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Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #8
Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 8: 1946
This anthology contains:
A Logic Named Joe by Will F. Jenkins
Memorial; Mewhu's Jet by Theodore Sturgeon
Loophole; Rescue Party; and Technical Error by Arthur C. Clarke
The Nightmare by Chan Davis
Placet is a Crazy Place by Fredric Brown
Conqueror's Isle by Nelson S. Bond
Lorelei of the Red Mist by Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett
The Million Year Picnic by Ray Bradbury
The Last Objective by Paul A. Carter
Meihem in Ce Klasrum by Dolton Edwards
Vintage Season by Lawrence O' Donnell
Absalom by Henry Kuttner
Evidence by Isaac Asimov
A Logic Named Joe by Will F. Jenkins
Memorial; Mewhu's Jet by Theodore Sturgeon
Loophole; Rescue Party; and Technical Error by Arthur C. Clarke
The Nightmare by Chan Davis
Placet is a Crazy Place by Fredric Brown
Conqueror's Isle by Nelson S. Bond
Lorelei of the Red Mist by Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett
The Million Year Picnic by Ray Bradbury
The Last Objective by Paul A. Carter
Meihem in Ce Klasrum by Dolton Edwards
Vintage Season by Lawrence O' Donnell
Absalom by Henry Kuttner
Evidence by Isaac Asimov
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
3 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,348 books27.9k followersWorks 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 23, 2022
A year after the end of World War 2, the fears of nuclear war are very evident in this collection. Most of the stories here are good, with a handful surviving the test of time. If the Hugo Awards had been in existence that year "Vintage Season" would have been my first choice for Best Novelette and "The Million Year Picnic" my choice for Best Short Story. The one novella in this collection is really not very good, and a cursory look at other novellas published in 1946 doesn't show any time-tested classics, so perhaps the Best Novella is No Award.
"A Logic Named Joe" by Will F. Jenkins (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
Will F. Jenkins is better known by his pseudonym Murray Leinster, but used his real name because he had another story under the Leinster byline in the same issue. This is a remarkable story, perhaps the only one I've ever read that came anywhere close to predicting home computers and the internet, and in 1946 no less! Here, the "internet", or logic as Jenkins calls it, starts to bypass its censor circuits and gives its users any and all information, up to and including how to murder someone (maybe we need a censor function on our modern internet!). The story is played more for humor, but definitely raises some issues we are now dealing with.
"Memorial" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
Not surprisingly, this anti-nuclear war story appeared shortly after the end of WW2. A scientist dreams of building a memorial that will forever remind people of the horrors of nuclear weapons, a memorial in the form of a huge pit of molten earth caused by an atomic explosion. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that doing so will just provoke more war, not lessen it.
"Loophole" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
2 Stars
Clarke's first published story is about Martians warning humans to stop experimenting with nuclear power for rockets. There's a twist at the end (the loophole) wherein the humans invent teleportation to get around the prohibition of rocketry. The story is told in a very dry manner in the form of memos back and forth between the politicians and scientists of both planets.
"The Nightmare" by Chan Davis (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
A pessimistic, if forgettable, thought experiment about how atomic weapons will be treated in times to come. The bottom line is that politics have too much inertia to change how we manage war.
"Rescue Party" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
An alien survey ship only has a few hours to explore Earth before the sun goes nova. There are signs that intelligent life once lived there, but where are they now? Apparently, waiting in space to conquer all the other races.
"Placet Is a Crazy Place" by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
A man attempts to manage a research station on a planet in a distant system, where the weird laws of physics cause people to have hallucinations for 4 hours a day, and where birds composed of dense matter flying through the bedrock destroy the foundations of any building. Despite having his tongue firmly in his cheek, Brown manages to develop an alien world that Hal Clement would've been proud of. The biggest "comedy" of the story revolves around the station's manager trying to figure out how to avoid being sent back to Earth after falling in love with a new, gorgeous female employee.
"Conqueror's Isle" (as "Conquerors' Isle") by Nelson S. Bond (The Blue Book Magazine, June 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
This may have been a surprising story in 1946, but for a modern reader the twist is pretty obvious. A WW2 combat aviator and his crew crash land on a strange island where they meet a group of aliens disguised as humans who are bent on conquering Earth. Will the flyer's warning be heeded when he gets back to his base?
"Lorelei of the Red Mist" by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - novella)
2 Stars
This is essentially a sword and sorcery fantasy, but set in a hidden realm of Venus. A criminal named Starke crashes his spaceship and wakes up to find his mind has been transferred into a superman named Conan (this doesn't seem to be the same Conan created by Robert E. Howard, but the two are quite similar). Brackett wrote the first half, then apparently Bradbury finished the story without benefit of her notes. The two halves really couldn't be more different. The first half is an original, swashbuckling adventure, and the second half is not quite terrible, but pretty close. It meanders around with unexplained transitions, and language that tries to be poetic but mostly just doesn't make sense.
"The Million Year Picnic" by Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
This is the final story in Bradbury's collection The Martian Chronicles, but it was the first one published. It has a melancholy feel, clearly feeding off of the uncertainty in the world after the end of WW2. A family travels to Mars after Earth is destroyed, hoping to make a new human civilization for themselves and their descendants. Mars itself is full of uninhabited cities left over from its own devastation. The writing style is full of Bradbury's classic middle American values and poetry.
"The Last Objective" by Paul A. Carter (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
This is pure military science fiction, reading much like a chronicle of submarine warfare, only this time in underground drilling machines trying to dig their way into enemy territory. There is a lot of reference to psychological trauma, and even a full-time psychologist as part of the crew. The fighting is tense and claustrophobic. There are some racial descriptions that have not aged well. A surprise weapon is unleashed by the enemy at the end, something even more horrible than nuclear bombs.
"Meihem in ce Klasrum" by K. W. Lessing (as by Dolton Edwards) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - essay)
4 Stars
This is a short, humorous, tongue-in-cheek plan for the "general overhauling and streamlining" of English spelling. The proposed changes begin slowly, but by the end of the essay it takes some effort to read. There is actually logic behind the updated spellings, but insofar as English is full of weirdly spelled words and they are so ingrained, a proposal like this will never be consciously adopted.
"Vintage Season" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Lawrence O'Donnell) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
5 Stars
The introduction to this story indicates it's likely more a creation of Moore than Kuttner, but who now knows how much each really contributed? In any case, this is a remarkable story that pulls the rug out from under the complacency of readers feeling good after winning WW2. It's a classic of time travel with a dark overtone, as a group of strangers rent out a particular house for their own mysterious reasons. The landlord slowly begins to piece together who they really are and where they are from, but ultimately can do nothing to change the outcome of their visit.
"Evidence" by Isaac Asimov • (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
In a hotly contested election, one of the candidates accuses the other of being a robot. The evidence is compelling, albeit circumstantial. In a game of political chess, each candidate tries to force the other into bad positions. A neat, but probably obvious, twist at the end seals the outcome.
"Absalom" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Henry Kuttner) (Startling Stories, Fall 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
The introduction indicates that this is probably one of Kuttner's solo efforts, but that again it's hard to separate the work he and Moore did. The story covers ground that many science fiction stories have, namely mentally superior children taking over society from their parents. The key to this story is watching a father slowly disintegrate psychologically, knowing that his son is smarter and probably wiser than he is.
"Mewhu's Jet" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
An alien crash lands and is nursed back to health by an astonished family. Eventually, they are forced to reveal his presence and some of his remarkable technology to the authorities. But in a surprising twist, the alien turns out to be something no one expected of a space-faring explorer.
"Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke (Fantasy: The Magazine of Science Fiction No. 1, December 1946 - short story) (first U.S. publication: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1950, as "The Reversed Man")
4 Stars
Clarke demonstrates his chemical and biological knowledge in this story of a man who is transformed in a freak power plant accident. The characterizations are secondary to the science, but some of the extrapolations are fascinating.
"A Logic Named Joe" by Will F. Jenkins (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
Will F. Jenkins is better known by his pseudonym Murray Leinster, but used his real name because he had another story under the Leinster byline in the same issue. This is a remarkable story, perhaps the only one I've ever read that came anywhere close to predicting home computers and the internet, and in 1946 no less! Here, the "internet", or logic as Jenkins calls it, starts to bypass its censor circuits and gives its users any and all information, up to and including how to murder someone (maybe we need a censor function on our modern internet!). The story is played more for humor, but definitely raises some issues we are now dealing with.
"Memorial" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
Not surprisingly, this anti-nuclear war story appeared shortly after the end of WW2. A scientist dreams of building a memorial that will forever remind people of the horrors of nuclear weapons, a memorial in the form of a huge pit of molten earth caused by an atomic explosion. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that doing so will just provoke more war, not lessen it.
"Loophole" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
2 Stars
Clarke's first published story is about Martians warning humans to stop experimenting with nuclear power for rockets. There's a twist at the end (the loophole) wherein the humans invent teleportation to get around the prohibition of rocketry. The story is told in a very dry manner in the form of memos back and forth between the politicians and scientists of both planets.
"The Nightmare" by Chan Davis (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
A pessimistic, if forgettable, thought experiment about how atomic weapons will be treated in times to come. The bottom line is that politics have too much inertia to change how we manage war.
"Rescue Party" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
An alien survey ship only has a few hours to explore Earth before the sun goes nova. There are signs that intelligent life once lived there, but where are they now? Apparently, waiting in space to conquer all the other races.
"Placet Is a Crazy Place" by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
A man attempts to manage a research station on a planet in a distant system, where the weird laws of physics cause people to have hallucinations for 4 hours a day, and where birds composed of dense matter flying through the bedrock destroy the foundations of any building. Despite having his tongue firmly in his cheek, Brown manages to develop an alien world that Hal Clement would've been proud of. The biggest "comedy" of the story revolves around the station's manager trying to figure out how to avoid being sent back to Earth after falling in love with a new, gorgeous female employee.
"Conqueror's Isle" (as "Conquerors' Isle") by Nelson S. Bond (The Blue Book Magazine, June 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
This may have been a surprising story in 1946, but for a modern reader the twist is pretty obvious. A WW2 combat aviator and his crew crash land on a strange island where they meet a group of aliens disguised as humans who are bent on conquering Earth. Will the flyer's warning be heeded when he gets back to his base?
"Lorelei of the Red Mist" by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - novella)
2 Stars
This is essentially a sword and sorcery fantasy, but set in a hidden realm of Venus. A criminal named Starke crashes his spaceship and wakes up to find his mind has been transferred into a superman named Conan (this doesn't seem to be the same Conan created by Robert E. Howard, but the two are quite similar). Brackett wrote the first half, then apparently Bradbury finished the story without benefit of her notes. The two halves really couldn't be more different. The first half is an original, swashbuckling adventure, and the second half is not quite terrible, but pretty close. It meanders around with unexplained transitions, and language that tries to be poetic but mostly just doesn't make sense.
"The Million Year Picnic" by Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
This is the final story in Bradbury's collection The Martian Chronicles, but it was the first one published. It has a melancholy feel, clearly feeding off of the uncertainty in the world after the end of WW2. A family travels to Mars after Earth is destroyed, hoping to make a new human civilization for themselves and their descendants. Mars itself is full of uninhabited cities left over from its own devastation. The writing style is full of Bradbury's classic middle American values and poetry.
"The Last Objective" by Paul A. Carter (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
This is pure military science fiction, reading much like a chronicle of submarine warfare, only this time in underground drilling machines trying to dig their way into enemy territory. There is a lot of reference to psychological trauma, and even a full-time psychologist as part of the crew. The fighting is tense and claustrophobic. There are some racial descriptions that have not aged well. A surprise weapon is unleashed by the enemy at the end, something even more horrible than nuclear bombs.
"Meihem in ce Klasrum" by K. W. Lessing (as by Dolton Edwards) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - essay)
4 Stars
This is a short, humorous, tongue-in-cheek plan for the "general overhauling and streamlining" of English spelling. The proposed changes begin slowly, but by the end of the essay it takes some effort to read. There is actually logic behind the updated spellings, but insofar as English is full of weirdly spelled words and they are so ingrained, a proposal like this will never be consciously adopted.
"Vintage Season" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Lawrence O'Donnell) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
5 Stars
The introduction to this story indicates it's likely more a creation of Moore than Kuttner, but who now knows how much each really contributed? In any case, this is a remarkable story that pulls the rug out from under the complacency of readers feeling good after winning WW2. It's a classic of time travel with a dark overtone, as a group of strangers rent out a particular house for their own mysterious reasons. The landlord slowly begins to piece together who they really are and where they are from, but ultimately can do nothing to change the outcome of their visit.
"Evidence" by Isaac Asimov • (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
In a hotly contested election, one of the candidates accuses the other of being a robot. The evidence is compelling, albeit circumstantial. In a game of political chess, each candidate tries to force the other into bad positions. A neat, but probably obvious, twist at the end seals the outcome.
"Absalom" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Henry Kuttner) (Startling Stories, Fall 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
The introduction indicates that this is probably one of Kuttner's solo efforts, but that again it's hard to separate the work he and Moore did. The story covers ground that many science fiction stories have, namely mentally superior children taking over society from their parents. The key to this story is watching a father slowly disintegrate psychologically, knowing that his son is smarter and probably wiser than he is.
"Mewhu's Jet" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
An alien crash lands and is nursed back to health by an astonished family. Eventually, they are forced to reveal his presence and some of his remarkable technology to the authorities. But in a surprising twist, the alien turns out to be something no one expected of a space-faring explorer.
"Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke (Fantasy: The Magazine of Science Fiction No. 1, December 1946 - short story) (first U.S. publication: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1950, as "The Reversed Man")
4 Stars
Clarke demonstrates his chemical and biological knowledge in this story of a man who is transformed in a freak power plant accident. The characterizations are secondary to the science, but some of the extrapolations are fascinating.
August 6, 2022
THE GREAT SF STORIES VOLUME 8, 1946
RATED 84% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 3.88 OF 5
16 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 8 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
World War Two was over, but a scarier peacetime was here. Two Atomic Bombs had been dropped on Japan and Science Fiction writers were obsessing about that in their fiction. It is impossible in 2022 for me to truly appreciate how that impacted the reception of these stories. Well-written SF about atomic war and disaster must have been incandescent to their first batch of readers.
One of the strange things that I noticed when reviewing the books in this series is the difference between the average story and the greatest. Most of the “good” stories tend to be pleasant and be quaint.
But the Great stories are iconic and some of the finest in the history of the genre:
A Logic Named Joe • (1946) • short story by Murray Leinster [as by Will F. Jenkins].
Logics [which read today as home computers] interconnect every home. An anomaly on the assembly line creates one with consciousness and tries to solve every problem asked of it. But the brilliance of a ‘computer processor’ given access to the world’s information leads to devastating results. Asimov call this prescient in his 1982 introduction, but it is only more applicable to 2022’s world of computers, algorithms, and social media.
The Million Year Picnic • (1946) • short story by Ray Bradbury.
One of greatest of all SF. Dad, Mom, and the kids leave their rocket ship for a picnic. They ride on the canals of Mars and explore the ancient and abandoned Martian cities. Meanwhile, the real purpose of their trip is revealed. They are going to show their children some real Martians. Not a wasted word. Sublime. Melancholy, Hopeful. One of Science Fiction’s greatest statements.
Vintage Season • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell].
A haunting masterpiece that is perfect all the way to the devastating final line. A man is renting an old mansion to very strange people and, in observing them, starts to realize that the situation is weirder and sadder than he could have imagined.
Evidence • (1946) • novelette by Isaac Asimov.
The city’s next Mayor might actually be a robot! Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics will help solve this mystery.
See over 60+ Science Fiction Anthologies Reviewed at https://www.shortsf.com
16 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 8 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
A Logic Named Joe • (1946) • short story by Murray Leinster [as by Will F. Jenkins]
Great. Logics [which read today as home computers] interconnect every home. An anomaly on the assembly line creates one with consciousness and tries to solve every problem asked of it. But the brilliance of a ‘computer processor’ given access to the world’s information leads to devastating results. Asimov call this prescient in his 1982 introduction, but it is only more applicable to 2022’s world of computers, algorithms, and social media.
Memorial • (1946) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
Good. A scientist wants to make a destructive memorial that would terrify the world against war, but of course governments have other ideas for the technology.
Loophole • (1946) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. A series of communications between bureaucratic aliens about the danger poses by the acquisition of atomic power by humans.
The Nightmare • (1946) • novelette by Chan Davis
Good. Investigation into an atomic bomb that may be placed in New York City.
Rescue Party • (1946) • novelette by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. As the earth’s sun is going nova, aliens arrived to help rescue humanity. Except, there is no humanity on the planet to rescue. A rather plodding mystery with a nice whip crack of a final paragraph.
Placet Is a Crazy Place • (1946) • short story by Fredric Brown
Good. A bit of humorous SF in which scientists are attempt to do work on a planet where visual representations of everything is completely skewed. There’s a bit of very outdated juvenile romance that will be quaint or wildly offensive, depending your perspective.
Conqueror's Isle • short story by Nelson S. Bond
Good. At the end of WWII, a man finds himself on an island full of superior mutant versions of humanity.
Lorelei of the Red Mist • (1946) • novella by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury
DNF. Sword and Sorcery Fantasy starring Conan who is actually an astronaut who crashed on Venus. Everything I hate and was long, so a quick DNF. Didn’t show any of Bradbury beautiful prose.
The Million Year Picnic • (1946) • short story by Ray Bradbury
Great. One of greatest of all SF. Dad, Mom, and the kids leave their rocket ship for a picnic. They ride on the canals of Mars and explore the ancient and abandoned Martian cities. Meanwhile, the real purpose of their trip is revealed. They are going to show their children some real Martians. Not a wasted word. Sublime. Melancholy, Hopeful. One of Science Fiction’s greatest statements.
The Last Objective • (1946) • novelette by Paul A. Carter
Good. Atomic rockets have made war on the surface untenable, but for the giant machines that tear through the earth, the war continues. Intense and violent military adventure SF.
Meihem in ce Klasrum • (1946) • essay by Dolton Edwards
Good. What might a ‘more streamlined and simplified’ English language look like?
Vintage Season • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell]
Great. A haunting masterpiece that is perfect all the way to the devastating final line. A man is renting an old mansion to very strange people and, in observing them, starts to realize that the situation is weirder and sadder than he could have imagined.
Evidence • (1946) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
Great. The city’s next Mayor might actually be a robot! Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics will help solve this mystery.
Absalom • (1946) • short story by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner]
Good. A father - who was himself a mutant genius - has a great deal of difficulty acknowledging that his son is a mutant genius of even more capability.
Mewhu's Jet • (1946) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
Good. Charming first contact story where a family’s roof is destroyed by a crashing alien. The family starts building a friendship with the alien and learning to use some of the technology to repair the house.
Technical Error • (1946) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. An accident at the power plant “reverses” a worker. Example: He can’t read unless in a mirror. His cavities are on the other side of his mouth. etc…
RATED 84% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 3.88 OF 5
16 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 8 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
World War Two was over, but a scarier peacetime was here. Two Atomic Bombs had been dropped on Japan and Science Fiction writers were obsessing about that in their fiction. It is impossible in 2022 for me to truly appreciate how that impacted the reception of these stories. Well-written SF about atomic war and disaster must have been incandescent to their first batch of readers.
One of the strange things that I noticed when reviewing the books in this series is the difference between the average story and the greatest. Most of the “good” stories tend to be pleasant and be quaint.
But the Great stories are iconic and some of the finest in the history of the genre:
A Logic Named Joe • (1946) • short story by Murray Leinster [as by Will F. Jenkins].
Logics [which read today as home computers] interconnect every home. An anomaly on the assembly line creates one with consciousness and tries to solve every problem asked of it. But the brilliance of a ‘computer processor’ given access to the world’s information leads to devastating results. Asimov call this prescient in his 1982 introduction, but it is only more applicable to 2022’s world of computers, algorithms, and social media.
The Million Year Picnic • (1946) • short story by Ray Bradbury.
One of greatest of all SF. Dad, Mom, and the kids leave their rocket ship for a picnic. They ride on the canals of Mars and explore the ancient and abandoned Martian cities. Meanwhile, the real purpose of their trip is revealed. They are going to show their children some real Martians. Not a wasted word. Sublime. Melancholy, Hopeful. One of Science Fiction’s greatest statements.
Vintage Season • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell].
A haunting masterpiece that is perfect all the way to the devastating final line. A man is renting an old mansion to very strange people and, in observing them, starts to realize that the situation is weirder and sadder than he could have imagined.
Evidence • (1946) • novelette by Isaac Asimov.
The city’s next Mayor might actually be a robot! Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics will help solve this mystery.
See over 60+ Science Fiction Anthologies Reviewed at https://www.shortsf.com
16 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 8 GOOD / 3 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
A Logic Named Joe • (1946) • short story by Murray Leinster [as by Will F. Jenkins]
Great. Logics [which read today as home computers] interconnect every home. An anomaly on the assembly line creates one with consciousness and tries to solve every problem asked of it. But the brilliance of a ‘computer processor’ given access to the world’s information leads to devastating results. Asimov call this prescient in his 1982 introduction, but it is only more applicable to 2022’s world of computers, algorithms, and social media.
Memorial • (1946) • short story by Theodore Sturgeon
Good. A scientist wants to make a destructive memorial that would terrify the world against war, but of course governments have other ideas for the technology.
Loophole • (1946) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. A series of communications between bureaucratic aliens about the danger poses by the acquisition of atomic power by humans.
The Nightmare • (1946) • novelette by Chan Davis
Good. Investigation into an atomic bomb that may be placed in New York City.
Rescue Party • (1946) • novelette by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. As the earth’s sun is going nova, aliens arrived to help rescue humanity. Except, there is no humanity on the planet to rescue. A rather plodding mystery with a nice whip crack of a final paragraph.
Placet Is a Crazy Place • (1946) • short story by Fredric Brown
Good. A bit of humorous SF in which scientists are attempt to do work on a planet where visual representations of everything is completely skewed. There’s a bit of very outdated juvenile romance that will be quaint or wildly offensive, depending your perspective.
Conqueror's Isle • short story by Nelson S. Bond
Good. At the end of WWII, a man finds himself on an island full of superior mutant versions of humanity.
Lorelei of the Red Mist • (1946) • novella by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury
DNF. Sword and Sorcery Fantasy starring Conan who is actually an astronaut who crashed on Venus. Everything I hate and was long, so a quick DNF. Didn’t show any of Bradbury beautiful prose.
The Million Year Picnic • (1946) • short story by Ray Bradbury
Great. One of greatest of all SF. Dad, Mom, and the kids leave their rocket ship for a picnic. They ride on the canals of Mars and explore the ancient and abandoned Martian cities. Meanwhile, the real purpose of their trip is revealed. They are going to show their children some real Martians. Not a wasted word. Sublime. Melancholy, Hopeful. One of Science Fiction’s greatest statements.
The Last Objective • (1946) • novelette by Paul A. Carter
Good. Atomic rockets have made war on the surface untenable, but for the giant machines that tear through the earth, the war continues. Intense and violent military adventure SF.
Meihem in ce Klasrum • (1946) • essay by Dolton Edwards
Good. What might a ‘more streamlined and simplified’ English language look like?
Vintage Season • (1946) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lawrence O'Donnell]
Great. A haunting masterpiece that is perfect all the way to the devastating final line. A man is renting an old mansion to very strange people and, in observing them, starts to realize that the situation is weirder and sadder than he could have imagined.
Evidence • (1946) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
Great. The city’s next Mayor might actually be a robot! Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics will help solve this mystery.
Absalom • (1946) • short story by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Henry Kuttner]
Good. A father - who was himself a mutant genius - has a great deal of difficulty acknowledging that his son is a mutant genius of even more capability.
Mewhu's Jet • (1946) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
Good. Charming first contact story where a family’s roof is destroyed by a crashing alien. The family starts building a friendship with the alien and learning to use some of the technology to repair the house.
Technical Error • (1946) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. An accident at the power plant “reverses” a worker. Example: He can’t read unless in a mirror. His cavities are on the other side of his mouth. etc…
Want to read
April 30, 2022"A Logic Named Joe" by Will F. Jenkins (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
Will F. Jenkins is better known by his pseudonym Murray Leinster
"Memorial" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
Not surprisingly, this anti-nuclear war story appeared shortly after the end of WW2.
"Loophole" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
2 Stars
Clarke's first published story is about Martians warning humans to stop experimenting with nuclear power for rockets.
"The Nightmare" by Chan Davis (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
A pessimistic, if forgettable, thought experiment about how atomic weapons will be treated in times to come.
"Rescue Party" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
An alien survey ship only has a few hours to explore Earth before the sun goes nova. There are signs that intelligent life once lived there, but where are they now? Apparently, waiting in space to conquer all the other races.
"Placet Is a Crazy Place" by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
A man attempts to manage a research station on a planet in a distant system, where the weird laws of physics cause people to have hallucinations for 4 hours a day, and where birds composed of dense matter flying through the bedrock destroy the foundations of any building. Despite having his tongue firmly in his cheek, Brown manages to develop an alien world that Hal Clement would've been proud of. The biggest "comedy" of the story revolves around the station's manager trying to figure out how to avoid being sent back to Earth after falling in love with a new, gorgeous female employee.
"Conqueror's Isle" (as "Conquerors' Isle") by Nelson S. Bond (The Blue Book Magazine, June 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
This may have been a surprising story in 1946, but for a modern reader the twist is pretty obvious. A WW2 combat aviator and his crew crash land on a strange island where they meet a group of aliens disguised as humans who are bent on conquering Earth. Will the flyer's warning be heeded when he gets back to his base?
"Lorelei of the Red Mist" by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - novella)
2 Stars
This is essentially a sword and sorcery fantasy, but set in a hidden realm of Venus. A criminal named Starke crashes his spaceship and wakes up to find his mind has been transferred into a superman named Conan (this doesn't seem to be the same Conan created by Robert E. Howard, but the two are quite similar). Brackett wrote the first half, then apparently Bradbury finished the story without benefit of her notes. The two halves really couldn't be more different. The first half is an original, swashbuckling adventure, and the second half is not quite terrible, but pretty close. It meanders around with unexplained transitions, and language that tries to be poetic but mostly just doesn't make sense.
"The Million Year Picnic" by Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
This is the final story in Bradbury's collection The Martian Chronicles, but it was the first one published. It has a melancholy feel, clearly feeding off of the uncertainty in the world after the end of WW2. A family travels to Mars after Earth is destroyed, hoping to make a new human civilization for themselves and their descendants. Mars itself is full of uninhabited cities left over from its own devastation. The writing style is full of Bradbury's classic middle American values and poetry.
"The Last Objective" by Paul A. Carter (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
This is pure military science fiction, reading much like a chronicle of submarine warfare, only this time in underground drilling machines trying to dig their way into enemy territory
"Meihem in ce Klasrum" by K. W. Lessing (as by Dolton Edwards) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - essay)
4 Stars
This is a short, humorous, tongue-in-cheek plan for the "general overhauling and streamlining" of English spelling. The proposed changes begin slowly, but by the end of the essay it takes some effort to read. There is actually logic behind the updated spellings, but insofar as English is full of weirdly spelled words and they are so ingrained, a proposal like this will never be consciously adopted.
"Vintage Season" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Lawrence O'Donnell) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
5 Stars
It's a classic of time travel with a dark overtone, as a group of strangers rent out a particular house for their own mysterious reasons. The landlord slowly begins to piece together who they really are and where they are from, but ultimately can do nothing to change the outcome of their visit.
"Evidence" by Isaac Asimov • (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
In a hotly contested election, one of the candidates accuses the other of being a robot. The evidence is compelling, albeit circumstantial. In a game of political chess, each candidate tries to force the other into bad positions. A neat, but probably obvious, twist at the end seals the outcome.
"Absalom" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Henry Kuttner) (Startling Stories, Fall 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
The story covers ground that many science fiction stories have, namely mentally superior children taking over society from their parents. The key to this story is watching a father slowly disintegrate psychologically, knowing that his son is smarter and probably wiser than he is.
"Mewhu's Jet" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
An alien crash lands and is nursed back to health by an astonished family. Eventually, they are forced to reveal his presence
"Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke (Fantasy: The Magazine of Science Fiction No. 1, December 1946 - short story) (first U.S. publication: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1950, as "The Reversed Man")
4 Stars
Clarke demonstrates his chemical and biological knowledge in this story of a man who is transformed in a freak power plant accident.
4 Stars
Will F. Jenkins is better known by his pseudonym Murray Leinster
"Memorial" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
Not surprisingly, this anti-nuclear war story appeared shortly after the end of WW2.
"Loophole" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1946 - short story)
2 Stars
Clarke's first published story is about Martians warning humans to stop experimenting with nuclear power for rockets.
"The Nightmare" by Chan Davis (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
A pessimistic, if forgettable, thought experiment about how atomic weapons will be treated in times to come.
"Rescue Party" by Arthur C. Clarke (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
An alien survey ship only has a few hours to explore Earth before the sun goes nova. There are signs that intelligent life once lived there, but where are they now? Apparently, waiting in space to conquer all the other races.
"Placet Is a Crazy Place" by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
A man attempts to manage a research station on a planet in a distant system, where the weird laws of physics cause people to have hallucinations for 4 hours a day, and where birds composed of dense matter flying through the bedrock destroy the foundations of any building. Despite having his tongue firmly in his cheek, Brown manages to develop an alien world that Hal Clement would've been proud of. The biggest "comedy" of the story revolves around the station's manager trying to figure out how to avoid being sent back to Earth after falling in love with a new, gorgeous female employee.
"Conqueror's Isle" (as "Conquerors' Isle") by Nelson S. Bond (The Blue Book Magazine, June 1946 - short story)
3 Stars
This may have been a surprising story in 1946, but for a modern reader the twist is pretty obvious. A WW2 combat aviator and his crew crash land on a strange island where they meet a group of aliens disguised as humans who are bent on conquering Earth. Will the flyer's warning be heeded when he gets back to his base?
"Lorelei of the Red Mist" by Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - novella)
2 Stars
This is essentially a sword and sorcery fantasy, but set in a hidden realm of Venus. A criminal named Starke crashes his spaceship and wakes up to find his mind has been transferred into a superman named Conan (this doesn't seem to be the same Conan created by Robert E. Howard, but the two are quite similar). Brackett wrote the first half, then apparently Bradbury finished the story without benefit of her notes. The two halves really couldn't be more different. The first half is an original, swashbuckling adventure, and the second half is not quite terrible, but pretty close. It meanders around with unexplained transitions, and language that tries to be poetic but mostly just doesn't make sense.
"The Million Year Picnic" by Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Summer 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
This is the final story in Bradbury's collection The Martian Chronicles, but it was the first one published. It has a melancholy feel, clearly feeding off of the uncertainty in the world after the end of WW2. A family travels to Mars after Earth is destroyed, hoping to make a new human civilization for themselves and their descendants. Mars itself is full of uninhabited cities left over from its own devastation. The writing style is full of Bradbury's classic middle American values and poetry.
"The Last Objective" by Paul A. Carter (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1946 - novelette)
3 Stars
This is pure military science fiction, reading much like a chronicle of submarine warfare, only this time in underground drilling machines trying to dig their way into enemy territory
"Meihem in ce Klasrum" by K. W. Lessing (as by Dolton Edwards) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - essay)
4 Stars
This is a short, humorous, tongue-in-cheek plan for the "general overhauling and streamlining" of English spelling. The proposed changes begin slowly, but by the end of the essay it takes some effort to read. There is actually logic behind the updated spellings, but insofar as English is full of weirdly spelled words and they are so ingrained, a proposal like this will never be consciously adopted.
"Vintage Season" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Lawrence O'Donnell) (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
5 Stars
It's a classic of time travel with a dark overtone, as a group of strangers rent out a particular house for their own mysterious reasons. The landlord slowly begins to piece together who they really are and where they are from, but ultimately can do nothing to change the outcome of their visit.
"Evidence" by Isaac Asimov • (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
In a hotly contested election, one of the candidates accuses the other of being a robot. The evidence is compelling, albeit circumstantial. In a game of political chess, each candidate tries to force the other into bad positions. A neat, but probably obvious, twist at the end seals the outcome.
"Absalom" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (as by Henry Kuttner) (Startling Stories, Fall 1946 - short story)
4 Stars
The story covers ground that many science fiction stories have, namely mentally superior children taking over society from their parents. The key to this story is watching a father slowly disintegrate psychologically, knowing that his son is smarter and probably wiser than he is.
"Mewhu's Jet" by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1946 - novelette)
4 Stars
An alien crash lands and is nursed back to health by an astonished family. Eventually, they are forced to reveal his presence
"Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke (Fantasy: The Magazine of Science Fiction No. 1, December 1946 - short story) (first U.S. publication: Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1950, as "The Reversed Man")
4 Stars
Clarke demonstrates his chemical and biological knowledge in this story of a man who is transformed in a freak power plant accident.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2017
Contains several classics: "A Logic [Computer] Named Joe," "Placet," "Vintage Season" (and "Absalom" too). "Lorelei" sounds kind of like how all those kinds of things tend to sound. Not sure why they put "The Last Objective" in here--it seemed pretty lame to me--and the Dolton Edwards thing belonged in some faculty newsletter.
April 7, 2020
Un Logico chiamato Joe (A Logic Named Joe), di Murray Leinster ***
Un computer inizia a rispondere troppo bene alle domande che gli vengono fatte.
Monumento (Memorial), di Theodore Sturgeon ***
Uno scienziato decide che è una buona idea far scoppiare una super bomba atomica nel deserto come monumento alla pace.
Scappatoia (Loophole), di Arthur C. Clarke ***
I marziani intimano ai terrestri di abbandonare lo studio dei razzi, per il loro bene.
L'incubo (The Nightmare), di Chan Davis **
L'incubo di una guerra atomica è sempre in agguato a New York.
Spedizione di soccorso (Rescue Party), di Arthur C. Clarke ****
Il sole sta per esplodere e una spedizione di alieni va a soccorrere i terrestri.
Placet è una gabbia di matti (Placet Is a Crazy Place), di Fredric Brown *****
Un pianeta con un'orbita a 8 attorno due soli gemelli di materia e antimateria crea un po' di confusione a chi ci vive sopra.
L'isola dei conquistatori (Conqueror's Isle), di Nelson Bond **
Un militare creduto pazzo fa rapporto al dottore sulla sua ultima missione.
Loreley delle Rosse Brume (Loreley of the Red Mist), di Leigh Brackett e Ray Bradbury ***
Su Venere un ladruncolo si ritrova nel corpo di un grande guerriero e parteciperà ad una guerra tra razze.
La scampagnata d'un milione di anni (The Million-Year Picnic), di Ray Bradbury ****
Una famigliola va a fare un pic-nic su Marte. Ma sarà solo una scampagnata?
L'ultimo obbiettivo (The Last Objective), di Paul A. Carter *
Nel futuro la guerra si è spostata sotto terra. Scontro tra gli equipaggi di due scavatrici militari.
Stagione di vendemmia (Vintage Season), di Lawrence O'Donnell (pseudonimo di Henry Kuttner e C. L. Moore) ***
Degli elegnti e ricchi stranieri sembrano sapere che succederà qualcosa in quella casa che hanno affittato per il mese di maggio.
La prova (Evidence), di Isaac Asimov *****
Un candidato alle elezioni diffonde il sospetto che il suo avversario possa essere un robot.
Absalom (Absalom), di Henry Kuttner e C. L. Moore ***
Padre di un bambino genio che non vorrebbe che lo fosse.
Il giocattolo di Mieuh (Mewhu's Jet), di Theodore Sturgeon *****
Un simpatico essere extraterrestre viene trovato nel giardino di casa. Sarà l'ambasciatore di una razza superiore?
Errore tecnico (Technical Error), di Arthur C. Clarke ***
Un povero malcapitato viene ripiegato su varie dimensioni mentre lavora ad un superconduttore.
Un computer inizia a rispondere troppo bene alle domande che gli vengono fatte.
Monumento (Memorial), di Theodore Sturgeon ***
Uno scienziato decide che è una buona idea far scoppiare una super bomba atomica nel deserto come monumento alla pace.
Scappatoia (Loophole), di Arthur C. Clarke ***
I marziani intimano ai terrestri di abbandonare lo studio dei razzi, per il loro bene.
L'incubo (The Nightmare), di Chan Davis **
L'incubo di una guerra atomica è sempre in agguato a New York.
Spedizione di soccorso (Rescue Party), di Arthur C. Clarke ****
Il sole sta per esplodere e una spedizione di alieni va a soccorrere i terrestri.
Placet è una gabbia di matti (Placet Is a Crazy Place), di Fredric Brown *****
Un pianeta con un'orbita a 8 attorno due soli gemelli di materia e antimateria crea un po' di confusione a chi ci vive sopra.
L'isola dei conquistatori (Conqueror's Isle), di Nelson Bond **
Un militare creduto pazzo fa rapporto al dottore sulla sua ultima missione.
Loreley delle Rosse Brume (Loreley of the Red Mist), di Leigh Brackett e Ray Bradbury ***
Su Venere un ladruncolo si ritrova nel corpo di un grande guerriero e parteciperà ad una guerra tra razze.
La scampagnata d'un milione di anni (The Million-Year Picnic), di Ray Bradbury ****
Una famigliola va a fare un pic-nic su Marte. Ma sarà solo una scampagnata?
L'ultimo obbiettivo (The Last Objective), di Paul A. Carter *
Nel futuro la guerra si è spostata sotto terra. Scontro tra gli equipaggi di due scavatrici militari.
Stagione di vendemmia (Vintage Season), di Lawrence O'Donnell (pseudonimo di Henry Kuttner e C. L. Moore) ***
Degli elegnti e ricchi stranieri sembrano sapere che succederà qualcosa in quella casa che hanno affittato per il mese di maggio.
La prova (Evidence), di Isaac Asimov *****
Un candidato alle elezioni diffonde il sospetto che il suo avversario possa essere un robot.
Absalom (Absalom), di Henry Kuttner e C. L. Moore ***
Padre di un bambino genio che non vorrebbe che lo fosse.
Il giocattolo di Mieuh (Mewhu's Jet), di Theodore Sturgeon *****
Un simpatico essere extraterrestre viene trovato nel giardino di casa. Sarà l'ambasciatore di una razza superiore?
Errore tecnico (Technical Error), di Arthur C. Clarke ***
Un povero malcapitato viene ripiegato su varie dimensioni mentre lavora ad un superconduttore.
February 5, 2019
7/10. Recopilación de esos años con autores no demasiado de mi gusto aunque alguno de los relatos es muy bueno.
August 1, 2021
Algunos buenos relatos pero la mayoría insufribles.
August 19, 2025
Media finale: 3.67/5 stelle
April 8, 2023
Otra buena recopilación de los relatos de los inicios del género de ciencia ficción (y van...). Por hablar de un solo relato, me ha impresionado mucho E de esfuerzo. Es el primer relato de su autor pero parece como si llevara toda la vida escribiendo. Al terminar de leerlo lo primero que pensé fue "Qué mal lo han hecho todo, se podría haber hecho mucho mejor". Pero después meditando sobre el tema vi que no era tan simple, que la situación era mucho más complicada de lo que parecía a simple vista.
Eso es lo que tienen estos relatos, que te hacen pensar después de haberlos terminado. ¿Cómo resistirse?
Eso es lo que tienen estos relatos, que te hacen pensar después de haberlos terminado. ¿Cómo resistirse?
March 23, 2016
Este es el quinto volumen de una colección en la que
Isaac ASIMOV
presenta las narraciones que, en su opinión, marcaron la evolución del género, obra de los mejores escritores del momento. Sin duda, fue la época dorada de este género, los años cuando éstos y muchos otros autores definieron el género. Los títulos incluidos en este volumen son:
- Placet Es un Mundo de Locos (Placet Is a Crazy Place, 1946)-Fredric BROWN
- Pesadilla en Klase (Meihem in Klasrum, 1946)-Dolton EDWARDS
- Época Dorada (Vintage Season, 1946)-Lawrence O’DONNELL
- El Cohete de Mewhu (Mewhu’s Jet, 1946)-Theodore STURGEON
- Juego de Niños (Child’s Play, 1947)-William TENN
- Una y Otra Vez (Time and Time Again, 1947)-H. Beam PIPER
- Tiny y el Monstruo (Tiny and the Monster, 1947)-Theodore STURGEON
- E de Esfuerzo (E for Effort, 1947)-T. L. SHERRED
- Adiós, Profesor (Exit the Professor, 1947)-Lewis PADGETT
- Truenos y Rosas (Thunder and Roses, 1947)-Theodore STURGEON
De éstos, los que se quedaron grabados en mi memoria fueron los tres cuentos de Theodore STURGEON , que siempre se distinguió por la originalidad de sus historias y sus puntos de vista que retaban la imaginación.
- Placet Es un Mundo de Locos (Placet Is a Crazy Place, 1946)-Fredric BROWN
- Pesadilla en Klase (Meihem in Klasrum, 1946)-Dolton EDWARDS
- Época Dorada (Vintage Season, 1946)-Lawrence O’DONNELL
- El Cohete de Mewhu (Mewhu’s Jet, 1946)-Theodore STURGEON
- Juego de Niños (Child’s Play, 1947)-William TENN
- Una y Otra Vez (Time and Time Again, 1947)-H. Beam PIPER
- Tiny y el Monstruo (Tiny and the Monster, 1947)-Theodore STURGEON
- E de Esfuerzo (E for Effort, 1947)-T. L. SHERRED
- Adiós, Profesor (Exit the Professor, 1947)-Lewis PADGETT
- Truenos y Rosas (Thunder and Roses, 1947)-Theodore STURGEON
De éstos, los que se quedaron grabados en mi memoria fueron los tres cuentos de Theodore STURGEON , que siempre se distinguió por la originalidad de sus historias y sus puntos de vista que retaban la imaginación.
January 22, 2014
Il discrimine è la bomba atomica. Nel 1945 la si subiva, nel 1946 la si riconsidera. Una previsione della fantascienza si è avverata: esiste un'arma capace, si suppone, di distruggere il mondo conosciuto. E, spenta la guerra aperta, sta per aprirsi l'era della guerra fredda. L'ottavo volume de "Le grandi storie della fantascienza", curato da Isaac Asimov, riflette il momento di transizione. Il testo fondamentale è il racconto Monumento, di Theodore Sturgeon, dedicato alla bomba definitiva e allo sviluppo logico del suo uso. Non si troveranno molti riferimenti a quel cambiamento epocale, nella narrativa corrente dello stesso periodo. Solo la scìence fiction, attenta alla tecnologia, intuisce che si sta entrando in un periodo storico totalmente inedito. Lo testimoniano anche gli altri racconti antologizzati, di Ray Bradbury (una nuova stella destinata a future glorie), dello stesso Asimov, di Arthur C. Clarke, di Henry Kuttner, che morirà pochi anni dopo, di altri ancora. Si è alle soglie di un revival della fantascienza. Non perché, in un mondo in rovine, ci si distragga a pensare futuri, remoti. È vero il contrario. La fantascienza è, più di ogni altra forma narrativa, ancorata al presente. Guarda lontano in quanto le contingenze storiche impongono di farlo. La visione non è molto ottimistica, ma ciò non dipende dagli scrittori. Non sono stati loro a fare del fungo atomico il simbolo degli anni a venire.
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