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Worlds Vast and Various
SF readers have come to expect the universe from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Gregory fascinating multilayered characters, thrilling plots, and mind-bending scientific speculations firmly based in cutting-edge technological fact. When it comes to literate, human, unassailably possible science fiction, Benford is in a class by himself--as he proves once again in a stunning array of tales that have never been collected in one volume before. A time-traveler on an illegal trip into the past learns a chilling truth about her own destiny... As a deadly Superflu runs rampant through a polluted, overpopulated Earth, a husband-and-wife scientific team races to salvage a livable future...On a planet where the laws of physics are strangely twisted, a brilliant scientist work undermines an ancient faith and leads to a shattering revelation...An ore-hauler on Mercury, desperate to save her endangered ship and career findsa remarkable way a wormhole trapped in the hellish flux of magnetic fieldsand fiery plasma generated by the nuclear furnace of the sun... These are but a few of the various worlds the respected astrophysicist and SF luminary now transports us to in ships constructed of evocative words and ingenious ideas. Astonishing, provocative, and intellectually stimulating, each selection is a glittering star in the vast cosmos of Gregory Benford's unparalleled imagination.
324 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
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59 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Benford
567 books617 followersGregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.
As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.
As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 16, 2024
This 2000 collection includes a dozen of hard-sf writer Gregory Benford’s shorter works published between 1970 and 1998, mostly from the 90s. The book as a whole won 9th place for 2001 Locus Award in the collection category. Gregory Benford’s shorter works seems to be often nominated for Locus Award by his fellow SF writers and professionals. Clearly, I have a love/hate relationship with Benford’s densely-packed writing, rating the works alternately as 1-2 on the more tropish topics, or 4-5 when his knowledge as a working scientist shines through. My favorites were A Calculus of Desperation, In the Dark Backward, As Big as the Ritz, World Vast World Various, A Worm in the Well, and A Dance to Strange Musics.
A Calculus of Desperation, first published in the New Legends anthology as “A Desperate Calculus” by Sterling Blake in 1995. Amy is a medical researcher investigating a deadly pandemic in Africa. Her husband Todd is a biology researcher preserving samples of various species on the verge of deforestation in South America. It is a dystopic future, where both disasters have accelerated beyond their current state in 1995. I did not see the big plot twist coming, but it was made believable, turning the whole story on its head. Rating 5/5.
Doing Alien, first published in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March 1994. A pick-up artist disguises himself in order to cozy up to the alien Alphas in his favorite bar. Rating 3/5.
In the Dark Backward, first published in Amazing Stories February 1993 as “The Dark Backward”. A rebellious future historian violates the laws regulating time travel, to meet famous historical figures and let them know their work would be renowned in her time. They do not respond well. Rating 4/5.
The Voice, first published in Science Fiction Age May 1997. In a future with centrally controlled brain implants, a couple of kids turn off their Voices and teach themselves to read. Predictable outcome. 2/5.
Kollapse, first published in Science Fiction Age May 1995. Facing the collapse of civilization, a young man full of himself expects to be a survivor due to his digital prowess. Predictable outcome. 2/5.
As Big as the Ritz, first published in Interzone Winter 1986 and the Under the Wheel anthology in 1987. The son of an asteroid mining family goes to college to study astrophysics on Earth, where his experiences are stereotypical. There he meets and falls for a young woman with revolutionary zeal. When she invites him home to meet her father, he learns of her extraordinary background. Besides the story, this novella is an astrophysical tour that only a hard-sf writer like Benford could pull off. 9th Place for 1987 Locus Award in novella category. Rating 5/5.
The Scarred Man, first published in Venture Science Fiction Magazine May 1970. In a gritty (not cyberpunk) future Antarctica, a man encounters a scarred man who had participated in a failed scheme to profit from stealing computer time. This is the first SF story to ever mention a “computer virus,” but the details are lost in the long obsolete model of timesharing computers. Rating 1/5.
World Vast, World Various, first published in the Murasaki anthology in 1992. It was Benford’s entry into a collaborative world-building project organized by Robert Silverberg. A crew of Japanese explorers encounters aliens on the planet Chujo, one of a pair of twin planets orbiting the star Murasaki. Through an extended series of episodes, the story demonstrates how the preconceptions and egos of scientists play in the process of coming to understanding the world. Rating 4/5.
Zoomers, first published in the L.A. Times in 1995. Myung and her Foe virtually zoom around Orange County, competing in an abstract finance space. It seems like an attempt by hard-sf writer Gregory Benford to try out a cyberpunk style, but his characters never really move into the virtual reality except as their day jobs. Rating 2/5.
High Abyss, first published in the New Legendsanthology in 1995. It is an extremely abstract concept piece involving conflict between Lambda and Epsilon in a mathematical universe, about whom I have no reason to care. 3rd Place for 1996 Locus Award in short story category. Rating 1/5.
A Worm in the Well, first published in Analog November 1995. A desperate pilot takes her ship near the Sun to capture data on a dark anomaly within a coronal arch of plasma. Clearly, this is SF thriller written by an astrophysicist, and I loved it. 10th Place for 1996 Locus Award in the novelette category. Rating 4/5.
A Dance to Strange Musics, first published in Science Fiction Age November 1998. Benford has created a fascinating exo-planet with life based on strong electrical fields and potentials. The expedition sent to study it learn things painfully, eventually a second expedition is sent to what is most likely an artificial post-biological system of life. Fascinating, even if the characters are mere observation points. 9th Place to 1999 Locus Award in the novelette category. Rating 4/5.
A Calculus of Desperation, first published in the New Legends anthology as “A Desperate Calculus” by Sterling Blake in 1995. Amy is a medical researcher investigating a deadly pandemic in Africa. Her husband Todd is a biology researcher preserving samples of various species on the verge of deforestation in South America. It is a dystopic future, where both disasters have accelerated beyond their current state in 1995. I did not see the big plot twist coming, but it was made believable, turning the whole story on its head. Rating 5/5.
Doing Alien, first published in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March 1994. A pick-up artist disguises himself in order to cozy up to the alien Alphas in his favorite bar. Rating 3/5.
In the Dark Backward, first published in Amazing Stories February 1993 as “The Dark Backward”. A rebellious future historian violates the laws regulating time travel, to meet famous historical figures and let them know their work would be renowned in her time. They do not respond well. Rating 4/5.
The Voice, first published in Science Fiction Age May 1997. In a future with centrally controlled brain implants, a couple of kids turn off their Voices and teach themselves to read. Predictable outcome. 2/5.
Kollapse, first published in Science Fiction Age May 1995. Facing the collapse of civilization, a young man full of himself expects to be a survivor due to his digital prowess. Predictable outcome. 2/5.
As Big as the Ritz, first published in Interzone Winter 1986 and the Under the Wheel anthology in 1987. The son of an asteroid mining family goes to college to study astrophysics on Earth, where his experiences are stereotypical. There he meets and falls for a young woman with revolutionary zeal. When she invites him home to meet her father, he learns of her extraordinary background. Besides the story, this novella is an astrophysical tour that only a hard-sf writer like Benford could pull off. 9th Place for 1987 Locus Award in novella category. Rating 5/5.
The Scarred Man, first published in Venture Science Fiction Magazine May 1970. In a gritty (not cyberpunk) future Antarctica, a man encounters a scarred man who had participated in a failed scheme to profit from stealing computer time. This is the first SF story to ever mention a “computer virus,” but the details are lost in the long obsolete model of timesharing computers. Rating 1/5.
World Vast, World Various, first published in the Murasaki anthology in 1992. It was Benford’s entry into a collaborative world-building project organized by Robert Silverberg. A crew of Japanese explorers encounters aliens on the planet Chujo, one of a pair of twin planets orbiting the star Murasaki. Through an extended series of episodes, the story demonstrates how the preconceptions and egos of scientists play in the process of coming to understanding the world. Rating 4/5.
Zoomers, first published in the L.A. Times in 1995. Myung and her Foe virtually zoom around Orange County, competing in an abstract finance space. It seems like an attempt by hard-sf writer Gregory Benford to try out a cyberpunk style, but his characters never really move into the virtual reality except as their day jobs. Rating 2/5.
High Abyss, first published in the New Legendsanthology in 1995. It is an extremely abstract concept piece involving conflict between Lambda and Epsilon in a mathematical universe, about whom I have no reason to care. 3rd Place for 1996 Locus Award in short story category. Rating 1/5.
A Worm in the Well, first published in Analog November 1995. A desperate pilot takes her ship near the Sun to capture data on a dark anomaly within a coronal arch of plasma. Clearly, this is SF thriller written by an astrophysicist, and I loved it. 10th Place for 1996 Locus Award in the novelette category. Rating 4/5.
A Dance to Strange Musics, first published in Science Fiction Age November 1998. Benford has created a fascinating exo-planet with life based on strong electrical fields and potentials. The expedition sent to study it learn things painfully, eventually a second expedition is sent to what is most likely an artificial post-biological system of life. Fascinating, even if the characters are mere observation points. 9th Place to 1999 Locus Award in the novelette category. Rating 4/5.
February 5, 2013
Gregory Benford is a physics professor at UC Irvine and a Nebula and Campbell award-winning writer. I was introduced to Benford through Timescape, his classic novel of environmental disaster and temporal speculation. Benford impressed me with his thoughtful character development as much as his estimable technical knowledge. His ability to combine sympathetic characters with hard-science speculation makes him an especially valuable writer. Worlds Vast and Various collects an assortment of Benford’s previously published short fiction.
It’s an up-and-down collection vis-à-vis tone and quality: some stories burst with evocative scientific speculation, others coast along on breezy charm. Most do touch on Benford’s pet themes: confrontation with the unknown, depictions of work-life, and conceptual breakthrough.
Worlds Vast and Various begins ominously with “A Calculus of Desperation,” one of the compilation’s bleaker tales. The story follows a scientist collecting endangered species from the rain forest before the foliage is plowed over. Half a world away in Africa, his wife joins relief workers treating victims of a mysterious epidemic. It’s difficult to reveal any more without giving away the story’s surprises. The revelations are genuinely shocking, the implications terrifying.
In “Big as the Ritz,” Benford apes the sardonic prose style of F. Scott Fitzgerald, making for one of the collection’s more light-hearted efforts. Astrophysics student Clayton Donner is invited by a coed to join her on a trip to a mysterious satellite colony created by her father. No scientist has ever been allowed to visit the colony, so Clayton conceals his major from his girlfriend and agrees to accompany her. Upon arrival Clayton discovers that the colony consists of an artificial ring spinning around a thumbnail size black hole (which allows Benford to throw in some conjecture about the by-products of super novas). The occupants of the colony are a group of clones who live in a uniform, egalitarian society. Here Benford satires the excesses of socialism. It’s pretty mild stuff, but raised hackles when it was published in the British SF magazine Interzone.
Originally published in 1970, “The Scarred Man” is by far the oldest of the stories in this collection. Not surprisingly, it is also the weakest (the bulk of the narrative being comprised of a huge block of expository dialogue). Inspired by Benford’s work on the ARPANet project during the late sixties, the “The Scarred Man” is remarkable for accurately it describes the mechanisms and implications of computer viruses – 13 years before Dr. Fred Cohen “officially” coined the phrase.
“Worm in the Well” is a breezy adventure yarn. Prospector Claire Ambrase takes on a dangerous scientific mission in order to pay off her debts. Her mission is to photograph a wormhole that has appeared on the surface of the sun. Benford weaves in some impressive astrophysics concerning wormholes, magnetism, and gravitational effects. Claire is a strong and enjoyable protagonist. Her interaction with her spaceship’s AI, named Erma, injects some unexpected humor into the story as well.
“Word Vast, World Various” and “A Dance to Strange Musics” are thematic siblings, sharing as a common ancestor Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. In Solaris Lem argued that traditional human modes of inquiry would be incapable of yielding any useful insight when confronted with an entity that is truly alien – skewering the time-honored SF assumption that aliens could be easily understood. “Word Vast, World Various” and “A Dance to Strange Musics” are both first contact stories that center around the inability of the human characters to penetrate the mysteries of the aliens they encounter.
In “Word Vast, World Various,” a delegation of Japanese scientists attempt to make contact with the humanoid inhabitants of the planet Chujo, only to become frustrated when the Chujoans refuse to acknowledge the human delegates. Benford’s decision to make his scientists all Japanese supports the tale’s themes in a couple of ways. It punctures the assumptions of American readers by challenging the supposition that their country will always dominate world matters. While the rigidity of Japanese social customs underlines the failure of traditional scientific paradigms to illuminate the puzzling behavior of the Chujoans. The ending strikes an upbeat note as the scientists realize that by shedding their prejudices, they have the opportunity to discover something truly new.
“A Dance to Strange Musics” draws this theme to a far darker conclusion. While surveying the planet Shiva, the crew of the starship Adventurer discovers a massive lake that appears to be suspended in mid-air. Their investigation leads them to a bizarre race of crab-like polygon-shaped creatures, whose hive-like society defies interpretation. Benford tells this tale with a merciless eye toward his premise and its implications, willfully abandoning any attempt at characterization, refusing the reader any comfort derived from likable, sympathetic characters. For here the scientists not only grow embittered by their inability to understand the ecology of Shiva, but become jaded by the existential horror of confronting an alien race that may be as vastly superior to us as we are to amoebas.
Like “Word Vast, World Various” and “A Dance to Strange Musics,” “High Abyss” deals with the notion of conceptual breakthrough. The story centers around the inhabitants of a cylindrical planet enveloped with a permanent opaque cloud layer called “The Vault.” A mathematician, slyly named Lambda, has devised an experiment to test his theories: a hot-air balloon that will carry him above The Vault, allowing him to view what lies beyond. Lambda’s proposal sparks a civil war between his followers and a group of religious zealots, which includes his former mentor. “High Abyss” clearly owes a debt to Isaac Asimov’s classic “Nightfall,” but offers a more upbeat conclusion: those who cannot suffer the loss of their old paradigms will fall away, the rest will claim the future.
It’s an up-and-down collection vis-à-vis tone and quality: some stories burst with evocative scientific speculation, others coast along on breezy charm. Most do touch on Benford’s pet themes: confrontation with the unknown, depictions of work-life, and conceptual breakthrough.
Worlds Vast and Various begins ominously with “A Calculus of Desperation,” one of the compilation’s bleaker tales. The story follows a scientist collecting endangered species from the rain forest before the foliage is plowed over. Half a world away in Africa, his wife joins relief workers treating victims of a mysterious epidemic. It’s difficult to reveal any more without giving away the story’s surprises. The revelations are genuinely shocking, the implications terrifying.
In “Big as the Ritz,” Benford apes the sardonic prose style of F. Scott Fitzgerald, making for one of the collection’s more light-hearted efforts. Astrophysics student Clayton Donner is invited by a coed to join her on a trip to a mysterious satellite colony created by her father. No scientist has ever been allowed to visit the colony, so Clayton conceals his major from his girlfriend and agrees to accompany her. Upon arrival Clayton discovers that the colony consists of an artificial ring spinning around a thumbnail size black hole (which allows Benford to throw in some conjecture about the by-products of super novas). The occupants of the colony are a group of clones who live in a uniform, egalitarian society. Here Benford satires the excesses of socialism. It’s pretty mild stuff, but raised hackles when it was published in the British SF magazine Interzone.
Originally published in 1970, “The Scarred Man” is by far the oldest of the stories in this collection. Not surprisingly, it is also the weakest (the bulk of the narrative being comprised of a huge block of expository dialogue). Inspired by Benford’s work on the ARPANet project during the late sixties, the “The Scarred Man” is remarkable for accurately it describes the mechanisms and implications of computer viruses – 13 years before Dr. Fred Cohen “officially” coined the phrase.
“Worm in the Well” is a breezy adventure yarn. Prospector Claire Ambrase takes on a dangerous scientific mission in order to pay off her debts. Her mission is to photograph a wormhole that has appeared on the surface of the sun. Benford weaves in some impressive astrophysics concerning wormholes, magnetism, and gravitational effects. Claire is a strong and enjoyable protagonist. Her interaction with her spaceship’s AI, named Erma, injects some unexpected humor into the story as well.
“Word Vast, World Various” and “A Dance to Strange Musics” are thematic siblings, sharing as a common ancestor Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. In Solaris Lem argued that traditional human modes of inquiry would be incapable of yielding any useful insight when confronted with an entity that is truly alien – skewering the time-honored SF assumption that aliens could be easily understood. “Word Vast, World Various” and “A Dance to Strange Musics” are both first contact stories that center around the inability of the human characters to penetrate the mysteries of the aliens they encounter.
In “Word Vast, World Various,” a delegation of Japanese scientists attempt to make contact with the humanoid inhabitants of the planet Chujo, only to become frustrated when the Chujoans refuse to acknowledge the human delegates. Benford’s decision to make his scientists all Japanese supports the tale’s themes in a couple of ways. It punctures the assumptions of American readers by challenging the supposition that their country will always dominate world matters. While the rigidity of Japanese social customs underlines the failure of traditional scientific paradigms to illuminate the puzzling behavior of the Chujoans. The ending strikes an upbeat note as the scientists realize that by shedding their prejudices, they have the opportunity to discover something truly new.
“A Dance to Strange Musics” draws this theme to a far darker conclusion. While surveying the planet Shiva, the crew of the starship Adventurer discovers a massive lake that appears to be suspended in mid-air. Their investigation leads them to a bizarre race of crab-like polygon-shaped creatures, whose hive-like society defies interpretation. Benford tells this tale with a merciless eye toward his premise and its implications, willfully abandoning any attempt at characterization, refusing the reader any comfort derived from likable, sympathetic characters. For here the scientists not only grow embittered by their inability to understand the ecology of Shiva, but become jaded by the existential horror of confronting an alien race that may be as vastly superior to us as we are to amoebas.
Like “Word Vast, World Various” and “A Dance to Strange Musics,” “High Abyss” deals with the notion of conceptual breakthrough. The story centers around the inhabitants of a cylindrical planet enveloped with a permanent opaque cloud layer called “The Vault.” A mathematician, slyly named Lambda, has devised an experiment to test his theories: a hot-air balloon that will carry him above The Vault, allowing him to view what lies beyond. Lambda’s proposal sparks a civil war between his followers and a group of religious zealots, which includes his former mentor. “High Abyss” clearly owes a debt to Isaac Asimov’s classic “Nightfall,” but offers a more upbeat conclusion: those who cannot suffer the loss of their old paradigms will fall away, the rest will claim the future.
December 8, 2011
This is a collection of sci-fi short stories and therefore has the failings of such: it is hard to read through quickly and changes universes abruptly and frequently. That being said it also spans many different possibilities about life outside of our experience. It is an interesting idea that alien life or even our own lives many centuries in the future will be so different as to be unrecognizable. We may offer conjectures as to how we expect these future lives to behave, but the fact of the matter is that it is very possible that everything we expect will fall totally flat. So, stories like these that are so far outside of the box while still being totally plausible are an interesting exercise in how our current understanding will react to the completely alien.
October 11, 2014
I'd recommend reading the Afterward first. I didn't quite get some of the stories at first. They should stand on their own, but now they need just a few hints to appreciate them more.
November 27, 2017
Love Science in science fiction. Benford never disappoints on this note. Strong believable characters and a fast pace plot keeps the pages turning.
April 23, 2022
I guess I am pretty much done with SF. It just doesn't thrill me anymore. The stories were fairly well written; still, I think Benford is a better novelist than a short story writer. A Diamond as Big as the Ritz was by far the best story. Funny and with a neat twist at the end. A Calculus of Desperation was horrifying. Two First Worlders decide to save the planet by getting rid of Third World people. And Japanese scientist would know that they weren't descendants of Neanderthals (World Vast, World Valorous).
February 11, 2023
Not my favorite writing style and not my favorite content. There was a section on the writer’s thoughts on his own short stories which made it worthwhile but in the end it took a while to find this collection’s worth.
October 31, 2024
Some good stories
April 17, 2014
I bought this because I like Benford's novels very much, and I had never seen a short story collection by him. I will stick with his novels. I finished two of the seven stories I started and found those two rather pointless. Maybe it's my mood lately. Maybe he needs more words to tell a story than a short story permits. But it does remind me to finish the Galactic Center series -- that one I really like.
Want to read
August 3, 2012Only Doing Alien and Ten Thousand Years of Solitude
March 16, 2015
Highlights: "As Big as the Ritz," "Worlds Vast, Worlds Various," "A Dance to Strange Musics."
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews