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Space Mail
Isaac Asimov Pays some frightening out-of-time dues when he challenges a vengeful author.
Judith Merrill writes of the strange legacy left by earthly explorers on a distant planet.
A. E. van Vogt records the havoc wreaked by an extraterrestrial pen pal
Gordon R. Dickson creates a computer society gone insane and out of control
Howard Fast traces the bizarre consequences of a bold experiment to create a race of superchildren
Barry N. Malzberg presents an ominously familiar galaxy of the future after the great space war.
AND MORE SPACE MAIL...BY TODAY'S TOP SCIENCE FICTION MASTERS
Judith Merrill writes of the strange legacy left by earthly explorers on a distant planet.
A. E. van Vogt records the havoc wreaked by an extraterrestrial pen pal
Gordon R. Dickson creates a computer society gone insane and out of control
Howard Fast traces the bizarre consequences of a bold experiment to create a race of superchildren
Barry N. Malzberg presents an ominously familiar galaxy of the future after the great space war.
AND MORE SPACE MAIL...BY TODAY'S TOP SCIENCE FICTION MASTERS
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1980
1 person is currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,355 books28k 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
April 5, 2017
This book is an underrated gem.
This collection contains SF stories written only in epistolary format. You would think that the double restriction (genre and form) would take away from the quality of stories assembled: not at all! Almost all of them are good, and many are excellent.
My personal favourites:
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson
He Walked Around the Horses by H. Beam Piper
Dear Pen Pal by A. E. Van Vogt
There were also a couple of other stories whose names I don't remember which impressed me a lot.
Highly recommended.
This collection contains SF stories written only in epistolary format. You would think that the double restriction (genre and form) would take away from the quality of stories assembled: not at all! Almost all of them are good, and many are excellent.
My personal favourites:
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson
He Walked Around the Horses by H. Beam Piper
Dear Pen Pal by A. E. Van Vogt
There were also a couple of other stories whose names I don't remember which impressed me a lot.
Highly recommended.
April 13, 2023
This is an anthology that reprints twenty-three science fiction short stories from the genre digest (and even a couple of pulp) magazines from the post-WWII 1940s to the late 1970s. The unifying thing is that the stories are all epistolary; the book is divided into three sections, letters, diaries, and memos. I enjoyed almost all of them, though some are inevitably beginning to show their age in spots. Among my favorites are That Only a Mother by Judith Merrill, Dear Pen Pal by A.E. van Vogt, Letters from Laura by Mildred Clingerman, The Power by Murray Leinster, and I also enjoyed stories by George R.R. Martin, Christopher Anvil, H. Beam Piper, Howard Fast, and Chan Davis. My favorite, of course, is the classic Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
February 21, 2018
Space Mail
Edited by Issac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph Olander
A book of short stories that are all written in forms of letters, memos, and diaries. A few have some nonletter part in them but each story's bulk is in the form of a written document. You get quite a bit of story in this book and unlike most anthologies, I really did not find a stinker in any of them. It was quite an enjoyable read.
I Never Ast No Favors by C. M. Kornbluth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_M...)
The letters relate a story of an inner city hoodlum who after being arrested was given the choice of going to jail or being a work release at a farm. He quickly picks the farm and despite it not being as good as he thought it is better than jail. Until all the ducks die, and then the male bull brought in to impregnate the female cow is found to be impotent, and he, thanks to some luck, finds himself with a neighbor girl only to find himself with the same trouble. The owner of the farm is Ella Parry and she determines a hex has been placed on the farm. Her ancestors were of the hexing kind and she knows a spell or two. She forces the protagonist to assist in a ceremony that brings a demon up from hell. The demon wrestles the demon from the woman who cast a hex on the farm and wins. Ella dismisses it and the story ends with the protagonist asking to be sent back to jail.
Letter to Ellen by Chan Davis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandle...)
Dirk is writing to his girlfriend about his new job and why it has been so long since he has written. The job is one he and his friend, Roy, took after graduating from college. They are basically working on creating pieces of DNA that are assembled with other pieces of DNA to bring an animal to life. They are not told the name of the animal but they make great headway in the work. One day Roy gets a bit too curious and goes to find out what it is that they are making. He comes back and states that they are making humans. Dirk doesn't believe him until Roy hits his 26th birthday. That day he is taken by the boss and told that he is one of the humans that this project had made. The news drives Roy crazy and he commits suicide. It is discovered that there are some flaws in the process that do not become evident until the subject matures. Dirk then explains he has been silent for a while because it was just his 26th birthday and he received the same news. However, as the news has not driven him crazy he concludes he is a success and asks her to marry him.
One Rejection Too Many by Patricia Nurse (I could find no information on this artist)
A woman writes to Dr. Asimov submitting a story to his magazine for approval. She claims it was written by a time traveler who is living with her and it's his true story. The story is rejected and Asimov offers some suggestions. Revised the story is sent back and rejected again and again. The final letter to Asimov tells him that the time traveler has gotten sick of Asimov's criticism and has returned back to his time. The letter is replied to by George H. Scithers, editor of the Arthur C. Clarke's Science Fiction Magazine, and he is pleased to accept the story, noting all the good qualities in it, items that Asimov in previous letters had said were terrible, but then asks her who is Asimov?
Space Opera by Ray Russell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Rus...)
A writer is proposing a story to an editor. The story is about a space conqueror who has taken over most of the universe but still has one planet left. He impresses a scientist into creating for him a new type of metal that will stand up to the pressures of an underwater planet he is attacking. The scientist reluctantly does. The warlord has his scientists shoot the metal, test how strong it is and approve it and a fleet is soon built using the metal. Upon attack of the planet the fleet soon finds that while the metal is very strong, it is water soluble. The story ends with the despot escaping in an escape pod that crashes on some primitive world. The end remarks and the signature of the letter leave the impression that the story is not just a story and that the teller is that exiled dictator.
The Invasion of the Terrible Titans by William Sambrot
(http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...)
A private investigator is writing to the alumni association of a team that was soundly beaten during the last season by a team from Pacific Underwater College named the “Terrible Titans.” The team has had a remarkable year when the first one of many other new hairy students joined the team. The investigator was hired to find out where all these students came from. His investigations have revealed that they are shaved yetis from the Himalayas. He ends the letter requesting money so he can mount an expedition to get the alumni association a team of their own.
That Only A Mother by Judith Merrill (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_...)
Some of the action takes place outside of the letter. A mother is writing her husband who is off at war. She is giving him the news that she is pregnant and lets him know her worries that the child will be born misinformed because of all the mutations radiation from the war has caused. Over a series of letters, she tells her husband that the child is perfect but does have a mutation. The child is vastly overdeveloped in mentality and ability to speak in complete words despite not even being able to walk yet. Her husband comes home and is excited to see his smart child. It is then he notices that the child has no arms or legs and is basically a head on top of a worm-like body.
Itch On the Bull Run by Sharon Webb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_...)
I'm kink-shaming this story. A nurse and a doctor she is enthralled with are on a remote planet that is experiencing a plague that causes itching that eventually leads to death. She and he are sent off planet to another for a medical emergency. They are sent to a planet where an alien queen mom has stopped laying eggs. After arrival, it is soon apparent that they did not leave the planet soon enough as the doctor has the itches. Still, they put on protective clothing and work on the patient. The issue is the ovipositor has been jammed by an obstruction and they have to clean it out. After cleaning it out they are covered in birthing juice. By accident, the doctor gets some on him and discovers that his itch is gone. Soon they are bathing in the birthing juice and bringing some home to their planet.
Letter to a Phoenix by Fredric Brown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric...)
The author of the letter is writing to humanity telling them they are the Phoenix. He is immortal and he as watched as era after era has passed where humanity has risen, gone to the stars and eventually destroyed itself back to the dustpan. He has been to other planets settled by humanity and seen the same pattern. One gets the feeling in reading this that the author is not in the future but in the current era and that the stories of Atlantis and such true and one of many cycles in the past the world has gone through. Despite the whole humanity self-destroying the story is meant as uplifting because no matter how many times it's happened they have always come back.
Who's Cribbing by Jack Lewis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Le...)
Lewis writes himself as an author who keeps reeving rejection letters telling him that while his stories are good, good enough to publish already, they are the word for word copies of stories written 20 years ago by a Todd Thromberry. Through his correspondence, he learns that Thromberry was a whiz in electronics and his writing almost seems contemporary. He tries to find copies of Thromberry's work but most of it is out of print, a story of its time before internet archival of everything. Lewis comes to the conclusion that Thromberry somehow managed to discover time travel and has used it to steal each of Lewis' works. The editors of the magazine refer him to a psychiatrist. Finally, in desperation, he takes all his correspondence on the issue and submits it as a story called “Who's Cribbing” only to find out that...as guessed it was already written by Thromberry.
Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_...)
Walter Child receives an invoice written by a computer for a copy of the book Kidnapped, by Louis Stevenson, with the note that the amount is overdue. He writes back that he never asked for this book, that he returned this book and he has never received a replacement copy of the novel “Kim” which he had received with half the pages removed. The account is handled by the computer until it is sent to a collections agency, which is then handled by another computer until it is sent to a civil court. The computer in charge of the civil court accidentally codes the case as Criminal and he is charged with Kidnapping Louis Stevenson. Another computer accident and he is found guilty of the charge without a trial and sentenced to death. Finally, a lawyer gets involved and realizes the error. He contacts the governor who upon reading the letters issues a pardon. The pardon is sent off only to be misdirected to the wrong address by another computer.
Letters from Laura by Mildred Clingerman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred...)
A young woman complains to her friends about how her trip turned out. It was a time travel trip where she was sent into the Labyrinth with the Minotaur. And why he was nice and treated her well it was far less than the adventure she had been expecting. She later learns that the trip had been an insurance scam. She had been insured by the travel company for a lot and then sent to the labyrinth. Her last letter to the agent of the company tells the man that he was such a fool as even the Minotaur knew that she wasn't a virgin.
Dear Pen Pal by A. E. van Vogt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._v...)
A sun dwelling alien who is in prison starts up a pen pal exchange with a human. Through the story, it is obvious that the alien is trying to con the man. Eventually, we learn that the alien plans on switching his mind with that of the man. He will spend many years doing whatever he wants and then find another sucker why the man will be trapped in his prison for an extended sentence. The alien offers a solace that his kind has a very long lifespan, much longer than humans and that he will have years after the prison sentence ends to live in the sun in its body. The second to last letter reveals the plan and then notes that it is already too late and that the process will soon take place. He will then use the human's body and his advanced knowledge of science to take over and rule the world. The last letter is from the alien, but this time the human is in control of it. He relates how he had quickly figured out that the alien's letter had been a ploy and despite that went on to take it. He then thanks the alien for the functional body which he loves, even if it is in prison, as it is much better than the paralyzed bed bound soon to die body he had left behind.
Damn Shame by Dean R. Lamb (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2491)
A medical researcher is talking to a former college roommate of his about how excited he is to be trying out the new cancer miracle drug he is testing. It is from a tree in South America. They will be ready for human trials soon. His friend a small town doctor asks if it would be possible to get some of the drugs as he has two patients who have nothing left to lose. The researcher sends it to him and soon the patients recover. However, a letter soon follows asking for one more dose as his wife now has cancer. The researcher, of course, wants to help but finds that he is running low on the stuff. He sends a letter to the procurer in South America only to find that the only place where the plant grows, a valley, has been flooded by the building of a new dam. (The story feels a bit condescending towards the South Americans)
The Trap by Howard Fast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_...)
A fascinating if dated tale of a man recovering from World War 2 and depression from how it destroyed his view of humanity. He is contacted by his sister a famous researcher with a job offer, which he takes. He is sent from country to country to look into people who have been claimed to be raised by animals. Unlike in Tarzan people who are raised by animals do not end up socially adjusted people, this is true in real life as well as I have seen in a few science shows. They are caught in a place where they are a bad specimen of the animal they were raised by and not quite human as well. Most will never learn to use their hands or language. After sending his findings he finds the reason his sister requested him to do the research. She and her husband have postulated that humanity has evolved that there is a new version that can use more than the 10 percent of their brains that humans use, a very old outdated belief. They wonder if these new people are being held back by being raised by humans as they are not really human. They end up the people who are found to be brilliant as children but grow up insane. She gives him the order to find babies that are super intelligent and to get them to her. Being a post world war 2 world there are a lot of orphans and the children are found and easily given over to him, all through legal if slightly morally gray adoptions. His sister and her husband and other scientists then set up a new society with no outside contact for the children. They are given no religion, no limits and taught to their full. The children soon develop telepathy, a group mind and even new children who were born after the experiment began to the scientists are brought into the mind. However, because they needed funding they had to ask the military for money. The military, based on her intelligence and use during the war, give her extraordinary terms and let her go for 15 years without inspection. The story ends with a letter from his sister explaining why she and her children have determined that humanity will never let them live and have decided to withdraw from humanity forever, but that they are only the beginning. The arm tells her brother that the place they were at is still there, but it is now surrounded by a type of force field they can not penetrate. They confirm his sisters and his views on humanity in claiming that they can only see her as an enemy and they will do their best to destroy the colony. The brother is sad that he will never see his sister again but tells the army they will try, but never succeed.
The next section of the book is called Diaries and it is stories written in diaries.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_...)
A mentally challenged young man is given a treatment that will make him smart. Not just normal smart but smarter than most humans. It was previously tried on a mouse named Algernon. As the entries in the diary proceed the increase in intelligence is easily seen as the writing becomes better, the spelling correct and deeper thoughts by the man, Charlie, are introduced. However, far from being happy, he finds that the world is not as good as he thought it was. His friends at work were really picking on him all the time. His one love, a reading teacher, is nowhere as smart as he once considered her and the two scientists involved in his treatment are just humans, not the gods of science he saw them as. Then Algernon who had been showing it's intelligence by solving mazes stops being able to solve them. Shortly after it dies. Charlie performs an autopsy and comes to the conclusion that the treatment works in that it fires off brain activity at an enormous rate. So much that a lifetime of mental cognition and wear is used in a short period. After this period the brain is burnt out. The subject returns to its previous status for a bit but then dies. He does his best to solve the issue but runs out of time. The last part of the diary is him slowly losing all the things he had. His fear and a realization that despite now being as he was before the surgery he is worse off because he now knows that at one point he was better and he still remembers the terrible life lessons he learned while smart. His last entry is asking his reading teacher to please watch over the grave of the mouse in his backyard and that he was running away to die alone.
The Second Kind of Loneliness by George R. R. Martin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...)
Yes, he wrote things besides that dreadful sword and sorcery set of novels.
A man aboard a space station on the edge of the galaxy waits for his replacement. He has been on post for four years, by himself. His job is to open a jump gate when ships come, and they use the jump gate to reach the further reaches of space. Through his journals, we see him slowly grow insane over the loneliness and the sorrow of a broken relationship. The longer he waits the more unsteady his writing grows. The ship is late coming and he wonders if it will ever come. Finally, he realizes that the ship did come months ago and he had in a fit of insanity destroyed it and part of his computer system. The entries start up again with the man waiting for his replacement to arrive he has forgotten all about the previous entries and is doomed to repeat the cycle again and again.
The third part of the book is Memos
The Lonely by Judith Merril her second appearance in this books (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_...)
The memo concerns the interception of signals from outer space from a non-human point of origin. It is apparently a science lecture from aliens to other aliens of many different species of how humans are different than the rest of them. The biggest being that humans come in multiple genders. The few encounters that aliens have had so far with humans, all unknown to the humans because they did not notice that the moss on one planet was intelligent or the clouds on another.
Secret Unattainable by A. E. van Vogt, his second as well. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._v...)
A bunch of memos from Nazi Germany regarding a scientist who has devised a way for the German army to have unlimited resources. There is a lot of caution over the scientist as he is Jewish and he recently received news that his brother had died in a camp. The device allows the user to open a portal onto other worlds and pull things from it. There are a few mishaps, one opening into a sun when the scientist's minder happens to right in front of the portal, among them but they believe they have taken enough precautions including building duplicates of the machine based on the scientists work every day. The day of the grand opening of a full-sized model comes and Hitler is there to watch. He and his top advisers barely escape when the portal opens and brings forth a mighty river killing almost everyone. It is revealed through a recording made by the scientist that the machine not only has a mechanical element but that because of the forces it uses it also has a bit of a spiritual side and he knew all along once a Nazi took control it would sense the evilness and destroy them.
Edited by Issac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph Olander
A book of short stories that are all written in forms of letters, memos, and diaries. A few have some nonletter part in them but each story's bulk is in the form of a written document. You get quite a bit of story in this book and unlike most anthologies, I really did not find a stinker in any of them. It was quite an enjoyable read.
I Never Ast No Favors by C. M. Kornbluth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_M...)
The letters relate a story of an inner city hoodlum who after being arrested was given the choice of going to jail or being a work release at a farm. He quickly picks the farm and despite it not being as good as he thought it is better than jail. Until all the ducks die, and then the male bull brought in to impregnate the female cow is found to be impotent, and he, thanks to some luck, finds himself with a neighbor girl only to find himself with the same trouble. The owner of the farm is Ella Parry and she determines a hex has been placed on the farm. Her ancestors were of the hexing kind and she knows a spell or two. She forces the protagonist to assist in a ceremony that brings a demon up from hell. The demon wrestles the demon from the woman who cast a hex on the farm and wins. Ella dismisses it and the story ends with the protagonist asking to be sent back to jail.
Letter to Ellen by Chan Davis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandle...)
Dirk is writing to his girlfriend about his new job and why it has been so long since he has written. The job is one he and his friend, Roy, took after graduating from college. They are basically working on creating pieces of DNA that are assembled with other pieces of DNA to bring an animal to life. They are not told the name of the animal but they make great headway in the work. One day Roy gets a bit too curious and goes to find out what it is that they are making. He comes back and states that they are making humans. Dirk doesn't believe him until Roy hits his 26th birthday. That day he is taken by the boss and told that he is one of the humans that this project had made. The news drives Roy crazy and he commits suicide. It is discovered that there are some flaws in the process that do not become evident until the subject matures. Dirk then explains he has been silent for a while because it was just his 26th birthday and he received the same news. However, as the news has not driven him crazy he concludes he is a success and asks her to marry him.
One Rejection Too Many by Patricia Nurse (I could find no information on this artist)
A woman writes to Dr. Asimov submitting a story to his magazine for approval. She claims it was written by a time traveler who is living with her and it's his true story. The story is rejected and Asimov offers some suggestions. Revised the story is sent back and rejected again and again. The final letter to Asimov tells him that the time traveler has gotten sick of Asimov's criticism and has returned back to his time. The letter is replied to by George H. Scithers, editor of the Arthur C. Clarke's Science Fiction Magazine, and he is pleased to accept the story, noting all the good qualities in it, items that Asimov in previous letters had said were terrible, but then asks her who is Asimov?
Space Opera by Ray Russell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Rus...)
A writer is proposing a story to an editor. The story is about a space conqueror who has taken over most of the universe but still has one planet left. He impresses a scientist into creating for him a new type of metal that will stand up to the pressures of an underwater planet he is attacking. The scientist reluctantly does. The warlord has his scientists shoot the metal, test how strong it is and approve it and a fleet is soon built using the metal. Upon attack of the planet the fleet soon finds that while the metal is very strong, it is water soluble. The story ends with the despot escaping in an escape pod that crashes on some primitive world. The end remarks and the signature of the letter leave the impression that the story is not just a story and that the teller is that exiled dictator.
The Invasion of the Terrible Titans by William Sambrot
(http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...)
A private investigator is writing to the alumni association of a team that was soundly beaten during the last season by a team from Pacific Underwater College named the “Terrible Titans.” The team has had a remarkable year when the first one of many other new hairy students joined the team. The investigator was hired to find out where all these students came from. His investigations have revealed that they are shaved yetis from the Himalayas. He ends the letter requesting money so he can mount an expedition to get the alumni association a team of their own.
That Only A Mother by Judith Merrill (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_...)
Some of the action takes place outside of the letter. A mother is writing her husband who is off at war. She is giving him the news that she is pregnant and lets him know her worries that the child will be born misinformed because of all the mutations radiation from the war has caused. Over a series of letters, she tells her husband that the child is perfect but does have a mutation. The child is vastly overdeveloped in mentality and ability to speak in complete words despite not even being able to walk yet. Her husband comes home and is excited to see his smart child. It is then he notices that the child has no arms or legs and is basically a head on top of a worm-like body.
Itch On the Bull Run by Sharon Webb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_...)
I'm kink-shaming this story. A nurse and a doctor she is enthralled with are on a remote planet that is experiencing a plague that causes itching that eventually leads to death. She and he are sent off planet to another for a medical emergency. They are sent to a planet where an alien queen mom has stopped laying eggs. After arrival, it is soon apparent that they did not leave the planet soon enough as the doctor has the itches. Still, they put on protective clothing and work on the patient. The issue is the ovipositor has been jammed by an obstruction and they have to clean it out. After cleaning it out they are covered in birthing juice. By accident, the doctor gets some on him and discovers that his itch is gone. Soon they are bathing in the birthing juice and bringing some home to their planet.
Letter to a Phoenix by Fredric Brown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric...)
The author of the letter is writing to humanity telling them they are the Phoenix. He is immortal and he as watched as era after era has passed where humanity has risen, gone to the stars and eventually destroyed itself back to the dustpan. He has been to other planets settled by humanity and seen the same pattern. One gets the feeling in reading this that the author is not in the future but in the current era and that the stories of Atlantis and such true and one of many cycles in the past the world has gone through. Despite the whole humanity self-destroying the story is meant as uplifting because no matter how many times it's happened they have always come back.
Who's Cribbing by Jack Lewis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Le...)
Lewis writes himself as an author who keeps reeving rejection letters telling him that while his stories are good, good enough to publish already, they are the word for word copies of stories written 20 years ago by a Todd Thromberry. Through his correspondence, he learns that Thromberry was a whiz in electronics and his writing almost seems contemporary. He tries to find copies of Thromberry's work but most of it is out of print, a story of its time before internet archival of everything. Lewis comes to the conclusion that Thromberry somehow managed to discover time travel and has used it to steal each of Lewis' works. The editors of the magazine refer him to a psychiatrist. Finally, in desperation, he takes all his correspondence on the issue and submits it as a story called “Who's Cribbing” only to find out that...as guessed it was already written by Thromberry.
Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_...)
Walter Child receives an invoice written by a computer for a copy of the book Kidnapped, by Louis Stevenson, with the note that the amount is overdue. He writes back that he never asked for this book, that he returned this book and he has never received a replacement copy of the novel “Kim” which he had received with half the pages removed. The account is handled by the computer until it is sent to a collections agency, which is then handled by another computer until it is sent to a civil court. The computer in charge of the civil court accidentally codes the case as Criminal and he is charged with Kidnapping Louis Stevenson. Another computer accident and he is found guilty of the charge without a trial and sentenced to death. Finally, a lawyer gets involved and realizes the error. He contacts the governor who upon reading the letters issues a pardon. The pardon is sent off only to be misdirected to the wrong address by another computer.
Letters from Laura by Mildred Clingerman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred...)
A young woman complains to her friends about how her trip turned out. It was a time travel trip where she was sent into the Labyrinth with the Minotaur. And why he was nice and treated her well it was far less than the adventure she had been expecting. She later learns that the trip had been an insurance scam. She had been insured by the travel company for a lot and then sent to the labyrinth. Her last letter to the agent of the company tells the man that he was such a fool as even the Minotaur knew that she wasn't a virgin.
Dear Pen Pal by A. E. van Vogt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._v...)
A sun dwelling alien who is in prison starts up a pen pal exchange with a human. Through the story, it is obvious that the alien is trying to con the man. Eventually, we learn that the alien plans on switching his mind with that of the man. He will spend many years doing whatever he wants and then find another sucker why the man will be trapped in his prison for an extended sentence. The alien offers a solace that his kind has a very long lifespan, much longer than humans and that he will have years after the prison sentence ends to live in the sun in its body. The second to last letter reveals the plan and then notes that it is already too late and that the process will soon take place. He will then use the human's body and his advanced knowledge of science to take over and rule the world. The last letter is from the alien, but this time the human is in control of it. He relates how he had quickly figured out that the alien's letter had been a ploy and despite that went on to take it. He then thanks the alien for the functional body which he loves, even if it is in prison, as it is much better than the paralyzed bed bound soon to die body he had left behind.
Damn Shame by Dean R. Lamb (http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2491)
A medical researcher is talking to a former college roommate of his about how excited he is to be trying out the new cancer miracle drug he is testing. It is from a tree in South America. They will be ready for human trials soon. His friend a small town doctor asks if it would be possible to get some of the drugs as he has two patients who have nothing left to lose. The researcher sends it to him and soon the patients recover. However, a letter soon follows asking for one more dose as his wife now has cancer. The researcher, of course, wants to help but finds that he is running low on the stuff. He sends a letter to the procurer in South America only to find that the only place where the plant grows, a valley, has been flooded by the building of a new dam. (The story feels a bit condescending towards the South Americans)
The Trap by Howard Fast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_...)
A fascinating if dated tale of a man recovering from World War 2 and depression from how it destroyed his view of humanity. He is contacted by his sister a famous researcher with a job offer, which he takes. He is sent from country to country to look into people who have been claimed to be raised by animals. Unlike in Tarzan people who are raised by animals do not end up socially adjusted people, this is true in real life as well as I have seen in a few science shows. They are caught in a place where they are a bad specimen of the animal they were raised by and not quite human as well. Most will never learn to use their hands or language. After sending his findings he finds the reason his sister requested him to do the research. She and her husband have postulated that humanity has evolved that there is a new version that can use more than the 10 percent of their brains that humans use, a very old outdated belief. They wonder if these new people are being held back by being raised by humans as they are not really human. They end up the people who are found to be brilliant as children but grow up insane. She gives him the order to find babies that are super intelligent and to get them to her. Being a post world war 2 world there are a lot of orphans and the children are found and easily given over to him, all through legal if slightly morally gray adoptions. His sister and her husband and other scientists then set up a new society with no outside contact for the children. They are given no religion, no limits and taught to their full. The children soon develop telepathy, a group mind and even new children who were born after the experiment began to the scientists are brought into the mind. However, because they needed funding they had to ask the military for money. The military, based on her intelligence and use during the war, give her extraordinary terms and let her go for 15 years without inspection. The story ends with a letter from his sister explaining why she and her children have determined that humanity will never let them live and have decided to withdraw from humanity forever, but that they are only the beginning. The arm tells her brother that the place they were at is still there, but it is now surrounded by a type of force field they can not penetrate. They confirm his sisters and his views on humanity in claiming that they can only see her as an enemy and they will do their best to destroy the colony. The brother is sad that he will never see his sister again but tells the army they will try, but never succeed.
The next section of the book is called Diaries and it is stories written in diaries.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_...)
A mentally challenged young man is given a treatment that will make him smart. Not just normal smart but smarter than most humans. It was previously tried on a mouse named Algernon. As the entries in the diary proceed the increase in intelligence is easily seen as the writing becomes better, the spelling correct and deeper thoughts by the man, Charlie, are introduced. However, far from being happy, he finds that the world is not as good as he thought it was. His friends at work were really picking on him all the time. His one love, a reading teacher, is nowhere as smart as he once considered her and the two scientists involved in his treatment are just humans, not the gods of science he saw them as. Then Algernon who had been showing it's intelligence by solving mazes stops being able to solve them. Shortly after it dies. Charlie performs an autopsy and comes to the conclusion that the treatment works in that it fires off brain activity at an enormous rate. So much that a lifetime of mental cognition and wear is used in a short period. After this period the brain is burnt out. The subject returns to its previous status for a bit but then dies. He does his best to solve the issue but runs out of time. The last part of the diary is him slowly losing all the things he had. His fear and a realization that despite now being as he was before the surgery he is worse off because he now knows that at one point he was better and he still remembers the terrible life lessons he learned while smart. His last entry is asking his reading teacher to please watch over the grave of the mouse in his backyard and that he was running away to die alone.
The Second Kind of Loneliness by George R. R. Martin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...)
Yes, he wrote things besides that dreadful sword and sorcery set of novels.
A man aboard a space station on the edge of the galaxy waits for his replacement. He has been on post for four years, by himself. His job is to open a jump gate when ships come, and they use the jump gate to reach the further reaches of space. Through his journals, we see him slowly grow insane over the loneliness and the sorrow of a broken relationship. The longer he waits the more unsteady his writing grows. The ship is late coming and he wonders if it will ever come. Finally, he realizes that the ship did come months ago and he had in a fit of insanity destroyed it and part of his computer system. The entries start up again with the man waiting for his replacement to arrive he has forgotten all about the previous entries and is doomed to repeat the cycle again and again.
The third part of the book is Memos
The Lonely by Judith Merril her second appearance in this books (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_...)
The memo concerns the interception of signals from outer space from a non-human point of origin. It is apparently a science lecture from aliens to other aliens of many different species of how humans are different than the rest of them. The biggest being that humans come in multiple genders. The few encounters that aliens have had so far with humans, all unknown to the humans because they did not notice that the moss on one planet was intelligent or the clouds on another.
Secret Unattainable by A. E. van Vogt, his second as well. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._v...)
A bunch of memos from Nazi Germany regarding a scientist who has devised a way for the German army to have unlimited resources. There is a lot of caution over the scientist as he is Jewish and he recently received news that his brother had died in a camp. The device allows the user to open a portal onto other worlds and pull things from it. There are a few mishaps, one opening into a sun when the scientist's minder happens to right in front of the portal, among them but they believe they have taken enough precautions including building duplicates of the machine based on the scientists work every day. The day of the grand opening of a full-sized model comes and Hitler is there to watch. He and his top advisers barely escape when the portal opens and brings forth a mighty river killing almost everyone. It is revealed through a recording made by the scientist that the machine not only has a mechanical element but that because of the forces it uses it also has a bit of a spiritual side and he knew all along once a Nazi took control it would sense the evilness and destroy them.
August 1, 2017
Good collection of short stories with the interesting twist of them being written ad correspondence between people. Sometimes this leads to a boring story and sometimes too a thrilling way to take in a story. Was a little surprised to see an early George RR Martin story which ended up being a standout in this collection.
May 17, 2017
A compilation of 23 science fiction and fantasy stories told as diary or journal entries, or memos, or exchanges of letters. 17 were quite good, especially "Flowers for Algernon," "Computers Don't Argue," and "Dear Pen Pal."
December 24, 2021
-Gregory Kerkman
March 28, 2022
This book is full of good older science fiction stories which like the title says are delivered as dairy entries, memos and letters which makes for an interesting twist while reading.
Read
January 15, 2008An interesting concept - a collection of stories written in the form of letters, diaries, or memos. They managed to fill quite a few pages with such stories, but I found the quality to be highly variable.
But since the collection contains "Flowers for Algernon" that makes up for any shortcomings. I still cry when I read it.
But since the collection contains "Flowers for Algernon" that makes up for any shortcomings. I still cry when I read it.
April 4, 2012
Short stories in the form of letters.
CM Kornbluth, Chan Davis, Patricia Nurse, Ray Russell, William Sambrot, Judith Merril, Fredric Brown, Jack Lewis, Mildred Clingerman, A.E. van Vogt, Dean Lambe, Howard Fast, Daniel Keys, George Martin, Sharon Webb, Barry Malzberg, Christopher Anvil, Anthony Lewis, HB Piper and Gordon R. Dickson
CM Kornbluth, Chan Davis, Patricia Nurse, Ray Russell, William Sambrot, Judith Merril, Fredric Brown, Jack Lewis, Mildred Clingerman, A.E. van Vogt, Dean Lambe, Howard Fast, Daniel Keys, George Martin, Sharon Webb, Barry Malzberg, Christopher Anvil, Anthony Lewis, HB Piper and Gordon R. Dickson
June 22, 2014
Interesting sci-fi shorts from long ago (80s and earlier). This means that the 'plots' seem derivative (even if they likely weren't), however, the writing is generally much better than the sci-fi writing we get today.
June 6, 2016
This collectoon of epistolary science fiction stories in better than my rating might suggest. "Flowers for Algernon" is a classic, but I imagine that most of the audience for the anthology has already read it.
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