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Spectrum #2
Spectrum 2
Science Fiction anthology.
286 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
1 person is currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Kingsley Amis
210 books553 followersBest known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include
Lucky Jim
(1954) and
The Old Devils
(1986).
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 24, 2023
In my opinion, this second volume in the SPECTRUM series is not as good as the first one I read, which was SPECTRUM 4. There are really only a couple-three good stories, and of those only one -- Henry Kuttner's "Vintage Season" is memorable or could reasonably be called a classic. Of the rest, Wyman Guin's "Beyond Bedlam" is an overly drawn-out and rather silly tale of state-sponsored schizophrenia wherein two separate personalities live in one body. The Apple TV show SEVERANCE, on a similar theme, is better. "Bridge" by James Blish is interesting in that it is a precursor to his "Cities on Flight" series. "There is a Tide" by Brian Aldiss is an early examination of race relations with a rather stunning kicker, delivered in an offhand manner. "Second Variety" by Phil Dick is one of his early stories, but it contains seeds of his later mindwarping tales. Asimov's "The Feeling of Power" is an oft-anthologized tale of a man who rediscovers the skill of doing math on paper in a world of computers. "Sense From Thought Divide" by Mark Clifton is an attempt to quantify psi powers, but it never really gels -- at least, it didn't for me. A.E. van Vogt's "Resurrection" is basically just a super-science sort of thing, something of a leftover from the 1930s pulp era. It didn't grab me. Again, as I have said, the real stand-out here is the Kuttner tale, a story about time travelers from the future who are no better than voyeurs.
March 23, 2014
Some darn good stories are collected here, mostly from the 1950s. Surprises too!
The first surprise is that Wyman Guin's story about schizophrenic characters leading separate lives predates Philip Dick's later focus on this topic, and Guin's story is a knockout too! The tale goes far beyond Aldous Huxley's Brave new world society into a world populated by a new type of person, one that could fit into a more contemporary Rudy Rucker meatie world. It's society under examination, not individuals per se, and for that reason the story has more in common with Huxley than with Rucker or Dick.
PKD's story, on the other hand is technological, and the surprise to me was that it's the story that the film Screamers (with Peter Weller) was later based on. The story differs quite a bit from the film spawned from it, but the essence is the same.
James Blish's piece is terrific, and shows how clear his vision was before he took to writing Star Trek episode encapsulations.
Brian W. Aldiss's piece raised the science fiction bar to a level where environmental ethics are confronted. It's a doozy.
Asimov was clever, if a bit droll; I can't remember the Clifton... van Vogt was good, and Moore was darned interesting but proceeded quite slowly.
The first surprise is that Wyman Guin's story about schizophrenic characters leading separate lives predates Philip Dick's later focus on this topic, and Guin's story is a knockout too! The tale goes far beyond Aldous Huxley's Brave new world society into a world populated by a new type of person, one that could fit into a more contemporary Rudy Rucker meatie world. It's society under examination, not individuals per se, and for that reason the story has more in common with Huxley than with Rucker or Dick.
PKD's story, on the other hand is technological, and the surprise to me was that it's the story that the film Screamers (with Peter Weller) was later based on. The story differs quite a bit from the film spawned from it, but the essence is the same.
James Blish's piece is terrific, and shows how clear his vision was before he took to writing Star Trek episode encapsulations.
Brian W. Aldiss's piece raised the science fiction bar to a level where environmental ethics are confronted. It's a doozy.
Asimov was clever, if a bit droll; I can't remember the Clifton... van Vogt was good, and Moore was darned interesting but proceeded quite slowly.
July 7, 2009
Great collection of stories. Highlights include Philip K Dick's "Second Variety;" if the Wachowskis did NOT read this before writing the Matrix, I'll eat my hat. Asimov's story was a fun little comment on reliance on computers (I'll admit, I pull out my calculator to do all but the most basic of arithmetic). "Resurrection" by AE Van Vogt and "Vintage Season" by Hentry Kuttner were both fairly chilling and thought-provoking.
July 28, 2015
From the days of classic Sci-Fi.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews