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Science Fiction: The Science Fiction Research Association Anthology

Patricia S. Warrick (Editor),

Charles G. Waugh (Editor)

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Apr 02, 2008 Werner rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, science-fiction, short-stories

Note, February 2, 2023: I've just edited this review, not to substantively change any of my assessments, but to modify my language in places where I've come to feel that it wasn't kind to the authors.

This collection probably would serve well as the textbook for a course on science fiction; the scholarly commentary that follows each story varies in its degree of usefulness, but even mistaken opinions can be good springboards for discussion. The editors have taken pains to choose stories that not Note, February 2, 2023: I've just edited this review, not to substantively change any of my assessments, but to modify my language in places where I've come to feel that it wasn't kind to the authors.

This collection probably would serve well as the textbook for a course on science fiction; the scholarly commentary that follows each story varies in its degree of usefulness, but even mistaken opinions can be good springboards for discussion. The editors have taken pains to choose stories that not only illustrate the period when they were written, but that feature skillful writing which delivers the effects the authors intended, and that convey serious messages which evoke thought. Those same qualities also serve the book well as a collection for nonacademic reading, the use for which I'm primarily reviewing it here. Of course, the intended effects can vary from wonder and fascination to revulsion and disgust, depending on the story, and the messages can range from deeply profound to profoundly misguided. Not all the stories are works I would recommend, let alone enjoy (indeed, I doubt if "enjoy" would be a word that would describe even the author's reaction to a story like "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream") and that makes it hard to give an overall star rating to the book --many of the stories deserve five stars, and a few would get one star from me. None of them would get two stars, though --mediocrity isn't a problem here! :-)

Four of the stories were written before World War I; this includes "The Machine Stops," which was originally published in 1908 (the date given in the book, 1928, was a reprint), and which is a major classic of early dystopian SF. Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" illustrates many of the quintessential traits of Romantic SF: the pessimistic view of science as a quest for forbidden knowledge, the scientist as obsessed loner, the appeal to strong emotion and the direct use of symbolism. Along with the two Wells stories, all of these are drawn from the "soft" tradition.

The "hard" SF of the early modern American pulp period is also represented by four stories. Stanley G. Weinbaum's "A Martian Odyssey" and Moore's "No Woman Born" are trail- blazing genre classics, the one for its realistic depiction of truly "alien" aliens and the one for its sensitive portrayal of a female protagonist. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" is a masterpiece of the "humans vs. super-predator" plot pattern, while "Nightfall" is a highly original speculation about the effect total darkness would have on a planet whose unique proximity to several suns makes this a once-in-a-1,000-years event --though it's also an expression of Asimov's hostility to religious belief and believers. ("Who Goes There," in contrast, actually has a positive reference to God, rare in American SF in that era.)

Of the eight stories drawn from the immediate postwar era, Sturgeon's "Thunder and Roses" and Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" both reflect that period's obsessive fear of nuclear war. (Sturgeon's story is the more thought- provoking in its exploration of the ethics of genocidal retaliation for a nuclear first strike --though he bases his morality strictly on a Darwinist concern for the species rather than on a religiously-based concern for human individuals.) My personal favorite in this group is "Flowers for Algernon," though Bester's "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed" is also noteworthy as one of the genre's more unusual time travel stories. Cordwainer Smith is represented by "The Game of Rat and Dragon," another stand-out.

Finally, ten stories are drawn from the years after 1960. Half of these represent the "New Wave" school, which I consider a devolution of the genre and a literary dead-end --so it's not surprising that the stories I wouldn't recommend cluster in this group! Three of these deal with gender issues; those by Joanna Russ and "James Tiptree Jr.," whose real name was Alice B. Sheldon, from the standpoint of a "gender feminism" that views males with undisguised hostility (Tiptree to the point of actually favorably depicting genocide). On the other hand, John Varley, in "Options," views the sexes as essentially androgenous, and looks forward to a day when genetically engineered clones and brain transplants will permit gender to be changed as often and casually as hair color is now. Dick's "Faith of Our Fathers" is the best of the New Wave group here, IMO; while not traditional in its view of religion, it at least takes the reality of God seriously.

Other contemporary stories here, however, are more in the vein of traditional quality SF. Though Delaney was usually associated with the New Wave, his "Driftglass" is not in that style, and is one of my favorites in this group --the other two are Octavia Butler's brilliant "Bloodchild," and Vonda N. McIntyre's "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand." (The latter story is the basis for her later novel Dreamsnake, but Snake's character there comes across as much less appealing, at least to me.) Zelazny's "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" is also noteworthy (though it has some bad language, as some other stories here do as well --it's more jarringly obvious in this one, because of its use in the conclusion) as is Le Guin's "Nine Lives." (The latter story deals with human cloning, a possibility much less theoretical now than it was in 1969; but ultimately it's about the importance of human relationships, even with those who are different from, not "clones" of, ourselves.) ...more

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