It Came from Schenectady

This is a spiffy collection of short stories by the author, and includes the stories listed below. Rating my enjoyability of each of the component stories (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest): Rating & Title 9 - Forepiece (Prologue) 8 - Collector's Item 7 - Dreams 7 - The House of If 6 - The Initiation 9 - The Portrait of Baron Negay 8 - SHAWNA, Ltd. 8 - A Time For Terror 9 - The Homecoming (Hugo Nominee) 8 - Twist Ending 10 - Catch The Sun 9 - Adagio 7 - Where Do You Get Your Ideas ? Although the most loudly trumpeted piece in this collection is "The Homecoming" (which was nominated for a Hugo award), my personal favorite is, by far, "Catch The Sun", which could easily have been a major award winner in it's own right, if it'd been published as a stand alone novel. In hindsight, I'd guess the only reason it didn't get the Hugo nod is that it was published right on the heels of Homecoming, in the same calendar year, right after the latter was nominated ... and was thus ineligible. In any case, it's the best of the bunch, in my reckoning. This collection is a solid offering by Longyear, even though the title is a bit obscure, and doubtless deterred sales by confusing people walking past it in the book aisles. Style wise, the stories in this collection are an odd mix of quirky ideas, developed into stories by the author. Some follow the same general style as Harlan Ellison and The Twilight Zone motif, and others are more in the hard scifi vein. Overall, this is a very strong and enjoyable collection ... well worth the cover price, even if you have to buy it new.

Read the introduction in this book. I know introductions are usually a waste of space, but Longyear is hilarious. And he gives you such deep insight into where he gets his ideas that you just can't pass it up.I've lost track of how many times I've read and re-read this collection of short stories. Some are funny. Some are sober. They are all fascinating.

I bought this book about 15 years ago and loved it. The stories were well thought out, original and just plain good. I still have my copy of this book and occasionally pull it out to read again. If you want to read several very good short stories this is the book for you