The Short Story Thread

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"The Last Time Around" by Arthur Sellings (from British volume 12) -- A traveller in deep space who, because of time dilation, ages only a few years for decades on Earth, falls in love, presenting problems when he has to go out again. This leads to an only partially satisfactory solution to the situation.

"Tilt Angle" by R. W. Mackleworth (from British volume 14) -- Set in a future where a change in the angle of the Earth's axis has created a world of extreme winters. A grim tale of survival.

"The City, Dying" by Eddy C. Berlin (from British volume 13) -- In a dystopian future of conformity where those who "change" are eliminated, the protagonist undergoes a strange transformation. Written in a frenzied style with lots of typographic tricks.

And that's the end of the anthology, and the last one I have in this series.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

On to this one (later known as Chrysalis 1 when other volumes in the series came out):

"Discovery of the Ghooric Zone - March 15, 2337" by Richard A. Lupoff -- Manages to mix a journey to the solar system's tenth planet, twice as far from Earth as Pluto, by a trio of heavily cybernetic space explorers, with documentary-like descriptions of world history from 1937 to 2237, with lots of material relating to H. P. Lovecraft (who died on March 15, 1937.) Of interest mostly to those very familiar with HPL.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"The Magnificent Conspiracy" by Spider Robinson -- The narrator, whose motive is not revealed for a while, visits an impossibly honest used car dealership and the mysterious man who runs it. Not speculative fiction at all, really. Reminds me of God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Allies" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro -- Something on a distant planet is killing off the people assigned to watch over the place for a bureaucratic corporation. Although not related to the theme of the story, the author has chosen to avoid revealing the sex of any of the characters through careful use of pronouns and ambiguous names like "Chris." This leads to an interesting experience for the reader picturing the action.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"The Curandeiro" by Thomas F. Monteleone -- A doctor who goes to witness the miracle cures of a Brazilian faith healer is actually an alien sent to track down the other alien working through him. Pretty decent SF story.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Harry's Note" by Theodore Sturgeon -- Takes the form of a manuscript supposedly sent to the author, from a fellow who encounters Timothy Leary and than a strange unseen being. Basically a philosophical musing on what ability humans might have lost the ability to have.

"Mindseye" by Elizabeth A. Lynn -- A telepath on a starship encounters what might or might not be an alien or a hallucination. OK psychological SF.

"The Man Who Was Pregnant" by Elizabeth A. Lynn -- The author's second story in the book tells all in the title. That's pretty much all there is to it.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"The Dark of Legends, The Light of Lies" by Charles L. Grant -- In a future where various forms of quick, shallow entertainment have weakened the human imagination, one man tries to write a novel of the old kind; meanwhile, various people involved in the publishing business are killed in horrible ways. Unusual combination of science fiction and dark fantasy.

"How's the Night Life on Cissalda?" by Harlan Ellison -- An explorer coming back from another universe brings with him a being which humans find sexually irresistible. Pretty much just an extended dirty joke.

And that's the end of that anthology.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Next up:

"Deus Ex Corporus" by Leanne Frahm -- A young nun who has been hospitalized for cancer becomes pregnant through partenogenesis, leading to chaos in the Church. An interesting SF story on religious themes, with an open ending.

"We'll Have Such a Good Time, Lover" by Edward Bryant -- A rather naive young man wakes up to find a succubus in his bed. Light comedy with an ending you may see coming.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Stretch Forth Thine Hand" by Gregory Long -- Gruesome horror story involving a selfish man, an insane woman, precognition,a dn reincarnation. Pretty gory stuff.

"Sonata for Three Electrodes" by Thomas F. Monteleone -- A young man without musical training becomes a concert pianist by having the memory patterns of a recently deceased virtuoso downloaded into his brain, leading to an unexpected conclusion. OK little SF story.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Forests of Night" by Karl Hansen -- Long, complex novella set in a decadent, high-tech, star-traveling future and dealing with, among many other things, human and animal bioengineering and so-called "lamias" which are sort of like echoes through space and time of those who have died in deep space. Reminds me a bit of Robert Silverberg.

"The Artist in the Small Room Above" by Al Sarrantonio -- Narrated by an alien which acts as a composer's "muse" by supplying him with inspiration, at a heavy price to the alien. Interesting.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"A Cross-Country Trip to Kill Richard Nixon" by Orson Scott Card -- Offbeat story, perhaps best described as tragicomic, in which a cab-driving widower gets a wish from a fairy godmother, leading him on the title odyssey in an attempt to change history. Features Nixon himself as a character, and seems to reflect the author's very mixed feelings about him.

"A Long Way Home" by Paul H. Cook -- Human colonists on a distant planet encounter the alien "kyrie" inhabiting it, leading to tragedy and revelations. Solid SF story.

"Of Crystalline Labyrinths and the New Creation" by Michael Bishop -- A pastiche of R. A. Lafferty, this is a tale of the sudden appearance of huge invisible stones and what they foretell for humanity. The author manages to imitate Lafferty's eccentric style quite
well.

And that's the end of that anthology.

 

[TWErvin2]

A short story that stuck with me over the years, I think since reading way back in 4th grade was "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber. I recall reading it and imagining myself in the situation, walking down a skyscraper, past the layers of gasses frozen, my family struggling to survive. I recall reading it several times in the classroom anthology in free reading time.

 

[J-Sun]

Welcome aboard, @TWErvin2 - that is a great one.
___

My take on Bridging Infinity, Jonathan Strahan's newest installment to his "Infinity" series, is up on Tangent. As I say in there, what I took to be the best were "Seven Birthdays" by Ken Liu, "Cold Comfort" by Pat Murphy & Paul Doherty, and "Mice Among Elephants" by Gregory Benford & Larry Niven.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Starting reviews of this collection (1970 reprint of 1960 original)

"Need" (original to the collection) -- Novella about a fellow who has the ability to sense what people need. That makes it sound simple, and maybe like a variation on the famous story "What You Need" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, but it's not like that at all. It's got richly developed characters, complex events, an intense style, and quite a bit of philosophical musing. Finalist for the Hugo for short fiction, which is unusual for a story of the time which did not appear in a magazine.

"Abreaction" (Weird Tales, July 1948) -- A man operating a bulldozer develops amnesia and seems to be reliving over and over a strange event. The reader becomes as disoriented as the character in this strange, almost psychedelic story.

 

[TWErvin2]

Starting reviews of this collection (1970 reprint of 1960 original)

"Need" (original to the collection) -- Novella about a fellow who has the ability to sense what people need. That makes it sound simple, and maybe like a variation on the famous story "What You Need" by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, but it's not like that at all. It's got richly developed characters, complex events, an intense style, and quite a bit of philosophical musing. Finalist for the Hugo for short fiction, which is unusual for a story of the time which did not appear in a magazine.

"Abreaction" (Weird Tales, July 1948) -- A man operating a bulldozer develops amnesia and seems to be reliving over and over a strange event. The reader becomes as disoriented as the character in this strange, almost psychedelic story.

Sounds like an interesting premise/theme for the stories mentioned. Enjoy reading!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Nightmare Island" (Unknown, June 1941) -- Originally published under the pseudonym "E. Waldo Hunter" because Sturgeon also had the story "Yesterday Was Monday" in the same issue under his own name. Anyway, this is a tale about a sailor shipwrecked on a desert island inhabited by a bunch of big, green, intelligent worms, as well as one really big and really dangerous worm. To add to the confusion, the sailor also suffers from alcoholism-induced hallucinations. The book's cover art comes from this story, although the worms in the story don't have faces. (The giant scorpion with human arms is one of the hallucinations.) This is all recited as a story told by the British governor of a small island to an American guest, and has something of the flavor of a tall tale. Not exactly a comedy, but a bit tongue-in-cheek.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Largo" (Fantastic Adventures, July 1947) -- A musical genius catches a glimpse of a beautiful woman and spends many years creating a composition that will capture her in music, as well as designing a concert hall where it will be performed. A study in obsession with various science fiction elements -- flying cars and the like -- which seem out of place in what is really more of a psychological story.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"The Bones" (Unknown, August 1943; with James H. Beard, although the co-author is not credited in the book) -- A fellow tinkering with radio equipment finds out that placing a bone in the circuit allows one to experience the death of the creature from whom it was taken. Grim little horror story.

"Like Young" (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1960) -- After a worldwide plague that leaves only a few sterile survivors, the remaining humans decided to leave a legacy for the otters, whom they assume will evolve into sentience. Leads to an ironic ending.

And that's the end of that collection.

 

[J-Sun]

My December 2016 Asimov's review is up on Tangent.

Recommended: "They Have All One Breath" by Karl Bunker

(Almost that exact thing can be read as the frist psot of my shiny new blog (which being an early adopter enabled me to name Featured Futures).)

Starting reviews of this collection (1970 reprint of 1960 original)

Because I'm here and a Sturgeon nut and was actually able to find it and there were several interesting resonances (and a dissonance or two) between our comments, here are my notes on the collection from when I read it in April 2000. This wasn't intended for posting, so I've edited out the spoilers and fixed some vagueness and so on but otherwise left it alone. And I don't know I'd have the same reactions on a re-read but here it is, FWIW:

Finished Sturgeon's Beyond. This was a good collection. Interestingly, it opens and closes with 1960 pieces but the middle four are all 40s pieces. To be such early pieces, and so good, one wonders why it took so long to collect them. [Actually, he was collecting great 40s and 50s pieces on into the 70s.]

First, from 60, we have "Need" which is quite a captivating story of excellently idiosyncratic characters and deals with, among other things, a guy who is psychically attuned to other peoples' needs. The only oddity is the rather callous treatment of heroin addicts. Maybe you don't want to give them what they need, but why not give them what they need [in order] not to need? That quibble aside, it's an excellent story, though there is one more quibble in that it feels "climactic" about ten pages before it ends. It still manages to end okay, but it might have been better to tighten the ending or flatten out the part near the end so it doesn't feel climactic until the end. I dunno.

"Abreaction" is about a guy who slips dimensional streams but vividly captures some of the occasional effects of LSD rather brilliantly. [Sturgeon really did drive bulldozers in WWII, by the way. The story might have been inspired by incipient heatstroke or something.]

"Nightmare Island" has problems in its narrative device as I found myself continuously asking how a) the narrator could know what he described in such detail especially if b) the protagonist seems so unlikely to be one who could articulate it even at first hand. Also, [the alcoholism] seems pretty exaggerated even before it slips into fantasy - or SF (this was actually published in Astounding while Unknown existed) - but, these two points aside, it's a very absorbing, entertaining tale - that is quite evocative of a seaman's life, too.

I suppose some might criticize "Largo" for some reason or other and I have a quibble in that I don't know about "fingers flying" over a violin during a largo - [especially one] that is "about an hour" long. But I don't care about hypothetical general criticisms [no offense intended now that yours is not hypothetical, VS ] or my quibble - this tale of a musician, his inspiration, his revenge, his great performance of his masterpiece - this is just a really excellent one.

--Oops. I forgot to specify that "Island" was about a shipwrecked sailor getting drunk on coconuts and serving as God of the Big Worms and [what is probably a spoiler deleted] of the Really Big Worm.

Then, "The Bones" reads like a Padgett story with a pinch of brutality as a whacked-out inventor tries to make a directional FM radio and ends up mak[ing] a bone-telepathy-projector that reveals the reason for a death and for all deaths, and is used for [another probable spoiler deleted]. Kind of silly, kind of cool.

Then we have an odd close in that it's the only story I didn't much care for and wouldn't really like to re-read. I'd have dropped it and moved "Largo" to the end. It's an overwrought piece that is sort of a gag-tale as it deals with human beings almost extinguished by a disease, with the survivors creating a corpus of Human Wisdom for their projected successors, the otters, [and spoilers about its anti-climax deleted]. This one wasn't published in Astounding, but that isn't really my problem with it. It's just, as I say, an overwrought tale that has no payoff and only touches semi-comically on a theme that is not original and [is] better and more seriously traversed elsewhere.

That one aside, this is a spiffy collection. In order, I guess I'd go "Largo," "Need," "Abreaction" in a very good/excellent class; "Nightmare Island," "The Bones" in a good class, and "Like Young" as indifferent/poor.

[Then it wraps up with excessive words about how my only real complaint about the collection is that it only has 6 stories and is only 150 pages long. But, otherwise, I'd really recommend it.]

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Very good, insightful, thoughtful reviews, both of Asimov's and the Sturgeon.

Next up:

(1971 reprint of 1962 collection)

"Prospector's Special" (Galaxy, December 1959) -- The protagonist risks his life searching for treasure in a desert wasteland, facing lack of water and attacks by wolves and other wild animals, so he can buy a ranch and settle down. Sounds more like a Western than SF? That's because I failed to mention that the desert is on the planet Venus, the treasure is "goldstone" instead of gold, the wolves are Venusian sand wolves, and the ranch is an underwater fish farm, a la Arthur C. Clarke's story "The Deep Range." In addition to natural hazards, the hero has to deal with bureaucracy. All in all, a space Western with the author's usual jaundiced view of society's foibles.

"The Girls and Nugent Miller" (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1960) -- Nugent Miller is a pacifist who manages to live through a nuclear war. He emerges from his cavern shelter to find a world with only a tiny number of survivors. In particular, he finds the headmistress of a girls' school and five of her nubile students. A sardonic satire of the war between the sexes which may offend both feminists and male supremacists.