Far from Home

by Walter Tevis

"His plots are ingenious." —Time Out

This long-overdue collection of Walter Tevis's best short stories proves him to be a master of the form. They range from the ingenuity of "The Other End of the Line", in which a man receives a phone call from himself in the future and follows the instructions he is given with unexpected and disastrous results, to the sophistication of "Rent Control", where a couple discovers that when they are in bed together they can literally make time stop, to the deeply-felt emotion of "A Visit from Mother", whose protagonist is revisited by his dead parents.

Entertaining and perceptive, the stories in Far from Home show the same talent which has made Tevis's novels The Man Who Fell to Earth and Mockingbird modern SF classics.

"The poetic imprints of a fine writer's trail." —The Times

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Literary Fiction, Short Story Collection

181 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Walter Stone Tevis was an American novelist and short story writer. Three of his six novels were adapted into major films: The Hustler, The Color of Money, and The Man Who Fell to Earth. The Queen's Gambit has also been adapted in 2020 into a 7-episode mini-series. His books have been translated into at least 18 languages.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far From Home is Walter Tevis’ only short story collection, and, I know everyone seems to say this cliched comment about all short story collections (or at least I do) - “it’s a mixed bag” - but they say it because it’s true! Rarely is a short story collection full of bangers and Far From Home is no different - there’s both good and bad stuff here.

Tevis is an interesting writer as he was successful both as a novelist who wrote on contemporary subjects - The Hustler (about pool sharks), The Queen’s Gambit (about professional chess players) - and sci-fi as well - The Man Who Fell to Earth, Mockingbird. I disliked The Man Who Fell to Earth, I’ve tried the first chapter of Mockingbird and have put it on indefinite hold for now, and the stories I liked least in Far From Home were the sci-fi ones - I just don’t like Tevis’ genre fiction.

Not that those stories are badly written, and they at least always seem to have an interesting premise or idea, but they all felt kinda one-note and unengaging. The Ifth of Oofth is a trippy story about the fifth dimension, The Goldbrick is about the US Military trying to dislodge a gold brick in a mountain and take it too far, which I took to be a satire on the military industrial complex, and The Big Bounce is about a ball that never stops bouncing and gains speed the more it bounces.

The title story is the worst one - it’s nothing like the movie adaptation where Spider-Man fights Mysterio in Europe! I’m joking of course - it’s really about a whale in an Arizona swimming pool - but it still sucked.

The best stories for me were the ones that were reminiscent of Richard Matheson’s stories - if you don’t know who that is, he wrote a number of brilliant ‘60s Twilight Zone episodes so that should give you an idea. Weird, creepy, imaginative stories with a twist at the end, basically.

Rent Control is about a couple who discover they can stop time when they’re physically touching in their apartment. The premise reminded me a lot of Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky’s Sex Criminals! The ending though is kinda flat.

Out of Luck also suffers from a weak ending but the story was interesting for the most part. An artist sees the same man in every person as he goes about his day in New York - but who is this strange man?! This one was definitely the eeriest story of the bunch.

In The Other End of the Line, a man receives a phone call from himself two months in the future and uses the information he gets to become rich - but what’ll happen in two months’ time if he fails to call himself back...?

My favourite story was A Visit From Mother and its companion piece, Daddy. The ghosts of a man’s dead parents visit him and he works through his issues with them. Knowing a little about Tevis’ life, I couldn’t help seeing it as an autobiographical piece. In real life he was abandoned by his parents in a hospital for a year when he was a kid and the man in the story raging at his parents’ ghosts was also abandoned by his parents after getting sick as a kid.

The story takes a bizarre Oedipal direction with his mother, whom he has spirit sex(!) with (sexualising mother happens again in a later story, Sitting in Limbo - I think Tevis was a seriously fucked up dude!), but his conversation/rant with his dad was deeply compelling and felt very real. Fiction as therapy?

Considering many of the stories feature a sexual component, I was surprised that only one (The Apotheosis of Myra - a sci-fi tale about the wife of a murderer becoming one with an alien planet and tormenting her hubby) was published by Playboy magazine. And, as I’ve noticed the more I’ve read Tevis, who was an alcoholic, there is booze in every one of these stories, always in the background, but always noticeable and ever-present.

Some stories didn’t land for me but quite a few did and I enjoyed those ones plenty. They’re all well-written and imaginative so Far From Home is certainly not a bad short story collection. Despite not being among his better known books, it’s worth checking out if you’re a Walter Tevis fan like me or someone who enjoys the kind of stories Richard Matheson wrote as well.

[Peter Boyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Walter Tevis is more famous for novels like The Hustler and The Queen's Gambit, recently adapted into a Netflix series of which I was a big fan. Far From Home is a collection of his short stories, ranging from publication in the 1950s to the 1980s.

Most of these tales fit the description of speculative fiction. They're set in the present day but science and reason is ever so slightly stretched. In Rent Control, a couple realise that time stands still while they're touching and they use this ability in an unexpected way. The Big Bounce tells of two scientists who discover a new material that leaps twice as high whenever it hits the ground - their excitement turns to dismay when it escapes their control. The Goldbrick is about about the insane lengths that the US military go to in order to dislodge a stubborn brick from a mountain they're drilling through.

Tevis presents some interesting concepts in these stories but I'm afraid they left me cold. Too many of them didn't go anywhere or else ended abruptly. And I would venture to say that a lot of them haven't aged very well, particularly the Oedipal undertones of A Visit From Mother. I'd be slow to recommend this anthology - the novels of Tevis make a far stronger case for his abilities as a writer.

[Jon Zelazny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I was hoping for some social-realist noir ala THE HUSTLER, but I still give this four stars for the chilly, sex-and-booze-laced, Twilight Zone-y mind-benders Tevis wrote circa 1980, particularly the three where he gallops headlong into some brutal self-psychotherapy re: his lifelong resentment of his late parents. His early gee-whiz sci-fi stories were probably good back in the fifties, but come off like padding here.

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

well, set of short stories with implicit sexual (taboo) themes... each story is powerful (real) but set in a fantasy environment... I found it interesting but I'm not very familiar with this type/form of writing and context!

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains two of the absolutely grossest stories I have ever read, both dealing with the same creepy awful subject. Unfortunately Tevis wrote like a friggin dream and I can't help but love this entire collection, even though those two stories are making me retch a little because I have to think about them while I write this.

The 2nd half of the collection contains stories from his early career(mostly fun tales centered around a goofy hard science idea)and don't deliver the same emotional whallop of his later concoctions but they are still wonderfully done.

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other than the three “oedipal” themed stories (a term and subject I knew little about, had to look it up - I never studied psychology, opted for sociology instead during my university years - helped with understanding the rational for publishing them in the first place) this is a decent collection of sci-fi short stories. The collection is divided into two parts: new works dating between 1980-81 written especially for this collection (according to the dust jacket) and older stories published between 1957 and 1969. They really are “short stories” averaging only a dozen or so pages each - the shortest (and title story) at 4 pages while the longest comes in at 24. They are rather typical of the Tevis themes and elements: loneliness, alcohol always being present and dark humour. They come off as single-idea situations, reminiscent of Twilight Zone-type stories for the most part. A quick read well worth a look if you enjoyed his three sci-fi novels (The Man Who Fell to Earth (1963), Mockingbird (1980) and The Steps of the Sun (1983) - the latter, which, admittedly, I still have yet to read.

Surely, “Far From Home” is but a meager sample of short stories published during his career, and I am surprised a more complete collection has yet to see the light of day. With the recent success of the Queen’s Gambit series, perhaps there will be interest a more substantial collection of Tevis’ sort works.

[Dimitrije Vojnov · Rating 5 out of 5]

FAR FROM HOME je zbirka priča Waltera Tevisa koja je objavljena početkom osamdesetih i čini je izbor njegovih najboljih priča.

Pored romana, Tevis je bio poznat po pričama, i u ovoj izvanrednoj zbircim, imamo priliku da pročitamo neke koje se mogu podeliti na dva segmenta - priče iz domena fantastike u širem smislu i klasičniju naučnu fantastiku u kojoj ne samo novumi, već i nauka kao praksa i proces imaju svoju ulogu.

Tevisove priče su provokativne, izuzetno ispripovedane, oslonjene na izgrađen rukopis i ako imamo u vidu da su nastajale u rasponu od tridesetak godina, veoma su moderne, i one od kojih se to očekuje i one za koje bi se predviđao neki staromodniji rukopis.

Tevis nije jedini pisac koji se podjednako snalazi i u fomi kratke priče i romana, isto tako nije jedini koji u pričama isprobava ideje koje će kasnije razraditi u romanima, tako da je u ovim pričama skriveno dosta motiva iz njegovih kapitalnih proza, ali i unutar njih postoje neke zamisli kojima se pisac vraća. U tom pogledu nekada se čini da je objavljujući priče o časopisima, Tevis potcenio mogućnost da će nekada izaći zbirka i da će se dve razrade istog motiva (iako nije reč o autoplagijatu, ili ponavljanju stricto sensu) čitati u istoj knjizi.

To ne proizvodi utisak dvoličnosti već mnogo više prebacuje pažnju čitaoca na rukopis samog Tevisa.

U svakom slučaju, ovo je zbirka koju ne treba propustiti. Prepuna je izvanredne proze i uzbudljivih zamisli koje nekad govore o budućnosti koja se nije desila ali ne gube na validnosti.

[David Agranoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walter Tevis is a very interesting writer to me for many reasons. When I started to enjoy the new take on The Man Who Fell to Earth from creators Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet I decided I was going to finish reading all of the Tevis books. I mean sadly there are so few of them. I knew I wanted to cover him on the show I figured why not know it all. Covering his short stories seemed like the easiest and smartest thing to do and I was glad I did.

Tevis is an interesting case because his first published stories were science fiction, and while many writers in the genre wanted to break out of the genre ghetto they never did. Philip K. Dick tried and failed so many times to break into the mainstream that he had a pile of manuscripts left behind when he died. Only Confessions of a Crap Artist survived. John Brunner wrote a novel about the anti-nuke movement that has been lost to time. One of the reasons I think Tevis was different is because of how purely good his prose was.

His skill at world-building honed in many science fiction stories is clear when you read the Hustler it is one of the things that makes the thing work. The subtle ease with which he builds the world of the 50s poolhall is done with a world-builders eye in the way most mainstream authors don’t think about. They assume you know enough about the world. The stories in this collection are divided into two sections, close to home, and far from home. The first half is from short stories mostly from 1980, and the second half is classic stories from the pulp magazines like Horace Gold's Galaxy in the late 50s early 60s, including the first published Tevis story.

The stories in the first half are interesting in many ways because they were the first Tevis wrote after close to two decades of not writing. Teaching and drinking his nights away it took the movie The Man Who Fell to Earth, A second marriage, and moving to New York to re-ignite his passions. While it might not have been cool for his family the output gave us lots more work. Two SF novels, Two mainstream novels, and these short stories. The stories of this era have a Charles Beaumont feel to them. It is interesting to compare the two authors. Both left far too few stories, ones that were light on fantastical elements, lean tight prose, and powerful meaning that are sometimes super dark. The stories in the second have are far stranger and embrace the pulpy tradition of SF.
The topics in the first half range from Twilight Zoney tales of phones that call the past to super gross stories about incest. These stories feel like Beaumont in all the ways that made his short stories amazing. Tevis has a hybrid reputation thanks to Queen’s Gambit and The Hustler and I get the feeling he was prouder of these. Two or three of the stories seem to be inspired by the very challenging relationship Tevis had with his parents, one of which is DISTURBING.

Me? I liked the second half stories a lot more. They are a cool capsule of the writer learning his craft and in a sense, they showed me exactly what I wanted to see. The seeds of the writer who he would become. Stories like the Big Bounce, The Goldbrick, and his first published story the Ifth of Oofth.
The Big Bounce is probably his most famous short story, it has been collected and reprinted several dozen times. Like many of these stories, they feature out-of-date ideas for technology. You see bits and pieces of the writer who as a 12-year boy wrote a letter to Fantastic Adventures to rate the stories. Tevis did love Science fiction since before WW2, and snooty literary readers should just enjoy it when he is totally science fictioning it up.

The Big Bounce is a classic for a reason. The story of an inventor who creates a limitless power source, well he has to figure out one tiny detail. He can’t control it. Simak had written a novel in 1952 called Ring Around the Sun that explored the idea of a limitless power source, but the big bounce is the story of an inventor that doesn’t get there…

“I was so excited by the thing that I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept dreaming of power stations, ocean liners, even automobiles, being operated by balls bouncing back and forth in cylinders.
I even worked out a spaceship in my mind, a bullet-shaped affair with a huge rubber ball on its end, gyroscopes to keep it oriented properly, the ball serving as a solution to that biggest of missile-engineering problems, excess heat. You’d build a huge concrete launching field, supported all the way down to bedrock, hop in the ship and start bouncing. Of course, it would be kind of a rough ride…
In the morning, I called my superintendent and told him to get a substitute for the rest of the week; I was going to be busy.”

It is foundational to his classic novel to come. Farnsworth the inventor is an early version of Thomas Netwon in The Man Who Fell to Earth. That said it is a bit of a satire of Science fiction. Not in laugh out loud funny way, but in witty, I see what you did there way.

One of my favorite aspects of the Goldbrick was the world-building and I think I want to comment on something said in this fantastically weird tale about an indestructible Goldbrick. In the story, the army destroys an entire mountain and still can’t destroy this brick. The reason why presents a great ending I don’t want to spoil. Again this is a funny weird concept that might not hold up to scientific eyes, but it is a just surreal SF story.

That said let's talk about this bit of world-building. Published in 1957…

“U-10 had been before the 1980s Decade of Enlightenment, the University of Tennessee – the 1980s had held no illusions what was important to the American way of life- and they landed their little olive drab plastic craft in front of the library.”

The library is everything in the 1980s because it is a time of enlightenment. Who knows if Tevis really thought in the 1980s that humanity would have it all figured out or if it was part of the satire of the story. I think it is the second option. As Tevis was at the time using his science fiction to comment on the world where he always felt out of place.

That 12-year-old who wrote to Fantastic adventures was just two years from the culture shock of moving from San Francisco to Lexington Kentucky. Science fiction was an escape. If you look at these stories as much more than that you may be missing the point.

This collection is a must-read for two groups. Those who love SF short stories and Walter Tevis completionists. It is not SF canon by any stretch but a few of the stories come close. I loved it but I love Tevis.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three of Walter Tevis' six novels (The Hustler, The Color of Money, and The Man Who Fell to Earth) were adapted into major films, but he was also known for his short stories. I was in the mood for short stories and a bit of science fiction, so I picked up Far From Home.

This collection of thirteen stories reads fast. They are all well-written, and many of them gave me food for thought because of the subjects the author touched upon. Of the thirteen, five garnered most of my attention: "Rent Control," which shows the importance of a rent-controlled apartment in New York City; "The Apotheosis of Myra," about a husband who wants to get rid of his wife (but I enjoyed it for Tevis' vision of life on another planet); what a man tries to do to his past in "Sitting in Limbo"; to what lengths governments and engineers will go in order to be rid of a small obstruction in the path of a proposed monorail in "The Goldbrick"; and "The Ifth of Oofth," a cautionary tale about messing with the fifth dimension.

This is a solid short story collection that should please anyone who enjoys well-written science fiction.

[Deborah Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the incest-themed stories, which were a little too ick, I enjoyed the collection. Tevis uses humour so delicately and well in his science fiction. In particular, "Out of Luck" was a gem; its sense of increasing paranoia and claustrophobia reads like the perfect Twilight Zone story.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walter Tevis is known mainly for the books he wrote that became films. He’s an excellent writer, even when some of the stories are pretty disturbing as they are here. I think he doesn’t get as much recognition for his scifi, but he should. Not all of these stories are excellent but they’re still really good reads. If you like his style, you’ll enjoy this book.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contains two quite good stories: "Rent Control," which is nicely snide, and "The Ifth of Oofth." In general the early stories are preferable to the later ones. All that stuff about incest and whatnot grew tiresome quickly, especially the two stories back to back that were specifically about it. Also contains some well-worn retreads..."Echo" is a pretty cornball idea, and "The Goldbrick" rather resembles (if I'm remembering right) "The Beast" by A E Van Vogt. The funny thing is, I'd thought that "The Big Bounce" was a complete ripoff of that story by Asimov that appeared in his anthology Where Do We Go From Here?...until I looked it up and saw that that WAS the story (heehee!).

Anyway, this one was a sizable disappointment to me, I must say.

[Deborah Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of book:(.

[twisted tea vs pbr lemonade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories if you can just get over the fact that Tevis was obsessed with his naked mom

[Daniel Kleven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hit and miss, as a collection of short stories can be. Some sparks of the Tevis genius, and a few duds. All fascinating, though, and some almost mindblowing. One of the greats.

[Jon Butterfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

All over the place. Some stories were interesting - a man's obsession with his girl's ex makes every person turn into that ex, etc. and some were just wrong and horribly disturbing - stories of Oedipal fantasies, for instance really aren't my thing.... Tevis excelled at using surreal plots to study human nature through a fresh paradigm, and this book is full of examples of this. As a whole, I don't really reccomend the book unless you just can't get enough Tevis - it's pretty raw stuff comparatively.

[Dave Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final volume of my complete Tevis read, An excellent collection of short stories, some old favorites from the novels appear, and many of the themes and elements from most Tevis books are present. (chess, oedipal issues, disease and loneliness, etc.) Many stories feature clever SF ideas and twists which are always fun, there is even a devil vs. lazy hedonistic writer grace note at the end. Tevis deserves more acclaim, i wish someone would make a proper production of Mockingbird.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colecção Ficção Científica da Caminho Editora

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very uneven collection. The earlier stories are very good, some of them border on being great. The last third or so, not so much. Very not so much.

[Eggp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enough, momma's boy
best keep some thoughts to yourself
leave her corpse alone.

[Jonathan Karp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A master!

A dazzling collection of stories, brilliantly imaginative, often startling and thought-provoking, always highly readable. Walter Tevis was a true phenom!

[J R Redstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. Love. This. Book.
I. Love. This. Collection. Of. Short. Stories.

My father belonged to a mail-order book-club (I forget which one), and this title came up in the catalog under "science fiction" at the time I was devouring classic science fiction faster than I could buy it. I read it cover to cover, and over the years will pick it up and re-read it. It never gets old.

This is the man who wrote The Hustler? The Man Who Fell to Earth? The Queen's Gambit? Holy tomato. Tevis was a master of a few genres, and SF was one of them.

I won't spoil any of it for you. It's an easy pick-up, and a quick read. Cover to cover creativity, smarts, humor, and wit. And in some stories, very emotional - something SF could use more of (not that you asked me, but I answered anyway as if you'd asked me. So.)

[Veronik Durocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half good. Second part is the best.

Tried that after seeing the Queen's gambit series, which I loved very much. I read that the series was really faithful to the book, so I was looking for something in that vein. The first part disappointed me a lot.

I don't care about the author's own demons, « auto psychanalysing » himself. Too much mommy issues, daddy issues, self confident sex issues, alcohol issues. I wanted to read science-fiction. Not auto-erotics stories.

So I really disliked the first part. The second, though, was classic science-fiction, which was, most of the time, really good.

So, if like me, you don't care about childhood issues, skip to the second part. If it's your cup of tea, then you'll probably enjoy it.

[Jonathan Harbour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy Walter Tevis who has a sharp wit of the sort that I really enjoy. he reminds me a lot of Heinlein and that's no surprise because there are Heinlein equips here and there. the stories were amusing and entertaining and Tevis doesn't write grandiose Indians which is one thing I like about him he just ends a story on perhaps an unexpected but not shocking note. I still got a few of his books to read and really enjoy him and looking forward to it but I'm going to pause to to read some Barbara hambly.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very imaginative, and beautifully written, but not at the same level as the novels. I’ve been trying to work out why and I think it’s because most of the stories have a more obvious point (alcoholism, satire of Freudian analysis of protagonist with parents, absurdly of much literary criticism) - all interesting enough but just a bit too obvious, whereas in Tevis’ novels there is more work for the reader to do. The JG Ballard-meets-James M Cain sci-fi noir of ‘The Apotheosis of Myra’ is the one I’ll remember best.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part One: Close to Home (later stories):

Rent Control (1979)
A Visit from Mother (1981)
Daddy (1981)
The Apotheosis of Myra (1980)
Out of Luck (1980)
Echo (1980)
Sitting in Limbo (1981)

Part Two: Far From Home (early stories):

The Other End of the Line (1961)
The Big Bounce (1958)
The Goldbrick (1957)
The Ifth of Oofth (1957)
The Scholar's Disciple (1969)
Far from Home (1958)

[K. Counihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall A Very Good Story Collection

13 stories divided by 2 parts. Part 1 Close to Home - stories 1,4,5,and 6 were very good. Part 2 Far From Home -stories 8-13 (all of part 2), were very good. Check table of contents to decode this review.

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories

Interesting variety...balancing on bizarre collaboration of just plain weird topics...this was NOT a book of frightening or paranormal material. Just, weird. Almost farce. Sorry Goodreads. Did not care for this one.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed all these short stories. All would make great Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episodes. Walters's neurosis is spread throughout. Some relate to novels. Well written, engaging, thought provoking. Worth your time to read.

[David J. Bookbinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of stories by Walter Tevis doesn't compare to the quality of his longer works, such as The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Queen's Gambit, but they are an intriguing glimpse into the mind of the man who created these novels, and also entertaining.