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James H. Schmitz Grandpa. Katherine Maclean. The Snowball Effect. Algis Budrys. The Edge of the Sea. Cordwainer Smith. Scanners Live in Vain. Ray Bradbury. The Pedestrian. The Last Day. Richard Matheson. Jerome Bixby. The Holes Around Mars. Arthur C. Clarke The Star. Henry Kuttner. Two Handed Engine. Howard Fast. The Large Ant. Robert Sheckley. Early Model. Philip Jose Farmer. Sail On! Sail On!

Grandpa. James H. Schmitz.

Young Cord, a junior of the Sutang Colonial Team, and Vanada-born, is concerned as the Earth-born scientific team feel to heed his warning. They propose to use the normal form of travel across water - large lily-like platforms which can be effective steered by applying low level laser beams.

He is worried that the specimen they propose to use, the eponymous Grandpa, is considerably altered since they last used him. There are still many mysteries on the planet, and he is worried that they know nothing of the stage through which Grandpa is evidently progressing.

The youngster is proven correct, as the other members of the team are suddenly captured by tendrils from the plant. Now no longer steerable, Cord has to find a way to save the day himself as there is now way of calling for help (evidently humanity can travel between the stars but can't communicate by radio or similar technology.)

A fairly straightforward adventure story, but with a focus on the native flora and fauna.

The Snowball Effect. Katherine Maclean.

A quite different story, and, it has to be said, not SF in any way, shape or form.

A senior university sociologist is challenged to prove the worth of his department - is it all theory, with no practical application.

He proposes a test of the 'snowball effect'. Can that theory be used on the Watashaw Sewing Circle to increase its membership.

The experiment proves to be a success. Beyond their wildest dreams (and nightmares) as the Sewing Circle grows exponentially.

The Edge of the Sea. Algis Budrys.

Dan Henry is hurrying along the coast, trying to avoid an imminent hurricane. However, he sees something on the beach, being lashed by the rising tide.

The object is some kind of rocket, and he is perceptive enough to see at the very least some salvage rights. He is also obstinate and determined enough to risk all in ensuring the rocket is not washed out to sea.

In the teeth of the hurricane, the rocket shows its extraterrestial origins, beginning to make contact with something in the heavens.

Resisting the authorities, in the shape of the local police, Henry's prize is to be taken away by higher authorities, as the small rocket is tractor-beamed to another ship. Henry, not to be denied, leaps onto the rocket..

Scanners Live in Vain. Cordwainer Smith.

One of the all-time classic SF short stories, and for which there has been mountains of literary criticism and discussion.

I won't attempt to add that mountain, with the exception of an observation that the impact of the story ('Smith's' first published) is probably much greater when read immediately after the stories in this volume and those in the 1940s collection. It leaps out and grabs the reader (well, it did this one) as a story that is head and shoulders above many of its contemporaries.

The Pedestrian. Ray Bradbury.

A short short story - five pages in length. Leonard Mead wanders the deserted streets of his city, night by night, his house the only one lit. Until one night an automated cop car takes him into custody...

The Last Day. Richard Matheson.

Following a story with some of the creepy loneliness of Matheson's 'Last Man on Earth' we have another take on humanity's ultimate fate.

The sun is going nova, and the protagonist wakes up from a debauched last night on Earth. How will he spend his last day? Like others, drunk, rutting and similar bestial pleasures?

The love of his family draws him away from that route, and in an ending which avoids sentimentality, resigns himself to his fate in the arms of his mother, for whom religion offers the consolation that this is a beginning, rather than an ending.

The Holes around Mars. Jerome Bixby.

After several quite strong stories, Bixby's reads a bit like an escapee from the 1940s volume. (True enough there are stories still being written of this ilk!).

The plot itself is fairly creaky - the first men on the moon find bog-standard martians, but a scientific curiousity: a very small borehole that appears to have been drilled throughout the planet.

The characterisation is fairly wooden, with the requisite all-male crew. What really, really grates is the crew member who constantly puns throughout the story. The puns are so weak as to be risible.

The solution to the scientific puzzle is a little bit dubious - what is evidently a moon of minute dimensions which is orbiting at a level of four feet, ploughing its way through anything in its way.

The Star. Arthur C. Clarke

Another true classic heralding a Major Talent!

A crisis of faith has fallen upon the Jesuit chief astrophysicist of a mission which is viewing the death throes of a star and the civilization that is wiped out. In the face of such immense galactic nature, can God truly exist?

The final semi-twist in the tail - the nova-ing sun was the bright star seen above Bethlehem.

Two-handed Engine. Henry Kuttner.

Humanity has all but vanquished murder, as the all-seeing robot 'Furies' act as witness, judge, jury and executioner. The colossi appear behind those who have committed murder, and will dispense judgment at some point. Exactly when is never known by the murder.

A chance to earn a huge sum of money through carrying out a murder, without being apprehended, appears to be too good to be true. After carrying out the contracted murder, Danner does not have long to savour his new-found wealth before a Fury stands behind him.

He rages against this injustice, and seeks the man who commissioned the murder and claimed that he would avoid detection. He signally fails in either extracting avenge or avoiding his death, but his murderer has the chance of getting away with the crime.

However, and this is the moral of the story, the man who is thus otherwise free from the all-seeing Fury justice is haunted not by the footfalls of the Fury's themselves, but by his own conscience. Humanity can breathe a sigh of relief.

The Large Ant. Howard Fast.

A short story about a Large Ant.

The finding of which causes concern as to its origin. Alien or mutated from an earth species?

Early Model. Robert Sheckley.

Creaky-ish humour. A spaceman lands on a planet with a patent-pending piece of equipment which is designed to produce an impermeable force-field when he is threatened.

The inventor has made it impossible to remove, and, sure enough, on contact with the native race the force-field proves to be more of a hindrance than a help.

Encircled by aggressive alien life forms, his life-form repeatedly clicks into operation, leaving him immobile. As they wait patiently for the force-field to click off, before attacking again, air is threatening to run low.

The spaceman decides to free himself off the monkey on his back, and runs like f**k for his ship.

Sail On! Sail On! Philip Jose Farmer.

The collection finishes with an outstanding story IMHO - one that could be put into Asimovs, or F&SF, today, without looking in any way out of date.

A beautifully described, atmospheric piece in which a friar is on board Columbus' ship. Except that there is some strange technology on the ship, and subtle differences in their reality and what we know of it.

Alternate History? Multiverse? Not quite, but much more.

Conclusion

Definitely a step forward from the 1940s volume, in that several of the stories show little sign of age (Maclean, Smith, Matheson, Sheckley). A rewarding, slim, read and a welcome addition to my collection.

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