Out Of This World: Tales Of Space

by Allan Graubard, Gale Burnick

7 X 4 PAPERBACK EDITION

Genres: Science Fiction, Space, Short Stories

96 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Hal Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a totally apenuts book! These "tales of space" range from melancholy to terrifying (except one; one is just silly). More than one story ends with the extinction of all life on the planet. What strange zeitgeist possessed 1983 to make it think that juvenile science fiction was synonymous with despair and doom? Not necessarily a good book in any traditional sense, it has a strange outsider power unusual in the disposable mass-market kids' books of the day.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very odd little book. I reread it because I still remember one story in the middle, "The Wind from the Sun" which haunted me as a kid. For a kids' book of scifi, that one is heavy and morbid.

The stories in this book are short even by flash fiction standards, tales reduced down to minimal components but capture the feeling of pulp magazine-era scifi. I remember feeling that way as a kid, having never read any of the pulp era classics but feeling like this book was right from that era somehow. Some of the stories suffer from a lack of a conflict or a twist but I didn't mind. The vibe is certainly there if you are in the mood for some light quick reading.

But damn, "The Wind from the Sun" is still devastatingly emo, still hits like a sledgehammer in the middle of this otherwise breezy book.

[Jerry Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my favorite when I was a kid. The wind from the sun was a great story, and it stuck with me all these years.

[Haley Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool book tbh