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My mom lent me this--it's a sci fi short story anthology. She's got a bunch of copies in her middle-school classroom, and she read it through recently in preparation for a unit on astronomy and science fiction with her kids. The stories were all fantastic. The in-between text, setting up each section and story, was laughably dated: the book was originally published in 1976 and reprinted in 1995. It refers to commercial jingles I've never even heard of, the films "A Thousand Clowns" and "Cool Hand Luke", and TV series like "The Brady Bunch" and "Kojak". I cannot imagine that it went through a 1995 reprint and no one ever thought to update it. The actual stories, though, are all excellent: Asimov, Bradbury, Pohl, Dickson, Dick, Silverberg, and many others. Here are some notes on my favorite stories:
I really liked Zenna Henderson's "Gilead" and wanted it to be a whole novel.
Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" was chilling and heartbreaking. Remember how I made you read that Katherine Mansfield short story about the old lady with the fox stole? It's like that. My mom actually lent me the book for this story, to get me back for the Mansfield story.
Asimov's "It's Such a Beautiful Day" was wonderful. It got me thinking about my life, and how I often just shuttle between work and home and train without ever actually being outside or paying attention to the world. It's an excellent story.
Avram Davidson's "Now Let Us Sleep" broke my little heart. I hope we have the Star Trek Federation future and not this one.
"The Birds", by Daphne du Maurier, was actually the inspiration for the Hitchcock movie, which I never knew before. It's chilling, and excellently written.
Philip K. Dick's "The Crawlers" was really scary and well done.
Overall, it was a really good selection of stories. I noticed that Ursula Le Guin wasn't represented, and really should have been--she's got many stories that would have been appropriate, most notably "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", which was originally printed in 1973 and so could have been included. Overall, though, it was a really good collection, and I am now inspired to read more Asimov. Hooray.
I really liked Zenna Henderson's "Gilead" and wanted it to be a whole novel.
Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" was chilling and heartbreaking. Remember how I made you read that Katherine Mansfield short story about the old lady with the fox stole? It's like that. My mom actually lent me the book for this story, to get me back for the Mansfield story.
Asimov's "It's Such a Beautiful Day" was wonderful. It got me thinking about my life, and how I often just shuttle between work and home and train without ever actually being outside or paying attention to the world. It's an excellent story.
Avram Davidson's "Now Let Us Sleep" broke my little heart. I hope we have the Star Trek Federation future and not this one.
"The Birds", by Daphne du Maurier, was actually the inspiration for the Hitchcock movie, which I never knew before. It's chilling, and excellently written.
Philip K. Dick's "The Crawlers" was really scary and well done.
Overall, it was a really good selection of stories. I noticed that Ursula Le Guin wasn't represented, and really should have been--she's got many stories that would have been appropriate, most notably "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", which was originally printed in 1973 and so could have been included. Overall, though, it was a really good collection, and I am now inspired to read more Asimov. Hooray.
