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Contents
Preface · Bonnie L. Heintz, Frank Herbert, Donald A. Joos & Jane Agorn McGee · pr
Science Fiction and You · Frank Herbert
The Star · H.G. Wells
The Subliminal Man · J.G. Ballard
The Waveries · Fredric Brown
Nightfall · Isaac Asimov
The Nothing · Frank Herbert
Bitter End · Eric Frank Russell
The Winner · Donald E. Westlake
The Lawgiver · Keith Laumer
Utopian · Mack Reynolds
Rescue Party · Arthur C. Clarke
For the Sake of Grace · Suzette Haden Elgin
The Other Foot · Ray Bradbury
Crate · Theodore Sturgeon
The Cloudbuilders · Colin Kapp
The Shortest Science Fiction Story Ever Told · Forrest J. Ackerman
Street of Dreams, Feet of Clay · Robert Sheckley
The Veldt [“The World the Children Made”] · Ray Bradbury
After the Myths Went Home · Robert Silverberg
Arena · Fredric Brown
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman · Harlan Ellison
The Hole on the Corner · R.A. Lafferty
Texas Week · Albert Hernhuter
Hemeac · E.G. Von Wald
This Grand Carcass · R.A. Lafferty
The Perfect Woman · Robert Sheckley
Desertion [City (Websters)] · Clifford D. Simak
Here There Be Tygers · Ray Bradbury
Crucifixus Etiam · Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Sunrise on Mercury [as by Calvin M. Knox] · Robert Silverberg
Omnilingual · H. Beam Piper
The Sentinel [“Sentinel of Eternity”] · Arthur C. Clarke
Seeds of the Dusk · Raymond Z. Gallun
Specialist · Robert Sheckley
Half-Breed [Half-Breeds] · Isaac Asimov
Bomb Scare · Vernor Vinge
Keyhole · Murray Leinster
Sundance · Robert Silverberg
Goldfish Bowl [as by Anson MacDonald] · Robert A. Heinlein
Sword Game · H. H. Hollis
The Singing Bell [Wendell Urth] · Isaac Asimov
Private Eye · Lewis Padgett
Preface · Bonnie L. Heintz, Frank Herbert, Donald A. Joos & Jane Agorn McGee · pr
Science Fiction and You · Frank Herbert
The Star · H.G. Wells
The Subliminal Man · J.G. Ballard
The Waveries · Fredric Brown
Nightfall · Isaac Asimov
The Nothing · Frank Herbert
Bitter End · Eric Frank Russell
The Winner · Donald E. Westlake
The Lawgiver · Keith Laumer
Utopian · Mack Reynolds
Rescue Party · Arthur C. Clarke
For the Sake of Grace · Suzette Haden Elgin
The Other Foot · Ray Bradbury
Crate · Theodore Sturgeon
The Cloudbuilders · Colin Kapp
The Shortest Science Fiction Story Ever Told · Forrest J. Ackerman
Street of Dreams, Feet of Clay · Robert Sheckley
The Veldt [“The World the Children Made”] · Ray Bradbury
After the Myths Went Home · Robert Silverberg
Arena · Fredric Brown
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman · Harlan Ellison
The Hole on the Corner · R.A. Lafferty
Texas Week · Albert Hernhuter
Hemeac · E.G. Von Wald
This Grand Carcass · R.A. Lafferty
The Perfect Woman · Robert Sheckley
Desertion [City (Websters)] · Clifford D. Simak
Here There Be Tygers · Ray Bradbury
Crucifixus Etiam · Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Sunrise on Mercury [as by Calvin M. Knox] · Robert Silverberg
Omnilingual · H. Beam Piper
The Sentinel [“Sentinel of Eternity”] · Arthur C. Clarke
Seeds of the Dusk · Raymond Z. Gallun
Specialist · Robert Sheckley
Half-Breed [Half-Breeds] · Isaac Asimov
Bomb Scare · Vernor Vinge
Keyhole · Murray Leinster
Sundance · Robert Silverberg
Goldfish Bowl [as by Anson MacDonald] · Robert A. Heinlein
Sword Game · H. H. Hollis
The Singing Bell [Wendell Urth] · Isaac Asimov
Private Eye · Lewis Padgett
619 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 13, 2017
This, along with Science Fact Fiction, were absolutely the sci fi collections that shaped me. Simply the best.
May 23, 2020
"Subliminal Man," by J.G. Ballard (1963): 8
- This is a problem I am sure to get often in this retrospective: handwringing over decades old problems, like the population bomb, gender trouble, or, a niche problem like subliminal advertising, as we see here. I need to evaluate things differently then: like how much inventiveness, humor, wryness, or offbeatness there is in the exploration of that concern, no matter how rote and formulaic the exploration is by now, given its saturation in the culture. In that sense, this does well. This seems a bit overwrought even for the 1960s, but nonetheless Ballard finds humor in the story (drive with your eyes closed) and efficiency in the telling. Also successful in the slow divulging of the other-worldliness of this place through fairly strange details (increasing automobile homogenization and 12-lane highways).
"The Waveries," by Frederic Brown (1944): 7.5
- Strange story this, this undeniably slice-out-of-time bit of utopian primitivism (in which a strange alien force knocks out all of Earth’s electrical abilities and, surprise of surprises!, everything eventually/quickly works better, and people are happier loving the simple life, disengaging from the fast-paced techno-future, joining local Vereine. and generally not bowling alone anymore). Insanely of its period, considering the completely un-ironic faith (from the position of the political center or right) in both the benevolence and competence of the central government! Hello 1944. There's the obvious fact that this adaptive turn would not be neeaarrly as economically sustainable or matter-of-fact or uncontested, if undertaken in the real world (yes yes, obviously the most boring of all novel takes -- “Well that's not how I think it would go!”). Otherwise, all that insane optimism engenders, after page after page of it washing over you, a strange kind of palliative effect, in which you go from: 1) mockery at the depiction; to 2) rumination on the kind of era that could have created such an alien knee-jerk understanding among Americans; and, finally 3) a kind of pleasant acceptance of the sincerity and gall to follow such a conclusion through to its most optimistic ends. Bonus note: points for what I imagine must be a very early depiction of non-humanoid or even non-carbon-based lifeforms.
"The Nothing," by Frank Herbert (1956): 8.75
- How do we judge men writing horny women? Is it some sort of admirable inhabitation of a universal, especially so coming from the 1950s, or simply lechery? Interesting, here, as I think it's the latter, although that angle does give the story something. Most, even taking this tack, would write of her moderate interest and chaste lust; Herbert just goes for it. Our protagonist downs drinks, ogles men, shows skin, and is ready to be touched. Strange, and most likely a product of that 50s SF creep pen, but better for its gonzo all-outness. Or, what's strangest is that it's all kind of unneccesary -- there are many universes in which very same story could be told, and 99% of the time those would not include the horny 18 yr. old. What works: the breezy language in which all of this is conveyed ~ usually giving strange slang to future things in SF stuff gets tiring, here it slotted in well and held off understanding perfectly long.
"Bitter End," by Eric Frank Russell (1953): 7
- A nice example of the 'the conceit is simply saying the unsagbar for the time' [other pertinent postwar examples: 'oh no, that was a woman/black guy all along?' or 'oh no I went back in time and slept with my sister'].
"The Winner," by Donald E. Westlake (1970): 8.75
- I've been confused by the number of Peter Straub reviews calling him a wonderful prose writer, or a “literary” author at work in a genre field. Having just finished GHOST STORY, I found little beauty or profundity in its prose, and there was even very little skill in that other style tic that people mean when they call someone a literary author, that being their use of terse language or propulsive plotting or such. Here, and from the same era, we get a degree of that—an early 70s Moral Point-Making Dystopia with some big views and some clean lines. The story: intuited unjust society imprisons dissidents, and places a pain-inducing device within them to curtail escape attempts, until one Poet—so pure and brave and sure sighted—puts up with endless amounts of pain simply to make the point of his/Good Peoples eventual unwillingness to go along with exploitation and oppression. And by golly it’s working: another principled man has joined him by the end, each willing, for god knows why, to basically daily volunteer for torture. God forbid a society jail poets.
"The Lawgiver," by Keith Laumer (1970): 6.5
- I'm sure someone's written up something on the theme of overpopulation in mid-century science fiction. No worries, as that’s less the Major Concern here than it is a premise to move to the real action: Abortion! And this story makes a wonderful contrast to the Vonnegut 'Harrison B.' just read, to what makes V.’s engagement with a Big Conservative Issue so much more interesting than what we see Laumer doing here. Moreover, it’s written with a pompous matter of factness common to much minor mid-century sf fare. Interestingly, this is in many ways a more “bleak” vision here, even if were to feel the righteousness of Good Cause in the end. (Addendum : just saw this is from 1970. Oof. Additional demerit for coming so late wth such a tone.)
"The Star," by H.G. Wells (1897): 9
- great. the wide lens. the martian astronomers.
"Arena," by Fredric Brown (1944): 9.5
- well this is the best of the lot of the early ones, by a fairly wide margin. Genuinely a bit thrilling and inventive, even if it's main conceit has been used plenty since then, only a testament to its worth. Still, avoids most of the pitfalls of other older sff, namely the dialogue and wooden characterizations, or if they're there, they're momentarily subsumed enough underneath the main action as to not negatively impact the story. The prose is crisp and tight, and doesn't get bogged down in necessary description as to impede the forward momentum of the narrative. And the alien was done well, realistically other and menacing all the same.
"Desertion," by Clifford Simak, 14 pg. (1944): 9
- The rare GA story whose writing amplifies a rather cut-and-dry story, rather than the other way around (although, I should keep in mind the era, and the novelty of the bio-tampering for alien environments possibility here).
“Nightfall,” by Isaac Asimov (1941): 7.75
- I’ve so far proven quite immune to whatever Asimov bug people (esp novices like me) seem to catch. The writing so wooden, the plotting so brick-by-brick, the characters so stick, and the themes so manichaean (faith v reason). Yes, these are common complaints for any golden age author; why it sticks especially in my craw with Asimov, I don’t know. Strangely, however, my frustrations with this famous story are inverted: many of these caveats are here remedied (or degreed-down), and it’s the rationality of the sfnal conclusion that keeps me at arms length. The questions are too obvious to warrant thorough discussion, but some: really, driven mad by stars? How much more “indifferent” can their illumination be than that of a sin? And really, no electric light exists in this otherwise fully mechanized world? No flash in those cameras? Really? Petty, yes, but here we are.
“Specialist” (1953): 9.25
- A tale of two halves, altogether wonderful, vintage Sheckley. Each half playing off of and upending their own sfnal categories: the first not only predating all those lauded ‘thinking’ ships by years, but also running circles around them in terms of originality and exploration of the topic at the same time; the second, a sidewise glance at the alien abduction story and its givens (solitary weekend at the lake/camping; army connections). A story that transforms itself from initial presentation in ways only/best developed by Sheckley. STORY: sentient ship —comprised of separate component parts (walls, engine, comm, etc.) — loses their Pusher (human, I’m ashamed to say it took me so long to figure that out, butttt [also, lead to wonderful (in retrospect) scene where they fed old Pushers body to engine]), eventually visit earth (!) to replace one, and have hard time convincing “uncooperative” humans to help.
- This is a problem I am sure to get often in this retrospective: handwringing over decades old problems, like the population bomb, gender trouble, or, a niche problem like subliminal advertising, as we see here. I need to evaluate things differently then: like how much inventiveness, humor, wryness, or offbeatness there is in the exploration of that concern, no matter how rote and formulaic the exploration is by now, given its saturation in the culture. In that sense, this does well. This seems a bit overwrought even for the 1960s, but nonetheless Ballard finds humor in the story (drive with your eyes closed) and efficiency in the telling. Also successful in the slow divulging of the other-worldliness of this place through fairly strange details (increasing automobile homogenization and 12-lane highways).
"The Waveries," by Frederic Brown (1944): 7.5
- Strange story this, this undeniably slice-out-of-time bit of utopian primitivism (in which a strange alien force knocks out all of Earth’s electrical abilities and, surprise of surprises!, everything eventually/quickly works better, and people are happier loving the simple life, disengaging from the fast-paced techno-future, joining local Vereine. and generally not bowling alone anymore). Insanely of its period, considering the completely un-ironic faith (from the position of the political center or right) in both the benevolence and competence of the central government! Hello 1944. There's the obvious fact that this adaptive turn would not be neeaarrly as economically sustainable or matter-of-fact or uncontested, if undertaken in the real world (yes yes, obviously the most boring of all novel takes -- “Well that's not how I think it would go!”). Otherwise, all that insane optimism engenders, after page after page of it washing over you, a strange kind of palliative effect, in which you go from: 1) mockery at the depiction; to 2) rumination on the kind of era that could have created such an alien knee-jerk understanding among Americans; and, finally 3) a kind of pleasant acceptance of the sincerity and gall to follow such a conclusion through to its most optimistic ends. Bonus note: points for what I imagine must be a very early depiction of non-humanoid or even non-carbon-based lifeforms.
"The Nothing," by Frank Herbert (1956): 8.75
- How do we judge men writing horny women? Is it some sort of admirable inhabitation of a universal, especially so coming from the 1950s, or simply lechery? Interesting, here, as I think it's the latter, although that angle does give the story something. Most, even taking this tack, would write of her moderate interest and chaste lust; Herbert just goes for it. Our protagonist downs drinks, ogles men, shows skin, and is ready to be touched. Strange, and most likely a product of that 50s SF creep pen, but better for its gonzo all-outness. Or, what's strangest is that it's all kind of unneccesary -- there are many universes in which very same story could be told, and 99% of the time those would not include the horny 18 yr. old. What works: the breezy language in which all of this is conveyed ~ usually giving strange slang to future things in SF stuff gets tiring, here it slotted in well and held off understanding perfectly long.
"Bitter End," by Eric Frank Russell (1953): 7
- A nice example of the 'the conceit is simply saying the unsagbar for the time' [other pertinent postwar examples: 'oh no, that was a woman/black guy all along?' or 'oh no I went back in time and slept with my sister'].
"The Winner," by Donald E. Westlake (1970): 8.75
- I've been confused by the number of Peter Straub reviews calling him a wonderful prose writer, or a “literary” author at work in a genre field. Having just finished GHOST STORY, I found little beauty or profundity in its prose, and there was even very little skill in that other style tic that people mean when they call someone a literary author, that being their use of terse language or propulsive plotting or such. Here, and from the same era, we get a degree of that—an early 70s Moral Point-Making Dystopia with some big views and some clean lines. The story: intuited unjust society imprisons dissidents, and places a pain-inducing device within them to curtail escape attempts, until one Poet—so pure and brave and sure sighted—puts up with endless amounts of pain simply to make the point of his/Good Peoples eventual unwillingness to go along with exploitation and oppression. And by golly it’s working: another principled man has joined him by the end, each willing, for god knows why, to basically daily volunteer for torture. God forbid a society jail poets.
"The Lawgiver," by Keith Laumer (1970): 6.5
- I'm sure someone's written up something on the theme of overpopulation in mid-century science fiction. No worries, as that’s less the Major Concern here than it is a premise to move to the real action: Abortion! And this story makes a wonderful contrast to the Vonnegut 'Harrison B.' just read, to what makes V.’s engagement with a Big Conservative Issue so much more interesting than what we see Laumer doing here. Moreover, it’s written with a pompous matter of factness common to much minor mid-century sf fare. Interestingly, this is in many ways a more “bleak” vision here, even if were to feel the righteousness of Good Cause in the end. (Addendum : just saw this is from 1970. Oof. Additional demerit for coming so late wth such a tone.)
"The Star," by H.G. Wells (1897): 9
- great. the wide lens. the martian astronomers.
"Arena," by Fredric Brown (1944): 9.5
- well this is the best of the lot of the early ones, by a fairly wide margin. Genuinely a bit thrilling and inventive, even if it's main conceit has been used plenty since then, only a testament to its worth. Still, avoids most of the pitfalls of other older sff, namely the dialogue and wooden characterizations, or if they're there, they're momentarily subsumed enough underneath the main action as to not negatively impact the story. The prose is crisp and tight, and doesn't get bogged down in necessary description as to impede the forward momentum of the narrative. And the alien was done well, realistically other and menacing all the same.
"Desertion," by Clifford Simak, 14 pg. (1944): 9
- The rare GA story whose writing amplifies a rather cut-and-dry story, rather than the other way around (although, I should keep in mind the era, and the novelty of the bio-tampering for alien environments possibility here).
“Nightfall,” by Isaac Asimov (1941): 7.75
- I’ve so far proven quite immune to whatever Asimov bug people (esp novices like me) seem to catch. The writing so wooden, the plotting so brick-by-brick, the characters so stick, and the themes so manichaean (faith v reason). Yes, these are common complaints for any golden age author; why it sticks especially in my craw with Asimov, I don’t know. Strangely, however, my frustrations with this famous story are inverted: many of these caveats are here remedied (or degreed-down), and it’s the rationality of the sfnal conclusion that keeps me at arms length. The questions are too obvious to warrant thorough discussion, but some: really, driven mad by stars? How much more “indifferent” can their illumination be than that of a sin? And really, no electric light exists in this otherwise fully mechanized world? No flash in those cameras? Really? Petty, yes, but here we are.
“Specialist” (1953): 9.25
- A tale of two halves, altogether wonderful, vintage Sheckley. Each half playing off of and upending their own sfnal categories: the first not only predating all those lauded ‘thinking’ ships by years, but also running circles around them in terms of originality and exploration of the topic at the same time; the second, a sidewise glance at the alien abduction story and its givens (solitary weekend at the lake/camping; army connections). A story that transforms itself from initial presentation in ways only/best developed by Sheckley. STORY: sentient ship —comprised of separate component parts (walls, engine, comm, etc.) — loses their Pusher (human, I’m ashamed to say it took me so long to figure that out, butttt [also, lead to wonderful (in retrospect) scene where they fed old Pushers body to engine]), eventually visit earth (!) to replace one, and have hard time convincing “uncooperative” humans to help.
October 14, 2024
Read circa 1987-1989, not sure exactly when. My new uncle at the time (my new stepdad's brother, Greg, must have been in his early 20's, fresh out of college) handed his old copy (from Branson high school?) to me. Knew I was a reader. Had no idea what he had given me. These stories have stuck with me my entire life. I still think of a dozen or so of them regularly. Bradbury, Clarke, Asimov... other one-hit wonders, that wrote one absolute banger as far as I know, and dipped. I think this anthology was popular in high schools in the 70s? My copy (well, Greg's copy) eventually had its cover worn off. I read many of these stories multiple times in that period. I had forgotten the name of the anthology itself (and thus many of the story titles) until today. 5 stars, an absolute all time favorite read. Would read again.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews