Space Dogfights

by Algis Budrys (Editor), Charles G. Waugh (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Techno-warriors in flight. No limits, no mercy.
In World War I, the sky was the limit in a brutal new form of one-on-one combat. In the future, the battlefield is space. The technology is mind-boggling, the aircraft state-of-the-art, the warriors a daring new breed of fighter pilot...
But the dogfights are still one-on-one. Still brutal. Still the ultimate challenge.
Here are explosive stories of space dogfights by today's masters of science fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

210 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome, John A. Sentry, William Scarff, Paul Janvier, and Sam & Janet Argo.

Called "AJ" by friends, Budrys was born Algirdas Jonas Budrys in Königsberg in East Prussia. He was the son of the consul general of the Lithuanian government, (the pre-World War II government still recognized after the war by the United States, even though the Soviet-sponsored government was in power throughout most of Budrys's life). His family was sent to the United States by the Lithuanian government in 1936 when Budrys was 5 years old. During most of his adult life, he held a captain's commission in the Free Lithuanian Army.

Budrys was educated at the University of Miami, and later at Columbia University in New York. His first published science fiction story was The High Purpose, which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1952. Beginning in 1952 Budrys worked as editor and manager for such science fiction publishers as Gnome Press and Galaxy Science Fiction. Some of his science fiction in the 1950s was published under the pen name "John A. Sentry", a reconfigured Anglification of his Lithuanian name. Among his other pseudonyms in the SF magazines of the 1950s and elsewhere, several revived as bylines for vignettes in his magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, is "William Scarff". He also wrote several stories under the names "Ivan Janvier" or "Paul Janvier." He also used the pen name "Alger Rome" in his collaborations with Jerome Bixby.

Budrys's 1960 novella Rogue Moon was nominated for a Hugo Award, and was later anthologized in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two (1973). His Cold War science fiction novel Who? was adapted for the screen in 1973. In addition to numerous Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominations, Budrys won the Science Fiction Research Association's 2007 Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to speculative fiction scholarship. In 2009, he was the recipient of one of the first three Solstice Awards presented by the SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.

Budrys was married to Edna Duna; they had four sons. He last resided in Evanston, Illinois. He died at home, from metastatic malignant melanoma on June 9, 2008.

Reviews

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the title, most of the stories in this anthology take place on Earth. But it is a strong anthology, with some great tales of science fiction or alternate history. My favorites include:

"Into the Wind," by Glen Cook: Set on a planet where weather conditions prevent metal from being used, the main characters are mercenaries flying gliders in combat against monsterious fauna.

"Hawk Among the Sparrows," by Dean McLauglin is about a pilot and his high-tech jet fighter being accidentally sent back in time to World War I, where (even after figuring out a fuel source) he discovers his plane might be TOO advanced to be useful.

"Custer's Last Jump," by Steven Utley & Howard Waldrop is a wonderful steampunk alternate adventure, written as a scholarly article, in which Custer and his troops parachuted out of dirigables at Little Big Horn, while Crazy Horse led a squadron of airplanes against them.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually a very disappointing collection of stories. The title is misleading, for one. Only a couple of the stories take place in space. Most take place on earth. And there's actually very little in the way of "dogfighting" in most stories. Most tales are also way to long with lots of exposition and relatively little action.

I did enjoy a couple of the tales. George R. R. Martin's Night of the Vampyres was good. A Little Night Flying by Bob Shaw was quick and hard hitting. These were the first and last slots in the anthology, traditionally reserved for the best stories so that was true. But the middle tales were mostly ho hum at best. Glen Cook's In the Wind had some great ideas but was just too long and too introspective. Gene Wolfe's Against the Lafayette Escadrille was pretty good with a strong ending, but the story itself was essentially magical realism. Hawk Among the Sparrows by Dean McLaughlin also had some cool ideas but was just too long. Had this been shortened by a third I would probably have really enjoyed it.

The weakest "story" in the collection was Custer's Last Jump by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop. It's an alternate history piece. Basically, the authors write a mostly bare bones listing of an alternate history in which air flight plays a role in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. This isn't a story. it's a pretend history. There are no real characters. Historical figures are mentioned, like Custer and Crazy Horse, but we get no sense of them as real people. They are "historical" footnotes. Here's the thing. In reading real history I don't mind this approach, but I don't find someone else's alternate history that interesting in and of itself. In reading alternate history, I want to get involved with the characters and understand how are dealing with these different events they face. There was none of that here.