They Came from Outer Space: 12 Classic Science Fiction Tales That Became Major Motion Pictures

by Jim Wynorski (Editor), Ray Bradbury (Introduction), Ib Melchior

Contents:
Dr. Cyclops / by Henry Kuttner --
Who goes there? / by John W. Campbell, Jr. --
Farewell to the master / by Harry Bates --
The fog horn / by Ray Bradbury --
Deadly city / by Ivar Jorgenson--
The alien machine / by Raymond F. Jones --
The cosmic frame / by Paul W. Fairman --
The fly / by George Langelaan --
The seventh victim / by Robert Sheckley --
The sentinel / by Arthur C. Clarke --
The racer / by Ib Melchior --
A boy and his dog / by Harlan Ellison.

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

363 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely old anthology of science fiction stories which were adapted to film after their initial appearance. The book is a terrific companion piece to Forrest J. Ackerman's Reel Future, with which it shares five stories, Farewell to the Master by Harry L. Bates (The Day the Earth Stood Still), Who Goes There? by John Campbell (The Thing), The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey), The Fly by George Langelaan, and The Alien Machine by Raymond F. Jones (This Island Earth.) Also included are Dr. Cyclops by Henry Kuttner, The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury (The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms), Deadly City by Ivar Jorgenson (which was a pseudonym of Paul W. Fairman; the film was the somewhat obscure Target Earth), The Cosmic Frame by Paul W. Fairman (Invasion of the Saucermen), The Seventh Victim by Robert Shackley (The Tenth Victim), The Racer by Ib Melchior (Death Race 2000), and A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison. In addition to an introduction by Ray Bradbury, there's a section with still photos from the films. Make it a double feature! Get extra popcorn!

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...

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[blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Closing out my seventh iteration of reading my fiction books A-Z+an anthology is this book edited by schlock legend Jim Wynorski. I actually got the idea to pick it next when I saw the security guard reading it in "Chopping Mall," Wynorski's 1986 still-very-watchable-horror flick.

The idea is explained in the title and, fortunately, the stories are much better than some of the worst movies made out of them. "Who Goes There?" is the best John W. Campbell I've read in recent memory, though I'm not sure it's at the level of either the Hawks/Nyby Classic or the John Carpenter version. JWC was too "golden age" sci-fi, I think, to get into the horror of it—though his style is very suited to Carpenter's neo-Western "tough men doing tough jobs without getting too worked up over it" style.

Some of the ideas are tenuously connected, such as Ray Bradbury's "The Foghorn," which apparently really was the vision for "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," and Bradbury's intro (about being called in to doctor a script that had been based on one of his stories without licensing it from him) is typically terrific.

While I've grown weary of Harlan Ellison's "angry young man" schtick, "A Boy and his Dog" holds up pretty well. I do think the whole Boomer-era of reflexive blinding rage toward the middle-class from which all these angry young men emerged will not endear itself to future generations, but that needn't concern us here.

I rather liked "Farewell to the Master," which was new to me and really not especially connected to the movie beyond the basic premise and a few "props" (alien spaceship, giant robot). The movie is classic, but the story makes you go "whoa".

It was kinda fun to see the name of Ib Melchior (featured prominently on the latest MST3K season) on "The Racer", which became "Death Race 2000". I had not known he was a writer.

"The Fly" holds up very well even on a third reading since I started my journey, so that's cool.

The only negative mark I'd give is for "The Alien Machine", and not even then for the story, but for Wynorski's omission in the metatext. The story became "This Island Earth" and it's remarkable how faithful the movie is to the story, except that it only goes as far as Act I. (Cal gets on the self-flying plane. And "MST3K: The Movie," while I love it so, did some dirt here to what's basically a decent '50s scifi.)

The omission, however, is that there are TWO other stories that round out the rest of the movie. I get not including them, just like I get including only the original inspiration for "2001", but I don't get not mentioning them!

Minor point, though. and nine of the stories were new to me, so that was nice. Worth checking out, if you can find a copy.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It really was a splendid idea for an anthology: Select a dozen of the most famous, beloved and influential science fiction movies of all time and then gather together the 12 short stories and novellas that had served as their source material. And that is precisely what editor Jim Wynorski did, resulting in his 1980 collection "They Came From Outer Space: 12 Classic Science Fiction Tales That Became Major Motion Pictures." Released as a Doubleday hardcover, this anthology spans the period from sci-fi's Golden Age all the way to the heyday of the New Wave. And besides the dozen tales therein, this generous volume also includes a fascinating introduction by Ray Bradbury, a heartfelt foreword as well as story introductions by Wynorski (who, two years later, became a screenwriter/producer/director of sci-fi and horror films in his own right), full details on each of the film's cast and crew, and no fewer than 55 glossy stills from those classic motion pictures. On a personal note, I must add that although I had seen every one of these films, most of them in a theatrical setting, I had only read but one of the stories in this book, so that made 11 oversights that I was very happy to rectify here. "They Came From Outer Space" (a title that is of course a riff on the influential 1953 3-D movie "It Came From Outer Space") has been sadly OOPs (out of prints) in English-language editions for over 40 years now, but is still easily obtainable online. It is a book, I feel, that all fans of '50s and '60s cinematic sci-fi will just eat up with a spoon, and really is required reading for them all.

The 12 stories here are presented in chronological order; not of the stories' publication dates, but rather those of the resultant film debuts. And that means that, unfortunately, the volume's weakest offering pops up first...surprisingly, from one of my favorite Golden Age writers. Henry Kuttner's "Dr. Cyclops" originally appeared in the June 1940 issue of "Thrilling Wonder Stories" and was faithfully brought to the screen as "Dr. Cyclops" later that same year. Here, as in the film, a mad scientist named Thorkel lures three fellow scientists and their guide to his South American jungle encampment, and later shrinks them and his servant Pedro down to 6-inch size with his new, revolutionary device. The resulting battle of wits between Thorkel and his diminutive foes is both exciting and fast moving...actually, a bit too fast moving, for this reader. The film, with its excellent special FX and Technicolor, was a more satisfactory experience for me, somehow. Still, Kuttner couldn't write a story that failed to entertain if he tried, and this one, crude and pulpy as it is, is no exception.

The collection rebounds in a big way with its next offering, one of the most famous novellas in the genre; namely, John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" This story, the only one in this collection that I had read before, originally appeared in the August 1938 issue of "Astounding Science-Fiction," was unfaithfully brought to the screen in 1951 as "The Thing From Another World," and was much more faithfully adapted by director John Carpenter in his 1982 cult film "The Thing." In Campbell's original vision, a team of 37 men in an Antarctic research station is beset by a shape-shifting alien that they had foolishly thawed out after its aeons-long deep freeze. Over the course of the story, the men endeavor to discover which one of them is the monstrous killer; ultimately, no fewer than six of the 37 are found to be an alien "thing" in disguise. Campbell's tale is at once a marvelous exercise in paranoia and an exercise in "hard" sci-fi. It is at times a tad dry (typical for Campbell) and a mite confusing, but yet remains one of the author's very finest creations. And the tentacled, three-eyed, blue-haired creature here, need I even say, is a far more intimidating proposition than the classic 1951 film's "walking carrot"!

And if "The Thing From Another World" was a rather loose adaptation of its source material, an even looser example is to be encountered next. Harry Bates' "Farewell to the Master" (originally released in the October 1940 issue of "Astounding"; the same issue in which Part 2 of A. E. von Vogt's "Slan" appeared) was later brought to the screen as the 1951 classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still," but if there hadn't been a character named Klaatu in the original story, the reader would never have noticed any connection. In Bates' version, Klaatu is assassinated by a madman immediately after exiting his spaceship, and the bulk of the tale centers on a news photographer observing the giant robot Gnut--not Gort--which has been locked away in a museum. It is a pretty wonderful story, winningly written and mysterious, although the twist ending that comes at its tail end was a bit unnecessary, I felt.

I have written elsewhere of my great love for the 1953 picture "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," but had somehow never read the story that served as its inspiration. That story, Ray Bradbury's "The Fog Horn," originally appeared in the June 23, 1951 issue of "The Saturday Evening Post" (not a 1952 issue, as Wynorski mentions), and comprises around five minutes of the film's 80-minute running time. In Bradbury's tale, an ancient--and lonely--sea monster is drawn to the sound of a lighthouse's fog horn, with destructive results. It is a beautifully written story, in Bradbury's finest manner, with many passages that you'll want to read over and over. In his intro, Bradbury mentioned that, other than the FX provided by his pal Ray Harryhausen, he had no love for the cinematic adaptation whatsoever. But what did he know anyway, right?

Up next in this wondrous volume we have Ivar Jorgenson's "Deadly City," from the March 1953 issue of "If" magazine, and filmed the following year as "Target Earth." In this tale, five folks in Chicago--an everyman Joe, a sweet but suicidal floozy, a gruff tough guy, a lonely cleaning woman, and a psychotic killer--find themselves the only ones left in the suddenly deserted metropolis. The interactions between the quintet are beautifully laid out by the author, and matters grow very tense when it is learned that an alien invasion is in progress! Perhaps the biggest difference between story and film is the absence of the humongous, lumbering robot that was surely the most memorable aspect of the screen version. But in the story, we do get to see those aliens, which the film kept hidden. A very fine outing, in all, with well-rendered, naturalistic dialogue and a surprisingly realistic--if rushed--finale.

Raymond F. Jones' "The Alien Machine" (from the June 1949 "Thrilling Wonder Stories"...not 1947, as stated) is up next, the (partial) inspiration for one of the biggest FX extravaganzas in all of 1950s sci-fi; namely, 1955's "This Island Earth." But Jones' story, as it turns out, was the basis for just the opening segment of that film. Thus, here, engineer Cal Meacham receives a catalog for equipment and parts that he has never heard of before, and is compelled to put together a device called an interocitor. Unlike in the film, the "action"--if one can call it that--is confined here to Earth; Cal ultimately discovering what the interocitor device is used for provides the primary thrill in this rather dryly written, overly technical story. I was not surprised to learn that Jones later came out with two sequel tales, "The Shroud of Secrecy" (1949) and "The Greater Conflict" (1950), and that the three stories were then cobbled together to form the 1952 novel "This Island Earth." I'd like to read that one day....

The 1957 film "Invasion of the Saucer Men" is deemed something of a fun but cheapjack laughingstock today; a sci-fi comedy for the kiddy set only. And yet its source material, Paul W. Fairman's "The Cosmic Frame," from the May 1955 issue of "Amazing Stories," turns out to be a much more serious affair. In this one, two teens (one of whom is named John Carter!) en route to a dance hit and kill a newly landed alien with their car, and the father of one of the teens sees big money to be made in the exhibiting of the deceased spaceman. A downbeat twist ending is the capper of this surprisingly well-done tale, with the aliens described therein being startlingly similar to the outrageous-looking ones in the film. Incidentally, Ivar Jorgenson was a pseudonym of Paul W. Fairman's, I have just discovered, so he is thus the only author in this collection to be represented twice.

The classic sci-fi/horror film "The Fly" (1958) turns out to be the most faithful cinematic adaptation of the dozen big-screen entertainments spotlighted in this volume. Based on French author George Langelaan's short story of the same name, which originally appeared in the June 1957 "Playboy," the film sticks to its source material from beginning to end, even incorporating the same character names. You probably know the story line by now; how French scientist Andre Delambre invents a matter disintegration/reintegration machine, and how a figurative fly in the ointment results in a man with the head of a giant fly, as well as a fly with the teensy head of a man. Largely told in flashback, as was the film, the story is beautifully constructed and ultimately quite moving; a bravura piece of work, really.

As is the case with "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," "The Tenth Victim" (1965) is one of my personal Top 100 Favorite Films--I deem it the greatest Italian sci-fi movie ever made--and I have wanted to read its source story, Robert Sheckley's "The Seventh Victim" (or, as it originally appeared in the April 1953 "Galaxy Science Fiction," just "Seventh Victim"), for many years now. Similar to the film, Sheckley's story posits a world in which legalized hunt-and-kill competitions between two participants serve as a pressure valve to help do away with worldwide wars. The story gives us a middle-aged man trying to hunt down and slay his first woman; a twist ending of sorts serves as an ironic coda here. Personally, I still prefer the film, with a woman (Ursula Andress) hunting down a man (Marcello Mastroianni) amidst remarkable sets, garish fashions, and Piero Piccioni's memorable musical score. Oh...no bullet-firing brassiere in Sheckley's original, too.

Up next we have a story that you were probably expecting to pop up eventually: Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel," the inspiration for a little 1968 film entitled "2001: A Space Odyssey." "The Sentinel" originally appeared in the Spring 1951 issue of the rarely discussed U.S. pulp "10 Story Fantasy"; remarkably enough, the cover for this issue sported an illustration not for the Clarke story, but rather for the John Wyndham novelette "Tyrant and Slave-Girl on Planet Venus"! In Clarke's offering, two scientists on Earth's Moon discover an ancient relic; not a monolith, as in the film, but rather a 12-foot-high pyramid protected by a force field of sorts. Clarke's story was of course but a fragment of Stanley Kubrick's film, and Clarke would go on to expand this germ of a tale into a series of "2001" novels. But the original story manages to stand on its own, and conveys a sense of cosmic awe as regards mankind's place in the universe.

Danish author Ib Melchior's short story "The Racer" (from the October 1956 issue of the men’s magazine "Escapade") is up next; the inspiration for the cult film "Death Race 2000," from 1975. As it turns out, the big-screen version is similar to Melchior's story only in its central conceit: a long-distance auto race in which points are scored by hitting and killing pedestrians! The story centers on just one driver, Willie Connors, and his ride-along mechanic, with Willie developing a bad case of the guilts after being called a "butcher" by a young mother. The story is of necessity violent and even brutal, but somehow not nearly as outrageous as the film, with its multiple drivers sporting wrestler-type personae (memorably, Sylvester Stallone's Joe "Machine Gun" Viterbo). Still, a fast-moving thrill ride, to be sure.

This collection is brought to a close by its only winner of the Nebula Award, Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog." This story first appeared in the April 1969 issue of "New Worlds" magazine and copped the Nebula for Best Novella of that year; it was faithfully adapted, for the most part, as the cult film "A Boy and His Dog" six years later. Ellison's original is set in the futuristic year of, uh, 2024, when the U.S. is a post-World War apocalyptic wasteland, filled with mutants, roving gangs, and loners. One such loner is Vic, a 15-year-old who roams the wasteland with his telepathic dog, Blood, looking for food and for women to rape. During the course of the tale, narrated to us by Vic himself, our young protagonist defends a woman, Quilla June, from a roving gang, rapes her, follows her to her home in the "downunder" of Topeka, and experiences some adventures belowground. Ellison's tale is at once exciting, violent, foul-mouthed, hugely imaginative, and wholly winning; a well-deserved Nebula winner. I see that Ellison followed up this story with a few more centered on Vic and Blood, and I would love to read them someday, too.

So there you have it...a dozen fine stories that birthed a dozen fine films. Jim Wynorski's collection enables us to once again experience some favorite authors and perhaps to encounter some new ones; I promise that you'll be wanting to read much more of those new ones, too. Part of the fun of going through this book is trying to decide which entertainment worked better: the original story or the resultant motion picture. Every reader and filmgoer will of course have his or her own opinion; I can only give you mine. But one thing that is for sure is that this collection will prove a fascinating read for all science fiction fans, and deserves to be on their bookcase shelves at home. My highest recommendation for this essential read!

(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of vintage sci-fi....)

[Norm · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, the SF stories I enjoy most - and the ones adapted by Hollywood - are often not the most highly-regarded within the field. I'm not sure why. Maybe because the stories that win awards are often dazzling, pyrotechnic tours-de-force, uniquely displaying their authors' skills as literary artists. This is perfectly understandable, yet these same stories are rarely the ones I read more than once.

I can't say the same for the stories in this book. This is one of my favorite Science Fiction anthologies and I've read it from cover to cover, many times over. Each entry is a little gem, offering readers a dozen invitations to lead their built-in "Sense of Wonder" on a stroll to the nearest drive-in. That same Sense of Wonder which, sadly, seems largely absent in today's increasingly longer and more serious works of Science Fiction.

The selections in this book are, for the most part, plainly-written, entertaining yarns. Some are by famous masters, such as Ray Bradbury (whom we recently lost) and Harlan Ellison. Others are by lesser-known authors, such as Paul Fairman and the sadly neglected Henry Kuttner. It's a dynamite line-up of both authors and their stories. Why not make it a Double Feature and read two stories at a time!

A big Thanks to Jim Wynorski for putting this book together and to Ray Bradbury for his introduction.

[Sean Munger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute must-have for any serious science fiction buff. The stories presented here are, in some cases, the little-known bases for some of the greatest SF movies ever--including "2001," "This Island Earth," "The Thing" and "The Day The Earth Stood Still." Most people don't even know these classic films were based on short stories from the 1940s and even before. A fascinating journey through the primordial slime of science fiction, I can't imagine any SF fan not enjoying this. It's old and hard to find, but it's absolutely worth your trouble.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 5 out of 5]

“That’s life for you. Someone always waiting for someone who never comes home. Always someone loving some thing more than that thing loves them. And after a while you want to destroy whatever that thing is, so it can’t hurt you no more.”

It’s rare for me to truly love a short story collection, but Jim Wynorski’s They Came From Outer Space is a wonderful anthology of the pulpy, weird tales that inspired some of the most memorable – or laughable – science fiction movies of the 1950s to 70s. Beginning with an insider’s essay from Ray Bradbury on the pitfalls of transforming printed pages to celluloid, Wynorski’s compilation includes twelve classic tales that, despite their age, are still delights to read -- powerful, provocative, and many rather chilling. And while not every movie inspired by these stories turned out to be a classic, as the stories themselves go, there are no stinkers here!

I’ll mention a few of my favorites. For eeriness and atmosphere, I loved Ivar Jorgenson’s Deadly City with its empty skyscrapers, deserted streets, and less than savory characters who even under threat of alien invasion prove how remarkably stubborn and intransigent human nature is to self-improvement. Arthur C. Clarke’s The Sentinel is a classic – and it made the hairs stand-up on the back of my neck – while Harlan Ellison’s A Boy and His Dog did the same with its ultra-violent, ultra-sexual post-apocalyptic dystopia. By comparison, Paul W. Fairman’s The Cosmic Frame just made me smile by pitting petty aliens against petty people with a great silly twist while Robert Sheckley’s The Seventh Victim also had a great twist, just a bit more hard-boiled.

For all of that, Ray Bradbury’s The Fog Horn is the story that -- for me anyway -- rose a bit above the rest. It not only terrifies with its vivid imagery of a mournful lighthouse horn calling out across the roiling ocean only to receive an unexpected and frightful answering wail from something many fathoms deep, it’s also an intensely touching tale of loss and loneliness. I always remember as a kid crying when Godzilla or King Kong met their end despite the wanton destruction the monsters may have caused traipsing across human metropolises. Bradbury -- in this original tale of the kaiju – taps the dichotomy; they may be horrific monsters yes, but sympathetically, they are also the last of their kind.

This one is, unfortunately, long out-of-print, but if you can lay hands on a copy – mine came from the local library – this is quite a treat of sci-fi royalty, delightful tales, and cinema nostalgia.

P.S. I can’t resist also giving George Langelaan’s The Fly a mention. Not just for its imaginative creepiness of fusing fly to person, but also because of it’s similarly eerily prescient rant on the invasiveness of telephones: “Years ago, when they were mostly wall fixtures, I disliked them, but nowadays, when they are planted in every nook and cranny, they are a downright intrusion. The sudden ringing of the telephone annoys me. It means that, no matter what I am doing, some unknown person is coming into the room … to talk right into my ear, confidentially – whether I like it or not.”

Oh George … if you only knew what was to come …

[Ryan Chang · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are individual short stories in this collection that are much better than 3 stars, but there's some featured in this collection that I just did not vibe with.

THE GOOD:
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr.
The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury
The Fly by George Langelaan

An honorable mention to The Cosmic Frame by Paul W. Fairman

THE BAD:
Dr. Cyclops by Henry Kuttner
Deadly City by Ivar Jorgenson
Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates

All other stories were just fine, but those are the highlights and lowlights.

The writeups introducing each short story by Jim Wynorski were all very entertaining to read. Everyone should go see his film Chopping Mall. All in all, a decently put together package of some scifi good and bad.

[Paige Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the stories were truly intriguing and brilliant, barring the final one (A Boy and his Dog. It was dreadful).

I especially loved the forward written so beautifully by the great Ray Bradbury! What a master storyteller he was!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. The stories range from mediocre to pretty good... in several cases the movie is better than the short story... and in some cases vastly expands on the original. In summary:
- Dr Cyclops by Henry Kuttner- never saw the movie but the story is dated and goofy and not very good.
- Who Goes There? by John Campbell- genuinely creepy. The writing style is sometimes jarring and unclear, but the story overall is very good. The first movie "The Thing" is very good but other than the basic plot, is not much like this story... the John Carpenter remake is much closer to the original.
- Fairwell to the Master- Harry Bates- mediocre and dated. The movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, is better and larger in scope than this story, though this story has a somewhat interesting twist at the end. I found it hard to believe that a flying saucer in the middle of Washington has only a couple of troops stationed for overnight security.
- The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury- This story has little to do with the movie, The Beast From 20000 Fathoms. This story has the equivalent of only one scene in the movie that takes about 2 minutes of screen time. Both story and movie are pretty good however. As you would expect from Ray Bradbury the mood is very eerie.
- Deadly City by Ivar Jorgenson- the story has its moments but the ending seemed too cynical. Never saw the movie which was titled Target Earth.
- The Alien Machine by Raymond Jones- the movie This Island Earth is much better and grander than this tale which is loosely similar to the first half of the movie.
- The Cosmic Frame by Payl Fairman- clever and darkly humorous but overly cynical. The movie- Invasion of the Saucerman is pretty goofy but probably more fun than this tale.
- The Fly by George Langelaan- a creepy tale that was effectively captured by both versions of the movie.
- The Seventh Victim by Robert Sheckley- never saw the film, The Tenth Victim, but the story was interesting with a good (if dark) twist ending.
- The Sentinel by Arthur Clark- excellent though minor story that was drastically expanded in scale and plot for the superb 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Racer by Ib Melclor- never saw the movie Death Race 2000 but the story was pretty good, funny in a cynical, gloomy way.
- A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison- I didn't like the movie but the short story is pretty good- it is considerably different from the movie in details if not tone and setting. A humorous but (as you would expect from Ellison) cynical tale.

In short a solid if not exceptional collection of short stories that were made into movies. I wondered why some other authors and their short stories were not included- specifically Rollerball Murder by Harrison and Flowers for Algernon by Keyes. Both are classic stories that were made into movies. I am sure there are others. Nevertheless, it was fun to read the original stories that various movies were based on.

[Geoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Warning - I am not a classic sci-fi fan (I am being generous saying this. I do like sci- fi, like Bradbury and Asimov. The content in this book is dogshit to me) and am not the intended audience of this book. I have been asked to read it and am reviewing because I like to hear myself talk.

Reviews by Story:

Dr. Cyclops / by Henry Kuttner 1 - Repeatedly refers to a mixed race hispanic man as "the half-breed". Legitimately stupid story not worth reading. Stupid plot, stupid character actions that make no sense, also despite them being small enough that they can use the blade of a pair of scissors as a sword they spot a monkey and say he was "larger to them than a gorilla" what, king fucking kong? But for real, half-breed is the only thing the author uses to refer to the guy. It's shit. Also, why is every animal in this story a fucking albino? Why the hell does it have to be an albino? So we trust its the same animal? Just infantile. I don't care if this was back when this type of writing was in its infancy, that just means that none of it is worth reading. It sucks. DNF

Stopped at this point to look up who the editor is. Seriously unimpressed (I make no moral comment on exploitation films but they're dogshit awful quality in terms of "trusting the directors taste level". On top of that, having a parody-based exploitation film? How gauche.) SIGH. Just wanted to read the Fly and the stupid dog rapey story my mom suggested. War is hell.

Who goes there? / by John W. Campbell, Jr. 31 - Alright starting point for a story. The Thing is refined and cooler in the Carpenter movie where it is less defined. Characters in this book don't matter at all. Red-herring-like plot twists when... why do they even exist. Too neat and tidy in the way old sci-fi wrap-ups fall short. I hate old sci-fi plots where the main thing we're supposed to be afraid of the *intelligence* of aliens. I feel like there's an element of racism/fear of the other to it that I don't have. Of course if a thing is evil and smart that sucks but... IDK.

Farewell to the master / by Harry Bates 91 - O_O Get out of the asbestos room! Only 2 ships ever built on Earth... one landed on Mars and one burned up in the Sun? They not give a shit about the moon?? Fine enough story, even if it fails my sci-fi sniff test.

The fog horn / by Ray Bradbury 133 - BTW I am definitely definitely skipping all the intros just so you know. I just don't care at all. Skipping rating this one because I've read it before in one of his short story collections. I will say that it is clearly not a good story to be made into a movie.

Deadly city / by Ivar Jorgenson 145 - Not how a woman acts. Pathetic attempt at romance. Misogynistic and macho pandering. Is this a translation? There are some weird clunky sentences and repeated ideas. Okay, the main character just ruminated about how his love interest is a whore but he wouldn't let it disgust him because there are no morals without society, but also he's a bad guy so he wouldn't mind if she was a whore. Shut up. Meanwhile our next door neighbor is clearly holding a woman hostage so that's waiting for us. No thanks. DNF. NEXT!

The alien machine / by Raymond F. Jones 191 -
Anyone else getting really scared by this one? I mean, they seem to live right where they work all ho-hum! Are they paid in company currency too!? Someone free them! Also, this engineer is bold as hell just putting unknown electrical components through the xray machine in an era where putting VHS tapes through xray wiped 'em clean!

The cosmic frame / by Paul W. Fairman 223 -
Fun story. I can't imagine watching a full-length movie of it but, still!

The fly / by George Langelaan 239 -
They're living on company property again! The horror!!! And they're French! Mon dieu! Mom is like, "Oh the boy's father would never stand for him doing any abuse of animals!" meanwhile the dad is like "Just a dog, love, not like it has a soul!" and tossing it in a woodchipper. Ay yi yi.

The seventh victim / by Robert Sheckley 275 -
Nice short story. Silly that he proposed marriage, but eh whatever.

The sentinel / by Arthur C. Clarke 293 -
Nice. Very lean.

The racer / by Ib Melchior 307 -
PTSD Speedrun! Record time! Absolutely ridiculous and stupid subplot romance addition. Stupid Hallmark nonsensical bullshit... Also, you really just can not write a short story about someone having a change of heart without just making them seem like a spineless idiot who somehow never heard about being a good person before.

A boy and his dog / by Harlan Ellison (recc'd by my mom... thanks ma) 321 -
Misogyny. Fake female character. Cool enough short story.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite collections and I highly recommend it if you're a science fiction fan. Bradbury's intro titled The Turkey That Attacked New York describes how his short The Fog Horn was turned into the movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, a film which he personally was not too happy with.

A few other short stories included are Who Goes There by John W. Campbell, Jr. which was turned into The Thing from Another World, remade into John Carpenter's The Thing and more recently the 2011 The Thing. Harry Bates' Farewell to the Master which was filmed originally in 1951 as The Day the Earth Stood Still (I actually prefer this short story to either film versions). The Alien Machine by Raymond F. Jones filmed as This Island Earth and A Boy And His Dog by Harlan Ellison are also featured.

A cool feature to this book is that is shows behind the scenes pictures from movie sets like The Fly with Vincent Price and Death Race 2000 with Sylvester Stallone. My favorite picture features a candid moment between one of my favorite science fiction authors and one of my favorite directors. Arthur C. Clarke's The Sentinel was eventually developed into Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[Briana Grenert · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first recived this book, it was because I wanted to read the story that spawned The Day the Earth stood still (before I watched the movie). However I found some other really neat stories in there and was happily suprised.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good collection, with a few stories I liked a lot and only one I didn't like at all.