The Short Story Thread

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Counterpoint" by Joe Haldeman. Contrasts the lives of two men, born at the same time on the same day, one living a life of wealth, the other in extreme poverty, and how their fates are strangely linked. A strong story.

"Old Soul" by Steve Herbst. A young nurse finds herself experiencing the memories of an old, dying patient. Vividly depicted, if not much plot.

"New York Times" by Charles Platt. An impressionistic, surreal account of the horrors of urban violence.

"The Crystallization of the Myth" by John Barfoot. Hard to follow story whose plot I've forgotten over a couple of days.

"To Plant a Seed" by Hank Davis. Tells, in a multi-viewpoint structure, of a project to suspend nine people in time so they can populate the next universe.

"On the Road to Honeyville" by Kate Wilhelm. On the way with her mother to their former home in a small town after herfather dies, a girl meets a witch-like old woman who predicts her future. Subtle in its indications.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

And just because I happen to have a copy of Orbit 12, let's keep going.

"Shark" by Edward Bryant. After a worldwide war that left the USA in need of "reconstruction," a man recalls his lover, who left him to volunteer for a military project which put her brain in the body of a shark. A fine story, told in multiple flashbacks which require close reading.

"Direction of the Road" by Ursula K. LeGuin. Narrated by an oak tree whose duty is to change size as those who perceive it approach and retreat, and how this becomes much more complex as automobiles appear. Partly whimsical, partly a Borgesian exercise in developing a surreal concept in great detail, partly a polemic against the harm humanity does to nature.

"The Windows in Dante's Hell" by Michael Bishop. In the gigantic, domed, multi-level city of Atlanta a century or so in the future, the narrator and a teenage boy go to see the body of an old woman who has died in her tiny room and discover the fantasy world she had created for herself. Depicts the culture of this future society in detail, and carries a great emotional impact, particularly to science fiction fans.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Four Stories" by Brian W. Aldiss. More like four anecdotes, related by an actor in a setting which feels like Renaissance Europe, but with some higher technology (plastics and phonographs) as well as small living dinosaurs, lizard men, and flying women. These fantastic elements are way in the background. Not much happens; seductions, witty conversations, and the making of art. It might be called mundane fantasy, like sword and sorcery with no swordplay and no sorcerers. Elegantly written, in a languid and decadent way, and rather charming if you're in the mood for that sort of thing.

 

[doctordarts]

'Sum-Takes From The Afterlives' by David Eagleman. A philosophical collection of short stories all on the theme of what happens when we die. Moving, interesting, clever...if very short overall for the money and overwhelmingly negative in its' depictions of the afterlife (apart from maybe one or two.)

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"The Red Canary" by Kate Wilhelm. The struggles of a man to deal with a psychotic wife and a seriously ill infant in the near future, when the health care system is completely overwhelmed. A grim, emotionally devastating story.

"What's the Matter with Herbie?" by Mel Gilden. Madcap farce with lots of weird aliens. Pretty silly.

"Pinup" by Edward Bryant. Horror story of a man picked up by a beautiful woman and what happens to him. Slightly similar to Leiber's "The Girl With the Hungry Eyes" in feeling, but not in plot. No fantastic content except a slight hint at the end.

"The Genius Freaks" by Vonda N. McIntyre. Poor title for a pretty good story about people who have been genetically bred to be short-lived super-geniuses.

"Burger Creature" by Steve Chapman. Title tells all. Silly horror-comedy.

"Half the Kingdom" by Doris Piserchia. Another silly comedy, this one about a guy who winds up in a parallel reality and gets a reward he'd rather not have.

"Continuing Westward" by Gene Wolfe. A couple of WWI pilots land their crippled plane somewhere in the Middle East and encounter the inhabitants. Not speculative fiction at all, although the setting has an exotic feel to it.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

And continuing with the contents of Nova 1, edited by Harry Harrison (1970):

"The Big Connection" by Robin Scott. Two Cheech and Chong-like hippies accidentally contact a wish-granting machine from the future. Goofy comedy.

"A Happy Day in 2381" by Robert Silverberg. Daily life in a future of 75 billion people living in gigantic buildings, whose greatest virtue is producing as many offspring as possible. Later part of the novel The World Inside. Takes the classic form of a tourist (from underpopulated colonies on Venus in this case) being shown things by a native. Best described as a horrible utopia.

"Terminus Est" by Barry Malzberg. Brief tale presents the dark side of a Moon colony.

"Hexamnion" by Chan Davis. Presents the culture of six young people raised since infancy in zero gravity. Has something of the feel of Varley's "The Persistence of Vision."

"And This Did Dante Do" by Ray Bradbury. Poem in which the great poet has a vision of the future, leading to a one-word punchline.

"The Higher Things" by J. R. Pierce. Sequel to a series of stories from the 1930's by Stanley Weinbaum. An eccentric genius uses a gizmo to see far into the future, to the world he accidentally created. Oddly comic and serious at the same time.

"Swastika!" by Brian W. Aldiss. Black comedy in which the author goes to visit the still-living Hitler.

"The HORARS of War" by Gene Wolfe. Often reprinted story of a man among android soldiers. A high point of this author's early years.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Love Story in Three Acts" by David Gerrold. Lightly ironic tale of a married couple in the near future, when technology allows you to hook yourself up to a machine to be a better lover.

"Jean Dupres" by Gordon R. Dickson. A young boy is caught in the middle of a conflict between human settlers and the native aliens. Not bad, with some emotional power, but it could have been a Western (settlers against Native Americans) without many changes.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Mary and Joe" by Naomi Mitchison. A biologist grafts her skin to her daughter's horribly injured face, and a deeper secret is revealed. You probably predict the revelation, and the related allergory may be a bit obvious as well, but it's a good story, very well written. (The provenance of this story is confusing. Unlike the other, previously unpublished stories in this volume, it's copyrighted 1962. The ISFDB claims it's an excerpt from the novel Memoirs of a Spacewoman, but that seems unlikely, given the story's near future, Earthly setting and the novel's far future, deep space setting.)

"Faces & Hands" by James Sallis. Two related stories, both set in a far future of many humanoid aliens. Both are intimate character studies, and both deal with a man encountering an unusual woman (a bird-like alien and an empathic prostitute.) Poetically written, maybe a bit too much.

"The Winner" by Donald E. Westlake. Set in a grim future where politiical prisoners are surgically implanted with devices that cause extreme pain if they wander away from the prison. Not bad.

"The Whole Truth" by Piers Anthony. A man all alone in a deep space station has to determine if a woman is the survivor of a shipwreck or a shape-shifting alien spy. It all comes down to the punchline of how he finds out.

 

[J-Sun]

Sorry for the cross-post but I'm not sure how many people from this thread might see it buried in the Magazines forum (depending on how you surf the site) so I thought I'd mention it here:

Reviews of Analog

 

[sooC]

Flatland - EA Abbott. It was mentioned on another thread. Loved it. I laughed hard at the peace cries. I especially like the description of the Point.

 

[dask]

"Colony" by Philip K. Dick. SF that reads like horror (like his other creepy short thriller "The Father Thing"). Wouldn't call this a thriller, though it still packs a crunch --- er, punch.

 

[sooC]

Not sure if this belongs here. I've just finished the promisingly titled The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time compiled by Barry N. Malzberg.
I'm glad I didn't leave it on the shelf, five out of fourteen is good innings in my opinion. These are my favourites:
In The Battle of Long Island Nancy Kress has created a convincing set of characters. The protaganist Susan Peters is a hard boiled major in the nursing core assigned to the 'Hole' on Long Island. She is witness to travellers from alternative realities in this melancholic tale.
The Man Who Came Early by Poul Anderson. Another inspired protaganist, Ospak Ulfsson (an Icelander) recounts the strange story of Gerald Samson to a visiting priest. Gerald claims to be from a technologically advanced civilisation, Ospak has his doubts. It is told with humour, the characters are alive on the page and the circumstances are believable. Impossible to improve upon.
The Brooklyn Project by William Tenn. In a totalitarian society journalists are gathered to report on a time-travel experiment. Said experiment is conducted despite scientists protestations. Which just goes to prove that no matter how you dress them up an asshole is still recognisably an asshole.
Timetipping a man desperately clings to normalcy in a rapidly changing world. Witty.
The inclusion of a comic version of Ray Bradbury's Sound of Thunder was a nice touch.

 

[Christopher Lee]

"Best New Horror" by Joe Hill. I'm currently reading through his collection, "20th Century Ghosts", and it is a superb display of his talents as a writer. In this one, an editor for a magazine called Best New Horror reads a short story submitted by a reclusive writer, and after a few failed attempts at getting in contact with him, he goes on a hunt for the writer. When he finally gets around to meeting him, the editor finds himself stuck in a real life horror story.

"Word Processor of the Gods" by Stephen King. A story about a man who gets more than he bargained for when his word processor becomes a a portal to all his hopes and desires.

"The Collector" by Kelley Armstrong was published in a collection called Hellbound Hearts, which contains a number of short stories inspired by Clive Barker's Hellraiser universe. Just when you think that someone is walking into a trap, you realize you were worried about the wrong person all along.

"The Year's Class Picture" by Dan Simmons, published in a collection called The Living Dead. A very fun story about a teacher who, after the zombie apocalypse, just can't learn to let go of the past. A very nice ending to this one.

"Guts" by Chuck Palanuik. A short story that goes above and beyond with the gross out. Do not read if squeamish.

 

[NovaZero]

What a great thread. I'll be busy hunting some of these down for a good while.

Hostess by Asimov is probably my favorite short story. If it's already been mentioned, it's worth another look. There are many narrative levels in play throughout the entire story, and Asimov brings them together in a very satisfying way at the end. Part of his Nightfall and Other Stories collection. Very, very good.

Sandkings by George R.R. Martin is a great story for fans of horror scifi. Technically it's a novelette, but still a very quick read.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I picked up some old SF magazines a while back, so I'll discuss the contents now and then, just for laughs. Possible ***SPOILERS*** ahead, although I doubt anybody is going to come across these stories any time soon.

First up: Other Worlds Science Stories October 1952

The lead story was written around the cover art, as was not uncommon in the old days. It does lead up to a scene where a naked woman uses a light-emitting weapon (not quite a sword, as shown) against a tiny spaceship.

"The Naked Goddess," oddly, was published under the title "Lady of Flame" in the February 1953 issue of Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, and also got the cover art.

I like the second cover art better, maybe because I'm not crazy about photo-art, and maybe because the first "goddess" has an odd look on her face, and maybe because the second "goddess" has a great dress.

Anyway, "The Naked Goddess"/"Lady of Flame" is a "Full-length Novel" of about 32,000 words. S. J. Byrne seems to have written several SF adventure yarns, and this is one of them. Action-packed, if a little short on plot logic, it's got some vivid descriptions of the Bolivian wilderness, although the planet Mars isn't so clearly delineated. The plot starts with opium smuggling and quickly evolves into interplanetary war, with addictive "Flame Crystals," seven-inch-tall aliens, and the like. The one odd twist (possibly because it seems to have been written very quickly) is the fact that the viewpoint character changes from government agent Good Guy to monomanaical Bad Guy by the end of the story, and the quirky secondary male character winds up Getting the Girl.

This issue also includes the last part of a serial by Richard S. Shaver which I will not discuss, since I didn't want to read part of it only. I will note in passing the "Shaver Mystery" for which this writer was most known.

Richard Sharpe Shaver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are also two short stories. "Fearless Fergy" by Edward Jacobs (no other credits listed on ISFDB) consists of a dialogue between the 36th President of the United States (not LBJ, since this is set in The future) who was also one of the first people to land on the Moon, and the President's son. The son is supposed to be on the first spaceship to Alpha Centauri, but is scared. The President confides in the son that landing on the Moon was so scary that tears were shed, so the son decides to go on the trip. The very end of the story reveals the same fact that I have been careful to conceal; the President is a woman.

"Last Minute" by T. P. Caravan is the highlight of the issue. It's an unusually witty comedy about a guy who builds a perpetual motion machine and has to figure out a way to stop it. It's told in a very light style, and is full of amusing asides like this:

"Huh?" said the board of trustees, none of whom had ever finished high school.

Given his writing skill, it's no surprise that Caravan went on to publish stories in the more prestigious Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

 

[J-Sun]

You're right that I'm unlikely to come across them and you make me want to but that's the only downside. Great stuff - keep 'em coming.

(BTW, it's nice to see some of the folks newer to the thread join in. )

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Next: Imaginative Tales May 1956

"Gateway to Infinity" by "Darius John Granger" (Milton Lesser)

This "complete novel" of 20,000 words is an action-packed yarn about some folks trying to find the hidden planet that contains a literal fountain of youth, offering eternal life. There's lots of chase scenes and fighting, and an ironic ending. Milton Lesser wrote a lot of SF adventure stories, apparently changed his legal name to Stephen Marlowe and wrote a bunch of pretty well-received crime novels about a private eye named Chester Drum, and then a few fictional biographies about folks like Columbus, Poe, and Cervantes.

"The Final Quarry" by "Adam Chase" (Milton Lesser again!)

A Hemingway-style story about a hunter tracking down the "Ghosts" that live inside a nebula, along with his wife, a guide, and the wife's lover. If you've read "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" you may figure out where this is going, but it's a taut, tense tale with some nice exotic details. Best in the issue, in my opinion.

"The Case of the Stripped Blonde" by "Ivar Jorgensen" (a common house name, real author unknown; could it be Lesser again?)

A Martian detective and his human sidekick investigate a murder; how can the beautiful heiress have been seen to commit murder by several witnesses, and still be innocent? A typical Holmes/Watson pair in a whodunit which offers no real clues, so the solution is arbitrary.

"No Cause For Alarm" by Dick Purcell (an author with a handful of stories published in 1955 and 1956)

A very brief story about bureaucrats assuring the public there's no cause for alarm as the bombs are approaching. Not bad Cold War mood piece.

"A Town For Mr. Sntzl" by "Stephen Wilder" (Milton Lesser again!)

A being from the 4th dimension telepathically contacts a prisoner and offers him escape in exchange for "collecting" Earth's ideal city. So-so story with a mildly ironic ending.

"It Fell From the Sky" by "S. M. Tenneshaw" (another common house name, real name unknown; Lesser again?)

Astronomers discover that a meteorite is actually a tiny space ship with "bugs" inside it. ***SPOILER*** The very end reveals that these are six-limbed beings, with the implication that the "bugs" are people.

"Intruder From the Void" by Milton Lesser (using his own name!)

Star Trek style story in which an amorphous alien being of immense power appears aboard a starship and announces that it will take the thing which has caused humanity to achieve its greatest accomplishments as a souvenir. Since there's one woman on board (no co-ed Star Fleet here), a beautiful but shrewish "video" star, it's not a big SPOILER to reveal that she gets taken away. I'm not sure what the author is saying here; women drove men to achieve, through their beauty and anger? The story features a poorly printed but very nice bit of artwork by Frank Kelly Freas.

 

[j d worthington]

"The Case of the Stripped Blonde" by "Ivar Jorgensen" (a common house name, real author unknown; could it be Lesser again?)

Not likely to have been Lesser, though it remains uncertain who it was. As you say, this was quite a common pseudonym, and quite a few notables used it at times:

Ivar Jorgensen - Summary Bibliography

This particular instance, however, remains a mystery (at least as far as I've been able to find):

Bibliography: The Case of the Stripped Blonde

 

[dask]

"The Mitr" by Jack Vance. Unusually ugly story for Vance, superbly written and therefore a must read for fans but I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to sf or to Vance for anyone unfamiliar with either. Not sure what prompted him to take this on. A particularly disturbing story in the daily paper? Perhaps we should all join hands and pray that Gaspar Noé never decides to commit this troubled tale to film.

 

[dask]

Not likely to have been Lesser, though it remains uncertain who it was. As you say, this was quite a common pseudonym, and quite a few notables used it at times:

Ivar Jorgensen - Summary Bibliography

This particular instance, however, remains a mystery (at least as far as I've been able to find):

Bibliography: The Case of the Stripped Blonde

Anyone friends with Harlan Ellison? Bet he knows who wrote the story.