Category: The Reading Zone

A MARTIAN ODYSSEY AND OTHERS (1949) by Stanley G. Weinbaum

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This time out, I\’m going to take a brief look at one of the oldest and most valuable SF books in my collection, the earliest collection of short fiction by classic 1930\’s SF author Stanley G. Weinbaum. I bought this book a long time ago from a UK used book dealer, must\’ve been thirty-five years ago or more, way back when I was just becoming an obsessive book collector for the first time. It actually came as part of Weinbaum two-book set by the same publisher, Fantasy Press, the other book being The Red Peri, another collection of Weinbaum\’s short fiction, which will also be the subject of the blog post after this one.

TITLE: A MARTIAN ODYSSEY AND OTHERS
AUTHOR: Stanley G. Weinbaum
COVER ARTIST: A. J. Donnell
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Single-Author Collection
FORMAT: Hardback (with dustjacket), US 1st Edition, 289 pages
PUBLISHER: Fantasy Press, Reading, Pennsylvania, US, 1949.

Contents (12 stories):

  • \”A Martian Odyssey\” (novelette, Wonder Stories, July 1934)
  • \”Valley of Dreams\” (novelette, Wonder Stories, November 1934)
  • \”The Adaptive Ultimate\” (novelette, Astounding Stories, November 1935)
  • \”The Mad Moon\” (novelette, Astounding Stories, December 1935)
  • \”The Worlds of If\” (short story, Wonder Stories, August 1935)
  • \”The Ideal\” (novelette, Wonder Stories, September 1935)
  • \”The Point of View\” (short story, Wonder Stories, February 1936)
  • \”Pygmalion\’s Spectacles\” (short story, Wonder Stories, June 1935)
  • \”Parasite Planet\” (novelette, Astounding Stories, February 1935)
  • \”The Lotus Eaters\” (novelette, Astounding Stories, April 1935)
  • \”The Planet of Doubt\” (novelette, Astounding Stories, October 1935)
  • \”The Circle of Zero\” (short story, Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1936)

This collection is notable for containing Weinbaum\’s most famous short story, \”A Martian Odyssey\” and its sequel, \”Valley of Dreams\”. There are also a few other good ones, including \”Parasite Planet\” and its sequel \”The Lotus Eaters\”, \”The Mad Moon\”, \”The Worlds of If\” and \”The Adaptive Ultimate\”. \”The Adaptive Ultimate\” has also been (if you\’ll pardon the pun) adapted to film, television and radio a number of times over the years.

Overall, A Martian Odyssey and Others contains most of the best of Weinbaum\’s short fiction, and, combined with the eight stories in The Red Peri contains almost all of the short fiction that Weinbaum wrote, with the exception of a handful of stories.

The dustjacket is in pretty good condition, considering its age, showcasing some lovely artwork by A. J. Donnell. As an aside, the edition that I have also bears a very interesting hand-written inscription/dedication on the front inside page. The inscription goes as follows:

\”FROM SCIENTI-CLAUS 1955
FOR ALF GREGORY\’S HG WELLSIANS
IN RESPECT OF THE MEMORY
OF THE GREATEST*
OF THEM ALL.

*HGW: 1886-1946\”

It\’s an extremely sobering thought that, at the publication date of this book (1949), the Great Man (H.G. Wells) had only been dead a mere three years. 🙁

It looks like this book was bought as a Christmas gift for someone, and this dedication is a tribute to a H.G. Wells fan group active in the UK, possibly in the late-1940s and the 1950s. At least that\’s the assumption that I\’m making from this. I know that it\’s a long shot, as we\’re talking more than sixty years ago here, and this group may or may not have been anything more than a small local fan group. But does anybody out there have any information on an old UK-based SF/HG Wells fan group by the name of ALF GREGORY\’S HG WELLSIANS? If so, I\’d be very appreciative if you\’d let me know the details.

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

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[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

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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.

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

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[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.

STORIES FOR TOMORROW (1954) edited by William Sloane

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[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.

THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF LUCKY STARR by Paul French (Isaac Asimov)

[S]everal posts ago, I listed some of the SF novels that I\’d picked up recently, among them two of Isaac Asimov\’s Lucky Starr juvies that he wrote back in the 1950\’s under his Paul French pseudonym. Well, that set me to searching for the only single-volume omnibus of all six Lucky Starr novels, which I found on Amazon. It\’s quite hard to come by, being out-of-print, and quite expensive. But I took the plunge and bought it, and it arrived by mail in double-quick time.

So what\’ve we got? Let\’s look at the details:

TITLE: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF LUCKY STARR
AUTHOR: Paul French (Isaac Asimov)
CATEGORY: Novel
SUB-CATEGORY: Omnibus
FORMAT: Hardback, 701 pages
PUBLISHER: Science Fiction Book Club, in association with Doubleday & Co. Inc, New York, 2001
ISBN: 0-7394-1941-2

CONTENTS:

  • Introduction to the Adventures of Lucky Starr
  • Introduction to the Further Adventures of Lucky Starr
  • David Starr – Space Ranger (1952)
  • Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids (1953)
  • Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus (1954)
  • Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury (1956)
  • Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter (1957)
  • Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn (1958)

The reason for the two introductions is that the books were released in two volumes back in 1985, with a different introduction for each volume. So both introductions have been republished in this single volume. The introductions alone are very interesting, and give some nice insights into Asimov\’s thoughts on his old juvies from a vantage point of thirty years later.

Asimov spends much of both introductions, explaining, almost apologizing for how wrong he got the planetary science in his novels. I found all of this very entertaining, but, in effect, totally unnecessary. He wrote those books according to the knowledge that science had in the early 1950\’s, from telescopic observations of the planets, before the radar imaging and planetary probes of the 1960\’s and 1970\’s made that old knowledge totally obsolete.

Sure, the planetary science is in those books is wrong and way out of date. Hey, so what? All planetary science before the Mariner space probes and those that followed is hopelessly out of date. There are no oceans on Venus, and it is a boiling, poisonous, high-pressure inferno to outdo any religious visions of hell. There has never been any advanced life or civilizations on Mars, no canals, and only an extremely thin, cold atmosphere. Mercury does not keep one side only to the Sun, Saturn\’s rings are radically more complex, and the lunar families of both Jupiter and Saturn are much larger than they ever suspected back then, and the lunar ecologies of both planets much more complex than they could ever have imagined.

But you know what? I don\’t give a hoot. That kind of thing has never bothered me too much, any more than the \”wrong\” planetary science in the books of earlier \”greats\”. I just shunt these Lucky Starr stories into the same alternate solar system where all the mythical planets of great earlier writers reside. Asimov is in some great company there: Stanley G. Weinbaum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Edwin Lester Arnold, C. S. Lewis, Raymond Z. Gallun, P. Schuyler Miller, Ray Bradbury, Clifford D. Simak, James Blish, Clark Ashton Smith, John Wyndham, Frederik Pohl, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert A. Heinlein and many, many other giants of the genre. These earlier solar system tales exist in their own little continuum, untouched by cold, hard, modern scientific facts. Nor should they be.

I first read most of these novels (all except Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus and Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury) way back in my early teens, usually on loan from local libraries. These were the classic NEL (New English Library) UK paperback editions, with those beautiful covers. Even now that I have the hardback omnibus, I still want to pick up those paperbacks in good condition, just for the covers.

I\’ve been reading a little of the first novel in the series, and the writing holds up surprisingly well today. I think I\’m going to really enjoy reacquainting myself with David \”Lucky\” Starr, Bigman and the rest in these fun books.

Some New and Old SF Novels

[I]\’ve picked up a few books recently, so I\’ll list them, a few at a time. Starting off firstly with the novels. Two new purchases from Amazon.co.uk, and two old/used books from local car-boot sales.

  • SATURN\’S CHILDREN by Charles Stross (paperback, Orbit Books, London, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-84149-568-2)
  • NEPTUNE\’S BROOD by Charles Stross (paperback, Orbit Books, London, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-356-50100-0)
  • PIRATES OF THE ASTEROIDS by Isaac Asimov (Paperback, NEL, London, 1973, first published by Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York, 1953, as LUCKY STARR AND THE PIRATES OF THE ASTEROIDS by Paul French)
  • OCEANS OF VENUS by Isaac Asimov (Paperback, NEL, London, 1974, first published by Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York, 1954, as LUCKY STARR AND THE OCEANS OF VENUS by Paul French)

The two Charles Stross books were bought new from Amazon.co.uk. These two books can be considered a pair, or loosely connected series, set in the same post-human \”universe\” (but many centuries apart) where humanity\’s \”children\” seem intent on recreating the worst mistakes of both our dodgy societies and our nasty individual behaviour. Both novels can be classified as \”thrillers\”, set in the above-mentioned SF scenario.

The first book of the two, Saturn\’s Children, is set within our solar system, only two hundred years after the death of the final natural human, whilst the follow-up novel, Neptune\’s Brood, is set five thousand years later, and against an interstellar background, although constrained by STL travel and real physics. Both books are of the Hard(ish) SF/New Space Opera sub-genre of SF that I like so much, and Stross writes excellent New Space Opera fiction, so I\’m pretty much guaranteed to enjoy them. I\’ll leave commenting on the plots of either novel until a later date, as I haven\’t read them yet.

The two Isaac Asimov novels are part of his \”juvenile\” or Young Adult (YA) SF&F Lucky Starr six-book series, written back in the 1950\’s under his \”Paul French\” pseudonym (Pirates of the Asteroids is Book 2 in the series, and Oceans of Venus is Book 4). I read all of these books back when I was a kid, and they were an important part of my formative years as a young SF reader, leading me directly onto reading Asimov\’s more adult SF works. As the series was written back in the Fifties, long before the first space probes gave us the first true images of our planetary neighbours, giving us a wonderful glimpse of one of those SF alternate \”solar-system-that-never-was\” continuums that fascinate me so much.

Unlike the two Stross novels, these two books are much older, used/second-hand copies, and were picked up recently at a car-boot sale for next-to-nothing. Both books are in quite tatty, strictly \”readers-only\” condition. They are definitely not collectible copies, so, ideally, I\’d love to pick up pristine copies (or at least much better) of these two books, and every book in the series (if possible), as these are the classic New English Library (NEL) UK editions with the gorgeous cover artwork that I read way back when I was a pre-teenager.

I know that an omnibus collection of the entire six-book series, The Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr, was released back in 2001 (although it\’s apparently now out-of-print and quite expensive to buy), but I\’d like to track down decent condition copies of the six 1970\’s NEL paperback UK releases, just for the lovely covers, and because they will bring back so many great childhood memories. 🙂

THE SWORD & SORCERY ANTHOLOGY edited by David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman

TITLE: THE SWORD & SORCERY ANTHOLOGY
EDITED BY: David G. Hartwell and Jacob Weisman
CATEGORY: Short Fiction
SUB-CATEGORY: Anthology
PUBLISHER: Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, 2012
FORMAT: Trade Paperback, 1st Edition, 480 pages
ISBN 13: 978-1-61696-069-8
ISBN 10: 1-61696-069-8

CONTENTS:

  • Introduction: Storytellers: A Guided Ramble into Sword and Sorcery Fiction by David Drake
  • \”The Tower of the Elephant\” by Robert E. Howard (Weird Tales, March 1933)
  • \”Black God\’s Kiss\” by C. L. Moore (Weird Tales, October 1934)
  • \”The Unholy Grail\” by Fritz Leiber (Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, October 1962)
  • \”The Tale of Hauk\” by Poul Anderson (first appeared in Swords Against Darkness, Vol. 1, edited by Andrew J. Offutt, Zebra Books, New York, 1977)
  • \”The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams\” by Michael Moorcock (first appeared as \”The Flame Bringers\”, Science Fantasy #55, October 1962)
  • \”The Adventuress\” by Joanna Russ (first appeared in Orbit 2, edited by Damon Knight, Putnam, New York, 1967)
  • \”Gimmile\’s Songs\” by Charles R. Saunders (first appeared in Sword and Sorceress #1, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW Books, New York, 1984)
  • \”Undertow\” by Karl Edward Wagner (Whispers #10, August 1977)
  • \”The Stages of the God\” by Ramsey Campbell [writing as Mongomery Comfort] (Whispers #5, November 1974)
  • \”The Barrow Troll\” by David Drake (Whispers #8, December 1975)
  • \”Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat\” by Glen Cook (Berkley Showcase, Volume 2, edited by Victoria Schochet and John Silbersack, Berkley Books, New York, 1980)
  • \”Epistle from Lebanoi\” by Michael Shea (Original to this anthology, 2012)
  • \”Become a Warrior\” by Jane Yolen (Warrior Princess, edited by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and Martin H. Greenberg, DAW Books, New York, 1998)
  • \”The Red Guild\” by Rachel Pollack (Sword and Sorceress #2, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW Books, New York, 1985)
  • \”Six from Atlantis\” by Gene Wolfe (Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard, edited by Scott A. Cupp and Joe R. Lansdale, MonkeyBrain Books & Fandom Association of Central Texas, 2006)
  • \”The Sea Troll\’s Daughter\” by Caitlín R. Kiernan (Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, EOS, New York, 2010)
  • \”The Coral Heart\” by Jeffrey Ford (Eclipse Three, edited by Jonathan Strahan, Night Shade Books, San Francisco, 2009)
  • \”Path of the Dragon\” by George R. R. Martin (Asimov\’s SF, December 2000)
  • \”The Year of the Three Monarchs\” by Michael Swanwick (Original to this anthology, 2012)

[R]ight, we have something a bit different this time around. Firstly, this anthology is a lot more recent than most of the others that I\’ve posted about on the blog so far. It\’s relatively new, in fact, published in 2012, and edited by David G. Hartwell, with whom I\’m very familiar for his work on SF anthologies (one of my favourite modern SF editors, but I\’m not familiar at all with his co-editor, Jacob Weisman). But I will be including new anthologies that I\’m impressed with from time to time, so this may be the first, but it won\’t be an exception, although the main focus of the blog will always be on the older, \”forgotten\” anthologies.

Secondly, and this is a first for this blog, this isn\’t a science fiction anthology, it\’s a fantasy anthology. Or, to be more precise, a sword and sorcery anthology. The \”About\” section of this blog does state that I would be including very occasional reviews of fantasy books, although they will be very far and few between. I\’m not overly fond of reading fantasy at the best of times (I\’m more of an Analog nuts \’n\’ bolts hard SF kinda guy), and I simply can\’t abide the modern dominant Tolkein-imitation strain of mainstream fantasy. Hey, I can\’t even read Tolkein himself, as his writing totally bores me to tears, so how could I abide second and third-rate imitators?

However, I do like some of the older, more traditional forms of fantasy (for instance, the Narnia books, which IMHO are far superior to Tolkein) and some Young Adult SF&F. Like I said, there will be only very rare reviews of fantasy books, as it only comprises a tiny percent of what I read. More than 95% of my fiction reading is SF, most of the rest is classic/older horror (not the modern stuff), and only about 1% (maybe less) is fantasy.

But this is a sword and sorcery anthology, and s&s is a very rare exception, the only sub-genre of fantasy that I actually enjoy reading on a more widespread basis. It\’s definitely the darker, horror elements that really attract me to s&s, as well as the fact that most s&s stories are not afflicted by that excruciatingly boring pseudo-medieval, rustic scenario that the vast majority of modern mainstream fantasy is set in. I could never be a farmer! 🙂

I have to admit that my s&s reading has been mostly confined to the classic 1930\’s and 1940\’s work of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, C. L. Moore, maybe a little of Fritz Leiber and a few others. I haven\’t read anything in this genre post-1950. So tackling this anthology is going to be quite interesting. Only two of the stories are pre-1950 (both early 1930\’s), and the rest are from the 1960\’s onwards, and covering every decade from then up until the two original 2012 stories written for the anthology. I don\’t know how different modern s&s is to the classic form, but I reckon I\’ll find out soon enough.

I must admit that my tastes in SF&F reading material have changed and narrowed drastically in the last 10-15 years. I know I\’ll still enjoy the earlier Robert E. Howard and C. L. Moore stories, and most likely the Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson. But as for the more modern stories by the authors that I\’m not familiar with, that remains to be seen. Let\’s see if I can make it the whole way through this one without giving up. 🙂

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. 🙂