The Science Fiction Hall of Fame

I'm in my 60's and these stories take me back. Many of them were read over and over again, imparting a warm feeling as old friends revisited. Years from now, if you are lucky enough to still have this book, you can expect to have those feelings all over again. This is a keeper.

This is a treasure trove of older science fiction classic novellas. Authors here include such worthies as Poul Anderson, John Campbell, Jr., Lester del Rey, Robert Heinlein, C. M. Kornbluth, Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore, Eric Frank Russell, Cordwainer Smith, Theodore Sturgeon (progenitor of Sturgeon's Law, "90% of everything is crud," if I recall accurately), H. G. Wells, and Jack Williamson. This volume was published originally in 1973 (the version, in fact, that I have). Let's look at a couple examples. Kornbluth's work is a lugubrious application of eugenics to humans. With the reduction in accidents, war, illness, fewer ungifted people were "weeded out." The end result? As a character says, "The average IQ is now 45." Why not just let the ungifted die out through stupidity? One of the "gifted" who were around to keep the world going on mentioned that they had--but the "marching morons" were too dense to know that anything was wrong, as they began to die by large numbers. So, the gifted continue to keep the species alive. When I read this, I have mixed emotions indeed! I am not a fan of eugenics, but the novella lays out an interesting scenario. Another favorite is Russell's "And Then There Were None." A sort of libertarian work, in which residents of a planet had seen their society evolve in a very different path from a galactic state. The central government decided to reassert authority over "The Gands" (residents of the planet, followers of the ideas of Gandhi). The society of the Gands is libertarian, with people having no right to define the duties of another. The ship's crew, when interacting with the Gands, decide they like their way of life better. Many desertions follow, before the officers and some crewmen lift off, to escape the society. H. G. Wells' "The T8ime Machine" is here. So, too, Campbell's "Who Goes There?", the source for two different versions of a movie known to us as "The Thing." As other reviewers note, the novella is appropriately creepy. Anyhow, if you don't like the style of classic science fiction, this may be unsatisfying. But for those of us who grew up with these authors, the book is a glorious reminder of our experiencing sci-fi in our younger days!

An anthology of stories chosing by the SFWA, from the sixties and earlier. A pretty good bunch, but given the age of some may not appeal as much now, with the stories set in closer to the present time, like the del Rey example, or Williamson. Even includes Wells' Time Machine, which most people will think of as a novel. The standouts are Campbell's Who Goes there and the ageless Cordwainer Smith's The Ballad of Lost C'Mell. Still, another book worth having for the SF story fan's collection. Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : CALL ME JOE - Poul Anderson Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : WHO GOES THERE? - John W. CampbellJr. Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : NERVES - Lester delRey Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : UNIVERSE - Robert A. Heinlein Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : THE MARCHING MORONS - C. M. Kornbluth Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : VINTAGE SEASON - Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : AND THEN THERE WERE NONE - Eric Frank Russell Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : THE BALLAD OF LOST C'MELL - Cordwainer Smith Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : BABY IS THREE - Theodore Sturgeon Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : THE TIME MACHINE - H. G. Wells Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2A : WITH FOLDED HANDS - Jack Williamson "Psibeams are persnickety" 3 out of 5 A discovery of a lifeform buried in the Antarctic ice causes serious problems for an isolated research team. 5 out of 5 Atomic accident surgery improvisation. 3.5 out of 5 Outside discovery ship mutiny conflict. 3.5 out of 5 Unfrozen average bloke's lemming solution lack of life lesson. 4 out of 5 Past holiday. 4 out of 5 Antigand-a be any authority around here, you crazy people. 4 out of 5 Underpeople Lord assisted deadly punishment escapage. 4.5 out of 5 Gestalt growth. 3.5 out of 5 It will come as no surprise that the protagonist in this story, the traveller, invents a time machine and uses it to venture into the future. The society that he ends up in seems amazing for a brief time, then he realises that all is not as it seems. There is a large underclass that is terribly exploited to produce all this for the eloi, as they are called. The underclass are named Morlocks, and it is here that the Time Traveler's sympathies reside. 3.5 out of 5 Robot home help useless. 2.5 out of 5 4.5 out of 5

This is the "Science Fiction Hall of Fame" (Volume IIB), edited by Ben Bova; the second half of the second volume. This volume was published in 1973, and as with the Volume I, there were a set of criteria for which stories were selected. In this case the stories that were voted on had to be published prior to 1966, and there could be no more than one entry per author, although this limitation did not exclude authors who were published in Volume I, but was a limitation within Volume II itself. Both volumes IIA and IIB are for works which are longer novelettes and novellas, i.e. stories of more than 15,000 words. Volume I was arranged in chronological order of when the stories were published, but each of the Volume II books are arranged alphabetically by author within each sub-volume. Not surprisingly, with the longer stories, there is a shorter table of contents than for Volume I, with just 11 stories each in Volume IIA and IIB. But what maybe lacking in quantity is made up for in quality, with such stories as: * The Martian Way by Isaac Asimov - novella * Earthman, Come Home by James Blish - novelette * Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys - novella * The Specter General by Theodore R. Cogswell - novella * The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster - novelette * The Midas Plague by Frederik Pohl - novella * The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz - novelette * E for Effort by T. L. Sherred - novelette * In Hiding by Wilmar H. Shiras - novelette * The Big Front Yard by Clifford D. Simak - novella * The Moon Moth by Jack Vance - novella Actually, there is nothing lacking in quantity here either, as this sub-volume is over 550 pages, as was the first sub-volume. This volume, taken as a whole, does a little better job of balancing out the different eras of Science Fiction than Volume I did. At the same time, the quality of the collection remains at the highest level, with classic stories from start to finish. In addition to the stories themselves, there is an introduction by Ben Bova, but it is the same introduction that was included in Volume IIA. One could argue over whether or not there were other stories which should have been considered, but clearly every story here is very good and worthy of consideration.

I read this book many years ago and to this day several of the short stories stick in my mind. So when looking for a good book for my wife to read, I thought this was the perfect choice. Unfortunately, I didn't have a copy. So I was overjoyed to see this book being reprinted and eagerly ordered a copy. Look for "Who Goes There" which is the short story the movie "Thing" was based upon.