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Two Tales and Eight Tomorrows
Harry Harrison's startling visions of the future reveal not only his abilities as a storyteller but also his deep concern for Man and his place in the cosmos.
The Streets of Ashkelon is a poignant and terrifying look at an alien race which believes everything it is told - and at the horrific consequences of what happens when it hears the Christian message.
I Always Do What Teddy Says is a frightening glimpse at the possibility of mass mind control from childhood. But why is one person spared?
These two stories and eight equally tantalizing others make up this brilliant anthology...
The Streets of Ashkelon is a poignant and terrifying look at an alien race which believes everything it is told - and at the horrific consequences of what happens when it hears the Christian message.
I Always Do What Teddy Says is a frightening glimpse at the possibility of mass mind control from childhood. But why is one person spared?
These two stories and eight equally tantalizing others make up this brilliant anthology...
157 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
1 person is currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Harry Harrison
1,293 books1,043 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 25, 2025
A sense of wry cynicism pervades these creative adventure stories. Pulp fun for macho moralists. A little inconsistent overall but entertaining and well written. Harrison’s often bleak worldview has a certain, no-nonsense charm.
May 23, 2013
A collection of short and simple stories. Kinda reminded me of Outer Limits/Twilight Zone episodes. If you like those you'll probably like these stories.
April 20, 2014
A lot of great short stories.
I particularly love Streets of Ashkelon. It's one of those stories with a poignant punch, executed brilliantly.
I particularly love Streets of Ashkelon. It's one of those stories with a poignant punch, executed brilliantly.
March 19, 2024
Not a bad collection at all. "The Streets of Ashkelon" was definitely the best in the collection, just an amazing story. Most of the rest were good, but not overly memorable. "Unto My Manifold Dooms" was probably the best of those, just a really chilling, believable story. "Final Encounter" was great as well, it'd have just been better if it wasn't for the old sci-fi misogyny of having a female character whose only purpose is to cry and make the men appear rugged. But it had a great ending, probably the most emotional in the collection.
May 2, 2020
Strong collection of inventive stories that quickly get you "into" the action. My favorites were "Rescue Operation," "Captain Bedlam," and "Unto My Manifold Dooms."
The only fault I could find was mostly generational--Harrison's occasional tendency to "lecture the species" wasn't uncommon among sci-fi writers of his era. "The Streets of Ashkelon," while overall an engaging tale, essentially tells readers that religion is superstitious and makes people do bad things. "Final Encounter" isn't quite as egregious in its "we are all one" messaging. I do think that the more humorous "Captain Honario Harpplayer, R.N." does a gentler job of reminding us of our human foibles.
Aspiring writers would benefit from reading these stories to study Harrison's efficient style, and how he explores common themes in stories that are incredibly different from one another--across nations, space, and time.
The only fault I could find was mostly generational--Harrison's occasional tendency to "lecture the species" wasn't uncommon among sci-fi writers of his era. "The Streets of Ashkelon," while overall an engaging tale, essentially tells readers that religion is superstitious and makes people do bad things. "Final Encounter" isn't quite as egregious in its "we are all one" messaging. I do think that the more humorous "Captain Honario Harpplayer, R.N." does a gentler job of reminding us of our human foibles.
Aspiring writers would benefit from reading these stories to study Harrison's efficient style, and how he explores common themes in stories that are incredibly different from one another--across nations, space, and time.
November 4, 2021
Continuing my goal to read every Harry Harrison book, I settled on this early collection of short stories.
As you'd expect it's a mixed bag, but one thing I always find is that short stories tend to be author's outlet for their darker and more unusual ideas. This was certainly the case again here. There are 10 stories here. I'd say 2 are very good and one outstanding (The Streets of Ashkelon is a classic) but 6 or 7 are of the darker variety and one is a satire on Horatio Hornblower with a science fiction twist!
As always, with Harrison, they are beautifully written, but I would only read this if you are a Harrison devotee. Otherwise there are better furrows to plough.
As you'd expect it's a mixed bag, but one thing I always find is that short stories tend to be author's outlet for their darker and more unusual ideas. This was certainly the case again here. There are 10 stories here. I'd say 2 are very good and one outstanding (The Streets of Ashkelon is a classic) but 6 or 7 are of the darker variety and one is a satire on Horatio Hornblower with a science fiction twist!
As always, with Harrison, they are beautifully written, but I would only read this if you are a Harrison devotee. Otherwise there are better furrows to plough.
July 11, 2022
A standard collection of SF, rather than a stand-out. Nothing wrong with that, a perfectly entertaining collection of the sort of stories that made up about 90% of the Good Stuff back in the 1960s. The one exception is The Streets of Ashkelon, perhaps Harrison's best ever short story, which had a huge effect on me as a kid and still hasn't lost the power to shock. If you haven't read that one (and if not, why not? It must be one of the most republished SF short stories ever written), buy the whole book for it.
February 23, 2025
I had forgotten I had this book, until I saw a copy of the cover in a picture.
I lost a couple of hundred books in that flood and didn't bother recording/replacing them so every so often I see/remember a book I had and add it onto Goodreads.
Without the actual book to flick through I usually cant remember much about it, which is the case here.
I'm fairly certain I first read The Streets of Ashkelon in here and HH's short stories were usually enjoyable so it seems fair to rate it a 3*
I lost a couple of hundred books in that flood and didn't bother recording/replacing them so every so often I see/remember a book I had and add it onto Goodreads.
Without the actual book to flick through I usually cant remember much about it, which is the case here.
I'm fairly certain I first read The Streets of Ashkelon in here and HH's short stories were usually enjoyable so it seems fair to rate it a 3*
December 29, 2024
*Terrific, provocative tales of outer-
*Worldly imagination from the very first story
*Onwards...
*Executed
*Impressively by one of SF's
*Grandmasters:
*Harry Harrison. This brings my
*Twenty-twenty-four reading year to a numerically synchronized end (28 fully-read books with this last one titled TWO TALES AND EIGHT TOMORROWS 😉).
*Worldly imagination from the very first story
*Onwards...
*Executed
*Impressively by one of SF's
*Grandmasters:
*Harry Harrison. This brings my
*Twenty-twenty-four reading year to a numerically synchronized end (28 fully-read books with this last one titled TWO TALES AND EIGHT TOMORROWS 😉).
November 23, 2024
*3.5 stars*. Intriguing collection of short stories. “The Streets of Ashkelon” is rather terrifying and sad and one of the best stories in the collection. I’m interested in reading something else from Harry Harrison-he has an interesting outlook on mankind in the Cosmos.
January 25, 2025
Many of Harry Harrison's stories, especially his novels, have plenty of humour. These stories are darker, more thoughtful. Asking some very deep questions of the reader. Although written many years ago, some of those questions are still very relevant.
October 11, 2021
Each story varies.. each one is brilliant.. one of his best short story books
October 18, 2021
These were quick and enjoyable reads about various scifi themes- other planets, alien contact, new technology, etc. My favorite was about an accidental crash landing of an alien explorer in the Adriatic on the Balkan coast!
The stories were mostly interesting, though some definitely had that weird misogynistic “boy’s club” vibe of classic scifi, which makes sense because this was written in the 1960s but thank god it is outdated now.
A small thing, but I also actually really liked the book’s introduction, which was done by another scifi author from the same era. He describes this author’s writing style very well.
The stories were mostly interesting, though some definitely had that weird misogynistic “boy’s club” vibe of classic scifi, which makes sense because this was written in the 1960s but thank god it is outdated now.
A small thing, but I also actually really liked the book’s introduction, which was done by another scifi author from the same era. He describes this author’s writing style very well.
June 20, 2014
Listened to "Final Encounter" and "Unto My Manifold Dooms".
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews