The Analog Anthology #1: Fifty Years of the Best Science Fiction from Analog

Schmidt Analog Anthologies #1

by Stanley Schmidt (Editor), Gordon R. Dickson, James H. Schmitz

Twilight by Don A. Stuart (John Wood Campbell Jr.)
The Lotus Eaters by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Fantastic Fiction by John Wood Campbell Jr.
Language for Time Travelers by L. Sprague de Camp
QRM - Interplanetary by George O. Smith
And He Built A Crooked House by Robert A. Heinlein
Far Centaurus by A.E. van Vogt
Placet is a Crazy Place by Fredric Brown
The Chromium Helmet by Theodore Sturgeon
The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline by Isaac Asimov
No Copying Allowed by John W. Campbell, Jr.
The Dead Past by Isaac Asimov
Ceramic Incident by Theodore L. Thomas
The Dread Tomato Addiction by Mark Clifton
Transfusion by Chad Oliver
The Longest Voyage by Poul Anderson
Sleep No More by James H. Schmitz
Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson
Test In Orbit by Ben Bova
The Prophet by Stanley Schmidt
The Asking of Questions by Poul Anderson
Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand by Vonda N. McIntyre
Can These Bones Live? by Ted Reynolds

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

380 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1980

About the author

Stanley Schmidt is an American science fiction author. Between 1978 and 2012 he served as editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an anthology of Stanley Schmidt's picks of the best of the first fifty years of Analog/Astounding. As is usual with such a volume, my biggest reservations were the inclusion of this good story leading to the exclusion of that great story. (Only one Heinlein? No Sherred or Godwin or...?) The stories that did make their way in are all enjoyable, though some had begun to show their age even in 1980 when the book appeared. There are a few non-fiction pieces included, too, which makes sense with "and science fact" being in the magazine's title. The oldest story is Twilight by John Campbell (under his Don A. Stuart pseudonym) himself, which appeared in 1934, and there's one by Stanley G. Weinbaum from 1935. There are many classics from the Golden Age of Campbell's editorship, from legendary names of the field including Robert A. Heinlein, George O. Smith, Fredric Brown, Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, etc., following on through the 1950's and '60's with Chad Oliver, Poul Anderson, James H. Schmitz, etc. There are stories from post-Campbell editors Ben Bova and Schmidt himself, and the newest story was by Ted Reynolds from 1979. My favorite of the newer works was Vonda N. McIntyre's Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand. If I were to pick an overall favorite it would be Heinlein's And He Built A Crooked House or Far Centaurus by A.E. van Vogt. Another great volume for Golden Oldie fans... wow, it won't be -that- long until it't time for a Centenary volume.

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars except for Ted Reynold's contribution "Can These Bones Live," which deserves 5+ stars (to be honest, I can't even remember the other stories in this collection).

It's far and away one of the best short stories I have ever read; I cannot recommend it enough.

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifty Years of the Best Science Fiction from Analog (1980) edited by Stanley Schmidt.



15 • Twilight • (1934) 16 pages by Don A. Stuart
OK/Good. A time traveler from the 31 century goes 7 million years into the future overshoots on his way back and tells his story to a present day, 1932, individual. That being the twilight of the human race.

31 • The Lotus Eaters • (1935) 23 pages by Stanley G. Weinbaum
OK/Good. Better when I read it in 1983. Ham and Pat are researchers on Venus and come across an intelligent plant.

67 • Qrm--Interplanetary • (1942) 28 pages by George O. Smith
Very Good/Excellent. At a relay station for messages between Venus and the rest of the planets the company has bypassed the obvious choice of Don Channing as the new director and instead put a bean counter in charge.

95 • And He Built a Crooked House • (1941) 16 pages by Robert A. Heinlein
VG/Excellent. Architect Quintus Teal had visionary plans for a house in the shape of a tesseract, how it would have eight rooms in the space of one. He built the house and an earthquake caused the house to fall in upon itself going from three to four dimensions. Then comes some clever description of what it was like from inside.

111 • Far Centaurus • (1944) 16 pages by A. E. Van Vogt
Very Good. Endicott, Renfrew and Blake are on a 500 year voyage to the Alpha Centauri system. One man waking at 50 year intervals to check on the status of the ship. In his first waking period Endicott finds Pelham dead, not surviving the eternity drug.

127 • Placet is a Crazy Place • (1946) 12 pages by Fredric Brown
Excellent. After three years of overseeing Placet, Phil Rand has had enough and quits. Almost immediately after that things start looking up, except that now he has quit they aren't going to let him stay. I remembered almost every detail from when I read it in 1983.

139 • The Chromium Helmet • (1946) 39 pages by Theodore Sturgeon
VG/Excellent. Widget, Marie and Carole are remembering things that haven't happened. What has happened to Godfrey's daughter, sister and wife? He and his brother-in-law Henry have to figure it out. They both work for Wickersham who designs high-tech gadgets.

187 • The Dead Past • (1956) 36 pages by Isaac Asimov
Excellent. Potterly is history professor and has applied to use the chronoscope to view Carthage. When he is turned down he meets a young physics professor and forwards the notion that the government is actively suppressing the use of the chronoscope.

223 • Ceramic Incident • (1956) 4 pages by Theodore L. Thomas
Good. A survey team investigates a metal poor planet.

229 • Transfusion • (1959) 32 pages by Chad Oliver
Very Good. Anthropologist Ben Hazard and his colleagues are using time travel to take a first hand look at early man, but Man is missing.

261 • The Longest Voyage • (1960) 24 pages by Poul Anderson
Very Good. Set on a world with 18th century technology. The Golden Leaper has been sailing for a year when they learn of the sky ship. Captain Rovic leads his crew in dealing with the inhabitants of the islands where the ship has crashed.

285 • Sleep No More • (1965) 14 pages by James H. Schmitz
Excellent. Telzey is in psi caught in a suspense/thriller. A couple weeks ago she thwarted an attack in Melna park by Robane. To not reveal herself as a psi she removed that part of Robane's mind that made him a killer. But Robane wasn't alone and she needs to go back and see him to find out who else was responsible. She wakes from a dream that makes her wary of what she'll find upon her return.

299 • Computers Don't Argue • (1965) 13 pages by Gordon R. Dickson
Fair. Written as a series of letters. Errors compound to a ridiculous conclusion. The humor fell flat.

312 • Test In Orbit • (1965) 12 pages by Ben Bova
Good. A rogue satellite has been launched into orbit. The Air Force is sending Kinsman to investigate.

324 • The Prophet • (1972) 19 pages by Stanley Schmidt
Very Good. Raf Tambori has built a neutrinoscope and found that the nightsun, two light years away, is going to go supernova in the next couple of centuries. He tries to convince the scientific council to either build a space program or some type of shelter to at least save some of the population.

350 • Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand • (1973) 16 pages by Vonda N. McIntyre
Good/VG. In a small village a boy is dying from a tumor. They have sent for Snake to heal the boy. The villagers are fearful and leery of Snake, because she uses snakes in her healing.

366 • Can These Bones Live? • (1979) 14 pages by Ted Reynolds
VG/Excellent. After the extinction of humanity the Roanei resurrect one woman. She is alone and when she thinks of a question before going to bed, the Roanei will answer her in a dream.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories from this book I recommend are And He Built A Crooked House by Robert Heinlein, Stanley Schmidt's The Prophet, Poal Anderson's The Longest Voyage, Can these Bones Live? by Ted Reynolds, and Stanley Weinbaum's The Lotus Eaters. Stories by A.E. Vogt and Theodore Sturgeon among other authors are also featured.

There are also some interesting articles as well. Language For Time Travelers by L. Sprague de Camp talks about how the spoken language changes over time. No Copying Allowed by John W. Campbell is about how future technology that travels backwards in time would be impossible to reverse engineere in the present. The Asking Of Questions by Poal Anderson is basically a dedication to John W Campbell's work as editor of the magazine and how they would move on after his death in 1971.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories ranging from 1934 through 1979, mostly in order, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Analog in 1980. “Mostly” in order; Schmidt writes that they’re in chronological order, but not what kind of chronological order. Two are not in order of publication, though the mismatch is only by four months.

Oddly, I generally agreed with his choices, with the most blatant exception being his story, which someone else chose. His 1972 The Prophet is a story about very deadly consequences with so many holes it’s crazy. The more important the consequences, the more important it is to pay attention to how much the characters’ actions make sense in the lead-up. In this story, a Jor-El-like scientists discovers that the world is going to end. It’s obvious that the world is going to end because of a specific, special machine he’s built to observe neutrinos.

Between being bullied into not publicizing his findings and the actual end of the story, there is an entire century. Nowhere in this time does he release the plans for his neutrinoscope. As described it’s an incredibly useful and easily built neutrino detector, something that would fill an immense scientific need and could not be suppressed once public. And would also make the impending disaster obvious to a whole lot of people who might do something about it.

There is a savior syndrome so deep in this story it’s never even addressed by the author. Unless the point of the story is to address those scientists who claim the end of the world and then refuse to release not just their data but how they acquired their data.

Asimov’s 1956 “The Dead Past” attempts to justify, four years before President Eisenhower’s farewell address, the military-industrial complex and especially the scientific-technological elite; and in favor of the suppression of progress fourteen years before Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock. Like most Asimov stories it is annoyingly well-written despite arguing from impossible conditions.

Mark Clifton’s 1958 “The Dread Tomato Addiction” is a clumsily-written but necessary reminder about the ease of using partial statistics to hype disasters that don’t exist. Chad Oliver’s 1959 “Transfusion” was not as compelling as when I read it a few months ago in Worlds of When, but it’s still an odd story about one of the greatest conspiracies ever perpetrated.

Poul Anderson’s 1960 “The Longest Voyage” was one of my two favorite stories in the book. It’s sort of a look at Star Trek’s Prime Directive from the side of the people it’s meant for, and what you should do when someone asks you if you’re a god—or whether you know a god.

James H. Schmitz’s 1965 “Sleep No More” is interesting both because it’s a fun psychic thriller but because it very closely resembles AD&D’s tacked-on psionics system. Psi-shields, bolts of psychic energy, There’s even a baboon-like psi-dog with gaping jaws that sort of teleports closer and closer through the psychic ether to its prey, a sort of su-monster/blink dog hybrid.

The most enjoyable for me, however, was Fredric Brown’s very silly 1946 “Placet is a Crazy Place”, about a world where relativistic effects cause outrageous hallucinations at predictable intervals every day, like a psychic tide. It’s funny on its own, and hinges on a really bad and unforeseeable pun that is nevertheless funny as all get out.

Runners up for favorites are Don A. Stuart’s 1934 “Twilight”, in which a singing time traveler’s story about a dying future is related second-hand. It’s the earliest story in the book and one of the most beautiful. The second-oldest is Stanley Weinbaum’s 1935 “The Lotus Eaters” with its extremely alien races with extremely alien outlooks—something Weinbaum excels at, as in the more famous A Martian Odyssey and Valley of Dreams. Rounding out the runners-up is L. Sprague de Camp’s “Language for Time-Travelers”, which I’ve read before but is always fun, illustrating that even in the early era of science fiction authors were thinking about how the time makes the future incomprehensible.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this was the best from Analog, I'd hate to read the worst.

Stories and articles range from 1934 to 1979. Many I haven't encountered in other anthologies, but that's probably because no one wanted them. Schmidt favored novellas with hard sci-fi and not much else going for it.

Selections:

* "Introduction" by Our Editor. Decent, lively intro explaining the history of the magazine, why some selections were included (and some not), and a teaser for a Volume 2.
* "Twilight" by Don A. Stuart/John W. Campbell, Jr. (1934) This novella drags on and on, without quotation marks, about one guy telling another the story a weird hitchhiker told HIM about time-traveling to visit the last ever humans. No other species exists, not even microscopic ones. The last non-human species to die out was the dog, in a heartbreaking ode to dogs.
* "The Lotus Eaters" by Stanley G. Weinbaum. (1935). Set on Venus, which at the time was thought to be inhabitable. Although real science proved that Venus is inhospitable, the story is still widely considered a classic, with a surprisingly strong female character. The attitude toward animals is a bit sickening, though.
* "Fantastic Fiction" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1938). Non-fiction article less than two pages long about how great sci-fi is.
* "Language for Time Travelers" by L. Sprague de Camp. (1938). Non-fiction article about how languages change over time (particularly English), with a short time-traveling story as an example. Long article more meant for writers than readers, but I was an English major, so I enjoyed it. At least, I enjoyed it much more than his fiction.
* "QRM --Interplanetary" by George O. Smith. (1942). Very long, hard to follow novella about something happening on a satellite around Venus. Mostly, it's about inter-office politics.
* "And He Built a Crooked House" by Robert A. Heinlein. (1941). Perhaps the most difficult and headache-inducing story RAH ever wrote, about an architect in 1941 building a tessearct house.
* "Far Centaurus" by A. E. Van Vogt. (1944). And, suddenly, after all this lightheartedness, here's a serious story about four astronauts who have to take an immortality drug and sleep for decades in the first spaceflight to Alpha Centauri.
* "Placet Is a Crazy Place" by Frederick Brown. (1946). Interesting but slightly predictable love story set on one of the most bizarre planets in science fiction. Yet another humorous story.
* "The Chronium Helmet" by Theodore Sturgeon. (1946). Hard to follow hard fiction about two assistants to a mad scientist. A little girl's nickname is The Widget, which shows you how disgustingly sweet this gets, even though a murder takes place.
* "The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimolene" by Isaac Asimov. (1948). It reads exactly like any boring old scientific paper, but it's a spoof. Although technically fiction, it takes the label "hard sci-fi" to whole new depths.
* "No Copying Allowed" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1948). I was hoping that this would be an article against plagiarism, but here Campbell goes to great lengths to implore writers to STOP WRITING STORIES WHERE A MODERN GADGET GOES BACK IN TIME AND GETS COPIED BY SCIENTISTS IN THAT DAY. Jesus, Joseph ...
* "The Dead Past" by Isaac Asimov. (1956). Part of the good Doctor's Multivac series, although you don't need to read the others in order to understand this. Two university professors figure out that there is government suppression of certain sciences. This has several quaint sci-fi tropes of the 1950s -- tri-vees, everything on microfilm, women's place firmly in the home, world government by the year 2000, and almost everyone smoking lkke chimneys.
* "Ceramic Incident" by Theodore L. Thomas. (1956). Moral: Finding an advertisement on another planet can get you killed.
* "The Dread Tomato Addiction" by Mark Clifton. (1958). I've got a feeling that the incident that inspired this warning against eating tomatoes was more interesting than this fake article.
* "Transfusion" by Chad Oliver. (1959). Although this origin of homo sapiens story may have cool in 1959, it's just embarrassing in 2025. For example, time travel was common ... in 1982.
* "The Longest Voyage" by Poul Anderson. (1960). Novella that seems longer than it is. Dull combination of fantasy and sci-fi, set on a world very much like Earth ca. 1700.
* "Sleep No More" by James H. Schmitz. (1965). This is the first story in the anthology where Our Protagonist is a woman. This was part of the Hub series, with hardly any back story and zero resolution. One of the numerous stories about "psi powers" popular in the Sixtes and Seventies, and not a very good one. Briefly, there's a dog, but he or she is not killed, which is rare for a sci-fi story.
* "Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon R. Dickson. (1965). The best selection in this book. Told in a series of letters, this shows how bad things could be via snail mail, and why people today often pay small bills for things they never bought instead of trying to wrestle with a company's phone menus.
* "Test in Orbit" by Ben Bova. (1965). The Cold War in space, fought out by astronauts. Part of the Chester A. Kinsman series.
* "The Prophet" by Our Editor. (1972). Although a rather tedious story about an ignored scientist on a world that oddly resembles India, it does have a chilling modern parallel with climate change denial.
* "The Asking of Questions" by Poul Anderson. (1972). Non-fiction piece starting off as an ode to John Campbell, then veers off into nowhere. Anderson may have been a good writer, but as a person, he was just another asshole.
* "Of Mist, And Grass, and Sand" by Vonda N. McIntyre. (1973). This award-winning novellette was the basis for McIntyre's acclaimed novel Dreamsnake. You can find this is a dozen other, much better anthologies.
* "Can These Bones Live?" By Ted Reynolds. (1979). Yawner about the last human being, a hateful woman, who is resurrected by aliens. I find it hard to believe that in 1979, any American woman would think of humanity as Man.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any anthology there are some good stories, some bad and some that are just okay. I think it was worth the read if only as a way to look at how the style of short fiction changed.

Twilight by Don A. Stuart - 1 Star
I found this slow. Plot was certainly lacking. Being the first story in the book, I expected better.

The Lotus Eaters by Stanley G. Weinbaum - 2 Stars
This is dated, very dated and I really didn't like it at first but then ending saved it. Just.

QRM-Interplanetary by George O. Smith - 5 Stars
Yes this is dated, but boy was it fun. In a message relay station around Venus the crew get a new boss, whose prime goal is to make money and all "H E double Hockey Sticks" breaks lose. This is the perfect example where good intentions go badly wrong.

And He Built a Crooked House by Robert A. Heinlein - 3 Stars
A really nice little story. One of those that you read and you can't find anything obviously wrong with and end up with that contented feeling, but you don't know why.

Far Centaurus by A. E. Van Vogt -3 Stars
I thought I had read this before when I started it, but as it went on I was less sure. I liked the overall story and thought it was interesting with one exception whenan old Science Fiction story line was use. The main characters should have seen it coming.

The Chromium Helmet by Theodore Sturgeon - 4 Stars
This to me is classic science fiction. A scientist solving a problem with wife, daughter and best friend involved in the story. Yes it is dated, but it has a nice plot if a little predictable..

The Dead Past by Isaac Asimov - 3 Stars
Similar in tone to the previous story, but it just missed something.

Ceramic Incident by Theodore L. Thomas - 3 Stars
A short story with a nice twist at the end. Well constructed.

Transfusion by Chad Oliver- 5 Stars
I had never heard of Chad Oliver, but found this to be an excellant story. Not sure there was anything unique about the plot, but it just read so well.

The Longest Voyage by Poul Anderson - 3 Stars
A marooned on a strange planet tale but told front the point of view of the in habitants of the planet. I quite liked it.

Sleep No More by James H. Schmitz - 1 Star
Just couldn't get into it.

Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson - 3.5 Stars
A fun little story, in an unusual style although not unique.

Test In Orbit by Ben Bova - 3 Stars
I have read this story a couple of times before and recently too which took away some of the surprise, but I still liked it.

The Prophet by Stanley Schmidt - 4 Stars
I really liked this. Not a lot of action, but it well thought out and enjoyable.

Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand by Vonda N. McIntyre - 4 Stars
As I read this I that I had read it before, but as it went on it just seemed so fresh. Well worth the read.

Can These Bones Live? by Ted Reynolds - 1 Star
I just didn't like this.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are certainly dated. In their time, sci fi was about the idea, and telling a good story came in a distant second. Heroes were macho white dudes about three centimeters deep. So there's that.

Still, a few of these manage to be really excellent stories, and most of the rest are pretty neat ideas. I'd recommend the collection for people who like classic sci fi or are interested in the history of the genre; I'd recommend Poul Anderson's contributions for anyone.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good anthology of fiction and non-fiction spanning the fifty years of Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine's publication history.

[Rose Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to have the opportunity to read several "classic" short stories that I had heard about previously.