First published 1966. Grafton paperback, 1986, pp191, c.53,000 words. The story starts with an interesting SF premiss (and one occasionally explored by Hollywood) that one could swap minds with someone else. Each person’s body would keep functioning as normal. It would be a cheap way to travel. So thinks Marvin Flynn, a moderately successful drone […]
Mindswap — Robert Sheckley Read More »
First published 1972. New English Library paperback, 1979, pp190, c.69,000 words. This is a picaresque tale of someone growing up while travelling around the galaxy which has been peopled with humans and aliens. It could just as easily have been a time-traveller on Earth visiting different periods of history: Romans, Vikings, the Slave Trade, the
Starbrat — John Morressy Read More »
First published 1955. Panther paperback, 1966, pp 186, c.63,000 words. Darkness is an appropriate title for this collection of stories. Most have dark themes, if not true horror. Surprisingly for a collection of SF stories of this date, there is no acknowledgement that these stories had been previously published in magazines, although according to the
Handful of Darkness, A — Philip K Dick Read More »
First published 1958. Arrow paperback, 1979, pp 208, c.73,000 words. This is surely unique amongst golden-age science fiction in being concerned with Roman Catholic doctrine. There was considerable interest in literary fiction in the subject at that time, in the novels of Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh for example. Blish opens his foreword with: ‘This
Case of Conscience, A — James Blish Read More »
First published 1974. Futura paperback, 1979, pp 212, c.65,000 words. Niven is best known these days for his Ringworld books, but he was also a prolific short-story writer in Science Fiction’s golden age. This is a collection of seven stories first published in magazines from 1969 to 1972. All the first five feature Svetz as
Flight of the Horse, The — Larry Niven Read More »
First published 1970. Panther paperback, 1973, pp 187, c.65,000 words. This is a collection of fourteen short stories which were first published in magazines between 1965 and 1970. It includes Super-Toys Last All Summer Long which was the inspiration for the Spielberg film AI Artificial Intelligence – originally a Stanley Kubrick film project. Presumably these
Moment of Eclipse, The — Brian W Aldiss Read More »
First published 1968. Corgi paperback, 1982, pp 157, c.50,000 words. The set up here is a familiar one: A man who is part of an immensely wealthy family is bored with his life and suddenly finds an opportunity for adventure, and eventually redemption. It’s a good setup, open to many retellings. Earth’s inhabitants are mostly
Into the Slave Nebula — John Brunner Read More »
First published 1951. New English Library paperback, 1973, pp 127, c.52,000 words. The title of this book immediately labels it as quintessentially American. No other culture holds weapons in such totemistic regard. And so it is, at least to a degree, that the titular weapon shops are a lonely bastion fighting back against an oppressive
Weapon SHops of Isher, The — A E van Vogt Read More »
First published 1957-8. Dell paperback, 1973, pp 223, c.55,000 words. This is a collection of four quite long short stories that were put together as a book some twelve years after being first published elsewhere. Silverberg provides an introduction to the compilation, which is interesting in itself. In it he explains that these stories were
Valley Beyond Time — Robert Silverberg Read More »
First published 1989. Legend paperback, 1989, pp 218, c.60,000 words. This is a science fiction book set in the past. It is structured as three interleaving story strands, one of which concerns a group of archaeologists who are digging in some strange burial mounds in Louisiana in 1929, the second is the story of a
Them Bones — Howard Waldrop Read More »