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Get Out Of My Sky
CHILLBINDING TALES OF THE UNFORESEEN
A choice collection of thrilling and terrifying adventures into the unknown worlds of tomorrow by three master craftsmen of the science-fiction suspense story.
Get Out of My Sky by James Blish
A terrifying tale of Prophecy—of two worlds racing toward war and annihilation, and of one man whose untried and unwanted gift of power could save them... if he learned to use it in time.
Sister Planet by Poul Anderson
The first explorers of Venus had discovered a way to transform it into a colony for Earth. There was only one small problem. It meant destroying all forms of life on that planet. And even though the Cetoids looked like fish, they seemed terribly human.
Alien Night by Thomas N. Scortia
Utopia was no longer a beautiful dream but a horrifying reality.
Perfection—pure, absolute and unchanging—was slowly mummifying the human race and the world had become a monstrous still life.
But somewhere in a dark, quiet corner of this timeless motionless existence, something new and strange was stirring.
A choice collection of thrilling and terrifying adventures into the unknown worlds of tomorrow by three master craftsmen of the science-fiction suspense story.
Get Out of My Sky by James Blish
A terrifying tale of Prophecy—of two worlds racing toward war and annihilation, and of one man whose untried and unwanted gift of power could save them... if he learned to use it in time.
Sister Planet by Poul Anderson
The first explorers of Venus had discovered a way to transform it into a colony for Earth. There was only one small problem. It meant destroying all forms of life on that planet. And even though the Cetoids looked like fish, they seemed terribly human.
Alien Night by Thomas N. Scortia
Utopia was no longer a beautiful dream but a horrifying reality.
Perfection—pure, absolute and unchanging—was slowly mummifying the human race and the world had become a monstrous still life.
But somewhere in a dark, quiet corner of this timeless motionless existence, something new and strange was stirring.
168 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1960
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68 people want to read
About the author
James Blish
456 books324 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 22, 2019
This volume collects two stories by James Blish; Get Out of My Sky originally appeared in Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction in 1957, and There Shall Be No Darkness was first printed in 1950 in Merwin's Thrilling Wonder Stories. There's a likelihood of confusion because Leo Margulies edited an anthology in 1960 for which he used Get Out of My Sky as the title. (It includes the titular Blish tale along with novellas by Poul Anderson and Thomas Scortia.) Get Out of My Sky starts out as an interesting astronomical puzzle with promises of interstellar political exploration, but devolves rather swiftly into a hash of (John W.) Campbellian philosophy and speculation, much of it, I'm afraid, rather silly in hindsight. The characters all blended together on me halfway through. The second story, on the other hand, is an excellent Scottish werewolf story. It's a good Hallowe'en selection, right up there with Curt Siodmak's The Wolfman and Jack Williamson's Darker Than You Think. Blish is mostly now remembered for his criticism, Star Trek adaptations, and hard sf like Cities in Flight, but There Shall Be No Darkness is great dark fantasy.
December 16, 2014
Pessimo, inconcludente, superficiale.
L'inizio promette bene, ma poi ... boh?
Insulso.
L'inizio promette bene, ma poi ... boh?
Insulso.
x-tbr-owned
October 18, 2020Get Out of My Sky is both Dave's and my least favorite. It's too long, and attempts too awkwardly to be pretentious. One point in its favor is that the psi power is almost plausible as presented here, in contrast to the other SF that is, imo, unreadable in its ridiculousness.
Sister Planet, by Poul Anderson, is both ridiculous and devastating. Exactly a product of its time, in which SF authors were beginning to understand that women, men who were non-European, and aliens, might be people, too. Good intentions, but awkward execution due to ignorance. Also the info-dumps about a wet Venus are unfortunate, as it was only a few years after this that science learned that the reverse is true. But, yes, the memorable ending makes it worth reading.
Alien Night, by Thomas N. Scortia, is best for its What If and Sense of Wonder. The What If man had the secret of immortality is explored in a way I've never seen before. For example, consider how stagnant our culture would immediately become. Where would new ideas come from, if there were no opportunity, because of no new generation, for evolution? How long would ppl hold grudges, for example? I will look for more by this author, whose name does not seem familiar to me.
Sister Planet, by Poul Anderson, is both ridiculous and devastating. Exactly a product of its time, in which SF authors were beginning to understand that women, men who were non-European, and aliens, might be people, too. Good intentions, but awkward execution due to ignorance. Also the info-dumps about a wet Venus are unfortunate, as it was only a few years after this that science learned that the reverse is true. But, yes, the memorable ending makes it worth reading.
Alien Night, by Thomas N. Scortia, is best for its What If and Sense of Wonder. The What If man had the secret of immortality is explored in a way I've never seen before. For example, consider how stagnant our culture would immediately become. Where would new ideas come from, if there were no opportunity, because of no new generation, for evolution? How long would ppl hold grudges, for example? I will look for more by this author, whose name does not seem familiar to me.
January 3, 2013
The second and third stories were really good reads (though the second has a laughable premisere: Venusian seas). The first story was also fairly good, but lengthy, and hard to get into for me.
June 2, 2020
An anthology of three SF novelettes from the 1950's.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews