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Other Dimensions: Ten Stories of Science Fiction
Includes:
And He Built a Crooked House by Robert A. Heinlein
Narrow Valley by R.A. Lafferty
Wall of Darkness by Arthur C. Clarke
The Destiny of Milton Gomrath by Alexei Panshin
Stanley Toothbrush by Terry Carr
Inside by Carol Carr
The Captured Cross-Section by Miles John Breuer
Mugwump 4 by Robert Silverberg
The Worlds of If [Professor Manderpootz] by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Disappearing Act by Alfred Bester
And He Built a Crooked House by Robert A. Heinlein
Narrow Valley by R.A. Lafferty
Wall of Darkness by Arthur C. Clarke
The Destiny of Milton Gomrath by Alexei Panshin
Stanley Toothbrush by Terry Carr
Inside by Carol Carr
The Captured Cross-Section by Miles John Breuer
Mugwump 4 by Robert Silverberg
The Worlds of If [Professor Manderpootz] by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Disappearing Act by Alfred Bester
178 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 1974
About the author
Robert Silverberg
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Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 22, 2020
This is an anthology of ten science fiction stories reprinted from genre magazines; it doesn't have any relation to Silverberg's New Dimensions series of original anthologies. Silverberg seems to have been trying to select a group of stories as far apart from each other in theme and style as he could with this one. He includes stories from the very dawn of the field by Stanley G. Weinbaum and Miles J. Breuer, M.D. along with contemporary (for the time) pieces by R.A. Lafferty and Alexei Panshin. There are humorous pieces by Terry Carr and Silverberg himself along with serious work by Carol Carr and Arthur C. Clarke. My two favorites are Disappearing Act by Alfred Bester and -And He Built a Crooked House by Robert A. Heinlein. A very wide range indeed.
March 30, 2021
I heard of this book via a book review of an author who said that reading this book changed his whole perspective and got him to start writing.
Published in 1973, these 10 tales are mostly from the “golden age” of science fiction. They cleverly deal with other dimensions in varying ways. I liked some of the stories so much that I want to read other works by these authors.
And it feels a little bit weird when the distant future is 2011. I catch myself comparing the vision of the story with the reality of that time! It’s a lot of fun!
Published in 1973, these 10 tales are mostly from the “golden age” of science fiction. They cleverly deal with other dimensions in varying ways. I liked some of the stories so much that I want to read other works by these authors.
And it feels a little bit weird when the distant future is 2011. I catch myself comparing the vision of the story with the reality of that time! It’s a lot of fun!
July 31, 2025
This omnibus edition was published by the now defunct Science Fiction Book Club which compiles four of Robert Silberberg's novels: The Man in the Maze, Nightwings, Up the Line and Dying Inside.
The Man in the Maze concerns a deadly trap-filled maze on a distant planet where an Earthman has self-exiled. For what purpose and why is the crux of story as his fellow Earthmen seek him out for help with a possible alien invasion.
Nightwings I believe was three separate novellas at one time, so the book is what you call a "fix-up" novel. Anyway, this far-future tale where Earth is a tourist spot for alien races tells how several characters react to an impending alien invasion. They travel from city to city meeting weird inhabitants along the way and discover where humanity is heading in its next phase of evolution.
Up the Line is a futuristic story where time travel has become commonplace and people use this technology for time tourism. The main character is a time travel tour guide who is not averse to bending the rules of time travel - paradoxes be damned!
The omnibus ends with the best (and I believe one of Silverberg's best-known) stories: Dying Inside. This very emotional tale can hardly be called science fiction as it only deals with the pseudo-science of extra-sensory perception. The story is set in the present day (as of the writing of the novel) and has no other SF elements. One man able to read minds holds this ability secret from all but a very few. The real story begins as his power begins to fade and he becomes a normal human, he however, has never been normal and therein lies his dilemma. The themes of alienation, solitude and the anxiety of being different from others (themes now done to death, I know) are masterfully presented by Silberberg. The main character's emotional insecurities stemming from his "spying" ability are what alienates him and prevents any true emotional connection with anyone. A wholly character-driven tale, Dying Inside is very worthy of your time.
The Man in the Maze concerns a deadly trap-filled maze on a distant planet where an Earthman has self-exiled. For what purpose and why is the crux of story as his fellow Earthmen seek him out for help with a possible alien invasion.
Nightwings I believe was three separate novellas at one time, so the book is what you call a "fix-up" novel. Anyway, this far-future tale where Earth is a tourist spot for alien races tells how several characters react to an impending alien invasion. They travel from city to city meeting weird inhabitants along the way and discover where humanity is heading in its next phase of evolution.
Up the Line is a futuristic story where time travel has become commonplace and people use this technology for time tourism. The main character is a time travel tour guide who is not averse to bending the rules of time travel - paradoxes be damned!
The omnibus ends with the best (and I believe one of Silverberg's best-known) stories: Dying Inside. This very emotional tale can hardly be called science fiction as it only deals with the pseudo-science of extra-sensory perception. The story is set in the present day (as of the writing of the novel) and has no other SF elements. One man able to read minds holds this ability secret from all but a very few. The real story begins as his power begins to fade and he becomes a normal human, he however, has never been normal and therein lies his dilemma. The themes of alienation, solitude and the anxiety of being different from others (themes now done to death, I know) are masterfully presented by Silberberg. The main character's emotional insecurities stemming from his "spying" ability are what alienates him and prevents any true emotional connection with anyone. A wholly character-driven tale, Dying Inside is very worthy of your time.
December 13, 2025
This is a short and (for the most part) lively anthology of ten (mostly) science fiction stories originally published from 1929 to 1970. Half of the stories are funny (as in funny ha-ha as well as funny peculiar) including Silverberg's own contribution. My favorite was the last story, Alfred Bester's "Disappearing Act."
The biggest disappointment was the Arthur C. Clarke story, "The Wall of Darkness." That went on forever without much in the way of a resolution. The most confusing was the Terry Carr selection, "Inside" where your guess is as good as mine as to it's science fiction-ness and to what actually happened.
I read a hardback version with a cover like this:
Selections:
* "Introduction" by Our Editor. Less than a page here. Looks at the definition of dimension, a general hello to the reader and not much else.
* " -- And He Built a Crooked House" by Robert A. Heinlein.
* "Narrow Valley" by R. A. Lafferty. His usual disappointing nonsense. This time, it's about a valley that no one can seem to cross. One of those stories where you're not sure if it's racist.
* "Wall of Darkness" by Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke would list this in his top 25 favorite story he wrote. That's about all it has going for it.
* "The Destiny of Milton Gonrath" by Alexi Panshin.
* "Stanley Toothbrush" by Terry Carr. A much happier version of Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life."
* "Inside" by Carol Carr. Don't bother.
* "The Captured Cross-section" by Miles J. Breuer, MD.
* "Mugwump 4" by Our Editor.
* "The Worlds of If" by Stanley G. Weinbaum.
* "Disappearing Act" by Alfred Bester.
The biggest disappointment was the Arthur C. Clarke story, "The Wall of Darkness." That went on forever without much in the way of a resolution. The most confusing was the Terry Carr selection, "Inside" where your guess is as good as mine as to it's science fiction-ness and to what actually happened.
I read a hardback version with a cover like this:
Selections:
* "Introduction" by Our Editor. Less than a page here. Looks at the definition of dimension, a general hello to the reader and not much else.
* " -- And He Built a Crooked House" by Robert A. Heinlein.
* "Narrow Valley" by R. A. Lafferty. His usual disappointing nonsense. This time, it's about a valley that no one can seem to cross. One of those stories where you're not sure if it's racist.
* "Wall of Darkness" by Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke would list this in his top 25 favorite story he wrote. That's about all it has going for it.
* "The Destiny of Milton Gonrath" by Alexi Panshin.
* "Stanley Toothbrush" by Terry Carr. A much happier version of Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life."
* "Inside" by Carol Carr. Don't bother.
* "The Captured Cross-section" by Miles J. Breuer, MD.
* "Mugwump 4" by Our Editor.
* "The Worlds of If" by Stanley G. Weinbaum.
* "Disappearing Act" by Alfred Bester.
Read
December 28, 20123/7/12: "Wall of Darkness" (1949) by Arthur C. Clarke
3/6/12: "--And He Built a Crooked House" (1940) by Robert A. Heinlein
3/6/12: "--And He Built a Crooked House" (1940) by Robert A. Heinlein
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews