Catastrophes!

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Charles G. Waugh (Editor)

A collection of short sci-fi stories where central theme is a some sort of a catastrophe. The book is divided in five parts, depending on a kind of a catastrophe described.

Part I: Universe destroyed.
1. "The Last Trump" by Isaac Asimov (1955)
2. "No Other Gods" by Edward Wellen (1972)
3. "The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat" by Harlan Ellison (1976)
4. "Stars, Won't You Hide Me?" by Ben Bova (1966)

Part II: Sun destroyed.
1. "Judgement Day" by Lloyd Biggie Jr. (1953)
2. "The Custodian" by William Tenn (1953)
3. "Phoenix" by Clark Ashton Smith (1954)
4. "Run From the Fire" by Harry Harrison (1975)

Part III: Earth destroyed.
1. "Requiem" by Edmond Hamilton (1962)
2. "At the Core" by Larry Niven (1966)
3. "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber (1951)
4. "King of the Hill" by Chad Oliver (1972)

Part IV: Humanity destroyed.
1. "The New Atlantis" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
2. "History Lesson" by Arthur C. Clarke (1949)
3. "Seeds of the Dusk" by Raymond Z. Gallun (1938)
4. "Dark Benediction" by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1951)

Part V: Civilization destroyed.
1. "Last Night of Summer" by Alfred Coppel (1956)
2. "The Store of the Worlds" by Robert Sheckley (1959)
3. "How It Was When the Past Went Away" by Robert Silverberg (1969)
4. "Shark Ship" by C. M. Kornbluth (1958)

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published July 12, 1981

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Florin Constantinescu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story breakdown

- Isaac Asimov - The Last Trump (short story): 3*
Archangel Gabriel blows his trumpet and it's Dies Irae! All the dead come back to life, and it's quite an interesting situation and a funny read. It doesn't go anywhere in the end, so can't be more than 3*

- Edward Wellen - No Other Gods (short story): 1*
Incomprehensible mumbo jumbo. Some computer decides to kill humans...

- Harlan Ellison - The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat (short story): 1*
I never understood this author. Neither can I now. That it's end of the universe was the only thing I was able to gather from this story.

- Ben Bova - Stars, Won't You Hide Me? (short story): 2*
The last human in the universe is continuously taunted by the aliens who destroyed humankind. Nice setting, but I would've liked the story to go somewhere else.

- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. - Judgement Day (short story): 3*
A convict who has an ability to see and alter his future is unable to escape his own hanging. The most interesting so far.

- William Tenn - The Custodian (novelette): 2*
The last man to evacuate Earth before the sun goes nova collects all remaining important art. Again, nice setting, but past midpoint the story is nothing more than a list of paintings and sculptures.

- Clark Ashton Smith - Phoenix (short story): 3*
The sun has almost gone cold in this story's setting, and a bunch of scientists launched themselves along with Earth's nuclear arsenal into the sun in an attempt to restart it. Certainly a product of its times. Smells like the 50's from a mile away.

- Harry Harrison - Run from the Fire (novelette): 1*
Native Americans travel through parallel universes to escape the sun going nova. Interesting concept, but horrible execution. By midpoint I realized I had completely lost the plot and the characters' names.

- Edmond Hamilton - Requiem (short story): 2*
Earth has been rendered unlivable for centuries, and a star-ship of historians return to visit it one last time. Some guy experiences nostalgia walking through a deserted city. The end.

- Larry Niven - At the Core (novelette): 3*
Beowulf Schaeffer (hero of many Known Space stories) is sent by the Puppeteers to the center of the galaxy, which he discovers to be 'exploding'. I find the Puppeteers to be the worst written of all famous alien races in science fiction, and I have no love of Niven's style in general. Luckily the idea here is pretty good.

- Fritz Leiber - A Pail of Air (short story): 4*
In an idea very similar to that of his novel 'The Wanderer', a rogue star "steals" the Earth from its orbit around the sun and plummets it into an ice age. A family manages to survive in an apartment building, until found by a search party from a nuclear powered underground shelter. Finally a superb description of setting, characters and some plot.

- Chad Oliver - King of the Hill (short story): 1*
Earth is overcrowded and a very rich man is trying to do... what? Another DNF.

- Ursula K. Le Guin - The New Atlantis (novelette): 1*
I am not a fan of Le Guin's, and this story will not gather any new fandom. Had to drop it midpoint after failing to understand a single thing outside of a continent rising from the sea in the wake of catastrophic global warming.

- Arthur C. Clarke - History Lesson (short story): 4*
Sun's cooling has made life appear on Venus and disappear from Earth. An expedition from Venus lands on Earth and attempts to understand what life here must've been like. Funny and cute.

- Raymond Z. Gallun - Seeds of the Dusk (novelette): 5*
This one's from 1938, and easily the best story of this anthology. It's told from the points of view of three races battling for supremacy on Earth: a post-human, a bird-man, and an Earth-invading intelligent plant from Mars. Sense of wonder to the max!

- Walter M. Miller, Jr. - Dark Benediction (novella): 3*
Civilization has collapsed as an alien skin disease slowly mutates people. A man unwilling to murder those affected goes into a colony to seek help. Interesting setting and idea. Not much of a plot though.

- Alfred Coppel - Last Night of Summer (short story): 2*
Father is determined to put his kids in an underground shelter built to withstand global climatic changes. Nothing special here.

- Robert Sheckley - The Store of the Worlds (short story): 2*
Man is not sure whether to pay the dear price for admission to a 'store' that claims it will let you live for a year in a parallel world. Nothing special here either.

- Robert Silverberg - How It Was When the Past Went Away (novella): 3*
Someone poisons San Francisco's water supply, and most people start experiencing memory losses of various magnitudes. Some are unhappy with the change, some are baffled, and some are happy. Written in the usual warm catchy style of Silverberg, but nothing to 'blow your mind'.

- C.M. Kornbluth - Shark Ship (novelette): 1*
Life on continents has become unsustainable, and humankind has now been living on gigantic ships roaming the oceans for hundred of years. That's all I understood by midpoint when I gave up on the totally unfriendly writing style.

Overall: 2.4*

Interesting premise, and a lot of authors I had never read before, even some I had never even heard of before, however the action in most of the stories happens a long time AFTER the publicized catastrophe, and not during it - as was my secret yearning, and does not deal with the ability to cope (or fix) the environment, but rather escape it.

Probably, I'd have been better off with a more modern take on the whole catastrophe sub-genre, subtly renamed in the 21st century (post-)apocalyptic, such as this series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/1167...

[Christa Maurice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few clunkers, but mostly excellent tales. I first read it in about 1987 and one of the plague stories has stuck with me since then as one of the most interesting and creative stories I have ever read.

[Frankie Mahrle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber is worth the price.

[Jules Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining themed anthology, published in 1981 but containing stories dating back as far as 1938. Some stories have dated, many are still great reads, all clearly justified their selection at the time. I've been reading this on and off for several months, but got through about half of it last month, so my review of the individual stories is going to be a bit patchy.[return][return]The anthology is set out in sections covering different degrees of catastrophe, from the end of the universe down to the end of our current civilisation without the loss of humanity itself. Each section has a short intro by Asimov, who also provides a general introduction and endpiece for the anthology. [return][return]Isaac Asimov -- The Last Trump[return]The last trump sounds, and humanity slowly discovers what the Day of Resurrection actually means. It's often very funny, and there are some lovely characterisations in it -- particularly the very young and junior seraph who has become attached to the planet he's been put in charge of, and is determined to give its people more time before they have to face Judgement. I first read it as a child in the local library's copy of the collection "Earth is room enough", and have always adored it. [return][return]Edward Wellen -- No Other Gods[return]Enjoyable example of "computer decides to squash the puny humans and make itself god" genre, but nothing outstanding.[return][return]Harlan Ellison -- The wine has been left open too long and the memory has gone flat[return]Nine pages of very well written literary sf from HE about universal ennui at the tail end of the universe, which happened to leave me utterly cold.[return][return]Ben Bova -- Stars, won't you hide me?[return]The last human survivor of an interstellar war runs from his pursuers, and finds out more about himself and the war than he's comfortable with. [return][return]Lloyd Biggle Jr -- Judgement Day[return]A man in a backwoods town has the power to pick one future out of the many potential ones he can see. It's hard work and he doesn't do it much, and he certainly doesn't tell others about it. It doesn't save him from being convicted of a child-killing he didn't commit, but maybe he can find a path out even on the scaffold...[return]After three stories I don't feel any interest in re-reading, this is the story that made me change my mind about disposing of the book.[return][return]William Tenn -- The Custodian [return]Diary of the man who believes himself to be the last person left on earth after the bulk of humanity has fled the impending death of the sun. Tenn charts the cultural split between those who feel that everything not essential to survival should be jettisoned, and those who feel that there are cultural artefacts worth preserving. I liked this.[return][return]Clark Ashton Smith -- Phoenix [return]1954 story about a far-future attempt to rekindle a dying sun. This is one that I think was good but has suffered from the passage of time since it was written.[return][return]Harry Harrison -- Run from the fire[return]Nice use of the parallel worlds concept, with the plot here being the sun going nova in a number of timelines. Liked this a lot.[return][return]Edward Hamilton -- Requiem[return]Humanity survives, but earth does not. One last expedition to a long-abandoned planet before it burns in a nova, and the differing reactions of the expedition to the requiem atmosphere. I liked it, but it won't be to everyone's taste.[return][return]Larry Niven -- At the Core[return]One of Niven's tales of Known Space. The Puppeteers hire Beowulf Shaeffer to fly their experimental ship to the heart of the galaxy. The Puppeteers have more than one motive for this, but neither party in the bargain expects the end result to be quite as spectacular as it is.[return][return]Fritz Leiber -- A Pail of Air[return]Another old friend for me. It's showing its age a bit now (1951), but Leiber's tale of a family surviving on a super-cooled earth still sends shivers down my spine.[return][return]Chad Oliver -- King of the Hill[return]Entertainingly malicious story about exactly how the richest man on an over-crowded and over-polluted earth chooses to spend his money on rescuing something from an irretrievable mess.[return][return]Ursula K Le Guin -- The New Atlantis[return]It's Le Guin, doing the sort of thing Le Guin does. Which means it can't be summed up in two lines. It doesn't really work for me, but only because I'm not American and don't have the cultural background to understand some of what she's getting at. I strongly suspect that it's devastating for some readers.[return][return]Arthur C Clarke -- History Lesson[return]A new and vicious ice age wipes out humans, but they leave one last cache of cultural artefacts to be found by whatever intelligence may come next.[return][return]Raymond Z Gallun -- Seeds of the dusk[return]From 1938, this is the oldest piece in the book, and stylistically it shows. But it's an excellent example of that style. An alien plant spore arrives on a far distant future earth, and the local intelligent species (of which there are now more than one) have varying reactions to the potential threat it poses.[return][return]Walter M Miller Jr -- Dark Benediction[return]Zombies! Well, not quite, but a well-crafted tale of a disfiguring plague that spreads by touch, and which induces its victims to seek out the uninfected and lay hands on them. Cue breakdown of society, not because the plague kills (it doesn't), but because people fear infection by those who don't yet have visible symptoms. The story follows one man who's not yet infected and intends to stay that way, but hasn't lost all compassion for the infected. Controlling his own fear gives him the chance to learn about others trying to do the same.[return][return]Alfred Coppel -- Last Night of Summer[return]An interesting version of the "only time to build bunkers for a few" scenario.[return][return]Robert Sheckley -- The Store of the Worlds[return]Another of the stories in this book which I first read in other anthologies a long time ago, and one which has haunted me ever since I first read it. The store claims to sell the chance for your mind to spend a year in any world you choose amongst the millions of parallel worlds. The price is all your worldly goods and ten years off your life in the real world, thanks to the strain on the nervous system imposed by the process.[return][return]Robert Silverberg -- How it was when the past went away[return]Someone gets *creative* with his revenge against society, and instead of running amok with a gun tips amnaesiac drugs into the main water reserviour supplying San Francisco. Silverberg explores the effect on various people of losing the last few weeks, or months, or years. Excellent piece.[return][return]CM Kornbluth -- Shark Ship[return]This takes some of the interesting ideas from stories about interstellar generation ships, and puts them right back on earth, amongst a fishing fleet that set sail two centuries ago under a Compact to never return to land, as a means of easing population pressure in the cities. Kornbluth's study of the social and technological changes in such a system is all the better for this twist on the generation ship scenario.

[Alessia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stupenda raccolta di racconti che sono molto contenta di aver recuperato. I racconti di Asimov, di LeGuin e Welles i miei preferiti. Devo ammettere che qualche racconto più “moscio” c’è ma nel complesso ho amato la scelta della suddivisione delle catastrofi e in generale la premessa dell’intera raccolta.

[Tell Tale Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Gregory Kerkman

[Paolo Albera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho amato ognuna di queste catastrofi, alcune delle quali rimangono attuali e possibili oggi (pur essendo questa raccolta di racconti degli anni 80).

[Romuald · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are no really weak stories in this collection although some of them are written in a very uncomfortable style and might frighten off the reader - but story ideas for the most part are intriguing.
If you are not sure you are able to survive all 20 of the stories, you can at least taste the jewels of this collection:
Fritz Leiber - A Pail of Air
Raymond Z. Gallun - Seeds of the Dusk
Walter M. Miller, Jr. - Dark Benediction
Alfred Coppel - Last Night of Summer
Robert Sheckley - The Store of the Worlds

[James E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the stories but I felt the last 2 or 3 were not up to par with the rest of the book. I sometimes enjoy reading short story collections like this, and enjoy the mix of styles when I do. However, I'm just not a fan of the last few stories here.

[bluetyson]

Catastrophes by Various (1981)

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

SF shorts about the title.

[Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two or three interesting stories, a lot of Skip to the end! stories.

[Mars · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few extremely good stories, a few atrociously bad ones, and a bunch of moderately good ones, but overall the impression was positive.