The Science Fiction of Mark Clifton

Alternatives

by Mark Clifton, Barry N. Malzberg (Editor)

This collection of the best short stories of Mark Clifton makes these fine tales readily available for the first time in two decades.

Contents:
What Have I Done? (1952)
Star, Bright (1952)
Crazy Joey (1953) with Alex Apostolides
What Thin Partitions (1953) with Alex Apostolides
Sense from Thought Divide (1955)
How Allied (1957)
Remembrance and Reflection (1958)
Hide! Hide! Witch! (1953) with Alex Apostolides
Clerical Error (1956)
What Now, Little Man? (1959)
Hang Head, Vandal! (1962)

Genres: Science Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 1980

About the author

Mark Irwin Clifton (1906 - Nov. 1963) was an American science fiction writer. Clifton began publishing in May of 1952 with the often anthologized story "What Have I Done?".

Most of his work fits into one of two series. The "Bossy" sequence was written alone, and in collaboration with both Alex Apostolides and Frank Riley. The "Ralph Kennedy" series, which is lighter in tone, was mostly written solo, including the novel "When They Come From Space", although there was one collaboration with Apostolides.

Clifton gained his greatest success with his novel They'd Rather Be Right (a.k.a. The Forever Machine), co-written with Riley, which was serialized in Astounding in 1954 and went on to win the Hugo Award, perhaps the most contentious novel ever to win the award.

Clifton is also known today for his short story "Star, Bright", his first of three appearances in Horace Gold's Galaxy (July 1952), about a super-intelligent toddler with psi abilities. From Clifton's correspondence we know that Gold "editorially savaged" the story, which appeared in severely truncated or altered form. The story has been compared favorably to Kuttner and Moore's "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", which was published in Astounding nine years earlier.

Clifton worked as a personnel manager during his life and interviewed close to 100,000 people. This experience formed much of Clifton's attitude about the delusions people entertain of themselves, but also the greatness of which they are capable.

Reviews

[Kevin Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Clifton is primarily - and unfortunately - known for the "worst Hugo book" They'd Rather Be Right . The editors of this book think he was a better short story writer than a novelist, and I agree, although I didn't find this book revelatory. The last few stories of Clifton's career are the best; partly this is because his writing skills improved over the years, but partly because he finally stopped writing about ESP and other psi powers. He seems to have believed in psi, and in that light They'd Rather Be Right comes off as a manifesto. Clifton could believe whatever he liked, but this tended to narrow his work; far too many of his stories are about how the stodgy scientific establishment can't come out of its "framework" to understand psi. If you are interested in Clifton, read the last three or four stories in this book (for the good) and They'd Rather Be Right (for the not so good).

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of a little-known science fiction author from just after the Golden Age and during the last gasp of the pulps such as "Astounding Science Fiction" and "Amazing Stories". His gig was as a personnel director where he reportedly met 100,000 people in interviews. This matters to his writing because not only is this Science Fiction it is Human Resources Science Fiction where the main character evaluates characters in a single bound.

Within the Human Resources Sci-Fi subgenre he deals with what happens when you have employees who have psi powers such as TK and telepathy, or employees with a hive mind, or how to deal with finding out who is a good fit on a terraformed planet. His writing is a bit wordy (hey, paid by the word!) sometimes, but it is rarely cringeworthy like some of the oldies can be. I wouldn't seek this out unless you are really interested in delving into the depths of old sci-fi. I came across this at the NeglectedBooks.com website where I occasionally dip into the stacks.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was in junior high, I came across an old Galaxy magazine and it had the story "Star, Bright." It always stuck in my mind and I decided to try to find it. Of course, I eventually did find it and reread it along with the other stories in this book. I really enjoyed these stories and, honestly, can't believe how timely and relevant a few of them are. Take this (a scientist explaining how a politician and scientist are different): "The scientist states again and again that saying a thing is true will not make it true...For often the politician says a thing with such a positive strength of confidence that the people begin operating in a framework of its truth and so implement it that it does become true." Hmmm - does that remind you of anyone?

[Mark Tier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Re-read it many times. Mark Clifton is one of my favorite SF authors

[Lynn Calvin]

Fictionwise multiformat ebook

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

What Have I Done?