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The Human Angle
Ballantine Books, mass market paperback. One of several printings. First published in 1956, this is the author's second collection of science fiction tales. Collects eight Project Hush (1954); The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway (1955); Wednesday's Child (1956); The Servant Problem (1955); Party of the Two Parts (1954); The Flat-Eyed Monster (1955); The Human Angle (1948); A Man of Family (1956).
Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
93 people want to read
About the author
William Tenn
306 books49 followersWilliam Tenn is the pseudonym of Philip Klass. He was born in London on May 9, 1920, and emigrated to the United States with his parents before his second birthday. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. After serving in the United States Army as a combat engineer in Europe, he held a job as a technical editor with an Air Force radar and radio laboratory and was employed by Bell Labs.
He began writing in 1945 and wrote academic articles, essays, two novels, and more than 60 short stories.
His first story, 'Alexander the Bait' was published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946. Stories like 'Down Among the Dead Men', 'The Liberation of Earth', and 'The Custodian' quickly established him as a fine, funny, and thoughtful satirist.
Tenn is best-known as a satirist, and by works such as "On Venus Have We Got a Rabbi" and "Of Men and Monsters."
His stories and articles were widely anthologized, a number of them in best-of-the-year collections. From 1966, he was a Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University, where he taught, among other things, a popular course on science fiction.
In 1999, he was honored as Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at their annual Nebula Awards Banquet.
More information at: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topi...
He began writing in 1945 and wrote academic articles, essays, two novels, and more than 60 short stories.
His first story, 'Alexander the Bait' was published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946. Stories like 'Down Among the Dead Men', 'The Liberation of Earth', and 'The Custodian' quickly established him as a fine, funny, and thoughtful satirist.
Tenn is best-known as a satirist, and by works such as "On Venus Have We Got a Rabbi" and "Of Men and Monsters."
His stories and articles were widely anthologized, a number of them in best-of-the-year collections. From 1966, he was a Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University, where he taught, among other things, a popular course on science fiction.
In 1999, he was honored as Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at their annual Nebula Awards Banquet.
More information at: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topi...
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 24, 2025
The Human Angle was William Tenn's second collection of short fiction. It was published by Ballantine in 1956 and contained eight stories. One was original to the book (A Man of Family), one came from a 1956 issue Fantastic Universe magazine (Wednesday's Child), the title story was first published in true pulp magazine Famous Fantastic Mysteries 1948, and the rest all originated in Galaxy magazine 1954 - '55. Tenn was a pseudonym of Philip Klass, and to this day he's frequently confused with the famous UFOlogist of that name. Tenn was a very good writer, and a master of humor. He was quite prolific in the field through the 1950s but wrote little in the genre after taking a new job in the 1960s. Fans of Alfred Bester and Robert Sheckley should give his works a shot. My favorites in the book are The Servant Problem, The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway, and The Human Angle, though they're all pretty good. (Side note: I bought my copy at a used bookstore forty-some years ago and was surprised to find that the previous owner had scribbled a curious note in it saying that they had finished reading the book on October 21, 1879. I still wonder why the time traveler chose this collection to take back with them to read more than a century ago...)
December 24, 2025
I've always adored William Tenn.
September 23, 2024
This is a very good story collection by the great William Tenn; not so good as THE WOODEN STAR, but definitely worth reading. Tenn is a sort of bridge between the Golden Age SF of the 1940s and the more sophisticated and worldly 'New Wave' SF of the 1960s; in fact he is probably the missing link between Ray Bradbury and Brian Aldiss.
The finest story in this collection is 'The Servant Problem', which is quite frankly one of the best SF stories I have ever read by any author. It's a brilliantly funny and ironic meditation on the question of power and control. 'Party of the Two Parts' is also very noteworthy, particularly for its conceit of extraterrestrial pornography and how it would be regarded by homo sapiens. The excellent trope-reversal tale 'The Flat Eyed Monster' is another winner. Even the weaker stories in this book are interesting and original.
Tenn made SF better than it was before him, and there's no higher praise for an SF writer than that...
The finest story in this collection is 'The Servant Problem', which is quite frankly one of the best SF stories I have ever read by any author. It's a brilliantly funny and ironic meditation on the question of power and control. 'Party of the Two Parts' is also very noteworthy, particularly for its conceit of extraterrestrial pornography and how it would be regarded by homo sapiens. The excellent trope-reversal tale 'The Flat Eyed Monster' is another winner. Even the weaker stories in this book are interesting and original.
Tenn made SF better than it was before him, and there's no higher praise for an SF writer than that...
January 15, 2022
Stories. Some are so-so (The human angle), some are really good. I think his strong suit is his sense of humor. The story about the villainous amoeba, that is selling amoeba porn to underage amoebas und even a human, was really hilarious. I also found that the stories don't feel as dated as many others from the 50´s
December 28, 2023
Project Hush - 3/5 - 3 men are on a secret mission from the Army to establish a base on the moon. They find another base there and must find out if it’s a friend or foe from Earth, or not even from Earth at all
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway - 4/5 - Story of an under the radar artist who has a man from the future travel back in time to meet him since his work is world famous. Story ends up being pretty clever and a fresh take on a tired trope
Wednesday’s Child - 3.5/5 - It suffers a little because it has some old fashioned gender norms baked in. They did however feel a bit turned up so it’s possible that the story was being somewhat more tongue-in-cheek than I was giving it credit for. That’s not the point of the story though. It’s about a woman who has some bizarre medical issues and her boss becomes interested in her and then marries her as he finds out more. It has a pretty wild ending that elevates the whole thing
The Servant Problem - 4.5/5 - A dystopia from the view of the people in power. We start with the leader who is a man who is seen as a near deity and work our way down through more and more underlings. As we go down this path we see that each underling we focus on has their own way of feeling like they are the ones who actually are in control of everything. I really liked this one
Party of the Two Parts - 4/5 - Story of an outlaw amoeba-like alien who lands on Earth in need of fuel. To acquire it he sells his species pornography to a biologist to use in text books. This is also a crime and starts an interstellar incident. Very clever stuff here
The Flat-Eyed Monster - 4/5 - First-contact story where a man is abducted by aliens who want to study them. They speak through telepathy so he can understand them, but they can’t receive him. It’s clever and fun
The Human Angle - 3.5/5 - A very Stephen King-esque story about a journalist who went to a small country town to investigate a report of vampires
A Man of Family - 3.5/5 - In a society that only lets people have a certain number of kids based on their economic bracket, a family must come to grips when their salary goes down enough that they must give a kid up
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway - 4/5 - Story of an under the radar artist who has a man from the future travel back in time to meet him since his work is world famous. Story ends up being pretty clever and a fresh take on a tired trope
Wednesday’s Child - 3.5/5 - It suffers a little because it has some old fashioned gender norms baked in. They did however feel a bit turned up so it’s possible that the story was being somewhat more tongue-in-cheek than I was giving it credit for. That’s not the point of the story though. It’s about a woman who has some bizarre medical issues and her boss becomes interested in her and then marries her as he finds out more. It has a pretty wild ending that elevates the whole thing
The Servant Problem - 4.5/5 - A dystopia from the view of the people in power. We start with the leader who is a man who is seen as a near deity and work our way down through more and more underlings. As we go down this path we see that each underling we focus on has their own way of feeling like they are the ones who actually are in control of everything. I really liked this one
Party of the Two Parts - 4/5 - Story of an outlaw amoeba-like alien who lands on Earth in need of fuel. To acquire it he sells his species pornography to a biologist to use in text books. This is also a crime and starts an interstellar incident. Very clever stuff here
The Flat-Eyed Monster - 4/5 - First-contact story where a man is abducted by aliens who want to study them. They speak through telepathy so he can understand them, but they can’t receive him. It’s clever and fun
The Human Angle - 3.5/5 - A very Stephen King-esque story about a journalist who went to a small country town to investigate a report of vampires
A Man of Family - 3.5/5 - In a society that only lets people have a certain number of kids based on their economic bracket, a family must come to grips when their salary goes down enough that they must give a kid up
December 26, 2013
A secret army race to the moon finds they are beaten, but by whom?
An art historian from the future travels back to meet his favorite artist, who doesn't at all live up to his expectations.
A sleazy supervisor is interested in the unique lady under his employment and finds that his interest leads to trouble.
The 'Servant of All' likes to lead from behind, but unbeknownst to him is manipulated by his advisor, who likewise is manipulated by his therapist, who is...
A criminal ameboid alien absconds from his civilization and tries to make good on Earth... by selling alien pornography.
A literature professor is teleported to an alien planet populated by slimy, many-eyed telepaths... can he make it back to Earth?
A reporter is sent out to the hills to find the 'human angle' on a vampire story.
A regulated family-size means that family size is a status symbol... when the times get tough, what do you do with your 'country-club baby'?
A witty and humorous collection of stories! All a little dated (i.e. women ("girls") primary concerns are looking for husbands), but generally pleasant and endearing. Expect twists in the stories for punchlines. Will definitely read the author again!
An art historian from the future travels back to meet his favorite artist, who doesn't at all live up to his expectations.
A sleazy supervisor is interested in the unique lady under his employment and finds that his interest leads to trouble.
The 'Servant of All' likes to lead from behind, but unbeknownst to him is manipulated by his advisor, who likewise is manipulated by his therapist, who is...
A criminal ameboid alien absconds from his civilization and tries to make good on Earth... by selling alien pornography.
A literature professor is teleported to an alien planet populated by slimy, many-eyed telepaths... can he make it back to Earth?
A reporter is sent out to the hills to find the 'human angle' on a vampire story.
A regulated family-size means that family size is a status symbol... when the times get tough, what do you do with your 'country-club baby'?
A witty and humorous collection of stories! All a little dated (i.e. women ("girls") primary concerns are looking for husbands), but generally pleasant and endearing. Expect twists in the stories for punchlines. Will definitely read the author again!
July 11, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"I’ve been in a 50s SF short story craze of late, devouring collections by Robert Silverberg (Godling, Go Home!), Walter M. Miller, Jr. (The View From the Stars), Fritz Leiber (A Pail of Air), Lester Del Rey (Mortals and Monsters), and a few Robert Sheckley volumes a few months before. Fresh off of William Tenn’s solid novel Of Men and Monsters (1968) I went into The Human Angle (1956) (containing three novelettes and five short stories predominately from the 50s) with high expectations. Despite the handful of duds — “The Human Angle” (1948), “Project Hush” (1954) and “The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway” (1955) — that tend [...]"
"I’ve been in a 50s SF short story craze of late, devouring collections by Robert Silverberg (Godling, Go Home!), Walter M. Miller, Jr. (The View From the Stars), Fritz Leiber (A Pail of Air), Lester Del Rey (Mortals and Monsters), and a few Robert Sheckley volumes a few months before. Fresh off of William Tenn’s solid novel Of Men and Monsters (1968) I went into The Human Angle (1956) (containing three novelettes and five short stories predominately from the 50s) with high expectations. Despite the handful of duds — “The Human Angle” (1948), “Project Hush” (1954) and “The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway” (1955) — that tend [...]"
May 16, 2021
A collection of short stories written by William Tenn (pen name of Philip Klass) in the late 1940's & early 1950's. For me, the most memorable of them is "The Servant Problem", which begins "This was the day of complete control...", which has a real twist of an ending.
May 1, 2024
At least this leather seats didn’t get stained.
March 3, 2022
This collection is full of duds. I have no idea why this is so highly rated/reviewed on Goodreads, but IMO it does not hold up anymore as worthwhile science fiction.
Project Hush - 2 - Obvious! And not funny (as I'm sure it was intended to be).
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway - 3.5 - This one is a pretty decent time travel paradox kind of story.
Wednesday's Child - 2.5 - Lame! Very much a product of male-dominated society. The whole thing is a setup for its twist ending, which is hardly interesting or clever.
The Servant Problem - 3 - This story rates very high with a lot of readers and I can see why because the premise is interesting. The problem I had with it is that the writing is so tedious and the concept is drawn out too long for it to be as impactful as I wanted it to be. The idea does still seem relevant unfortunately.
Party of the Two Parts - 2.5 - Another story that seems to thrill readers on Goodreads. Sadly, it tries hard and fails at being funny. That anyone can laugh at this obvious grasping at a gag (amoeba porn) surprises me. It's long-winded and boring.
The Flat-Eyed Monster - 2 - Dumb. Another story where he tries too hard. I could see this possibly working back in the 50s when the trope-reversal might have felt fresh. Not anymore.
The Human Angle - Spoiled by a reviewer on Goodreads, so I skimmed it, definitely not a winner.
A Man of Family - 3 - Kind of sad and bittersweet. An interesting idea though. In today's struggling society it probably would help to have some kind of limitations set on childbirth.
Project Hush - 2 - Obvious! And not funny (as I'm sure it was intended to be).
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway - 3.5 - This one is a pretty decent time travel paradox kind of story.
Wednesday's Child - 2.5 - Lame! Very much a product of male-dominated society. The whole thing is a setup for its twist ending, which is hardly interesting or clever.
The Servant Problem - 3 - This story rates very high with a lot of readers and I can see why because the premise is interesting. The problem I had with it is that the writing is so tedious and the concept is drawn out too long for it to be as impactful as I wanted it to be. The idea does still seem relevant unfortunately.
Party of the Two Parts - 2.5 - Another story that seems to thrill readers on Goodreads. Sadly, it tries hard and fails at being funny. That anyone can laugh at this obvious grasping at a gag (amoeba porn) surprises me. It's long-winded and boring.
The Flat-Eyed Monster - 2 - Dumb. Another story where he tries too hard. I could see this possibly working back in the 50s when the trope-reversal might have felt fresh. Not anymore.
The Human Angle - Spoiled by a reviewer on Goodreads, so I skimmed it, definitely not a winner.
A Man of Family - 3 - Kind of sad and bittersweet. An interesting idea though. In today's struggling society it probably would help to have some kind of limitations set on childbirth.
May 13, 2025
Overall, a nice mostly humorous collection. Quick read.
Project Hush: *** (The army secretly establishes a moon base only to be dismayed to find another base already there- secretly established by the navy)
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway: *** (Time Traveller visits his artistic hero - who's awful & steals time machine - becomes the artist)
Wednesday's Child: * (Weird, ment to be a funny gotcha for the unlikable narrator - but not actually funny)
The Servant Problem: ** (Each man thinks he controls the others, not as amusing as it thinks it is)
Party of the Two Parts: *** (The woes of an alien policeman. Snork.)
The Flat-Eyed Monster: ** (The dangers of overconfidence/or not actually understanding why something happens - minor snork)
The Human Angle: * (Doesn't recognize child is the Vampire - yawn)
A Man of Family: **** (If society really starts to legislate children's welfare - to the point that you have to prove you have the resources to provide to get permission to procreate - what happens once you lose those resources? Force an adoption? Huh. Interesting question: I don't remember another treatment of it. )
Project Hush: *** (The army secretly establishes a moon base only to be dismayed to find another base already there- secretly established by the navy)
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway: *** (Time Traveller visits his artistic hero - who's awful & steals time machine - becomes the artist)
Wednesday's Child: * (Weird, ment to be a funny gotcha for the unlikable narrator - but not actually funny)
The Servant Problem: ** (Each man thinks he controls the others, not as amusing as it thinks it is)
Party of the Two Parts: *** (The woes of an alien policeman. Snork.)
The Flat-Eyed Monster: ** (The dangers of overconfidence/or not actually understanding why something happens - minor snork)
The Human Angle: * (Doesn't recognize child is the Vampire - yawn)
A Man of Family: **** (If society really starts to legislate children's welfare - to the point that you have to prove you have the resources to provide to get permission to procreate - what happens once you lose those resources? Force an adoption? Huh. Interesting question: I don't remember another treatment of it. )
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2024
A mixed bag of satirical and humorous sci-fi stories from the 50s. "The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway", about a terrible painter who learns that in the future he'll be famous, and "The Servant Problem," about a chain of lackeys in a futuristic totalitarian state each manipulating the person above them, are standouts. "The Party of Two Parts" involves a amoeba-like alien selling pornographic pictures (of single-cell asexual reproduction) which, horror of horrors, get reprinted in a textbook for children! Fun, occasionally a little long, dated, clever, and snarkier than a lot of similar stories from that time.
December 25, 2020
A belated selection for the r/Fantasy 2017 Bingo for the 'Five Fantasy Short Stories' square. There were 8 stories of short and novelette length in this collection. They were a mixture of fantasy, science fantasy and science fiction. After recently reading two books from the 50's that were decidedly dated, it was reassuring to find that there are others (like this one) which are still good today.
September 5, 2019
This is a review of the title story 'The Human Angle' written in 1948. It is in fact a rather simple and uninspiring pulp vampire story with a very predictable ending, neither good nor bad. The rest I have not read as yet.
October 24, 2019
Ha ha! Great ending!
“What was that that you remembered about the shape of her teeth? His mind shrieked. He started to whip his head around to get another look at her teeth. But, he couldn’t. Because, her TEETH were IN HIS THROAT!”
“What was that that you remembered about the shape of her teeth? His mind shrieked. He started to whip his head around to get another look at her teeth. But, he couldn’t. Because, her TEETH were IN HIS THROAT!”
April 18, 2022
A collection of Tenn's stories, kind of hit and miss.
The idea of someone from the future finding that their idol isn't all he was cracked up to be, was expanded on in the novella "Behold The Man" by Michael Moorcock.
The idea of someone from the future finding that their idol isn't all he was cracked up to be, was expanded on in the novella "Behold The Man" by Michael Moorcock.
Want to read
November 1, 2023LEER The Human Angle, vampiros
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2013
I never met a William Tenn story I didn't like.
"Project Hush" - if you've been in the military, it may take some real internal struggle to understand the humor. If you don't like the military, it will probably just make you angry. If you are on some other plane, then you might give a smirk, sneer, smile, snicker, or laugh out loud. How true.
"Wednesday's Child" is horrific. I'm sure Lovecraft would have enjoyed it, and worked a sequel for it. The tiel piece, "The Human Angle," is so short, but also a bit terrifying.
"The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway" is eerie. Reminds me of a story I read about Shakespeare or not Shakespeare.
"The Servant Problem," "Party of the Two Parts," and "The Flat-Eyed Monster" are the alien tales, and right Tennish, they are, too. They were my favorite in this collection.
The story, "A Man of Family", reflects contemporary, and presages later moral/anti-moral arguments about absolute values, [alleged] over-population, the value of life, abortion, euthanasia, end of life with dignity, definition of family, responsibility of parents, attitude towards children.
"Project Hush" - if you've been in the military, it may take some real internal struggle to understand the humor. If you don't like the military, it will probably just make you angry. If you are on some other plane, then you might give a smirk, sneer, smile, snicker, or laugh out loud. How true.
"Wednesday's Child" is horrific. I'm sure Lovecraft would have enjoyed it, and worked a sequel for it. The tiel piece, "The Human Angle," is so short, but also a bit terrifying.
"The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway" is eerie. Reminds me of a story I read about Shakespeare or not Shakespeare.
"The Servant Problem," "Party of the Two Parts," and "The Flat-Eyed Monster" are the alien tales, and right Tennish, they are, too. They were my favorite in this collection.
The story, "A Man of Family", reflects contemporary, and presages later moral/anti-moral arguments about absolute values, [alleged] over-population, the value of life, abortion, euthanasia, end of life with dignity, definition of family, responsibility of parents, attitude towards children.
February 17, 2011
A fun collection of tales from 1954 and 1955 (except for the title story from 1948). Tenn's irony is a joy to read. I loved his fake biography (Tenn was not his real name and he really worked at Bell Labs).
October 19, 2024
Creative and humorous stories.
Read
August 22, 2008Human Angle by William Tenn (1971)
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