Far from This Earth

by Chad Oliver, Jane Dennis (Illustrator)

Far From This Earth and Other Stories is volume 2 of a collection of Chad Oliver's SF; A Star Above It and Other Stories is volume 1.

480 pages, hardback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Symmes Chadwick Oliver (30 March 1928–9 August 1993) was an award winning science fiction and Western writer and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. He was also one of the founders of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another excellent collection of Oliver's short fiction, spanning four decades of his career, most of them from his prolific 1950's. It's a companion volume to NESFA's A Star Above It and is just as enjoyable as that book. Most of the best stories originally appeared in F & SF magazine, though about a third are from Campbell's Astounding and the more recent ones appeared in original anthologies, such as Ellison's Again, Dangerous Visions. My favorite was Just Like a Man, from a 1966 issue of Fantastic. (I misremembered Fantastic as only publishing reprints in those days.) The more recent seem to me to be less hopeful or optimistic in tone. Oliver's stories qualify as hard-science, I believe, though the sciences are archaeology, anthropology, and those more social in nature. Rather than writing about interstellar armadas performing space operas, he wrote about quiet pipe-smoking men who loved their families and good fishing trips. He was a pastoralist in the spirit of Clifford D. Simak or Ray Bradbury, and captured Texas and the Southwest in the way Simak did Wisconsin and Illinois. Oliver was one of the most under-appreciated masters of the field in his time. His work still holds up quite well.

[Sherlock Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good stuff, though much in the same theme/universe. Pleased to know he was into anthropology (most of the stories featured an anthropologist of some sort being a major player on a crew or from the point of view of such). Enjoyed it.

[Cheryl]

wishlisted on pbs

[Roy N · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important collection of the short stories written by Chad Oliver. Complements Valume 0ne!