The Short Story Thread

[J-Sun]

I think The Gold at Starbow's End is one of my favourite stories, by anyone. It has all the faults you mention, but there's just something about it that I think is awe-inspiring.

Yep - I see what you're saying and, as indicated by the nominations and awards, many people agree.

***​

I just finished The Book of Fritz Leiber. As Leiber's prospectus was used for the blurb, I'll keep using it: "There will be over sixty thousand words in all. The stories will make up two-thirds of them. There will be ten stories...All the chief types of story I do will be represented: hard science fiction, Fafhrd-Mouser (sword & sorcery), romantic science fiction, Change War stories, cat stories, Lovecraft-related stories, supernatural-horror stories. The non-fiction...will be of all sorts and closely related to the fiction. There will be book reviews, a pop. science article in the Asimov vein...and so on."

Despite how good this makes it sound and despite how representative of Leiber's range and interests it is, it's not really representative of him at his best. There's nothing really bad in here, but there's nothing particularly great, either. The non-fiction, despite usually being appropriate as advertised, is mostly pretty minor and doesn't really help the collection either. As can be figured from having 19 pieces in 163 pages, most of them are very short and, while brevity doesn't at all have to equate to triviality, that's the tendency of this collection. The two longest stories are probably my two favorites. "Cat's Cradle" weighs in at a whopping 17 pages and is one of Leiber's Gummitch cat stories. Then "Yesterday House" (the true epic of the book at 30 pages) is a story that has kinship with things like CJ Cherryh's Cyteen and PF Hamilton's "The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa" (and maybe "Candy Buds") and zillions of others. Parts of this story - especially the instant infatuation of one character for another and the environmental aspects (nurture vs. nature; not ecology) that the infatuated character himself brings up - make this quite bad yet, in others, it's quite good. A story of love (or at least a variety of things passing by that name) trying to overcome death (which is also a theme in the lesser "Crazy Annaoj"). But I could live without either of these, even.

As mentioned, the collection also comes with an original Fafhrd & Gray Mouser vignette ("Beauty and the Beasts") and a short Changewar story ("Knight to Move") but those are merely good and are available elsewhere.

In sum, I haven't had good luck with Leiber collections lately. I'd recommend The Night of the Wolf before this one and I was mixed/tepid on that.

BTW, one thing about two stories bugs me a lot: if anyone knows a collection/anthology that contains "A Hitch in Space" or "Cat's Cradle" other than those listed in the ISFDB or Contento, I'd appreciate it. I swear it seems I've read these before, yet don't think I could have read them in any of the sources I can find.

 

[Extollager]

In sum, I haven't had good luck with Leiber collections lately.

Yes... He has a very few stories that I rate highly (e.g. "A Pail of Air"), while a great deal that, it seems, I now can complete only "dutifully." And since I don't really have a duty to finish, I don't. Perhaps the biggest change for me is that, 30-odd years ago, I'd have rated the Fafhrd-Mouser stories pretty highly. I recently reread "Bazaar of the Bizarre" and "The Cloud of Hate," and just didn't care for them. My guess is that one could comfortably get all the Leiber that I "need" into one volume, the bulk of which would be made up of "You're All Alone."

 

[J-Sun]

My guess is that one could comfortably get all the Leiber that I "need" into one volume, the bulk of which would be made up of "You're All Alone."

That's funny - I was thinking something similar. I think I'd still want the Lankhmar stories separately (though definitely not all are great) and it'd probably take a couple of volumes (or one huge one) for me, but I was thinking he needed a comprehensive "best of". Of course, any such collection that did come out wouldn't be edited by me and would include things I didn't like and wouldn't include things I did. I agree that "A Pail of Air" and "You're All Alone" would be a good start, though. "The Oldest Soldier", "Midnight in the Mirror World", "Destiny Times Three", probably "Gonna Roll the Bones" and "Space-time for Springers" and some others that I need to re-read. But, yeah, he doesn't seem to be one of those story writers whose individual collections are always all that great.

 

[Fried Egg]

I just finished "Solaris Rising", an anthology of new SF edited by Ian Whates.

One story that particularly stood out was Alastair Reynolds' "For the Ages". It was a nice illustration of the conceit of mankind that believed that it had understood the true nature of reality and so a mission was sent out to inscribe it's this truth on a diamond planet so that it would outlive the galaxy's eventual death and serve to illumate the future inheritors of the universe. Unfortunately, the scientists conception of the ultimate truth kept getting revised...

 

[jojajihisc]

I finished 5 Unearthly Visions Ed. by Groff Conklin the other day. I had already read the first and last stories months ago, set it aside and only recently got back to it. The middle three stories "Conditionally Human" by Walter M. Miller Jr., "Stamped Caution" by Raymond Z. Gallun and "Dio" by Damon Knight were the best though. A population control/reproductive engineering story about an official who has the unenvious job of removing genetically inferior "neutroids" from society's burden; an alien first contact story set on Mars; and an elegant story about mortality in a world of immortals, respectively. A solid anthology of novelette length stories.

 

[Connavar]

I just finished "Solaris Rising", an anthology of new SF edited by Ian Whates.

One story that particularly stood out was Alastair Reynolds' "For the Ages". It was a nice illustration of the conceit of mankind that believed that it had understood the true nature of reality and so a mission was sent out to inscribe it's this truth on a diamond planet so that it would outlive the galaxy's eventual death and serve to illumate the future inheritors of the universe. Unfortunately, the scientists conception of the ultimate truth kept getting revised...

Haha that sounded ironic, interesting. Is that the best Solaris anthology so far? I can get the early ones form the library.

 

[Extollager]

I finished 5 Unearthly Visions Ed. by Groff Conklin the other day. I had already read the first and last stories months ago, set it aside and only recently got back to it. The middle three stories "Conditionally Human" by Walter M. Miller Jr., "Stamped Caution" by Raymond Z. Gallun and "Dio" by Damon Knight were the best though. A population control/reproductive engineering story about an official who has the unenvious job of removing genetically inferior "neutroids" from society's burden; an alien first contact story set on Mars; and an elegant story about mortality in a world of immortals, respectively. A solid anthology of novelette length stories.

I bought a copy of this nice little anthology a few months ago in a real bookstore for about $3. "Conditionally Human" is one of the best wrong-your-heart sf stories of them all.

 

[jojajihisc]

I'd say that was my favorite in the book. First short story I think I've read of Miller's as well.

 

[Extollager]

I'd say that ["Conditionally Human"]was my favorite in the book. First short story I think I've read of Miller's as well.

"Dark Benediction" is another superb Miller novella. .... I have to read that again really soon, like today.

I have the story in this vintage collection (the third story is "The Darfstellar").

 

[Fried Egg]

Haha that sounded ironic, interesting. Is that the best Solaris anthology so far? I can get the early ones form the library.

I haven't read the first two, but overall I would say that I actually preferred volume 3 to the new one, although the new one is still good.

 

[Extollager]

Extollager wrote, " 'Conditionally Human' is one of the best wrong-your-heart sf stories of them all."

"Wring-your-heart," of course.

And yes, I reread "Dark Benediction." What outstanding sf.

 

[J-Sun]

I finished 5 Unearthly Visions Ed. by Groff Conklin the other day. I had already read the first and last stories months ago, set it aside and only recently got back to it. The middle three stories "Conditionally Human" by Walter M. Miller Jr., "Stamped Caution" by Raymond Z. Gallun and "Dio" by Damon Knight were the best though. A population control/reproductive engineering story about an official who has the unenvious job of removing genetically inferior "neutroids" from society's burden; an alien first contact story set on Mars; and an elegant story about mortality in a world of immortals, respectively. A solid anthology of novelette length stories.

Thanks for that post. I've finally given up looking for The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun (after eons of looking) and ordered it. It doesn't include "Stamped Caution", but that's available from Gutenberg with some illustrations of an interesting style. I read it and really enjoyed it, even with reading it on the computer. It could have used a more complex ending and I have a couple of relatively trivial issues but it was very strong overall through the bulk of it. Kind of like Hamilton's "What's It Like Out There?" in the respect of being a pretty unromantic story. But it was still very thought-provoking and compelling.

 

[jojajihisc]

^Your welcome.

I went on a audio short story binge at Lightspeed Magazine at read/listened to three stories in quick succession. "The Cassandra Project" by Jack McDevitt is a story about a mysterious object found on the far side of the Moon written with a NASA-Golden-Age nostalgia; "Cats in Victory" by David Barr Kirtley is what almost feels like the back story to the cartoon Thundercats with an emphasis on religious myth creation; and "No Time Like the Present" by Carol Emshwiller is a mysterious story about a little girl and her apparent time traveling friend. It has that distinctive innocence to it that is common in Emshwiller's writing.

 

[dask]

"The Queen Of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin. What a great extended episode of Twilight Zone this would have made. No plodding of plot here, everything zips right along to an ending that while not totally unexpected is satisfying none the less. And best of all, the supernatural element was real. No wishy-washy psychological conundrum where, yeah, maybe there was a ghost, maybe there wasn't. Nope, there was and justice was served. Well done Mr. Pushkin, thank you.

 

[J-Sun]

Yesterday, in the middle of a confused state while reading Zeitgeist, the Bruce Sterling novel starring Leggy Starlitz, I re-read the three Leggy Starlitz stories that I could recall.

"Hollywood Kremlin" introduced the conman/hustler to the readers of F&SF in October 1990. It deals with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the rise of organized crime in the splintered off regions in a brilliant, almost gonzo, way. It features Khoklov (former Soviet fighter pilot turned smuggler) and Tamara (corrupt party apparatchik).

"Are You For 86?" was an original story in Globalhead, which also collected the earlier story. It introduced Mr. Judy and Vanna, the lesbian lovers who had a one-night stand with Leggy and may or may not have produced a child. This deals with the radical right of the 80s/early 90s recapitulating the radical left of the 60s, among other things.

"The Littlest Jackal" returned Leggy to the pages of F&SF in March 1996 and was collected in A Good Old-Fashioned Future. It marks Khoklov's return and deals with various bad craziness with what was intended to be an "intellectual property" scam in some Finnish islands (or are they Swedish? Or Russian? Or...? - depends on who you ask) morphing into weirder things as deeply bent mercenaries enter the picture.

While there is a single trace of something that could be construed as fantasy (or as Leggy spieling some BS) these are basically mainstream or a-millisecond-from-now SF pieces and are all highly recommended (as are the collections that contain them) but the novel still stubbornly insisted on being a very mainstream-feeling symbolic fantasy and wasn't particularly successful. But at least I feel I was right in remembering that the stories weren't so much like that.

Incidentally, the three together are something like 127 pages which, back when, would have almost been enough to be passed off as a novel/collection by themselves. Sterling's never done a series of novels but the Leggy Starlitz stories+novel and his Shaper/Mechanist stories+Schismatrix come the closest to breaking that rule (followed by the "Chattanooga" stories which are a story series, but have no novel to go with).

 

[J-Sun]

Finished George R.R. Martin's A Song for Lya yesterday. I've read and liked many Martin stories over many years but, other than the Tuf collection not too long ago (which was mostly a re-read), I think this is the first Martin book I've ever read. This, his first collection, is a strange one. Every story has its merits but, in all honesty, most are flawed or trivial or both.

One that is not flawed or trivial and makes everything else in the collection look terrible by comparison is the title story. I first read this eons ago in The Hugo Winners Volume III and I think this is only the second time I've read it. Some details had gone fuzzy but I still remembered the essence and even some details after all this time (and I've probably forgotten things I read last month). I can't get into details without spoiling it but it's about two telepaths being recruited to help figure out why humans are converting to an alien religion and handles a wonderful double vision of bliss and horror while contemplating love and individuality. I was blown away then and it absolutely holds up now.

A very good story (which would be a fine best story in a collection without "Lya") is "With Morning Comes Mistfall", which is a very nicely written piece of interesting people on an interesting planet and handles, e.g., Keats' "Lamia" theme. I don't so much sympathize with this story, but it's good.

A third of note is "Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" ("you are about to be eaten by a grue" ) which is kind of a lame post-nuke mutation story but is kind of powerful and fascinating. This is the case with several of the lesser stories - the sort of failure to grapple with the very ugly underlying scenario in "Override", the beautiful descriptions akin to Baty's in Bladerunner coupled with an almost complete absence of actual fictional story in "Slide Show", the sacrifice of any foreground plausibility for the sake of background thematic significance in "The Second Kind of Loneliness", the somewhat faulty football in the fairly trivial semi-comic "Run to Starlight", the spookiness in the middle of "The Exit to San Breta" that needs to be at the end which, among other things, makes for an interesting but unsuccessful modern highway ghost story (for a great one, see Jack Cady's "The Night We Buried Road Dog"), and so on.

And the thing is, (as I said) I have "Lya" in the Hugo Winners and it turns out I have "Mistfall" in a Nebula anthology as a nominee so there's really nothing in this collection I need.

But if anyone hasn't read the story "A Song for Lya", get it from somewhere. And like I say, this is a fine collection to read - just only a story or two to really treasure.

 

[Extollager]

"The Queen Of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin.

I have to read this again.

 

[jojajihisc]

Finished George R.R. Martin's A Song for Lya yesterday.

I've been considering reading Sandkings lately but haven't because then it'll be over.

 

[J-Sun]

I've been considering reading Sandkings lately but haven't because then it'll be over.

You mean you're expecting it to be really good and already "wish it would never end"? Or am I misunderstanding?

I've got 3/7 of that collection - I don't know what you've read of it but I recall "Sandkings" being a great sort of riff on another famous story (but I can't remember if saying what it is would be spoilery or not). It lands squarely in that intersection of SF, fantasy, and horror that Martin seemed to excel at. "Way of Cross and Dragon" has gone fuzzier on me - seems like it was good, but not at the level of "Sandkings". And I haven't read "Bitterblooms" yet.

 

[jojajihisc]

You mean you're expecting it to be really good and already "wish it would never end"?

Exactly. Based on what I've heard around here at least about the title story.