Star of Stars

Star Science Fiction

by Frederik Pohl (Editor), Arthur C. Clarke, H.L. Gold

Ballantine Books published six volumes of original short stories in the STAR series. Doubleday then printed the cream of the stories from these volumes in STAR OF STARS.
Disappearing Act (1953) story by Alfred Bester
It's a Good Life (1953) story by Jerome Bixby
The Man with English (1953) story by Horace L. Gold
The Deep Range (1955) story by Arthur C. Clarke
The Advent on Channel Twelve (1958) story by C.M. Kornbluth
Space-Time for Springers/Gummitch the Cat (1958) story by Fritz Leiber
Daybroke (1958) story by Robert Bloch
Twin's Wail (1959) novelette by Elizabeth Mann Borgese
Sparkie's Fall (1959) story by Gavin Hyde
Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo? (1953) novelette by Gerald Kersh
A Cross of Centuries (1958) story by Henry Kuttner
The Happiest Creature/Quarantine (1953) story by Jack Williamson
Dance of the Dead (1955) story by Richard Matheson
Country Doctor (1953) novelette by William Morrison
Introduction by Frederik Pohl

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume collects Frederik Pohl's selection of what he considered the best stories from his Star series of original paperback anthologies that appeared in the 1950s. The contents are a most impressive line-up, though not always the choices that I would have made. Clarke's The Deep Range is here, but how could you leave out his The Nine Billion Names of God? There are good stories by Gerald Kersh, Alfred Bester, and H.L. Gold, but none by Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, or Robert Sheckley. James Gunn's The Listeners is missing, but we have C. M. Kornbluth's The Advent on Channel Twelve (long live Poopy Panda!), Fritz Leiber's Space-Time for Springers (for the cat lovers), and, of course, the true star of stars, It's a -Good- Life by Jerome Bixby.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Contains the stories:

Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo? by Gerald Kersh
The Advent on Channel Twelve by C.M. Kornbluth
Disappearing Act by Alfred Bester
Twin's Wail by Elisabeth Mann Borgese
Country Doctor by William Morrison
Daybroke by Robert Bloch
Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke
A Cross Of Centuries by Henry Kuttner
The Man with English by H. L. Gold
Sparkie's Fall by Gavin Hyde
Space-Time for Springers by Fritz Leiber
Dance of the Dead by Richard Matheson
The Happiest Creature by Jack Williamson
It's a Good Life by Jerome Bixby - 5/5 - it's a good thing that you read this story, if you don't want to get wished into the cornfield

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top quality classics, many of them familiar now, but still well worth reading.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given how much science fiction I've read over the years, it's remarkable how little a role the subject has played in my day-to-day life. I've never been an sf fan, subscribed to a fanzine, participated in a chat group or set up a blog. The only subscription I've ever had to a magazine in the genre was one to Fantasy & Science Fiction given as a gift from Rick Strong. I rarely, if ever, bring it up in conversation except in terms of renting a video--I do exercise a preferential option for such films even though most prove to be great disappointments. Only in a few cases have I had friendships which included any reference to the topic, though in those few cases we will recommend books and authors to one another. Other than Rick in New York, however, I can only think of two persons I see regularly nowadays who share the interest, they being Nate Gregory, a neighbor, and John Elkin, a roommate. Reading science fiction seems to have been a habitual, somewhat self-conscious self-indulgence, a break from serious reading--although a few, exceptional books in the genre have turned out to be serious.

Anyway, this is a somewhat better than average collection of short stories which served as bedtime reading for a couple of nights.

[Michael Hanscom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most short fiction anthologies I end up giving a solid three stars to, as there's generally a good balance of a few above-average, a few below-average, but mostly good enjoyable stories. This is an unusually good collection, though, with only one or two entries that didn't appeal to me, and a majority of strong entries.

Particular favorites in this bunch are Cyril M. Kornbluth's The Advent on Channel Twelve (being the holy scripture of Poopy Panda), Fritz Leiber's Space-Time for Springers (the life of the kitten Gummitch), Robert Bloch's Daybroke (sunrise over nuclear devastation), and the only entry that I'd read previously, Jerome Bixby's It's a Good Life (watch what you think around little Anthony).

[Kenneth Flusche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good short stories from 1953 through 1958

[RC · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 1950s tales of variable quality.