Archive for January 2018
Open Road Media is publishing the complete short fiction of Clifford Simak’s short fiction, so far there are twelve volumes. From what I can tell, the first three volumes are available in print, and right now the rest are only e-book. The short fiction isn’t in chronological order, for example, this first volume, titled I Am Crying All Inside and other stories showcases fiction from as early as 1939’s “Madness from Mars” to “I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air” that was written in 1973, but hasn’t been actually published until 2015.
I bopped around the table of contents in this collection, and read whatever caught my fancy. Some stories really grabbed my attention, and others were great fun, but forgettable.
I quite enjoyed “Small Deer”, in which a mathematical genius and an engineer create a time machine, and the engineer goes back to the days of the Dinosaurs. He discovers something horrifying about the history of life on Earth. What he learns is so outlandish, who would possibly believe him? Can a horror story be gentle? This one is. I always get a kick out of time travel stories, especially when weird Kage Baker or Ijon Tichy stuff starts happening.
“I Am Crying All Inside”, is well worth a read, and deserving of being the title track. What will happen, generations from now, when we’ve all left Earth for somewhere better? What will happen to the people and robots who get left behind? What kind of society will they build? Told from an obsolete robot’s point of view, this poignant story feels a little like the movie Wall-E, only much, much sadder.
“Ogres” was a super fun, and super smart story about what a vegetable society might be like. We’ve landed on a planet and are trying to figure out what we can exploit, sort of “Little Fuzzy” style. The intelligent species on this planet are all plants. No bones, no vertebrae, no central nervous system, no wheel, no invention of fire. Lots of telepathy and strange music. Maybe we can export the musical trees! Nothing is what it seems, and the human explorers eventually figure out something fishy is going on. But what threats could we possibly make that would scare a planet full of trees and vegetables? Hmmm… I loved the evolutionary ideas in this story, and I got a laugh out loud chuckle out of the end.
Usually fun, smart, and gentle, Simak stories always feel timeless. Give him a try if you haven’t.
Goodness, it’s already January 19th? When did that even happen? Apparently I am starting out 2018 with terrible time management skills.
Thank you to everyone is who participating in Vintage Science Fiction month, I hope you’ve taken an opportunity to pick up an author you’ve never read before, a title you’ve never read before, or even used this month as a time to revisit your favorite classics. This year’s Vintage Month has been a little on the quiet side, and you know what? I am a 110% OK with that.
If you’re interested in exploring Vintage Science Fiction titles, and seeing what your friends are up to, these links are for you!
The Howling Frog has been enjoying some excellent Leigh Brackett novels, reviewing The Reavers of Skaith, The Hounds of Skaith, and The Ginger Star. (If the name Leigh Brackett rings a bell it’s because her Eric John Stark adventures are awesome, and oh yeah, she was one of the screenwriters for The Empire Strikes Back.)
My Reader’s Block read a buffet of short fiction in the 1966 edition of World’s Best Science Fiction, which included work by Simak, Fritz, Niven, Saberhagen, all the rock stars of that decade along with names she didn’t recognize. She gives a run down of every story, what a great snapshot of the Science Fiction short fiction of ’66! Not exactly Vintage, but filled with classic Star Trek injokes, she also had some fun with the new illustrated book Search For Spock.
Every Day Should be Tuesday gave five stars to Andre Norton’s The Beast Master. This is an excellently written review, with tidbits from what may have inspired portions of the book and what this book went on to influence. Norton is one of my favorite classic authors, I get a kick out of seeing her work still being enjoyed!
Bookforager enjoyed The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe by D.G. Compton. Written in the mid-70s, this novel is character driven, has touches of the upcoming cyberpunk trend, features a middle aged female protagonist, and a surprise reveal. I’m not familiar with Compton’s work, but after reading this review, I need to track down a copy of this book!
Kaedrin read Larry Niven’s classic Ringworld, which I like to think of as the novel that launched a thousand ideas, books, spin-offs, and video games. I don’t know about you, but I know I take for granted how much of an influence Ringworld has had on contemporary scifi ideas.
There is a lot of general Vintage Science Fiction chatter happening on twitter, follow @VintageSciFiMonth_ or #VintageSciFiMonth to hop into the conversation!
As for me, I’m reading quicker than I have time to review! I’m currently enjoying a volume of Clifford Simak short fiction. Mostly written between 1940 and 1960, his ideas are far ahead of their time – there is a time travel story in here that screams “The Company”, there is a story about vegetable intelligence that I’d love to discuss with an evolutionary biologist, there is a terrifying theory about how the dinosaurs were really wiped out, and it’s all just so damn readable!
Whatever book you pick up this weekend, be it Vintage or not, be it a new-to-you author or not, I wish you reading enjoyment and relaxation!
Sorry about the radio silence, it’s been a long week! I haven’t written formal reviews for these books, but here’s what I’ve been reading recently for Vintage Science Fiction month!
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1957) – I’ve been meaning to read this forever. It’s one of those books that can spark never ending conversations, in a good way! It’s a sort of space opera version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Gully Foyle is just a regular guy, and he gets marooned in space, the only survivor of a nearly destroyed ship. A ship comes to salvage, and sees Foyle. But instead of rescuing him, the ship leaves. Foyle vows to find the people who left him behind, and destroy them. Things I enjoyed about The Stars My Destination included the explanation of how people discovered how to teleport themselves and how teleportation drastically changes how society functions, how Foyle survives a few minutes at a time on the dying ship, his tiger tattoos and the lunatics who tattood him, and I really loved the revelation at the end about WHY certain people want to get their hands on Gully Foyle. The last chapter was absolutely brilliant. Things I didn’t like about this book were basically all of the characters. Maybe upon reread I’ll connect with the characters more, but I didn’t care for any of them, and I couldn’t buy into Foyle’s insta-relationship with Olivia.
9th Annual Year’s Best SF, edited by Judith Merrill (1964) – I’ve been dipping in and out of this anthology. I started with one of my favorite Cordwainer Smith short stories, “Drunkboat”, what a great story! I mean, everything Smith wrote was fantastic! And then I got laugh out of “Double Standard”, by Frederic Brown. Told from the point of view of a person who lives inside a television set, who acts towards the window, and wonders about the people he sees on the other side of the window, different people every night. This hilariously rated G story originally appeared in Playboy. Other fun stories I enjoyed included “Mrs Pigafetta Swims Well” by R. Bretnor, “Poppa Needs Shorts”, by Walt & Leigh Richmond, and “Ming Vase”, by E.C. Tubb. I expect to dip into this anthology more, as there are stories by Alfred Bester, Fritz Leiber, and Hal Clement I’d like to read.
Starman Jones by Robert Heinlein (1953) – So, I do consider myself a Heinlein fan. And many people list Starman Jones as their favorite Heinlein juvenile. But it fell completely flat for me. Maybe I would have liked it more if I’d read it as a pre-teen? It seems like something a pre-teen could really get into. The characters felt very flat to me, and Max Jones, the main character, he doesn’t seem to have any personality. Things happen around them, he responds to them in whatever way the story needs, the story moves on. So, the less said about this one, the better.
Nova, by Samuel Delany
Posted on: January 6, 2018
Nearly a week into January and I’m just now getting up my first Vintage Science Fiction post? What is the world coming to? Thank you to everyone who is participating in Vintage Science Fiction Month, make sure you link back to your posts in the comments of the Vintage Scifi tab up top so everyone can find everything. On twitter? follow @VintageSciFi_ and #VintageSciFiMonth for Vintage goodness all month long!
I may have gotten started a little late, but wow this first novel I read for Vintage Month was incredible!!
Nova, by Samuel R. Delany
published in 1968
where I got it: from Richard at Tip the Wink
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Mouse grew in up a traditional culture that didn’t encourage pilot training or getting cybernetic plugs. Raised in the school of hard knocks, he often stole to eat. His prized possession is a rare musical instrument that produces not only sound but also images and scent. Lorq Von Ray’s youth was the opposite of Mouse’s in every possible way. A child of wealth and privilege, he knew from a young age he’d be inheriting a business that controlled half the transportation of the known galaxy.
When an aged, scarred, and obsessed Captain Von Ray plunges into a portside bar looking for a crew for a trip that if successful could mean fame, infamy, societal disruption, or more likely death for everyone involved, Mouse signs up. The Captain doesn’t explicitly say this is a trip designed around a long game of revenge, but those who listen closely, those who know where that disfiguring scar came from, they know.
What is Nova? It is a quest story, a revenge story, a coming of age story, it’s the edge of every ending simply being another beginning. It sounds overweight and dangerously ambitious, but it reads smooth and weightless. The plot feels narrow at first, but it expands like a light cone, pulling in what it needs, and easily setting aside what it doesn’t. And there is plenty in this book that isn’t in this book – what I mean by that is Delany has put a lot of subplot between the lines. The glances characters give each other, the words they don’t use. It’s hard to believe this novel is less than 250 pages long!
The plot never sprawls, but the possibilities of everything else that happens and may happen to these characters just outside the confines of this story are endless. The main characters are fully fleshed out, and even side characters are given just enough screen time that you start filling in the blanks of their lives yourself. For instance, I know there is so much more to Tyy, and I’d love to learn more about the twins and their other brother.
I loved everything about Nova, I don’t even know where to start talking about it. So I’ll just start, and hopefully this all makes sense.
Von Ray’s rag-tag crew is a lot of fun, they put me in mind a little bit of the TV show Farscape. Mouse and his shipmate Katin are perfect foils for each other, Katin reminds me of one of the nerdy guys on The Big Bang Theory, Mouse is the wide eyed kid going on his first Star Run. These two bond over being the least strange members of Captain Von Ray’s crew.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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