The Vortex Blasters: and Other Stories from Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction

by Sam Moskowitz (Editor), Edmond Hamilton (Contributor), Eric Frank Russell (Contributor)

Contents:

The Vortex Blaster - Edward E. Smith
Requiem - Edmond Hamilton
The Witness - Eric Frank Russell
Kindness - Lester del Rey
We Also Walk Dogs - Robert A. Heinlein
Coming Attraction - Fritz Leiber
We Guard the Black Planet! - Henry Kuttner

Genres: Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920-April 15, 1997) was an early fan and organizer of interest in science fiction and, later, a writer, critic, and historian of the field. As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of the Science Fiction League. Meanwhile, Donald A. Wollheim helped organize the Futurians, a rival club with Marxist sympathies. While still in his teens, Moskowitz became chairman of the first World Science Fiction Convention held in New York City in 1939. He barred several Futurians from the convention because they threatened to disrupt it. This event is referred to by historians of fandom as the "Great Exclusion Act."

Moskowitz later worked professionally in the science fiction field. He edited Science-Fiction Plus, a short-lived genre magazine owned by Hugo Gernsback, in 1953. He compiled about two dozen anthologies, and a few single-author collections, most published in the 1960s and early 1970s. Moskowitz also wrote a handful of short stories (three published in 1941, one in 1953, three in 1956). His most enduring work is likely to be his writing on the history of science fiction, in particular two collections of short author biographies, Explorers of the Infinite and Seekers of Tomorrow, as well as the highly regarded Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of “The Scientific Romance” in the Munsey Magazines, 1912-1920. Moskowitz has been criticized for eccentrically assigning priorities and tracing influences regarding particular themes and ideas based principally on publication dates, as well as for some supposed inaccuracies. His exhaustive cataloguing of early sf magazine stories by important genre authors remains the best resource for nonspecialists.

Moskowitz's most popular work may be The Immortal Storm, a historical review of internecine strife within fandom. Moskowitz wrote it in a bombastic style that made the events he described seem so important that, as fan historian Harry Warner, Jr. quipped, "If read directly after a history of World War II, it does not seem like an anticlimax."
Moskowitz was also renowned as a science fiction book collector, with a tremendous number of important early works and rarities. His book collection was auctioned off after his death.

As "Sam Martin", he was also editor of the trade publications Quick Frozen Foods and Quick Frozen Foods International for many years.

First Fandom, an organization of science fiction fans active before 1940, gives an award in Moskowitz' memory each year at the World Science Fiction Convention.

Moskowitz smoked cigarettes frequently throughout his adult life. A few years before his death, throat cancer required the surgical removal of his larynx. He continued to speak at science fiction conventions, using an electronic voice-box held against his throat. Throughout his later years, although his controversial opinions were often disputed by others, he was indisputably recognized as the leading authority on the history of science fiction.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This demurely-titled anthology presents seven stories from Moskowitz's much longer anthology, Modern Masters of Science Fiction. All of the stories save two (Leiber's Coming Attraction and Hamilton's Requiem from 1950 and 1962, respectively, and both very good stories indeed) originally appeared in the genre magazines of the 1940s. The titular story is not one of "Doc" Smith's best, being a late addition to his seminal space opera series. There are also stories by Lester del Rey and Henry Kuttner (who offers another fine title, We Guard the Black Planet!, complete with "!"), and a fine Eric Frank Russell work, Witness. My favorite is "...We Also Walk Dogs," by Robert A. Heinlein.

[Tom Britz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another paperback of short stories that were all part of the hardcover book, Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction. The seven stories here are all from between 1941 and 1962. They are all fun reads and still a cut above the run of the mill. Of them "Requiem" by Edmond Hamilton in my opinion is the strongest, with "...We Also Walk Dogs" by Robert A. Heinlein a close second. "The Witness" by Eric Frank Russell is a fun read about an alien on trial for being an alien (this was published in 1951 and xenophobia is thick). "Kindness" by Lester del Rey is a tale of what happens when most of humanity evolves another step and those that don't. "We Guard The Black Planet" is a science fantasy tale by a true master of that genre, Henry Kuttner. "Coming Attraction" by Fritz Leiber is a tale about a post atomic war New York and the way that people adapt. "The Vortex Blasters" by E. E. "Doc" Smith, in my opinion is the weakest story and also the oldest, it is a later addition to his "Lensman" series.
If you are looking for a fun and quick read, this one will fill the bill.

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn’t a great collection of short stories, but it is a fun one. It shows a variety of what sci-fi can be, from people overexplaining things in a way which dates itself very easily, to stories which you wouldn’t be surprised to learn where written last year.

[Paul Southgate]

Entertaining