The Essential John Wyndham: The Pulp Fiction Collection

by John Wyndham, Christopher Broschell (Editor)

20 short stories from the illustrious author of The Chrysalids, The Day of the Triffids and The Village of the Damned. Pillar to Post, No Place Like Earth, A Stray from Cathay, Judson's Annihilator, Never on Mars, Jizzle, The Living Lies, How Do I Do?, Technical Slip, …And the Walls Came Tumbling Down…, Confidence Trick, The Eternal Eve, Pawley's Peepholes, Bargain from Brunswick, The Wheel, Close Behind Him, Adaptation, The Red Stuff, Reservation Deferred and More Spinned Against.

406 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 16, 2021

About the author

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was the son of a barrister. After trying a number of careers, including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, he started writing short stories in 1925. After serving in the civil Service and the Army during the war, he went back to writing. Adopting the name John Wyndham, he started writing a form of science fiction that he called 'logical fantasy'. As well as The Day of the Triffids, he wrote The Kraken Wakes, The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos (filmed as Village of the Damned) and The Seeds of Time.

Reviews

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pillar to Post - 3/5
No Place Like Earth - 3/5
A Stray from Cathay - 4/5
Judson's Annihilator - 4/5
Never on Mars - 3/5
Jizzle - 3/5
The Living Lies - 4/5
How Do I Do? - 4/5
Technical Slip - 3/5
…And the Walls Came Tumbling Down… - 4/5
Confidence Trick - 3/5
The Eternal Eve - 3/5
Pawley's Peepholes - 3/5
Bargain from Brunswick - 2/5
The Wheel - 3/5
Close Behind Him - 3/5
Adaptation - 3/5
The Red Stuff - 3/5
Reservation Deferred - 4(ish)/5
More Spinned Against - 3/5

[Phil Stephensen-Payne]

I confess I haven't read this book (as I already have all the stories) but I'm interested in the comments that this is possibly "a fan-produced effort, possibly happening due to Wyndham's stories now entering the public domain". The former may be true, but if so it's probably illegal as Wyndham's stories will not enter the public domain until 70 years after his death (i.e. 2039).

It is interesting to see 4 of JW's uncollected stories made available to a wider audience - just a shame the fifth such ("Brief to Counsel") wasn't also included.

[Derek Fawcett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Find

Thought I'd read all of the John Wyndham stories but found this ebook which has a few I know but plenty of new (to me) stories of which there are some fantastic ideas. John Wyndham got me into science fiction back in 1970 when I read the books during an illness. Still love the genre and happy to find this book and I have purchased a second collection of more (new to me) reads - Great Stuff!