SF Short Fiction – Page 2

CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION – THE FIRST GOLDEN AGE edited by Terry Carr

[H]ere is yet another SF anthology edited by one of my favourite SF anthologists, Terry Carr. It\’s a nice, beefy one this time, at 445 pages, with twelve stories, plus an introduction by Carr.

I know most people usually dive on into the stories first, but take may advice, and do NOT skip the Introduction. It is a fascinating, lengthy, detailed 17-page thesis by Carr, which serves as an excellent historical background to the First Golden Age of Science Fiction. This one is an absolute must for anyone, like myself, who is as much a student of the history of science fiction as I am a fan of the literature itself.

TITLE: CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION – THE FIRST GOLDEN AGE
EDITED BY: Terry Carr
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
PUBLISHER: Harper & Row, New York, 1978
FORMAT: Hardback, 1st Edition, 445 pages
ISBN 10: 0-06-010634-4
ISBN 13: 9780-06-010634-8

CONTENTS:

Introduction by Terry Carr
\”The Smallest God\” by Lester del Rey (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1940)
\”Into the Darkness\” by Ross Rocklynne (Astonishing Stories, June 1940)
\”Vault of the Beast\” by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1940)
\”The Mechanical Mice\” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1941)
\”-And He Built a Crooked House-\” by Robert A Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, February 1941)
\”Microcosmic God\” by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1941)
\”Nightfall\” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1941)
\”By His Bootstraps\” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941)
\”Child of the Green Light\” by Leigh Brackett (Super Science Stories, February 1942)
\”Victory Unintentional\” by Isaac Asimov (Super Science Stories, August 1942)
\”The Twonky\” by Henry Kuttner (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1942)
\”Storm Warning\” by Donald A. Wollheim (Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1942)

Intriguingly, and in addition to the fantastic main Introduction, each of the twelve stories has its own multi-page introduction, each of which which gives detailed background information on the author and the story itself. How I wish that every anthology would do this. And then there are the twelve stories themselves. And what stories they are.

This anthology contains some of the greatest short stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, and I\’m familiar with most, but not all, of them, as they\’ve appeared in other anthologies or single-author collections. Just looking at the roll-call of authors, it\’s like a who\’s-who of the biggest SF names from that era. Of course, eight of the twelve stories are from Astounding Science Fiction, which is unsurprising, as it was by far the biggest SF magazine of the Golden Age.

We have two of the best of the early stories written by Isaac Asimov, as well as one of the best and probably the most famous story written by Henry Kuttner, and likewise absolute gems by Eric Frank Russell, Theodore Sturgeon and Lester del Rey. I\’ve always been a huge fan of Leigh Brackett, and her story \”Child of the Green Light\” is also a cracker. Even the two stories that I was totally unfamiliar with, \”Storm Warning\” by Donald A. Wollheim and \”Into the Darkness\” by Ross Rocklynne, are excellent stories.

A. E. van Vogt\’s story \”Vault of the Beast\” easily ranks up there alongside \”Black Destroyer\”, \”The Monster\” and \”Dormant\”, as one of my all-time favourite van Vogt short tales. And the two Robert A. Heinlein short stories, \”By His Bootstraps\” and \”-And He Built a Crooked House-\”, well, what superlatives can I heap upon them other than to say that they are two of the greatest SF short stories ever written?

As this is an older book, and has been out of print for a number of years, I guess anyone looking for a copy will have to haunt the second-hand/used books stores. And if you spot one, snap it up right away! This is a fantastic anthology of Golden Age SF short fiction. I enjoyed every single story, which is something that I rarely say about most anthologies, as there are usually at least one or two stories which aren\’t as good as the rest.

Terry Carr very rarely disappointed with his anthologies, and with this one, he came up with the goods yet again. This is an absolute gem of an anthology, and I\’d recommend it without any hesitation to all fans of Golden Age SF.

THE MARATHON PHOTOGRAPH AND OTHER STORIES (1986)
by
Clifford D. Simak

$\"The$

[T]his time out, we have a single author collection of short fiction by one of my favourite authors, Clifford D. Simak, in which all of the stories have an underlying thematic link dealing with the mysterious paradox of time.

It\’s quite a short collection, at only 171 pages, and only four stories (making it a relatively quick and easy read compared to most of the modern brick-sized entities masquerading as books). But one of those stories is a long novella, and there are also two novelettes and a single short story making up the rest of the book. And what stories they are.

TITLE: THE MARATHON PHOTOGRAPH AND OTHER STORIES
AUTHOR: Clifford D. Simak
EDITOR: Francis Lyall
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Single Author Collection
FORMAT: Hardback, 171 pages
PUBLISHER: Severn House (SH), London, 1986
ISBN: 0 7278 1221 1

The Introduction
\”The Birch Clump Cylinder\” (from Stellar #1, edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey, Ballantine, 1974)
\”The Whistling Well\” (from Dark Forces), edited by Kirby McCauley, Viking, 1980
\”The Marathon Photograph\” (from Threads of Time), edited by Robert Silverberg, Nelson, 1974
\”The Grotto Of The Dancing Deer\” (from Analog, April 1980)

The stories are all quite long. Even the shortest, \”The Grotto of the Dancing Deer\”, comes in at just over twenty-one pages. This story is a good one, first published in Analog back in April 1980, and winning the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards for that year. It\’s a lovely story, and one which I recall enjoying a lot when I first read it twenty or so years ago.

\”The Marathon Photograph\” at seventy pages, is the longest story in the collection. I read this one many years ago on its original publication in Threads of Time, edited by Robert Silverberg (1974). I loved it then, and still do. It\’s my favourite of the four stories in this collection.

The other stories in the collection, \”The Birch Clump Cylinder\” and \”The Whistling Well\”, are two that I haven\’t read before. From what I\’ve read of both stories so far, I\’m quite sure that I\’ll enjoy them just as must as I did the other two.

Simak had his first SF story published in Astounding way back in 1931 (\”World of the Red Sun\”), and most of my favourite Simak short fiction came from much earlier in his career – \”The World of the Red Sun\” (1931), \”Sunspot Purge\” (1940), \”Beachhead\” aka \”You\’ll Never Go Home Again\” (1951), \”The Trouble with Ants\” (1951), \”Small Deer\” (1965), and a few others – and I haven\’t read a lot of his later stuff. By contrast, the stories in this collection are all from quite late in Simak\’s career (he died in 1988, at the age of 83), the earliest two being written when he was almost 70, and the other two during his mid-70\’s.

It\’ll be interesting to compare and contrast with his earlier material. \”The Marathon Photograph\” already rates as one of my favourite Simak tales, if not my overall favourite.

Definitely a nice little collection, from a pretty much forgotten (except by the oldies) and greatly underappreciated author.

THE MARATHON PHOTOGRAPH AND OTHER STORIES (1986) by Clifford D. Simak

$\"The$

This time out, we have a single author collection of short fiction by one of my favourite authors, Clifford D. Simak, in which all of the stories have an underlying thematic link dealing with the mysterious paradox of time.

The Introduction
\”The Birch Clump Cylinder\” (from Stellar #1, edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey, Ballantine, 1974)
\”The Whistling Well\” (from Dark Forces), edited by Kirby McCauley, Viking, 1980
\”The Marathon Photograph\” (from Threads of Time), edited by Robert Silverberg, Nelson, 1974
\”The Grotto Of The Dancing Deer\” (from Analog, April 1980)

It\’ll be interesting to compare and contrast with his earlier material. \”The Marathon Photograph\” already rates as one of my favourite Simak tales, if not my overall favourite.

Definitely a nice little collection, from a pretty much forgotten (except by the oldies) and greatly underappreciated author.

STORIES FOR TOMORROW (1954) edited by William Sloane

$\"Stories$

[I]\’ve got an interesting anthology in front of me at the moment. Actually, I\’ve got two different editions of it. Firstly an original US 1st Edition hardback, which I bought from a dealer on Amazon. This is an ex-library copy, and came without a dustjacket, otherwise the book itself is in excellent condition. The other edition is the UK 1st Edition hardback, complete with dustjacket (pictured here), which has slightly different contents to the US Edition.

The US edition first…

TITLE: STORIES FOR TOMORROW
EDITED BY: William Sloane
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
FORMAT: Hardback, 628 pages
PUBLISHER: Funk & Wagnalls, US, 1954

CONTENTS LISTING:

About This Book by William Sloane

PART I: THE HUMAN HEART

\”The Wilderness\” by Ray Bradbury (Today, April 6th 1952, revised for Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1952)
\”Starbride\” by Anthony Boucher (Thrilling Wonder Stories, December 1951)
\”Second Childhood\” by Clifford D. Simak (Galaxy, Feb 1951)
\”Homeland\” by Mari Wolf (first published as \”The Statue\”, If Magazine, January 1953)
\”Let Nothing You Dismay\” by William Sloane (written for this anthology)
\”A Scent of Sarsaparilla\” by Ray Bradbury (Star Science Fiction Stories #1, February 1953

PART II: THERE ARE NO EASY ANSWERS

\”The Exile\” by Alfred Coppel (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1952)
\”The Farthest Horizon\” by Raymond F. Jones (Astounding Science
Fiction, April 1952)
\”Noise Level\” by Raymond F. Jones (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1952)
\”First Contact\” by Murray Leinster (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945)

PART III: SWEAT OF THE BROW

\”Franchise\” by Kris Neville (Astounding Science Fiction, February 1951)
\”In Value Deceived\” by H. B. Fyfe (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1950)
\”Okie\” by James Blish (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1950)
\”Black Eyes and the Daily Grind\” by Milton Lesser (If Magazine, March 1952)

PART IV: DIFFERENCE WITH DISTINCTION

\”Socrates\” by John Christopher (Galaxy, March 1951)
\”In Hiding\” by Wilmar H. Shiras (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1948)
\”Bettyann\” by Kris Neville (reprinted from New Tales of Space & Time, edited by Raymond J. Healey, 1951)

PART V: THE TROUBLE WITH PEOPLE IS PEOPLE

\”The Ant and the Eye\” by Chad Oliver (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1953)
\”Beep\” by James Blish (Galaxy, February 1954)
\”And Then There Were None\” by Eric Frank RussellAstounding Science Fiction, June 1951)
\”The Girls from Earth\” by Frank M. Robinson (Galaxy, January 1952)

PART VI: VISITORS

\”Minister Without Portfolio\” by Mildred Clingerman (Fantasy & Science Fiction, Feb 1952)
\”The Head-Hunters\” by Ralph Williams (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1951)
\”Dune Roller\” by Julian May (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1951)
\”Disguise\” by Donald A. Wollheim (Other Worlds Science Stories, February 1953)
\”The Shed\” by E. Everett Evans (Avon SF&F Reader, January 1953)

PART VII: THREE EPILOGS

\”The Nine Billion Names of God\” by Arthur C. Clarke (Star Science Fiction Stories #1, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953)
\”The Forgotten Enemy\” by Arthur C. Clarke (King’s College Review, December 1948)
\”The Answers\” [also as “…And the Truth Shall Make You Free”] by Clifford D. Simak (Future, March 1953)

This is an ex-library copy, which came without a dustcover, when I bought it from a dealer on Amazon. Otherwise the book itself is in excellent condition.

There are a few stories here that I\’m familiar with, either being old favourites of mine, or having vague but fond memories of them – all of the stories by Clarke, Bradbury, Simak, Russell, Leinster and Blish. The rest I\’ve either not read at all or read so long ago that I can\’t remember them. Personal favourites among these are Blish\’s \”Beep\”, Leinster\’s \”First Contact\”, Russell\’s \”And Then There Were None\”, Simak\’s \”Second Childhood\”, Bradbury\’s \”The Wilderness\”, Robinson\’s \”The Girls from Earth\”, and both of the Clarke stories.

As I\’ve already said, the UK 1st edition is slightly different to the US edition:

TITLE: STORIES FOR TOMORROW
EDITED BY: William Sloane
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
FORMAT: Hardback, 476 pages
PUBLISHER: Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1955.

CONTENTS LISTING:

About This Book by William Sloane

PART I: THE HUMAN HEART

\”The Wilderness\” by Ray Bradbury
\”Starbride\” by Anthony Boucher
\”Homeland\” by Mari Wolf
\”Let Nothing You Dismay\” by William Sloane
\”A Scent of Sarsaparilla\” by Ray Bradbury

PART II: THERE ARE NO EASY ANSWERS

\”Noise Level\” by Raymond F. Jones
\”First Contact\” by Murray Leinster

PART III: SWEAT OF THE BROW

\”Franchise\” by Kris Neville
\”In Value Deceived\” by H. B. Fyfe
\”Black Eyes and the Daily Grind\” by Milton Lesser

PART IV: DIFFERENCE WITH DISTINCTION

\”Socrates\” by John Christopher
\”In Hiding\” by Wilmar H. Shiras
\”Bettyann\” by Kris Neville

PART V: THE TROUBLE WITH PEOPLE IS PEOPLE

\”The Ant and the Eye\” by Chad Oliver
\”Beep\” by James Blish
\”And Then There Were None\” by Eric Frank Russell
\”The Girls from Earth\” by Frank M. Robinson

PART VI: VISITORS

\”Minister Without Portfolio\” by Mildred Clingerman
\”The Head-Hunters\” by Ralph Williams

PART VII: THREE EPILOGS

\”The Nine Billion Names of God\” by Arthur C. Clarke
\”The Forgotten Enemy\” by Arthur C. Clarke
\”The Answers\” by Clifford D. Simak

As with many anthologies from that period, a number of the stories have been cut from the UK edition that were in the original US edition. There are seven fewer stories, and the UK edition is 152 pages shorter. My UK edition also has a nice dustjacket, although the one on my copy is a bit on the tatty side.

Overall, another very interesting anthology. I\’m looking forward to working my way through this one.

BUG-EYED MONSTERS edited by Anthony Cheetham

[T]his is a nice little anthology, containing ten stories (more accurately NINE stories and one radio play adaptation) spanning thirty years 1938-1968. It is edited by Anthony Cheetham, with whom I am totally unfamiliar.

TITLE: BUG-EYED MONSTERS
EDITED BY: Anthony Cheetham
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
FORMAT: Hardback, 280 pages
PUBLISHER: Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1972.
ISBN: 0 283 97864 3

CONTENTS:

Introduction by Anthony Cheetham
\”Invasion from Mars\” by Howard Koch (with Orson Welles) – 1938 radio adaptation of War of the Worlds, CBS, October 30, 1938
\”Not Only Dead Men\” by A. E. Van Vogt (1942) (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1942)
\”Arena\” by Fredric Brown (1944) (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
\”Surface Tension\” by James Blish (Galaxy, August 1952)
\”The Deserter\” by William Tenn (1953) (reprinted from Star Science Fiction Stories, edited by Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, February 1953)
\”Mother\” by Philip José Farmer (1953) (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1953)
\”Stranger Station\” by Damon Knight (1956) (Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1956)
\”Greenslaves\” by Frank Herbert (1965) (Amazing Stories, March 1965)
\”Balanced Ecology\” by James H. Schmitz (1967) (Analog, March 1965)
\”The Dance of the Changer & Three\” by Terry Carr (1968) (reprinted from The Farthest Reaches, edited by Joseph Elder, Trident 1968)

According to Cheetham\’s interesting little introduction, the title of the book is a gentle, fun jibe at the old, stereotypical \”bug-eyed monster\” of the pulps. However the ten stories in the anthology are of an altogether higher quality than those old yarns in the pulps, almost a \”rehabilitation\” of the old bug-eyed monster.

There\’s quite a mix in this anthology. We start off with one which is very apt, given the title of the anthology. Howard Koch\’s (and Orson Welles\’s) classic 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells\’s seminal 1898 interplanetary invasion novel War of the Worlds. It first appeared in book form in the anthology Invasion from Mars), edited by Orson Welles (Dell, 1949). The Martian invaders are probably the original archetype for all the B.E.M.s that came afterwards, so this one is as good a place to start as any. I\’ve read it before in a number of publications, and it\’s always nice to revisit it.

As for the other nine stories, as usual, there are a few that I\’m familiar with, and a few that I\’m not. Fredric Brown\’s classic Arena and James Blish\’s Surface Tension are the two that I remember best. Both have always been favourites of mine. Frank Herbert\’s Greenslaves is another one that I recall liking, although my memory is a bit fuzzier on the details of that one. I have very vague memories about encountering the Van Vogt, Knight, Tenn and Carr stories at some point in the distant past, but don\’t recall anything about them except the briefest details. I don\’t recall ever reading either the Farmer or Schmitz stories before.

I may not know (or recall) a few of the stories, but with the exception of Koch, the other nine authors in the anthology are all VERY familiar to me. No obscure writers here, although I must admit that I\’m much more familiar with Terry Carr as one of my favourite anthologists, rather than as an author. Overall, this looks like a good one. With those names in it, how could it not be? I think I\’m going to really enjoy reading BUG-EYED MONSTERS. 🙂

POSSIBLE WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION edited by Groff Conklin

[T]his is an interesting anthology, edited by one of the great classic SF anthologists, and another of my favourites, Groff Conklin.

TITLE: POSSIBLE WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION
EDITED BY: Groff Conklin
CATEGORY: Anthology
SUB-CATEGORY: Short Fiction
FORMAT: Hardback, 256 pages
PUBLISHER: Grayson & Grayson, Ltd, London, 1952.

CONTENTS:

Introduction by Groff Conklin

PART ONE: THE SOLAR SYSTEM

\”Operation Pumice\” by Raymond Z. Gallun (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1949)
\”Enchanted Village\” by A. E. Van Vogt (Other Worlds Science Stories, July 1950)
\”Lilies of Life\” by Malcolm Jameson (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1945)
\”Asleep in Armageddon\” by Ray Bradbury (Planet Stories, Winter 1948)
\”Not Final!\” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941)
\”Moon of Delirium\” by D. L. James (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1940)
\”The Pillows\” by Margaret St. Clair (Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1950)

PART TWO: THE GALAXY

\”Propagandist\” by Murray Leinster (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1947)
\”Hard-Luck Diggings\” by Jack Vance (Startling Stories, July 1948)
\”Space Rating\” by John Berryman (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1939)
\”Limiting Factor\” by Clifford D. Simak (Startling Stories, November 1949)
\”Exit Line\” by Samuel Merwin, Jr. (Startling Stories, September 1948)
\”The Helping Hand\” by Poul Anderson (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1950)

The theme of this anthology is \”Possible Worlds\”, mankind\’s possible future exploration of space, and the worlds and lifeforms he might encounter \”out there\”. The book is divided into two sections. The first, containing seven stories, deals with possible worlds within the solar system. The second section, comprised of six stories, takes us out to encounter worlds and life out in the galaxy.

There are quite a few familiar names here from the many anthologies I\’ve collected over the years. Anderson, Asimov, Vance, Simak, Van Vogt, Leinster, Bradbury and Gallun. The others – Merwin, St. Clair, Jameson, Berryman and James – aren\’t familiar to me at all. I either don\’t know them at all, or have met them so infrequently that they don\’t register in my fading memory. As for the stories, however, only the Van Vogt, Asimov, Bradbury and Leinster ring a bell. I don\’t recall the others at all. Maybe I\’ve read some or all of them at some point in the distant past, but I just don\’t remember them. So it should be fun making my way through this anthology, given that I really love vintage SF from this era.

We\’ve got thirteen stories in all, the oldest from 1939, the newest from 1950. They are culled from a range of SF magazines from that period – unsurprisingly there\’s a large contingent (six stories) from Astounding, and the rest are spread around Startling Stories (three stories), Thrilling Wonder Stories (two stories), and one story each from Planet Stories and Other Worlds Science Stories.

I\’ve had this anthology in my collection for many years, but I don\’t think I\’ve ever actually read it. As I have a rather huge collection of many thousands of SF books, it\’s not exactly on its lonesome there – so many books to read, not enough years left in my life to read \’em all. But at least this one has moved to the top of the list and will not remain unread before I shuffle off this mortal coil. 🙂

A SENSE OF WONDER edited by Sam Moskowitz

[A]t only 197 pages long, A SENSE OF WONDER is quite a short anthology. But it\’s also an old favourite of mine.

TITLE: A SENSE OF WONDER
EDITED BY: Sam Moskowitz
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
FORMAT: Hardback, 197 pages
PUBLISHER: Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1967. Originally published in the US in 1967 by Doubleday and Company, Inc. under the title THREE STORIES.

CONTENTS:

Introduction by Sam Moskowitz
\”Exiles on Asperus\” by John Wyndham [as by John Beynon Harris] (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Winter 1933)
\”The Mole Pirate\” by Murray Leinster (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1935)
\”The Moon Era\” by Jack Williamson (Wonder Stories, February 1932)

The edition that I have is the 1967 UK 1st edition hardback, in excellent condition, and complete with pristine condition dustjacket. It was published back in 1967 by good old UK SF reliables, Sidgwick & Jackson. The US 1st edition had been published earlier the same year by Doubleday and Company, Inc. under the much more bland title THREE STORIES.

The anthology is edited by SF legend Sam Moskowitz, contains only three stories, all novellas, and an introduction by Moskowitz himself. Whilst there are only three (pretty long, admittedly) stories in this anthology, the introduction by Moskowitz is also a fascinating read in itself. I often find a really good introduction to a book to be just as interesting as the stories themselves. And this one, though relatively short, at only three pages, is definitely interesting.

According to Moskowitz\’s introduction, this 1967 anthology marked the first time that any of these three stories had appeared since their original publication in the SF \”pulps\”, back in the early-to-mid 1930\’s. So we have Moskowitz to thank for rescuing these three old gems from the depths of literary obscurity, although it must be pointed out that this anthology is forty-seven years old, and is in itself a forgotten gem by today\’s standards. It\’s scary to think that the publication date of the book is actually closer to the original first appearances of the stories in those ancient SF magazines than it is to the present day.

The first of the three novellas is \”Exiles on Asperus\” by John Wyndham, which was first published in the Winter 1933 edition of Wonder Stories Quarterly. It was written under his real name, John Beynon Harris. It\’s a long time since I\’ve read any Wyndham, and I don\’t recall ever reading this one before.

The second story is \”The Mole Pirate\” by Murray Leinster, which first appeared in the November 1935 edition of Astounding Science Fiction. I\’m familiar with this one only by reputation, as I\’ve never read it. I haven\’t read any Murray Leinster in a long time, but I just recently bought the two volumes of Murray Leinster Wildside Press Megapacks on Amazon, so I reckon it\’s well past time for me to reacquaint myself with the old master.

The third and final story is \”The Moon Era\” by Jack Williamson, which was first published in the February 1932 edition of Wonder Stories. I remember reading this one as a teenager (in an old paperback edition of A SENSE OF WONDER, no less), and it has always remained a favourite of mine, one of those stories that still sticks in your mind thirty-five or forty years after you first read it.

Despite being written in 1931, this is essentially an updated nineteenth century \”scientific romance\” in the style of H. G. Wells, which is no bad thing in my book. And we all know that Jack Williamson was a huge fan of Wells and the other scientific romance authors, with the Wells influences showing through very heavily in a lot of his early writing. Since I absolutely love scientific romances (that\’s how I started off reading SF in the first place, with H. G. Wells and Jules Verne), this story was already a winner from the first time I laid eyes on it.

I\’m looking forward to reading this anthology again. It\’s been many years since I read \”The Moon Era\”, and I\’m itching to re-read it. As far as I recall, back when I read A SENSE OF WONDER all those years ago, I just read \”The Moon Era\” over and over again (I was really obsessed with it as a teenager), and didn\’t even bother with the other two stories. So it\’ll also be nice to actually read \”Exiles on Asperus\” and \”The Mole Pirate\” for the first time, as I don\’t recall ever reading either of them before, despite having this anthology on my bookshelves for many years.

SCIENCE FICTION edited by S. H. Burton

TITLE: SCIENCE FICTION
EDITED BY: S. H. Burton
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
FORMAT: Hardback, 245 pages
PUBLISHER: Longman, The Heritage of Literature Series, London, 1967.

CONTENTS:

Introduction by S. H. Burton
\”Requiem\” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1940)
\”A Present from Joe\” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding Science Fiction, February 1949)
\”Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed\” by Ray Bradbury (Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1949, as \”The Naming of Names\”)
\”Protected Species\” by H. B. Fyfe (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1951)
\”The New Wine\” by John Christopher (Fantastic Story Magazine, Summer 1954)
\”Nightfall\” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1941)
\”The Windows of Heaven\” by John Brunner (New Worlds, May 1956, as \”Two by Two\”)
\”Youth\” by Isaac Asimov (Space Science Fiction, May 1952)
\”The Star\” by Arthur C. Clarke (Infinity Science Fiction, November 1955)

This is an unusual little book, a very small hardcover, only the size of a paperback. It\’s also interesting in that it was published as part of Longmans\’ prestige \”The Heritage of Literature Series\”, rather than as a commercial SF paperback or hardback. This series seems to be more of an academic line, covering not only science fiction, but detective fiction and general short fiction. Very interesting.

It\’s a fairly short anthology, and there are a few classic, well-known stories by big name authors, which have seen publication previously in many anthologies and single-author collections – Heinlein\’s \”Requiem\”, Bradbury\’s \”Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed\”, Asimov\’s \”Nightfall\” and Clarke\’s \”The Star\”. It\’s always nice to re-read these excellent stories, especially if you haven\’t read them for a while.

There are also several stories, by familiar authors, which are not so well known – Asimov\’s \”Youth\”, Russell\’s \”A Present from Joe\”, Brunner\’s \”The Windows of Heaven\” and Christopher\’s \”The New Wine\”. And finally, there is also a story by an author with whom I\’m totally unfamiliar, although I have seen his name in old magazine listings – H. B. Fyfe\’s \”Protected Species\”. I haven\’t read this one (or anything by this author) before.

I\’ve started reading this anthology with the least familiar, so right now I\’m part way through Fyfe\’s \”Protected Species\”, which is quite a good story, at least so far. It\’ll be interesting to see where it leads. After that, I\’ll move onto the other stories that I haven\’t read before, although the author\’s ARE familiar to me – Russell, Brunner and Christopher. And I\’ll finally finish off by re-reading the biggies from Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein and Bradbury.

As this anthology is short, it shouldn\’t take me very long to finish it. I\’m off to read the rest of \”Protected Species\”…

THE GREAT SF STORIES VOL. 1 (1939) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

TITLE: ISAAC ASIMOV PRESENTS THE GREAT SF STORIES VOL. 1 (1939)
EDITED BY: Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
CATEGORY: Anthology
SUB-CATEGORY: Short Fiction
FORMAT: Paperback, 432 pages
PUBLISHER: DAW Books, New York, 1st Printing, March 1979.

Those are the various general details, and here\’s a listing of the contents:

Introduction by Isaac Asimov
\”I, Robot\” by Eando Binder (Amazing Stories, January 1939)
\”The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton\” by Robert Bloch (Amazing Stories, March 1939)
\”Trouble with Water\” by H. L. Gold (Unknown, March 1939)
\”Cloak of Aesir\” by Don A. Stuart (John W. Campbell, Jr.) (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1939)
\”The Day is Done\” by Lester Del Rey (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1939)
\”The Ultimate Catalyst\” by John Taine (Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1939)
\”The Gnarly Man\” by L. Sprague De Camp (Unknown, June 1939)
\”Black Destroyer\” by A. E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
\”Greater Than Gods\” by C. L. Moore (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
\”Trends\” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
\”The Blue Giraffe\” by L. Sprague De Camp (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
\”The Misguided Halo\” by Henry Kuttner (Unknown, August 1939)
\”Heavy Planet\” by Milton A. Rothman (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
\”Life-Line\” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
\”Ether Breather\” by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1939)
\”Pilgrimage\” by Nelson Bond (Amazing Stories, October 1939)
\”Rust\” by Joseph E. Kelleam (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1939)
\”The Four-Sided Triangle\” by William F. Temple (Amazing Stories, November 1939)
\”Star Bright\” by Jack Williamson (Argosy, November 1939)
\”Misfit\” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1939)

This is a real gem of an anthology, and what a year 1939 was! It\’s hard to know where to start with this lot, but it would probably be with the three that really stand out for me, Van Vogt\’s \”Black Destroyer\”, John W. Campbell\’s (under his \”Don A. Stuart\” pseudonym) \”Cloak of Aesir\” and Milton A. Rothman\’s \”Heavy Planet\”, which are all stories that impacted greatly on me when I first started reading short SF way back in my early teens.

But there are also so many other good stories here, in particular C. L. Moore\’s \”Greater Than Gods\”, Jack Williamson\’s \”Star Bright\”, Lester Del Rey\’s \”The Day is Done\”, Eando Binder\’s \”I, Robot\”, Isaac Asimov\’s \”Trends\”, and the two Robert A. Heinlein stories \”Life-Line\” and \”Misfit\”. Most of the others I can\’t really remember, as I read them so long ago, and there are a few that I don\’t think I\’ve actually read before.

I\’m really looking forward to reading (or is that re-reading?) Henry Kuttner\’s \”The Misguided Halo\” (I\’m a big fan of his), Theodore Sturgeon\’s \”Ether Breather\” (likewise a big fan of his), Robert Bloch\’s \”The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton\” and the two L. Sprague De Camp stories \”The Gnarly Man\” and \”The Blue Giraffe\”. All big names that I\’ve enjoyed reading before.

This book was the first in a very long series, and Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories, Volumes 1-25, was one of the greatest ever series of science fiction anthologies. Published by DAW Books, the twenty-five volumes each covered a single year, and the entire series spanned the years 1939-1964.

The first twelve of these volumes were also later repackaged in a series of hardcovers, Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction. There were six volumes in total of that one, First Series-Sixth Series, each one containing two of the original paperback volumes. For some reason (I\’ve never found out why), this series of hardcovers stopped at the half-way mark, and the remaining thirteen volumes of the paperbacks were never collected in hardback. Pity. Those hardbacks were really nice, and I\’m fortunate enough to have all six of them.

The twenty-five volume paperback set is a different matter. I only started to collect those several months ago, and so far I only have nine of them, although I continue to pick up the odd one here and there, with the intention of collecting the entire series, eventually. The books in this series are also quite expensive and hard to find, and most of the copies that I\’ve seen are from US sellers, so the shipping charges to the UK and Ireland are also very expensive. I\’ve often seen costs totalling up to $50 on Ebay for one of these paperbacks inclusive of shipping, as some of the US sellers charge ridiculously and inexcusably high transatlantic shipping charges. It\’s much better if you can find them on Amazon UK, as they only charge £2.80 shipping from all Amazon sellers, even those in the US.

Anyways, nine down, sixteen to go. Oboy! I guess it\’s time to get the credit card out and start buying a few more of these books…

SCIENCE FICTION OF THE THIRTIES edited by Damon Knight

TITLE: SCIENCE FICTION OF THE THIRTIES
EDITED BY: Damon Knight
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
PUBLISHER: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., Indianapolis/New York, 1975
FORMAT: Hardback, 1st Edition, 464 pages

CONTENTS:

Foreword by Damon Knight
\”Out Around Rigel\” by Robert H. Wilson (1931)
\”The Fifth-Dimension Catapult\” by Murray Leinster (1931)
\”Into the Meteorite Orbit\” by Frank K. Kelly (1933)
\”The Battery of Hate\” by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1933)
\”The Wall\” by Howard W. Graham, Ph.D. (1934)
\”The Lost Language\” by David H. Keller, M.D. (1934)
\”The Last Men\” by Frank Belknap Long, Jr. (1934)
\”The Other\” by Howard W. Graham, Ph.D. (1934)
\”The Mad Moon\” by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935)
\”Davey Jones\’ Ambassador\” by Raymond Z. Gallun (1935)
\”Alas, All Thinking\” by Harry Bates (1935)
\”The Time Decelerator\” by A. Macfadyen, Jr. (1936)
\”The Council of Drones\” by W. K. Sonnemann (1936)
\”Seeker of Tomorrow\” by Eric Frank Russell and Leslie T. Johnson (1937)
\”Hyperpilosity\” by L. Sprague de Camp (1938)
\”Pithecanthropus Rejectus\” by Manly W. Wellman (1938)
\”The Merman\” by L. Sprague de Camp (1938)
\”The Day is Done\” by Lester del Rey (1939)

What SF Master Damon Knight has done for Science Fiction of the Thirties is to plough his way through hundreds of classic \”pulps\” from the 30\’s, mining them for a few of the forgotten gems from that era, and picking out the best of them for this anthology. He has reappraised the best of the tales from the 1930s SF magazines, with the added condition that his choices are stories which have rarely, some of them never, been published before in SF anthologies. And it\’s a real thrill to read these stories, particularly for a jaded old fan like me who thought he\’d read all the good old stuff worth reading.

Reading the short but fascinating Foreword to this anthology, we come to understand that Knight had been a life-long critic of the stories in the pulps, but had undergone a recent change of heart. Sturgeon\’s Law (\”Ninety Percent of Everything is Crud\”) applies to the pulps just as much as it does to everything else, and it is the ten percent of stories which are not crud which make it worth persevering, and wading through the crap, to find the diamonds in the rough. And these stories are all good \’uns. Damon Knight, former unrelenting critic of the \”pulps\”, is a hard taskmaster, and his standards are VERY high.

So, given that I\’ve read a LOT of vintage SF, how has he done? The good news is that I\’m totally unfamiliar with at least six of the authors in this anthology. The rest of them are names that I know, but the real surprise is that I have never read most of these stories before. I\’m familiar with only THREE out of the eighteen stories – Weinbaum\’s \”The Mad Moon\”, Campbell\’s \”The Battery of Hate\” and Bates\’ \”Alas, All Thinking\” (all of which I read many, many years ago) – which is a pretty amazing strike rate for Knight and the stories that he has chosen here. He has really come up with the goods, producing an anthology of stories that few SF readers will have seen before.

Most modern SF anthologies showcasing stories from \”the old days\” have long since started to reprint the same classic stories over and over again, so an avid SF fan would very likely have read most of them before. As good as many classic SF stories are, it becomes a bit tiring and disheartening to see them in every other anthology – \”The Cold Equations\” and \”It\’s a Good Life\” are two examples of classic SF stories that come to mind. I have these two in so many old anthologies that I could scream every time I see them in yet another. I love these stories to bits, but too much of a good thing, etc…

Which raises the question: if Damon Knight could find these forgotten gems, surely there are many, many more in those SF magazines, just waiting for some adventurous researcher and editor to find them? And now that Damon has sadly passed on from us, to that great everlasting Science Fiction Convention in the Sky, who is willing to step into his giant shoes and continue to unearth these hidden treasures of the past? Or do hardcore fans like me have to continue ponying up exorbitant amounts of money for the old SF magazines or rare, out-of-print anthologies from the dim and distant past, in order to unearth more forgotten SF gems?

SF editors need to start using a bit of imagination and initiative, as in \”Great story, but it\’s been published a zillion times before. How\’s about something that hasn\’t been published before?\”. I know that great editors of the past (and present) have produced many excellent anthologies of vintage SF. Editors like Groff Conklin, Terry Carr, Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Gardner Dozois, Brian W. Aldiss, Mike Ashley, and many others have produced some amazing anthologies over the years. But many of the classic editors/anthologists have now sadly passed on, and we have a dire need for newer editors to come forward and take up the gauntlet, to continue the great work that Damon Knight and the other great editors of the past have done to unearth the forgotten SF treasures of the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Sure, I\’d be the first to say that we need new authors producing great new SF. But we should also never, EVER forget the old masters.

So what\’s my verdict of Science Fiction of the Thirties? Overall, I think this is an excellent anthology. Taking into account that these are NOT modern literary SF masterpieces, and that the stories are 1930s pulp SF tales, churned out at a few cents per word, it\’s amazing that ANY of them were any good. But some were real beauts. Even for as low grade a market as the \”pulps\”, many talented writers took extreme pride and joy in their work, and went way beyond the line of duty, producing something much more than the miserly word rates they were being paid could ever merit. Damon Knight has uncovered a few of those forgotten gems for us and put them together in this very nice anthology. For someone like myself, who is a huge fan of finding good old SF stories that I haven\’t read before, this type of book is just right up my alley.

I wish there were a few more volumes of anthologies containing similarly rare old SF magazine stories out there. Here\’s hoping that someone will continue on with the good work of finding classic stories from the \”pulps\” that we haven\’t read before. I, for one, will be eagerly watching out for more.