The Edge of Tomorrow

by Howard Fast

Way out around the fringes of consciousness Howard Fast found some ideas that were too bold and terrifying for the here and now. They leaped the barriers of time and imagination and found their place in some of the most startling, provocative science fiction stories ever written. Here, in time, space, and the galaxy, is all the storytelling genius of the celebrated author of SPARTACUS.

Contents:

The First Men
The Large Ant
Of Time and Cats
Cato the Martian
The Cold, Cold Box
The Martian Shop
The Sight of Eden

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Collections

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1961

About the author

Howard Fast was one of the most prolific American writers of the twentieth century. He was a bestselling author of more than eighty works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays. The son of immigrants, Fast grew up in New York City and published his first novel upon finishing high school in 1933. In 1950, his refusal to provide the United States Congress with a list of possible Communist associates earned him a three-month prison sentence. During his incarceration, Fast wrote one of his best-known novels, Spartacus (1951). Throughout his long career, Fast matched his commitment to championing social justice in his writing with a deft, lively storytelling style.

Pseudonyms: Walter Ericson, E.V. Cunningham

Reviews

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the single story,"The Large Ant," from this anthology with the Short Story Club.

Morgan, the narrator, stayed at a cabin after his fishing buddies returned home. He was reading in bed when he spotted a giant ant, over a foot long, at the end of the bed. He grabbed a nearby golf club and whacked the huge insect. He packed up the dead ant, and phoned an entomologist at a natural history museum when he returned home.

The rest of the story suggests how humans react in fear when confronted with the unknown, and how territorial we act. The story was written in the 1960s in the Cold War era. 3 1/2 stars.

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of The Large Ant from this book.
Ants make me squirm, so I was not keen to read this 1960 short story from “The Edge of Tomorrow”, but although this does feature a large ant, I’m grateful that “the government man” didn’t allow the inclusion of any photos - it’s framed as a true story that no one will believe amid a slew of fake news.

The narrator stays in a remote shack after his friends have left. He awakes to a large ant, and instinctively clubs it to death. He’s revolted by it, and by his reaction, but takes the body with him so a museum entomologist can have a look. That’s the setup.

The story itself is a Twilight Zone-type speculative fiction that is a mirror for the weaknesses of humankind - and why physical strength and violence are so often the response to the unfamiliar. It was compulsive, philosophical, and powerful.


Image: Entomology jars - none containing ants. (Source)


Quotes

• How will “it” end? “One held that sooner or later there would be too many people; another that we would do each other in, and the atom bomb made that a very good likelihood… All sorts of notions except the simple fact that we were what we were… we have never been any good at changing ourselves or the way we behave.” I didn’t fully agree with the last part, but went with it, and came to see Fast’s point.

• “Aside from a racetrack, a museum is the most interesting and unexpected place in the world.”

• “We don’t look carefully at a thing that is horrible or repugnant to us.”

• “A cultured and intelligent man, yet you cannot conceive of a mentality that does not include weapons as a prime necessity.”

• “If they are without the curse of murder, they may also be without the curse of fear… fear and hatred are two sides of the same coin.”

See also

• Six months’ ago, Short Story Club read - and I disliked - Calvino’s The Argentine Ant (which would be more accurately called “The Plague of Argentine Ants”: see my review HERE).

• In Manguel’s anthology of “fantastic” literature, this follows on from an equally good, but very different, piece that explores similar themes about the human propensity for violence and war: Marco Denevi’s A Dog in Dürer’s Etching “The Knight, Death and the Devil”, which I reviewed HERE.

• I detest ants, but not all insects: Kafka’s Metamorphosis (see my review HERE) makes me ponder, tear up, and chuckle every time.

• Any debate about catastrophic collapse versus technological solutions reminds me of Kenneth Boulding’s A Conservationist’s Lament and The Technologist’s Reply. You can read both poems in my review of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, HERE.

• Howard Fast also wrote epics that were filmed, including Spartacus, Moses, and The Prince of Egypt.

Short story club

I read this in Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 4 September 2023.

I can’t find an online version of this story to link to.

You can join the group here.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Edge of Tomorrow was Howard Fast's first collection of science fiction, though he began writing in the genre with a story in the October 1932 issue of Amazing Stories. He was, of course, far more famous for his many mainstream works (dude, he wrote Spartacus), but wrote many sf and fantasy stories, most of which appeared in F & SF magazine. There are seven stories collected in this volume, and six of them are from F & SF; the other, The Large Ant, appeared in the February 1960 issue of Fantastic Universe magazine, with the title The Big Ant. It's one of my favorites. All of the stories here appeared in 1959 or 1960; he was a prolific writer. Bantam did two or three printings of the book soon after its release, some with a kind of astronomical cover that looks like a Richard Powers painting, and one (the printing I have) with a giant ant (pardon me, large or big but not giant) cover that looks like a poster for the 1954 James Whitmore film Them! His philosophies of religion and politics creep into his stories a little too much at times, but he was a very good, slick writer. My other favorites are The Martian Shop, Of Time and Cats, and The Sight of Eden.

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review of "The Large Ant" — one story living at "The Edge of Tomorrow"

"Why did you kill it?" the protagonist is asked, about his reaction to the sight of an ant-like creature, over a foot long.

Much is made of that question, moralizing and whatnot, yet many of us confronted with an insect in the house — a spider or another creepy crawler — will immediately form the decision to eradicate the intrusion with forceful means.

This Cold War era story slogs through the swamp of philosophizing, equating killing an insect upon sight with the creation of atomic bombs, asserting that killing is part of being human.

A pedantic, thought-experiment sort of story, one freighted with Cold War anxieties and the weight of anxious moralizing. Rounded up to 3 stars because — why not? There is a moment of rewarding musing on the nature of "ant" consciousness, contrasted against what is presumed to be human nature.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by Fast. They tend toward a rather old fashioned style but I really enjoyed them. The ideas are rich and there are some dynamite endings.

[Jose Brox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to find this a better collection than "A touch of infinity", whose short stories were written later and reuse some of the ideas found in "The edge of tomorrow" -for the worse. This is also a shorter collection (with 7 stories). The narrative style of the author, if old-fashioned, is different and fresh when compared with the usually dull treatment of most cf writers of his time. Nevertheless, in this collection he centers more on big events changing society than in particular characters living some weird or funny adventure.

* The first men: 3.5 stars. Written in epistolary style, starts with a great, hard premise and evolves to a (nowadays) topical and soft ending.

* The large ant: 3 stars. Main idea reused in "A matter of size". Here it is less developed but is more powerful on the other hand.

* Of time and cats: 1.5 stars. Humorous. Some people consider this the best story in the collection, I find it a nonsense topical and light story involving time travel.

* Cato the martian: 4 stars. Smart and profound, delivers a powerful social message by analogy. More relevant than ever.

* The cold, cold box: 5 stars. A great cf story, perfect even in its title choice. Great idea, development, philosophical conundrum, and ending. An idea from this story was reused in "The price", a way lesser story.

* The martian shop: 4 stars. Smart and elegant, although a bit dated. Some intersection of ideas with "The cold, cold box".

* The sight of Eden: 3.5 stars. Intersection with "Cephes 5", which is a better story. Being about the relation of humanity with violence, it is pessimistic but not lightweight.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short, science fiction stories. I particularly enjoyed the last four - Cato the Martian, The Cold, Cold Box, The Martian Shop, The Sight of Eden.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard Fast (1914-2003) fue un prolífico escritor estadounidense cuya obra abarca géneros tan diversos como la novela histórica, el thriller, la ciencia ficción y el ensayo político. Nacido en Nueva York en el seno de una familia obrera, Fast destacó desde joven por su compromiso social y su activismo político, lo que lo llevó a afiliarse al Partido Comunista en la década de 1940, una decisión que marcó tanto su vida como su carrera. Durante el macartismo, fue perseguido y encarcelado por sus ideas, lo que no impidió que continuara escribiendo, incluso bajo seudónimos como E.V. Cunningham. Su novela más conocida, Espartaco (1951), adaptada al cine por Stanley Kubrick, refleja su interés por las luchas de clases y la resistencia frente a la opresión. En el ámbito de la ciencia ficción, Fast exploró temas filosóficos y éticos, como la naturaleza de la humanidad, el impacto del entorno en el desarrollo humano y las implicaciones de los avances tecnológicos, a menudo con un enfoque humanista y crítico.

"Al borde del futuro" (The Edge of Tomorrow, 1961), traducido al español por Luis Echávarri y publicado en 1964 con ilustración de Alberto Pujolar, es una antología de siete relatos de ciencia ficción escritos por Howard Fast entre 1959 y 1960. Cada historia, impregnada de un tono especulativo y filosófico, explora los límites de la humanidad, la ciencia y la sociedad, abordando cuestiones como la evolución, la identidad, el contacto extraterrestre y las paradojas del progreso tecnológico.

En "Los primeros hombres" (The First Men, 1960), se narra un ambicioso experimento para criar a niños con un potencial intelectual excepcional en un entorno aislado, con el objetivo de liberar capacidades humanas hasta entonces reprimidas. "La gran hormiga" (The Large Ant, 1960) plantea un inquietante encuentro con una criatura alienígena que desafía las nociones humanas de moralidad y violencia. "Del tiempo y de los gatos" (Of Time and Cats, 1959) combina humor y ciencia ficción para explorar las consecuencias imprevistas de la manipulación temporal. En "Catón el marciano" (Cato the Martian, 1960), un supuesto habitante de Marte ofrece una perspectiva externa sobre la humanidad, cuestionando su comportamiento belicoso. "La caja fría, fría" (The Cold, Cold Box, 1959) examina el sacrificio y la resistencia humana frente a una amenaza tecnológica opresiva. "La tienda marciana" (The Martian Shop, 1959) presenta un misterioso establecimiento comercial que desencadena una crisis global al revelar secretos extraterrestres. Finalmente, "La visión del edén" (The Sight of Eden, 1960) sigue a una tripulación espacial que descubre un planeta idílico, enfrentándose a preguntas sobre la naturaleza del paraíso y el lugar de la humanidad en el cosmos.

A través de estas narraciones, Fast teje una reflexión sobre el potencial y las limitaciones de la especie humana, cuestionando si el progreso científico y social puede redimir o condenar a la humanidad. Con un estilo accesible pero cargado de simbolismo, la antología invita al lector a reconsiderar los fundamentos de la civilización y su relación con lo desconocido.

"Al borde del futuro" se erige como una obra paradigmática dentro de la ciencia ficción de la Guerra Fría, un período marcado por la ansiedad tecnológica, el temor a la aniquilación nuclear y la fascinación por lo extraterrestre. Esta colección de relatos no solo refleja las inquietudes de su tiempo, sino que trasciende su contexto histórico para ofrecer una meditación atemporal sobre la condición humana, la ética de la ciencia y el impacto del entorno en la identidad. Fast, conocido por su compromiso social y su aguda crítica a las estructuras de poder, traslada estas preocupaciones al terreno especulativo, utilizando la ciencia ficción como un lente para examinar las contradicciones inherentes a la humanidad.

Cada relato de la antología se distingue por su capacidad para combinar una narrativa accesible con una profundidad filosófica que invita a la reflexión. En "Los primeros hombres", Fast explora la hipótesis de que el entorno social moldea de manera decisiva la mente humana, planteando una pregunta que resuena a lo largo de la obra: "¿Cuál es entonces la esencia del hombre?". Esta interrogante, formulada en una carta ficticia dentro del relato, encapsula el núcleo temático de la antología: la búsqueda de la esencia humana en un mundo donde la ciencia y la cultura pueden tanto liberar como aprisionar. La historia, estructurada como una serie de correspondencias, utiliza un tono epistolar que otorga verosimilitud a su premisa especulativa, mientras que su final abierto deja al lector sumido en un asombro inquietante.

Otros relatos, como "La gran hormiga" y "Catón el marciano", adoptan un enfoque más alegórico, utilizando encuentros con lo alienígena para reflejar los defectos humanos. En el primero, Fast cuestiona la moralidad de la violencia a través de un incidente aparentemente trivial que escala hasta revelar verdades perturbadoras sobre la naturaleza humana: "Si matamos por instinto, ¿qué nos distingue de las bestias?". En el segundo, la perspectiva externa de un supuesto marciano sirve como un espejo crítico que expone la beligerancia y la hipocresía de la humanidad: "Hombre, ¿qué es un hombre? Una suma de recuerdos encerrados en la mente". Estos relatos resuenan con obras contemporáneas de autores como Ray Bradbury o Philip K. Dick, pero Fast se distingue por su enfoque humanista, que evita el cinismo y apuesta por la posibilidad de redención, aunque esta sea incierta.

"La tienda marciana" y "La visión del edén" destacan por su capacidad para imaginar lo extraterrestre no como una amenaza, sino como un catalizador para la introspección. En el primero, la aparición de una misteriosa tienda en Nueva York desencadena una crisis global que pone en entredicho las estructuras de poder terrestres, mientras que en el segundo, la descripción de un planeta idílico confronta a los personajes con sus propios anhelos y limitaciones. Este último relato culmina con una reflexión melancólica sobre la humanidad: "Todos los hombres esperan", un eco de la esperanza frágil que permea toda la antología.

Desde un punto de vista estilístico, Fast demuestra un dominio notable del relato corto, utilizando una prosa clara pero evocadora que equilibra la especulación científica con el drama humano. Su habilidad para construir mundos creíbles en pocas páginas, combinada con su interés por los dilemas éticos, recuerda a las mejores obras de la ciencia ficción de los años 50 y 60, como las de Isaac Asimov o Arthur C. Clarke. Sin embargo, Fast impregna sus historias de un trasfondo político y social que refleja su experiencia como activista, lo que confiere a la antología un tono distintivo.

En conjunto, Al borde del futuro es una obra que captura la imaginación y desafía al lector a reconsiderar los fundamentos de la humanidad. Su mezcla de especulación científica, crítica social y humanismo la convierte en una contribución significativa al género.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

There have been several books titled The Edge of Tomorrow, none of which have anything to do with the recent Tom Cruise movie, which borrowed most of its plot from the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill. (I think you can see why there was a title change.) This particular volume contains seven science fiction stories by the author of Spartacus and other fine historical novels.

“The First Men” starts in 1945, as Harry Felton is discharged from the Army following World War Two. His anthropologist sister sends a request for him to stay in India for the purpose of finding a child allegedly raised by wolves ala Mowgli. He finds her, but she is mentally unable to function except as a very smart wolf. Similarly, the South African boy raised by baboons is essentially a furless baboon.

Then the actual idea behind Jean’s research is revealed. Children at an early level of development raised by animals can never be more than animals. Children raised by flawed human society will never surpass ordinary humans. But what would happen if a group of highly intelligent infants from around the world were raised under utopian conditions by enlightened scientists?

Harry helps gather the children for this experiment, which must be carried out in complete isolation from the outside world. In 1965, he is called in by the government. It seems all communication with the creche has been lost, and a zone of nothingness has sealed off the area. Does he know what’s going on?

As it happens, Harry has a sealed letter from his sister for just this moment. In it, she reveals that the experiment was highly successful, and the children have taken the next step in mental evolution. Hyperintelligent and telepathic, they are preparing to bring the children of humanity up to their level as fast as they can expand their zone of influence.

Harry’s government contact reacts badly. Not that I can blame him, given the implications.

Some readers may be squicked by discussion of sex among the upraised youngsters. At the time this was written, 1959, certain readers might have been more upset with the idea that all the races of man were equally capable of being uplifted.

“The Large Ant” has a writer on vacation instinctively swatting what appears to be an oversized insect to death. Upon realizing it’s no ordinary insect, he takes it to a museum. It’s not the first specimen they’ve gotten of this type. And given that every human that’s encountered them has immediately defaulted to killing them, we can no longer assume that peaceful contact is possible. Heavy on the infodump.

“Of Time and Cats” has Professor Robert Clyde Bottman, who teaches physics at Columbia University, help out a fellow professor with a defective experimental circuit. As a result, he ties a knot in time, and multiple iterations of himself keep appearing. That gets fixed, but not before his friend’s cat also ties a knot in its own timeline. The best story in this volume, with a humorous touch.

“Cato the Martian” posits a civilization on Mars that has become aware of Earth due to the radio and television waves of the last few decades. One of the members of the Martian Senate is alarmist about the potential for the violent Earthlings to escape their home world and invade Mars. He’s been saddled with the insulting nickname Cato, after the Roman politician who wanted to destroy Carthage.

But Cato has taken the name as his own, and gradually won over most of the Senate to his cause. His plan is to drop atomic bombs on the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to make them think the other has attacked, and start World War Three. Turns out the plan has one fatal flaw….

“The Cold, Cold Box” is a chilling tale of a Board of Directors meeting where they discuss whether or not to continue committing the crime that has brought them to be de facto rulers of the world. By rights, they should turn over power to the person they act on behalf of, but things are running so smoothly without that person. And to be honest, that person was kind of a jerk anyway. A look at how easy it is to salve your conscience with the other good you’ve done.

“The Martian Shop” concerns the opening of three stores allegedly selling products from Mars. It’s really more of a vignette than a story, going into great detail about how the shops were set up, the merchandise they had, how bizarre the shop personnel were, etc. Then there’s a couple of paragraphs at the end revealing what the shops actually are. Between this story and the Cato one, I’m beginning to see where Alan Moore gets his ideas.

“The Sight of Eden” is the final story. An exploratory mission from Earth lands on what appears to be a paradise planet. One that is mysteriously empty. Still, this is the first sign of an inhabitable world they’ve found, and the first sign of other inhabitants of the universe. Then they meet the caretaker and learn why the place is empty. Downer ending.

Overall, decent writing but too reliant on infodumps, and I’ve seen most of these ideas done better. But if you enjoyed Spartacus and want to see what else Howard Fast wrote, this is a handy start.

[Sandra]

Read "The large ant": 5 stars

[Marc D. ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 estrellas.

No fue gran cosa pero estuvo bien, creo que cumplió mis expectativas, aunque no sé si lo recomendaría, es confuso mi panorama.

[Klowey · Rating 4 out of 5]

***1/2
Read only "The Large Ant."

[Vicent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contes interessants, gairebé tots. La traducció és prou bona, encara que venint d'Isabel-Clara Simó podria ser-ho més. Es veu que Simó era millor escriptora que traductora.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This set of short stories is very a story of the cold war mentality.. all the stories are centered around it. While it dates it very specifically, that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can tell the author writes historical fiction... most of his main characters are set made pulled-up-by-the-bootstraps types.

While there's nothing super Earth-shattering here, there are some fun twists on classic tropes.
My favorites were 'The Cold, Cold Box', which was just dripping with irony, and the only story that had any sort of hope for humanity. "The Martian Store" was also a very clever story about a first contact. Quite a few of these read as if they could easily be expanded to novels.

It was a bit down on the human race in general, though. Not too surprising consider it was 1960 and many at the time were quite certain we would blow ourselves up, but still was a little sad. Overall, some great stuff that definitely makes me want to read some of his historical fiction.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this at The Last Bookstore in L.A. because I was so excited to see a carousel of old sci fi I just picked one at random. I picked a winner! Howard Fast can really write and not only does he have a fantastic imagination but I love his politics as well. Not surprised to read he did jail time for refusing to provide a list of possible communists. And kudos to him for writing women as complete and total equals. Okay, politics aside, these are just great stories.
Will definitely be reading more of his work.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science Fiction short stories from the author of Spartacus? Strange, but true. I enjoyed a couple of the stories very much (“The First Men,” The Cold, Cold Box”) and the others were mildly diverting. Lots of “man is unworthy because of war” themes. Great cover with a giant ant.

[Hojaplateada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuentos de CF de Fast! Buenisimos. De una gran época para la Ciencia Ficción.

[Petergiaquinta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only "The Large Ant"
++++++++++++++++++

As a lifelong reader, I can point to Howard Fast's April Morning, as one of the first (probably indeed the very first) “adult” novels I ever read, back in my sixth grade Reading class with Mr. Yoder, if I am remembering right. Thus it was quite a treat to come across Fast here in my GoodReads short story group this week with "The Large Ant," his tale from the early '60s that could easily have been adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone, along the lines of Rod Serling's famous episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street." In both stories, the authors look at the unfortunate human tendency (and let's not dance around it--the especially unfortunate American tendency) to distrust and fear anything that is different from the accepted norm.

In Fast's story, his narrator encounters an enormous ant, which he savagely and quite instinctively beats to death with a golf club. "And who wouldn't?" you just might ask. Well, it turns out the ant is a member of a rational alien race whose culture eschews all violence and hatred. Oops.

Fast's story comes less than a decade after being blacklisted and imprisoned during McCarthy's Red Scare for his Communist sympathies and refusing to name names of his fellow travelers to Congress. Before that, he had been quite the popular writer, but now his own name is rarely spoken beyond having written Spartacus, perhaps. So Fast knew a few things about that tendency of ours to do great harm to that which is different. And despite my early exposure to Fast in sixth grade, I don't think I knew anything about the author back then. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned what a remarkable man he was, and rather ironically it was in Kathmandu in my wife's bookstore that I first came across a collection of his works. Unlike here in the U.S. they aren't afraid of Marxists in Nepal.

I hope to read more of Fast's science fiction stories.

++++++++++++++++++
Read for my GoodReads short story group

[Marcelo D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is often the case with short stories, these are a bit hit and miss but overall enjoyable. I listened to the audiobook and dropped a star for awful robotic narration.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a solid sci-fi book of short stories. Nothing that will blow your mind but it was entertaining.

[Paulo Brito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contos curtos, muito divertidos.

[María Greene F]

Luego de varios intentos lo dejé porque los cuentos me parecieron fomes y un tanto ridículos pero a final de cuentas igual es una cosa de gustos.

[Jim Standridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven original stories of science fiction by a classic author. Very good stories, well written, mostly moralistic. Absolutely worth the read.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

De esta antologia solo he leído "La hormiga gigante con el grupo The Short Story Club y me ha gustado bastante, no me importaría conseguir los demás relatos y leerlos también.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of short fiction. Wish it had been a little longer. Especially loved the first two stories.

[Stef · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice collection of "old fascion" sci-fi stories. very enjoyable and unexpected

[Klowey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating for the short story, "The Large Ant."

[Gingaeru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who can resist a giant ant wearing a top hat made of blurb? (The "ant" in the actual story is quite small by comparison.)

This author's style is easy to recognize. His characters converse in an off-puttingly inhuman manner. Sometimes his ideas are good, but they aren't always implemented well. By the time I reached the final two stories, I could hear the voice of Criswell narrating in my head, and I was just about ready to tear off my skin.

"The First Men" (1959)
(7/10)*
*I read this last year and my rating is based on my experience from the time. It would've been too soon for a reread.
...

"The Big Large Ant" (1960)
5/10
I appreciate the concept, but the execution is lacking. And people don't talk like that.
...

"Of Time and Cats" (1959)
5/10
A husband and wife definitely don't converse in such a manner.
...

"Cato the Martian" (1960)
4/10
...

"The Cold, Cold Box" (1959)
5/10
...

"The Martian Shop" (1959)
4/10
...

"The Sight of Eden" (1960)
4/10
[Unidentified male of indeterminable age exposes himself to a group of five adults at a public playground. More at 11:00!]
-
"Smith opened his robe, let it slip off his body to the ground, and stood before them naked. The women instinctively turned their heads away. The men reacted in shocked disbelief. Smith picked up his robe and clothed himself again... The five men and women stared at him, their eyes full of realization now."
...

"Alice wanted to know." (p. 48)
"... he wanted to know." (p. 76)
"Gluckman wanted to know." (p. 109)
"Laura Shawn wanted to know." (p. 110)
...

Uses of "here and there": 3
...

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a set of seven science fiction stories written by Howard Fast as he dabbled in science fiction in 1959-60. Six of the stories were published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The seventh, the one I liked the least for its heavy didacticism, was published in Fantastic Universe as "The Big Ant", but was retitled "The Large Ant" for this story collection.

Known primarily as a writer of historical fiction, Howard Fast's collection is here comprised of surprisingly sophisticated short stories for their use of standard science fiction tropes. I'm a sucker for a good time travel story, so my favorite was "Of Time and Cats". If all the stories were as original as this one and the lead story, "The First Men", I'd give this collection five stars, but there are some stories that are misfires, like "The Martian Shop", which not only has Martians as antagonists, bad enough given what we now know of the planet's inability to sustain life, but the particular story is almost all prose with no action and little dialogue.

It's an interesting story collection for its wealth of original ideas, worth a dollar or two if purchased from a used book store.