Like nothing on earth

by Eric Frank Russell

Una macchina di cui il suo stesso inventore non sa a che cosa serva... Un animale celebrato come amico dell'uomo e di cui nessuno aveva penetrato finora i sinistri disegni... Il mistero del diluvio universale finalmente svelato... Un'invasione da Riegel stroncata sui nascere... Un epico viaggio al di là delle ultime galassie, oltre gli inconcepibili confini dell'universo. Cinque inediti, magistrali racconti di un autore che conosce come pochi l'arte più difficile nel campo della quella di non deludere mai. Inoltre, in questo stesso numero, una nutritissima appendice in cui a un articolo di Asimov fanno corona altre ghiotte sorprese.


I topi meccanici (The Mechanical Mice, 1941)
L'amico dell'uomo (Into Your Tent I'll Creep, 1957)
Niente di nuovo (Nothing New, 1955)
Offesa al pudore (Exposure, 1950)
L'ultima Thule (Ultima Thule, 1951)

Copertina di Karel Thole

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

155 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1975

About the author

Eric Frank Russell was a British author best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction and other pulp magazines. Russell also wrote horror fiction for Weird Tales, and non-fiction articles on Fortean topics. A few of his stories were published under pseudonyms, of which Duncan H. Munro was used most often.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good collection of seven of Russell's short stories, all of which first appeared in John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Into Your Tent I'll Creep is quite good, and I also enjoyed Hobbyist and The Mechanical Mice. My favorite is the Hugo-winning Allamagoosa, one of the funniest stories I've ever read.

[Maria Beltrami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una serie di racconti a chiave, decisamente gradevoli, senza essere pietre miliari del genere.
Il migliore in assoluto è "Ultima Thule".

[Diletta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russell ancora non lo conoscevo. Racconti sagaci, dettagli letali.

[Adam Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 for 'Like Nothing On Earth' by Eric Frank Russell.

An enjoyable short story collection, by one of England's Sci-Fi elder statesman. Not really a negative or a positive, but not only are the stories short, but the book itself is too, at only 159 pages. Bad if you wanted more, but good if you want a quick read.

On the whole, I enjoyed this collection. All the stories are filled with Russell's dry sense of humour, bits here and there of his anti-establishment satire, and also full of his 1940s / 1950s whimsy.

Allamagoosa won a Hugo, and it really is quite funny.

Hobbyist was an intriguing read, and I enjoyed the friendship between the main character and his companion macaw. Just one slight negative - as the story progresses, it gets more intriguing, posing more questions than answers, and becomes quite exciting...and then it just ends. No real explanation - it just finishes. I felt Russell could have done a little more with this one.

Similarly, The Mechanical Mice is a very enjoyable spin on time-travel, and despite the antagonist machine(s) showing the age of this story, it was well written and quite exciting. But this one, quite suddenly, finishes, with all the plotlines neatly tied up.

Into Your Tent I'll Creep is brilliant. One of the best sci-fi shorts I've read. Russell writes alien military hierarchies really well. This is funny, with a great twist.

Nothing New was another twist story, but a little less twisty. An enjoyable short, but nothing amazing really.

Exposure was almost as good as 'Into Your Tent..', really funny, with hilariously quarrelsome alien military types and a truly unexpected ending explanation.

Ultima Thule is one of the only Russell stories I've read with almost no humour. This is a tense, dramatic account of the 3 man crew left on a scuttled scout ship in unknown space. This one was quite sad actually, but dramatically written, and a very satisfying read. Not sure I'd have ended the collection on a sombre note personally, but maybe that's just me.

On the whole, a very enjoyable shorts collection, from one of England's best-loved sci-fi authors. The overall score is marked down 1 star only, because the 2nd and 3rd stories finished suddenly, just when they were getting good.

Other than that, a great little collection.

[Nicola Strangis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pessima antologia, di cui salvo ’ultimo racconto ed il secondo articolo di Asimov (il primo è troppo tecnico), più che altro per il contenuto che ancora una volta parla profondamente della Storia dell’Umanità attraverso la Storia della Scienza (l’articolo si intitola Il Ponte degli Dei, in inglese The Bridge of the Gods).

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of short stories. Some are hilarious, one is a total tear jerker.

[Peveril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed. Allamagoosa is the best of these stories, none are poor but not all are great. (2019)

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

"an error I must fix", I wrote on my lack of reading more of his works, wen I read my review of Wasp, the first (and only other) of EFr's titles I had.

I really enjoyed this collection, too - almost every ending appealed and made me chuckle. Very much worthwhile if his style is to your liking.