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A review by iwb
Creatures from Beyond by Brian W. Aldiss, Theodore Sturgeon, Carol Carr, Carl Jacobi, Clifford D. Simak, Henry Kuttner, Robert Silverberg, Eric Frank Russell, Donald A. Wollheim, Terry Carr, David H. Keller
3.0
I haven't read any sci-fi for probably a decade or more, and these were enjoyable.
This collection is loosely thematic in that each story is an example of the alien, the other-worldly other, and the monstrous existing among us; or finding its way into our reality, sometimes violently, accidentally, or quietly and undetected.
The acknowledgements have these nine stories' original copyrights as follows:
"The Worm" from Amazing Stories 1927; "The Mimic" from Astonishing Tales 1942; "It" from Unknown 1940; "Beauty and the Beast" from Thrilling Wonder Stories 1940; "Some are Born Cats" from Science Fiction Tales 1973; "Full Sun" from Orbit 2 1967; "The Silent Colony" from Future Science Fiction 1954; "The Street That Wasn't There" from Comet Stories 1941; "Dear Devil" from Other Worlds 1950.
I usually enjoy works written between the 1920's-1940's, here's something about a few of them in this collection:
“The Street That Was Not There” by Clifford D. Simak and Carl Jacobi was the most interesting for me, and not just because it raises some perennial philosophical issues about personal identity, and not just because its world is a creative conception of subjective idealism in practice, but because it was the least predictable story among them all—an existential terror this one is.
I found Terry and Carol Carr’s “Some Are Born Cats” pretty predictable and dated; also dated but for different reasons, is “Dear Devil” with its obvious 1950’s gender roles. “Mimic” and “It” are not bad.
If you like concepts better than character development, then these are not bad.
I dig the 70's cover with the goofy aliens, none of which, however, seem to correspond to the stories.
This collection is loosely thematic in that each story is an example of the alien, the other-worldly other, and the monstrous existing among us; or finding its way into our reality, sometimes violently, accidentally, or quietly and undetected.
The acknowledgements have these nine stories' original copyrights as follows:
"The Worm" from Amazing Stories 1927; "The Mimic" from Astonishing Tales 1942; "It" from Unknown 1940; "Beauty and the Beast" from Thrilling Wonder Stories 1940; "Some are Born Cats" from Science Fiction Tales 1973; "Full Sun" from Orbit 2 1967; "The Silent Colony" from Future Science Fiction 1954; "The Street That Wasn't There" from Comet Stories 1941; "Dear Devil" from Other Worlds 1950.
I usually enjoy works written between the 1920's-1940's, here's something about a few of them in this collection:
“The Street That Was Not There” by Clifford D. Simak and Carl Jacobi was the most interesting for me, and not just because it raises some perennial philosophical issues about personal identity, and not just because its world is a creative conception of subjective idealism in practice, but because it was the least predictable story among them all—an existential terror this one is.
I found Terry and Carol Carr’s “Some Are Born Cats” pretty predictable and dated; also dated but for different reasons, is “Dear Devil” with its obvious 1950’s gender roles. “Mimic” and “It” are not bad.
If you like concepts better than character development, then these are not bad.
I dig the 70's cover with the goofy aliens, none of which, however, seem to correspond to the stories.