowledge would always be linked to mankind's baser instincts. Perhaps Kingman's condescending attitude towards the humans around him was not unjustified.

The Lonely Planet
This 1949 story is about a planet-wide organism which humans name Alyx after its homeworld. Through serving the needs of men, Alyx learns and becomes self-aware, only to find its very existence threatened. In an interesting twist on the "dark forest" theme, we see that the miscommunication between men and Alyx all seems to be the result of a human inability to conceive of an intelligent being which would not be as predatory as mankind. Fortunately, not all humans are so narrow-minded, and at least some are willing to embrace the mutually beneficial symbiosis envisioned by Alyx. This is another very absorbing and thought-provoking short story by Murray Leinster.

Keyhole
This story was published in 1951, and is another one which paints humanity in a less-than-positive light as far as relations with extraterrestrial lifeforms is concerned. Of course, individual people are a different matter, since these may think up ways to persuade their contemporaries to act with a greater degree of foresight than they would have done otherwise. The Moon creatures in this story are subjected to study by humans who wish to identify their weaknesses. However, in the end the specimen the men capture manages to learn much more about humanity than human scientists can learn about its people. It is another warning that appearances can be deceptive.

Critical Difference (aka Solar Constant)
This is a solid story about a planetary survey officer who tries to overcome technological problems in order to save human colonists on two worlds. The chacterization is quite good, perhaps because it is a slightly later story which was first published in 1956. The author may have by that time got to grips with how to make his characters a little more three-dimensional and interesting. The self-effacing quality of the protagonist which never allows him to take full credit for his achievements may be something some readers can relate to. This is a good example of a hard science fiction story which uses most of its length to describe technical details, but also has a romance element thrown in to make the plot more absorbing.




Leinster's strengths are showcased very clearly in the works in this book. He is adept at defining or identifying problems, and then working logically through his plots to provide solutions without letting readers guess the endings too soon. Although perhaps a little pessimistic on the surface, many of his tales do have positive outcomes. While very entertaining, the stories are obviously also written to convey deeper meanings, but this is achieved in subtle ways and without the author needing to moralize or preach. Probably the only easily detactable weakness is in his characterizations, which never really allow you to get into the minds of the protagonists. But, overall, this is an excellent short-story collection which is well worth reading if you are interested in the history and development of science fiction literature.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science fiction might be better off today if some of these critics, and their favorite authors, loved sf as much as Leinster and some of his colleagues did… the best writer is one who can get excited about what he’s writing.

I don’t remember the first science fiction that I read, but it could well have been this book. I picked up two or three of the Classic Science Fiction books from the “local” Meijer Thrifty Acres supermarket, which was the closest thing to a bookstore that I went to as a kid. I definitely remember this and The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun.

A lot of these stories have to do with first contacts, and Leinster’s view of first contact is extraordinarily pessimistic. In one of the two best, “First Contact”, two spaceships meet accidentally in a far nebula, and their overriding concern is, don’t let the other know where you are: if they’re more advanced than you, they might destroy your home planet! Likewise, in “The Lonely Planet”, the unquestioned assumption is that humans know that if they ever meet a more advanced intelligence, they must destroy it or die. Which doesn’t really make sense because even in the story, the obvious corollary is that if humanity does try to destroy a more advanced intelligence, they’ll fail and make it angry. And on the opposite end, if humanity meets a less advanced intelligence, as in “Keyhole”, they must destroy it or that less advanced intelligence will do the same to them.

In the best of the stories, and the best of the first contact stories, “Proxima Centauri”, there’s a reason behind the undying enmity of the two races, and the way Leinster handles this in his twisted space opera is fun, horrifying, and tightly told.

Two other stories are also sort of first contact, in that they involve aliens coming to Earth before humans even believe in aliens. In “The Power”, the alien is desperately lonely and wishes to share its knowledge. In “The Strange Case of John Kingman” the alien is apparently extraordinarily (possibly literally insanely) disdainful and wishes to prove its superiority by showing off its knowledge. In neither case does it end well for the alien.

Generation ships also show up a couple of times, directly in “Proxima Centauri” and indirectly in “The Lonely Planet”. In the former, there’s clearly the potential for the ship to have devolved into the barbarism of the later Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss and Orphans of the Sky.

Also fascinating here is “A Logic Named Joe”, which looks a whole lot like the modern Internet, right down to fears that people could look up porn and how to commit mayhem; using voice to interact with the computer to look up trivial and non-trivial information; crowdsourcing information; and one major use of the information databases being looking up people you’ve lost contact with. It was published in Astounding Science Fiction in March 1946, just eight months after Vannevar Bush’s “As We May Think” appeared in the Atlantic.

In the nineteen hundreds a man would have to make use of a typewriter, radio, telephone, teletypewriter, newspaper, reference library, encyclopedias, office files, directories, plus messenger service and consulting lawyers—all to put down what he wanted to remember an’ wanted to know; to report what he said to somebody else and to report to him what they said back. All we have to have is logics. Anything we want to know or see or hear, or anybody we want to talk to, we punch keys on a logic.

Some of these stories show their age in the strangest ways. In “Sidewise in Time”, which involves alternate timelines, Roman legionaries lost in New York City could roughly communicate because a random schoolboy happened to know Latin.

As in many older science fiction stories, the physicality of computers abounds, mainly in the use of data cards. The tactile nature of computing does make for better jokes.

“What progress has been made in communication?”
“We have vocabulary cards for nearly five thousand words. We can converse on nearly any subject, and all of them are unpleasant.”

And on the timely front, “Critical Difference” involves sunspot changes drastically altering the climate of a far planet, threatening the death of everyone, until someone comes up with the idea of shooting sunlight-altering particles into the air.

Finally, on the gaming front, the alien plant race from Proxima Centauri seem vaguely similar to the Dralasites from Star Frontiers.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murray Leinster, de nombre real William Fitzgerald Jenkins (1896-1975), fue un prolífico escritor de novelas y relatos, no solo de ciencia ficción. Sus historias rezuman ideas, y están contadas de manera clara y precisa, con el afán de entretener al lector.

Estos son los seis relatos incluidos en ‘El planeta solitario’, extraídos de la antología original en inglés The Best of Murray Leinster:

El planeta solitario (1949) (*****). Alyx es un ser vivo que ocupa todo un planeta, y es descubierto por los humanos. Magnífico relato.

Al margen del tiempo [A través del tiempo] (1934) (****). Un buen día, se produce una falla en el tiempo, quedando personas atrapadas en otras épocas. Gran relato.

Un lógico llamado Joe (1946) (**). Un lógico es un ordenador al que se conecta la gente pidiendo ayuda. Humor y ciencia ficción, aunque no me ha gustado mucho.

El poder (1945) (*****). Narración epistolar sobre el hallazgo por un profesor de ciertas cartas en latín del siglo XV. Magnífico relato.

Simbiosis (1947) (**). Un pequeño país es invadido por una gran potencia. Otro relato que no me ha gustado.

Primer encuentro (1945) (***). La nave Lianvabon se encuentra por casualidad con una nave extraterrestre. Ambas entrarán en el conflicto de si confiar en el otro o destruirse mutuamente. Interesante.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried my best but Murray Leinster didn’t really light me up. I keep trying, but I am not hooked. Part of the blame may lie with multiple collection in existence with different contents containing what is purported to be the “Best.” My scattered notes follow:

Leinster presents a wry sense of humor in his writing. "A relay clicked with a curiously smug, self-satisfied note." Lines like this could be thought to influence writers like Douglas Adams.

I have also encountered in "The Fourth-Dimensional Demonstrator" the earliest (1935) example of what would be classified now as Bizarro.

“Sidewise in Time” never quite gets a resolution. I don’t need a happy ending, and I don’t mind ambiguity, but this one just seems to stop.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories in here are great and just fun to read. About half of these 10 short fiction stories have something to do with travelling through time. Others deal with aliens and even a couple with a bit of romance. The characters are written wonderfully, apart from the final two stories I thought. All the stories have quite a modern or timeless feel to them and they will probably make you want to read more of this writer. Like I'm about to

[Xabi1990 · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10. Media de los 14 libros leídos del autor : 6/10
Autor que se llevó el Hugo en la categoría de relatos (sobre todo practicaba esté género)
NO es que me encante como escribía, pero sí me gustaron bastante ""Un lógico llamado Joe"" o ""El señor de los Uffis"".
Este, normalito."

[Kristine Muslim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonky technology and good-old sf. Nostalgic at best. Contains the Leinster classic "Sidewise in Time."

[Bill S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could not find this volume. But, I did find on-line:

"Pipeline to Pluto" - A thoroughly believable look at a possible future of space travel. The pipeline is a set of unmanned carriers that bring supplies to Pluto and then return loaded with metals for Earth. A tug boat launches them from the Moon and one from Pluto. The momentum carries them on their 3 year journey. The pipeline is a line of ships each separated by a million miles. The story centers on how wages are so good on Pluto and the price of the journey so high that men on the Moon take bribes to put stowaways on the carriers.

[David Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

These 1930s-1950s stories remain engaging. "First Contact," about a standoff between an Earth spaceship and an alien spaceship that meet accidentally and don't know if they can let the other leave, is Leinster's most famous. "A Logic Named Joe" is prescient of today's AI and chatbot debates besides being the most entertaining story here. This collection didn't sweep me away, but this is very readable and I came away with respect for Leinster, whom I hadn't read before.

[Chatarrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro genial, hacía tiempo que buscaba algo así. Quiero leer muchos más como este. Mi ranking de relatos es:

1. Primer contacto
2. Al margen del tiempo
3. Simbiosis
4. Planeta solitario
5. El poder
6. Un lógico llamado Joe

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of stories from a giant of Golden Age science fiction. Great reading.

[mkfs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much has been made of the short story in this collection, "A Logic Named Joe", predicting the Internet as we know it. And, well, of course it doesn't.

The short story is about a set-top box (a cable box, possibly managing Internet-of-things devices like thermostats, but still not out of the ordinary for early sci-fi where the most pressing problems to which technology could be applied seem to be cooking meals and pressing a light switch) that, through a manufacturing glitch, starts pestering users to ask it for solutions to any problems they need help with. People being what they are, the questions tend towards committing the perfect crime rather than getting just the right level of juiciness in a pork roast. My favorite is the children that got the box to show them documentary footage of cannibals - undoubtedly a prediction of the horror film genre and its audience.

Basically, the box has access to relays which connect all information in the world. So, there's AI for you, sort of, except the AI here answers each question in the most Ray Bradbury/Twilight Zone way possible, and isn't prone to the embarrassing blinkered reasoning that characterizes *actual* AI. All in all, it's just another "Monkey's Paw" story.


As for the rest? Eh, they're fine. Entertaining, but rather formulaic ("oh look! another alien race that evolved telepathy in place of speech!"). Calling the characters even one-dimensional is charitable. As each story plays out, the same stock phrases are used again and again to drive the point home ("This was the end. blah blah This was the end. blah blah bah This was the end."). It's not as tiring as it sounds, but it sure ain't good writerin'.

There are two stand-outs:

"First Contact", in which two species encounter each other for the first time, each on a deep space mission. They have no choice but to fight it out: otherwise, the first ship to make it home will be able to launch a surprise attack on the homeworld of the other species. The set-up is a bit clunky, but the problem of establishing initial trust is a very real one, and the solutions attempted are all quite good. A nice thought-experiment, especially in an era of Alice-meets-Bob security protocols.

"Critical Difference", in which different solar cycles (6-month, 7-year, 136-year) all reach their low points at the same time, causing the inhabited planets to experience a new Ice Age. You know, the old Maunder Minimum that may or may not be exacerbating the human contribution to 21st-century climate change. The interesting part of this story is the Imposter Syndrome which plagues the main character: given Leinster's lack of attention to the human psyche up until now, it's impressive that he hit the nail on the head with this one.

[Guido Percú]

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