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oleksandr's review
3.0
This is a collection of old (1930s-1960s) short stories, some by quite famous writers like [a:Philip K. Dick|4764|Philip K. Dick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1264613853p2/4764.jpg] or [a:Robert Silverberg|4338|Robert Silverberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366300348p2/4338.jpg], some less so. I suspect that the choice of works to include was heavily influenced by free domain status, so it is a collections of stories one can find on the Internet.
Here is the list with short comments and ratings:
01 The Gifts of Asti by Andre Norton a fantasy-like setting, where a young priestess and her steed run away from barbarian to an upper world, where they find a stranded spaceman. 3*
02 The Defenders by Philip K. Dick people live underground, working for the military-industrial complex, while robot fight on the surface. The robots report that the conditions above are life-threatening, but it seems they lie. 3*
03 Earthmen Bearing Gifts by Fredric Brown a short tale about the first contact going wrong, a punchline type of story. 2*
04 A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum a naïve story about a member of human expedition on Mars, who happened to get lost and his journey back to the base, during which he saves a Martian (?) and they together see a lot of wanders. While quite simplistic, as an early example of the sub-genre it was very influential. 4*
05 This is Klon Calling by Walter J. Sheldon a joker calls to a professor to tell him that “your alien plot is discovered” just to find that a joke has gone too far. 2*
06 Security by Poul Anderson a total surveillance totalitarian state sends a scientist to help develop a new sort of dielectric, but actually it was a rebel plot, which used mutual suspicions of those who surveil. 2*
07 The Perfectionists by Arnold Castle a ship drown and a man finds himself on an island, where aliens setup a mock-town and train to act like humans in preparation of invasion. 3*
08 The Day Time Stopped Moving by Bradner Buckner a man shots himself because is woman left him and then wanders among stopped time. 1*
09 Image of the Gods by Alan Edward Nourse a new governor is sent to a colony on another planet against desire of the colonists. Helps comes from local semi-intelligent furry small creatures, who rush to sacrifice themselves to save people. Why? 2*
10 Time and Time Again by H. Beam Piper a man from 1975 after nearby nuclear explosion a day before Hiroshima bombing into his own 13-year old body. Maybe the earliest story about going to the past in order to change the future. 5*
11 A World Called Crimson by Darius John Granger two kids are stranded on a planet that can materialize their wishes and fears. May be viewed as an early idea for [b:Soliaris|23156469|Soliaris|Stanisław Lem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409825398l/23156469._SX50_.jpg|3333881]. 3*
12 Postmark Ganymede by Robert Silverberg a pilot gets an ungrateful job of delivering mail while his collegues fight space pirates. But the colony is besieged by alien worms and his skills come handy. 2*
13 The Stars, My Brothers by Edmond Hamilton a man has been frozen in a space accident. He is revived centuries later it order to become a figurehead in a debate with alien reptiloids, on whose planet savage humanoids live. 2*
14 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut world where there is no death and therefore new births are prohibited to keep equilibrium. 3*
15 Belly Laugh by Ivar Jorgensen a soldier tells a story, how he and his friend met an enemy woman (Soviets). 1*
16 Year of the Big Thaw by Marion Zimmer Bradley a man from a backward village tells about his adopted son, found in a rocket.
17 The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster a machine is created to serve people, but they lost any ability to live without it and started to worship it. An early dystopia. 3*
18 Pandemic by J. F. Bone a relevant story about a virus pandemics, which kills almost all and a scientist and his assistant seek for a cure, which would be extremely questionable today, but as a ‘what if’ works well. 3*
19 Bread Overhead by Fritz Leiber bread is made more and more puffy and light and as an ad campaign one of the producers decides to add helium instead of CO2 to make it even lighter, but due to an accident, hydrogen is added instead and bread flies over the world. Fuuny and it mentions Ukraine is a small but important role. 4*
20 The Day of the Boomer Dukes by Frederik Pohl a criminal from the future, armed with superweapons time travels to 40s New York wanting to join the Mafia. A lot of slang, therefore hard to follow for a non-native. 1*
21 Beyond Lies the Wub by Philip K. Dick a talking pig-like creature is delivered to a spaceship that runs low on food and a question arises whether to eat a pig that can discuss Odyssey and supposedly has telepathy and mind control. 4*
Here is the list with short comments and ratings:
01 The Gifts of Asti by Andre Norton a fantasy-like setting, where a young priestess and her steed run away from barbarian to an upper world, where they find a stranded spaceman. 3*
02 The Defenders by Philip K. Dick people live underground, working for the military-industrial complex, while robot fight on the surface. The robots report that the conditions above are life-threatening, but it seems they lie. 3*
03 Earthmen Bearing Gifts by Fredric Brown a short tale about the first contact going wrong, a punchline type of story. 2*
04 A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum a naïve story about a member of human expedition on Mars, who happened to get lost and his journey back to the base, during which he saves a Martian (?) and they together see a lot of wanders. While quite simplistic, as an early example of the sub-genre it was very influential. 4*
05 This is Klon Calling by Walter J. Sheldon a joker calls to a professor to tell him that “your alien plot is discovered” just to find that a joke has gone too far. 2*
06 Security by Poul Anderson a total surveillance totalitarian state sends a scientist to help develop a new sort of dielectric, but actually it was a rebel plot, which used mutual suspicions of those who surveil. 2*
07 The Perfectionists by Arnold Castle a ship drown and a man finds himself on an island, where aliens setup a mock-town and train to act like humans in preparation of invasion. 3*
08 The Day Time Stopped Moving by Bradner Buckner a man shots himself because is woman left him and then wanders among stopped time. 1*
09 Image of the Gods by Alan Edward Nourse a new governor is sent to a colony on another planet against desire of the colonists. Helps comes from local semi-intelligent furry small creatures, who rush to sacrifice themselves to save people. Why? 2*
10 Time and Time Again by H. Beam Piper a man from 1975 after nearby nuclear explosion a day before Hiroshima bombing into his own 13-year old body. Maybe the earliest story about going to the past in order to change the future. 5*
11 A World Called Crimson by Darius John Granger two kids are stranded on a planet that can materialize their wishes and fears. May be viewed as an early idea for [b:Soliaris|23156469|Soliaris|Stanisław Lem|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409825398l/23156469._SX50_.jpg|3333881]. 3*
12 Postmark Ganymede by Robert Silverberg a pilot gets an ungrateful job of delivering mail while his collegues fight space pirates. But the colony is besieged by alien worms and his skills come handy. 2*
13 The Stars, My Brothers by Edmond Hamilton a man has been frozen in a space accident. He is revived centuries later it order to become a figurehead in a debate with alien reptiloids, on whose planet savage humanoids live. 2*
14 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut world where there is no death and therefore new births are prohibited to keep equilibrium. 3*
15 Belly Laugh by Ivar Jorgensen a soldier tells a story, how he and his friend met an enemy woman (Soviets). 1*
16 Year of the Big Thaw by Marion Zimmer Bradley a man from a backward village tells about his adopted son, found in a rocket.
17 The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster a machine is created to serve people, but they lost any ability to live without it and started to worship it. An early dystopia. 3*
18 Pandemic by J. F. Bone a relevant story about a virus pandemics, which kills almost all and a scientist and his assistant seek for a cure, which would be extremely questionable today, but as a ‘what if’ works well. 3*
19 Bread Overhead by Fritz Leiber bread is made more and more puffy and light and as an ad campaign one of the producers decides to add helium instead of CO2 to make it even lighter, but due to an accident, hydrogen is added instead and bread flies over the world. Fuuny and it mentions Ukraine is a small but important role. 4*
20 The Day of the Boomer Dukes by Frederik Pohl a criminal from the future, armed with superweapons time travels to 40s New York wanting to join the Mafia. A lot of slang, therefore hard to follow for a non-native. 1*
21 Beyond Lies the Wub by Philip K. Dick a talking pig-like creature is delivered to a spaceship that runs low on food and a question arises whether to eat a pig that can discuss Odyssey and supposedly has telepathy and mind control. 4*
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