Early Del Rey

by Lester del Rey

Contents:

• The Faithful
• Cross of Fire
• Anything
• Habit
• The Smallest God
• The Stars Look Down
• Doubled in Brass
• Reincarnate
• Carillon of Skulls
• Done Without Eagles
• My Name Is Legion
• Though Poppies Grow
• Lunar Landing
• Fifth Freedom
• Whom the Gods Love
• Though Dreamers Die
• Fool's Errand
• The One-Eyed Man
• And the Darkness
• Shadows of Empire
• Unreasonable Facsimile
• Conditioned Reflex
• Over the Top
• Wind Between the Worlds

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections

534 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for his juvenile novels such as those which are part of the Winston Science Fiction series, and for Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books edited by Lester del Rey and his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.

Also published as:
Philip St. John
Eric van Lihn
Erik van Lhin
Kenneth Wright
Edson McCann (with Frederik Pohl)

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this several times as a child, but I've pretty much outgrown it. The author frankly admits that he felt no compulsion to write SF, but basically found that he had a knack for entertaining editors like Campbell and Pohl enough to be able to make a living as a hack, once he decided within himself that it beat the alternatives (wartime factory work, writing for other pulp genres, photography, etc.). And it shows... the stories are entertaining enough, but few have resonance or lasting value. (Helen O'Loy is not included here.)

Typical of the SF of the pre WWII era, well articulated by del Rey: "They needed a new frontier, free of national barriers, where the headstrong could fight nature instead of their brothers."

I would like to find a copy of Robert Moore Williams' "Robots' Return." Lester del Rey wrote "Though Dreamers Die" as a prequel to it (w/ RMW's permission) and it's a nice little story.

Also, del Rey says "The basis of *all* good fiction is character. Even the most formula-derived sports story could come to life if there were real and interesting characters taking part in the events. And the only reason for the problems and complications of fiction was to display those characters to their fullest when meeting trials and responding in their own, individual ways."

Many of del Rey's stories were written quickly, he describes. But interestingly he's proud of "The Monster" which 6K words took less than two hours.

I do highly recommend the author's work to readers who already know they like the old light pulp stuff. But it's not special for the rest of you. If you are interested, go ahead and check project gutenberg/ librivox, other anthologies, and other sources; no need to track down a copy of this particular collection.

[Bart Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 24 stories from del Rey's first twelve years of writing science fiction. Between each story del Rey provides background on the story's evolution and what was going on in his life. del Rey had a fluid, seemingly effortless writing style. However, since this is a rather large anthology it took me nearly a year to complete, since I took long breaks in between reading stories.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly some pretty good stories, and I found the narration about the author's career interesting, too.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today, in a green and lovely world, here in the mightiest of human cities, the last of the human race is dying. And we of Man's creation are left to mourn his passing, and to worship the memory of Man, who controlled all that he knew save only himself.

Nominated this year for a Retro-Hugo Award, this was first published in 1938. The story is clearly influenced by the shadow of the coming war. Some time earlier, a man had worked out how to surgically modify dogs so that they could talk and learn, and operate specially modified equipment. Through careful breeding, there are now thousands of these dogs. Our narrator is Hunger, one of the Dog-People who survive when Man, their masters, destroy themselves in war. But although they can cope well enough to live, there are tasks they cannot do without hands; and, more importantly, without Man to worship they find their lives empty and meaningless. Until one day, the last human survivor turns up and tells the Dogs of another experiment that had taken place on the other side of the world – to create Ape-People, not as intellectually advanced as the Dogs, but walking on two legs and modified to have human-like hands…

An imaginative story, but I found the ‘message’, if there is one, too obscure for my simple mind. On the one hand it seems like a timely warning about the annihilation of humanity through war. But it also seems to have rather a hopeful strain – as if the Dogs and Apes are the natural inheritors of Man, perhaps? There’s also a bit of a religious tone at points but for the life of me I have no idea where del Rey was going with that! However, the story struck me as original and inventive, and given its dating I’m sure would have resonated with its contemporary audience. The writing itself is a bit simplistic, but nonetheless the story is well told. I haven’t read any of the other shortlisted stories, but would be quite happy to see this one win the Retro-Hugo.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was nominated for the Retro-Hugo for Best Short Story for 1939.

Sometimes an old story provides an unexpected delight. This one was not really dated after 75+ years. It tells a moving story of the extinction of mankind while the races we have attempted to uplift figure out both how to carry on without us and to honor us.

[Brian Greiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more an 'interesting' book than a really good read, at least to me.
The best part are the notes by the author that give some background about the story ... what he was trying to do with it, how it came about, that sort of thing. It all shows how he developed as a writer, not just a writer of SF.

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this story because it was nominated for the Retro-Hugo Award. The prose is not very sophisticated, but the story is nevertheless a surprisingly moving story of how uplifted dogs reclaim the world that man destroyed.

[Paul Wooten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall inconsistent. Some near hard Sci-fi, but also extremely pulp such as a marooned astronaut on Mars who encounters a martian species that behaves like a kitten. some of the stories were hard to get through.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

1939 Retro Hugo Nominee for Best Short Story.

Published in Astounding Science-Fiction, April 1938

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughts on all the 1939 Retro-Hugo nominated short stories here:
http://ciaracatscifi.blogspot.com/201...

[Polifemo]

LESTER DEL REY (seudónimo de Ramón F. Álvarez del Rey, nacido en 1915), gracias a su talento precoz, proporciona uno de los primeros ejemplos de miembro del «fandom» que consigue acceder a la autoría. En su caso, a la temprana edad de 22 años y a resultas de una apuesta.Gran maestro del cuento breve, se caracteriza por la originalidad de sus temas y pensamientos (quizá por su origen no anglosajón, como algunos podrían sentirse inclinados a postular), que definen una personalidad distintivamente heterodoxa en el dominio de la SF. Por ejemplo, es uno de los pocos que abordan de una manera adulta las relaciones entre hombre y mujer, huyendo del infantilismo tan a menudo criticado en el género.De este autor aparecen en SUPER-FICCIÓN las novelas NERVIOS y JAQUE MATE PÍQUICO además del presente volumen de sus mejores relatos que incluye: EL FIEL AMIGO, CRUZ DE FUEGO, DE TODO, HÁBITO, EL DIOS MÁS PEQUEÑO, LAS ESTRELLAS MIRAN HACIA ABAJO, RÉPLICA EN BRONCE, REENCARNADO, CARRILLÓN DE CRÁNEOS, SIN ÁGUILAS, ME LLAMO LEGIÓN y AUNQUE CREZCAN LAS AMAPOLAS, y al que seguirá un segundo volumen completando su producción de relatos cortos.