Wandering Stars

If you're looking for a book of Sci-Fi sorry stories that happen to be written by Jewish people this is not it. This is a book that is very much about Jewish people and traditions simply in the format of space or sci-fi. Honestly not very good sci-fi either.

This book, first published in 1974, was billed as "the first time in a science fiction collection that the Jew -- and the richness of his themes and particular points of view -- will appear without a mask." Mask? What mask? The mask of non-Jewish pennames, for one thing. Did you know that "Clyde Crane Campbell" is really Horace L. Gold? Or that William Tenn is Phillip Klass? Heck, even "Jack Dann" doesn't sound very Jewish. As Isaac Asimov points out in his intro to this book, many Jewish F & SF writers of the pulp era used gentile-sounding pennames to get published, because antisemitism kept people with names like "Chaim Ishkowitz" out of print. Asimov was the first Jewish SF writer to use his own ethnic-sounding name because, as he explains in the introduction, "I didn't know any better." (Asimov's intro, entitled "Why Me?", is a real gem -- be sure to read it!) Jews also come out of the closet in the stories themselves. In most F & SF of the time (and even today) you rarely see an openly Jewish character or theme. Here in "Wandering Stars," we meet futuristic rabbis, Hasidim, dybbuks, golems and more. Some of the stories are humorous, others are spine-chilling. "Gather Blue Roses" falls into the second category: Imagine a highly-developed empath trapped in a Nazi concentration camp... Then there's "Trouble with Water," which is more of a fantasy, as is the I.B. Singer classic, "Yachid and Yachidah." Two of the stories also deal with the theme of gilgul (reincarnation): "The Jewbird" by Bernard Malamud, and "I'm Looking for Kadak" by Harlan Ellison. One thing which struck me about this collection is how many of the stories assume that Jews will still be persecuted in the distant future. William Tenn's "On Venus have we got a Rabbi" actually uses persecution as the definition of "Jewishness" on a planet of non-humanoids. In "Paradise Last," Jews who score well on standardized achievement tests are "rewarded" with a planet of their own -- and thereby removed from mainstream society. These are good stories, but I would like to think that there could be a better future-vision for my people. Still, this anthology was ground-breaking in its time, and remains a good read today.

The stories here address Jewish themes, but they also address more universally human themes. The best science fiction is as much about the characters and their motives as about technology. The truly sublime stuff gives us an insight into how technology affects the character's motives.The stories in this book range from the merely great to the truly sublime. Most are humorous and these tend to be the most memorable. This book has quickly become an old friend I pick up when I don't have the energy to read a new book.

I read this book in its first release over twenty years ago. I lent my book out to many of my friends and eventually lost track of it. I just had to have another copy so I bought it once again. "Unto the Fourth Generation" was my introduction to Isaac Asimov and led to my love of his writing over the years. "Look, You Think You've Got Troubles" by Carol Carr is a humorous look at futuristic bigotry ... I think of it as a jewish Archie Bunker in space. All of these short stories are excellent and I look forward to re-reading each and every one of them..

This 25th anniversary edition is very welcome. My 1974 paperback, which I have cherished and handled with care, deserves to be retired. My husband and I never tire of rereading some of the stories. His favorite is Malamud's "The Jewbird" and mine is Singer's "Jachid and Jechidah".

This book has been long out of print (the copyright is 1974), so I'm very glad to see it back in print.This is a collection of classic short stories by some great writers, both in and out of the SF field. They include William Tenn, Avram Davidson, Isaac Asimov, Carol Carr, Robert Silverberg, Horace L. Gold, Pamela Sargent, Bernard Malamud, George Alec Effinger, Robert Sheckley, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. It's notable also for the only laugh-out-loud story that I've ever read from Harlan Ellison.My only complaint, if you could call it that, is that a newer version of this anthology is long overdue. I recommend this book highly and without reservations.