Martinw’s Reviews > The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A > Status Update
Martinw
is on page 361 of 529
The Ballad of Lost C'Mell - Cordwainer Smith (1962): ***1/2
Rather a short story than a novella. The prose is very good, the story about 'uplifted' (if I may borrow this term) animals and their struggle to gain human rights with the help of one human is decent, smart and satisfying.
I just fear that it will not stay with me for long because not much sticks out.
Kind of New Wave SF.
— Aug 11, 2022 04:14AM
Rather a short story than a novella. The prose is very good, the story about 'uplifted' (if I may borrow this term) animals and their struggle to gain human rights with the help of one human is decent, smart and satisfying.
I just fear that it will not stay with me for long because not much sticks out.
Kind of New Wave SF.
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Martinw’s Previous Updates
Martinw
is on page 486 of 529
With Folded Hands - Jack Williamson (1947): ***1/2
Vastly efficient androids take over every planet colonised by humans. According to their "Prime Directive" that has been instilled by their human creator they prevent any human from doing anything that is remotely dangerous.
Williamsons take on well meaning scientists and the evils they create.
— Aug 19, 2022 05:37AM
Vastly efficient androids take over every planet colonised by humans. According to their "Prime Directive" that has been instilled by their human creator they prevent any human from doing anything that is remotely dangerous.
Williamsons take on well meaning scientists and the evils they create.
Martinw
is on page 486 of 529
The Time Machine - H.G.Wells (1895): ****
A classic, and deservedly so. Apart from being the story that popularised the concept of time travel, it offers interesting, if far-fetched thoughts about the development of humanity.
Wells fortunately ignored the physics (would have probably been implausible anyway) and focused on the world and humans of the future. A cool adventure sprinkled with bits of food for thought.
— Aug 18, 2022 01:52AM
A classic, and deservedly so. Apart from being the story that popularised the concept of time travel, it offers interesting, if far-fetched thoughts about the development of humanity.
Wells fortunately ignored the physics (would have probably been implausible anyway) and focused on the world and humans of the future. A cool adventure sprinkled with bits of food for thought.
Martinw
is on page 416 of 529
Baby is three - Theodore Sturgeon (1952): ****
I have read and loved several short stories of T.S. before, so much that some years ago I tried one of his novels, 'More than Human'.
After a few pages of this story here I found it familiar, and I soon realised that it is the same story. The novel was based on it.
Good read about a group of psychic kids who together are some new kind of being.
— Aug 11, 2022 04:21AM
I have read and loved several short stories of T.S. before, so much that some years ago I tried one of his novels, 'More than Human'.
After a few pages of this story here I found it familiar, and I soon realised that it is the same story. The novel was based on it.
Good read about a group of psychic kids who together are some new kind of being.
Martinw
is on page 341 of 529
... And Then There Were None - E.F.Russell (1951): ***
Funny at first, when the ships crew failed to get information from humans on the planet, irritating , when they kept asking stupid questions.
Downright annoying for me when it became a manifesto for libertarianism/anarchy. What about disabled people who can't place obs? What about crime? No one says "I won't" if you threaten his family. How keep track of obs?
— Jul 27, 2022 02:52AM
Funny at first, when the ships crew failed to get information from humans on the planet, irritating , when they kept asking stupid questions.
Downright annoying for me when it became a manifesto for libertarianism/anarchy. What about disabled people who can't place obs? What about crime? No one says "I won't" if you threaten his family. How keep track of obs?
Martinw
is on page 274 of 529
Vintage Season - Henry Kuttner and C.L.Moore (1946): ****
Oliver Wilson rents his house to some odd people, and in the course of a beautiful May he discovers they are time travelers.
Very good prose, solid build up, and a haunting ending. Pretty good.
— Jul 25, 2022 12:58AM
Oliver Wilson rents his house to some odd people, and in the course of a beautiful May he discovers they are time travelers.
Very good prose, solid build up, and a haunting ending. Pretty good.
Martinw
is on page 232 of 529
The Marching Morons - C. M. Kornbluth (1951): ***1/2
A person from the present has been accidentally put in suspended animation and is re-animated in a future when billions of morons and only a few intelligent people live on earth. As he has been a ruthless con man in his time, he offers a very definite solution in exchange for becoming boss. Probably partly inspiration for the movie "Idiocracy". Charmingly odd.
— Jul 25, 2022 12:51AM
A person from the present has been accidentally put in suspended animation and is re-animated in a future when billions of morons and only a few intelligent people live on earth. As he has been a ruthless con man in his time, he offers a very definite solution in exchange for becoming boss. Probably partly inspiration for the movie "Idiocracy". Charmingly odd.
Martinw
is on page 203 of 529
Universe - Robert A. Heinlein (1941): ***1/2
Good old RAH built us a generation ship and let the people on board forget where the came from, that there is something outside the ship and that "the trip" is not just a metaphor, but an actual journey.
To make this work you need two fractions, one strong, but ignorant, and the other one weak, but knowing. Here we go, it works! No great characters, though.
— Jul 21, 2022 09:19AM
Good old RAH built us a generation ship and let the people on board forget where the came from, that there is something outside the ship and that "the trip" is not just a metaphor, but an actual journey.
To make this work you need two fractions, one strong, but ignorant, and the other one weak, but knowing. Here we go, it works! No great characters, though.
Martinw
is on page 158 of 529
Nerves - Lester del Rey (1942): ***1/2
Dated science (atomic physics), but still prophetic in some way. I liked the old fashioned characters, and even if the revelation that one of the doctors was a talented astro physicist to boot was a bit of a deus ex machina, it still was a gripping tale.
— Jul 21, 2022 09:01AM
Dated science (atomic physics), but still prophetic in some way. I liked the old fashioned characters, and even if the revelation that one of the doctors was a talented astro physicist to boot was a bit of a deus ex machina, it still was a gripping tale.
Martinw
is on page 87 of 529
Who Goes There? - John W. Cambell, Jr. (1938): ***
Great concept, spawned two very good films (1951 and 1982) and one I have not seen but which is said to be meh.
For me, it did not create the necessary claustrophobic feeling the setting (research station in Antarctica) indicates. And there were much too many names, I struggled to distinguish one man from another. Still pretty good, of course.
— Jul 15, 2022 02:40AM
Great concept, spawned two very good films (1951 and 1982) and one I have not seen but which is said to be meh.
For me, it did not create the necessary claustrophobic feeling the setting (research station in Antarctica) indicates. And there were much too many names, I struggled to distinguish one man from another. Still pretty good, of course.
Martinw
is on page 33 of 529
Call me Joe - Poul Anderson (1957): ***
Solid story about a group of scientists on one of Jupiters moons, one of whom controls an artificial life form on the surface of Jupiter by remote.
— Jun 30, 2022 03:41AM
Solid story about a group of scientists on one of Jupiters moons, one of whom controls an artificial life form on the surface of Jupiter by remote.
