Science fiction discoveries

by Carol Pohl (editor/contributor), Frederik Pohl

WITNESS a most remarkable rejuvenation...COME ALONG on a poetic journey thru the underworld of a distant planet...DISAPPEAR into the mysterious center of a Black Hole...WATCH a race of vast, godlike creatures who find Earth a very entertaining plaything!
SCIENCE FICTION DISCOVERIES, Edited by Carol & Frederik Pohl,
Eight journeys into the fantastic published for the 1st time.

Contents:

Introduction (A Dialogue)• essay by Carol & Frederik Pohl
Starlady• novelette by George R.R. Martin
The Never-Ending Western Movie• story by Robert Sheckley
The Age of Libra• story by Scott Edelstein
To Mark the Year on Azlaroc• story by Fred Saberhagen
An Occurrence at the Owl Creek Rest Home• novelette by Arthur J. Cox
The Force That Through the Circuit Drives the Current• story by Roger Zelazny
Deathrights Deferred• story by Doris Piserchia
Error Hurled• novel by Babette Rosmond

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1976

Reviews

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

The introduction describes this as a collection of eight original stories, as opposed to a collection of those earlier printed in magazines. The Pohls combed through 450 manuscripts to find these 8. Perhaps we have different tastes, or the other submitted stories were really bad. This collection averages out to just okay.

I liked "An Occurrence at the Owl Creek Rest Home" the best. "Error Hurled" by Babette Rosmond was the story that brought me to this collection, but it felt too long, taking up nearly half the pages. The Pohls were separated the year after this collection was released. Perhaps they weren't seeing eye to eye?

[Lewis Szymanski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never been a big fan of 70s era science fiction. This is an underwhelming collection.

Starlady by a 25-year-old George R.R. Martin has a lot of casual rape and coerced sex work. I've never read any George R.R. Martin, but somehow it was exactly what I expected.

An Occurance at the Owl Creek Rest Home by Arthur Jean Cox is probably the best story of the lot. It's an old guy growing younger. Also contains a rape. Rape must have been popular in the 70s.

The Force That Through the Circut Drives the Current by Roger Zelazny is good and short and probably a new groundbreaking idea at the time. It's a tired, overused trope now.

Error Hurled by Babette Rosmond is not really a short story at 125 pages. It could have easily been edited down to a fifth of that. The Earth is a school project of a disinterested and neglectful student. The story and the world end when the project receives a failing grade and the creator throws it at his little brother in anger.

Nothing else in here is good enough or bad enough to be worth talking about. I blame Harlen Ellison for the sorry state of speculative fiction in the 70s. Read the Dangerous Visions anthologies to see what I mean.

If you wanted to read this for some reason, it would probably be easier to get the individual stories in digital format than to find a physical copy of this book. Probably for the best.

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a really odd collection of stories. I think tastes (and human knowledge) have substantially changed and nothing in the book was really revolutionary for me. There were a few interesting conceptual ideas, but many ideas were either just fantasy ‘Earth problems, except it’s space’, or just rehashing old ideas.

A lot of the authors seemed to have absolutely no understanding of women, and there was a fair bit of casual and needless violence against women in the book. A guy pimps out a woman he doesn’t know and she just sort of says ‘yeah alright, sounds ok’, a man rapes his nurse and she struggles against it but then seems to just accept it, some guy hears a comment about himself that he doesn’t like so he goes home and punches his wife, and some guy goes on holiday with his annoying girlfriend so he can flirt with his ex, and she is completely fine with that.

I think it started in the introduction really, Carol did all the reading and somehow Fred got his name on the book? Sounds a little dodgy to me.

The best story by far was the Owl Creek Rest Home. I didn’t mind the one about the time veils either. I personally didn’t find much value in the rest of the book.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read better collections.

[Mark Schomburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

If nothing else this book demonstrates that science fiction is much more than space ships and robots, in case you hadn't noticed. Maybe Pohl's open editorial relationship with his wife lent this book another kind of strangeness. Varied stories stand at varied lengths (one being a third or so of the book). I found the Owl Creek Rest Home tale to be precious, like the best kind of fantasy bedtime tale. The longest tale here is I suppose what you get when a writer taints English literature into a science fiction tincture; the taste is a bit funny but still appetizing. It's something my grandmother might have concocted were she so inclined. Science fiction should after all be a family affair.

[Elizabeth Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories from the seventies that do a workmanlike job of extrapolating and exploring issues and questions of human existence. The repeated idea of us as playthings of gods made me question the selection criteria and the tone of all the stories tended toward the bleak.

[K. Rezaiezadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The success of the stories comes down to the quality of each entries writing style - 'Owl Creek' is a particular standout, a few others don't hit home hard enough.

Also, great origin story for George R.R. Martin in the Bio part of his story.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eight original science fiction stories assembled by the Pohls. Nothing particularly memorable for me in here.

[Ed]

ISFDB 29103. OCLC 2638173.

[Brianosaurus · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent collection of pre-star wars science fiction short stories. highly recommended.