Time to Come

by August Derleth (Editor), Ross Rocklynne, Robert Sheckley

These essays and reviews have been selected from work by a practising Science Fiction (SF) writer produced during a decade in which the stuff of SF became part of everyday life. The subject matter of this collection is varied, but displays from Jones' stance as a practising SF writer and a feminist - the writing is imbued by both an incisive engagement with the texts and a refusal to dress that engagement in jargon. In the first section, "All Science is Description", Jones begins with "Deconstructing the Starships", in which she examines some of the relationships between the features of the SF genre and modern literary theory. Other essays in this section look at the function of realism and language in SF, and examine the work of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The second section, entitled "Science, Fiction and Reality" opens with a look at post-cyberpunk and the experience of consciousness with special reference to Pat Cadigan. Jones also illuminates her own fiction through her reading of a biology textbook on sexual differnetiation. The third section comprises long reviews which examine the work of, among others, Sarah Lefanu, Ursula Le Guin, Wiliam Gibson and Nancy Kress.


1 • Butch - (1954) - Poul Anderson
29 • The Pause - (1954) - Isaac Asimov
43 • Keeper of the Dream - (1954) - Charles Beaumont
53 • No Morning After - (1954) - Arthur C. Clarke
61 • The Blight - (1954) - Arthur Jean Cox [as by Arthur J. Cox]
89 • Hole in the Sky - (1954) - Irving E. Cox, Jr. [as by Irving Cox, Jr.]
109 • Jon's World - (1954) - Philip K. Dick
145 • The White Pinnacle - (1954) - Carl Jacobi
165 • Winner Take All - (1954) - Ross Rocklynne
187 • Paradise II - (1954) - Robert Sheckley
203 • Phoenix - (1954) - Clark Ashton Smith
215 • BAXBR/DAXBR - (1954) - Evelyn E. Smith

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Anthologies

311 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cosmic Horror genre, as well as his founding of the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK), Derleth was a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography

A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augus...]

Reviews

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

TIME TO COME is a sci-fi anthology from August Derleth, the author and editor best known for his championing of Lovecraft and the WEIRD TALES crew. I found this collection far weaker than his better-known horror fare, even though it contains a number of hugely famous authors from the sci-fi genre. Their work collected here tends to be acceptable rather than electric.

Robert Sheckley's PARADISE II is a case in point, a promising story with a planet full of skeletons that finishes abruptly just as it gets going. Clark Ashton Smith's PHOENIX is next up, sci-fi rather than the usual fantasy from this author; he's not quite as comfortable here, although there are some passages of his trademark lyrical beauty to make up for it. Poul Anderson's BUTCH is a joke story about an alien being interrogated and an unusual method employed to get it to talk, and I didn't care much for it.

THE PAUSE is by Isaac Asimov and involves radiation scientists and an unusual situation they find themselves in; it has a good idea but no real development or ending. Charles Beaumont's KEEPER OF THE DREAM is another version of the 'moral dilemma' story with a clever ending, although the whole thing is quite slight. Arthur C. Clarke's NO MORNING AFTER is a good one, a blackly comic fable about aliens contacting Earth to warn of impending destruction, but with unexpected results, but HOLE IN THE SKY sees Irving Cox, Jr. floundering with an unwieldy mix of tribal magic and astronomic sci-fi.

JON'S WORLD sees Philip K. Dick exploring the classic 'butterfly effect' principle of time travel with solid if unspectacular results. Then we have one of the best stories here, Carl Jacobi's THE WHITE PINNACLE. Astronauts exploring an alien planet find some weird doppelgangers with deadly results, and it's unsettling stuff for sure. The final story is another slight jokey one; WINNER TAKE ALL sees Ross Rocklynne writing of an astronaut trying to make an intergalactic deal with a race of weird aliens. I queried the point.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any anthology of short stories, some of these are better than others. This mass market paperback edition contained 10 of the 12 stories that the hardbound edition had. My personal favorite was the time travel story, "Jon's World" by Philip K. Dick, which takes place several hundred years in the future after a nuclear war fought with robots in its later phases, mostly destroys the earth and the only survivors are those who fled to the moon. Two scientists, Ryan and Kastner, have developed a time machine and they want to go back to retrieve the work of a scientist named Schonerman which had been lost but which they felt would help them develop robots/ artificial intelligence. Gee, what could go wrong???

Other stories in this collection were by Robert Sheckley, Clark Ashton Smith, Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Charles Beaumont, Arthur C. Clarke, Irving Cox, Jr., Carl Jacobi and Ross Rocklynne.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated, of course, but still entertaining. As an avid crossword puzzler i was especially delighted by Evelyn E. Smith's whimsical Baxbr Daxbr where a crossword puzzle maker fails to prevent the invasion of Earth. I am going to search out more of her work, and am pleased I accidentally have one of her few scifi novels in my collection, "The Perfect Planet"

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 3/4 stars

[Alien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die großen Namen in dieser Anthologie wie Asimov, Anderson, Clarke enttäuschen eher. Am besten gefielen mir die Zeitreisestory von P.K. Dick und die mit Mängeln behaftete aber doch schöne Story von Clark Ashton Smith.
Geärgert hat mich, dass der Heyne-Verlag mal wieder die deutsche Ausgabe bös verstümmelt hat. Es fehlen nicht weniger als 5 (!) Stories des Originals.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somany interesting short stories!