Beyond Tomorrow

by Damon Knight (Editor), Alan E. Nourse (Contributor), Robert A. Heinlein (Contributor)

Includes:
The Million-Year Picnic (1946) by Ray Bradbury
The Deep Range (1955) by Arthur C. Clarke
Coventry [Future History] (1940) by Robert A. Heinlein
Brightside Crossing (1956) by Alan E. Nourse
The Seesaw [Weapon Shops of Isher] (1941) by A. E. van Vogt
Nightfall (1941) by Isaac Asimov
Twilight (1934) by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by Don A. Stuart]
Desertion [City] (1944) by Clifford D. Simak
The Mile-Long Spaceship (1957) by Kate Wilhelm
Happy Ending (1948) by Henry Kuttner.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1965

About the author

Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic.
Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941. He is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife Kate Wilhelm.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite anthologies of classic science fiction. It includes a very good planetary-adventure story by Alan E. Nourse set on Mercury, The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke which shows his love of the ocean and that not all of his best work was set off-planet, a classic piece of Robert A. Heinlein's future history, a very good Kate Wilhelm story, The Seesaw by A.E. van Vogt which is another classic, Isaac Asimov's signature work Nightfall, a selection from Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, a story from Clifford D. Simak's City, one of John W. Campbell's "big thought" works, Twilight, published as by Don A. Stuart, and the book concludes, quite fittingly, with Henry Kuttner's Happy Ending. It's a nice balance of the best known works and authors with a few Knight wanted to introduce to a wider audience, and serves as a good introduction to some of the best worlds in the field at the time.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this book. It is a set of science fiction short stories set in the deep future. All bar one are good bedtime reads. The exception is a little long to be read in one night, but comfortably fits into two. It's hard to discern the problems of the deep future, other than that they all seem quite human, really.

We expect that a proliferation of technology will ease our condition. In many ways, it does. But some things don't change. Our relationships with each other, our relationships with the technology itself, thins not always going quite the way we want them to. All of this gives enough dramatic tension to populate a story line.

The set of writers in the book are quite accomplished. Of course, I am juding this from their later achievements. Not all of them were as well known when the book was published as they are today. I do wonder if the benefit of hindsight has influenced that way in which I approached these stories? Could it be that their later reputations led me to give them a favourable hearing at the outset? I can't really answer that question other than to acknowledge the potential for bias.

This is a book that you are not going to find anywhere other than second-hand bookshops. It went out of print years ago. I only found it by accident as I was killing some time in a town centre. I would encourage that as an activity because it can throw up some real gems from time to time. This is one of them.

[Morgan Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cool collection of old sci-fi stories. They weren't allllll winners, but a lot of them had cool, unique twists.

If I'm recalling correctly, these were my favorites (in order of appearance in the anthology): brightside crossing, coventry, the seesaw, and happy ending.

[David Teague · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do have a soft spot for old science fiction anthologies. Some of the ones in this collection look forward to the dizzying future of the 1990's, they themselves were first published in the 1940's and 1950's.

There is a fair bit of variety in in Beyond Tomorrow, but the stand -out quality for me is the innocent charm of many of the stories. These are from the "Golden Age" of science fiction, when many of the conventions and sub-genres of sci-fi were coalescing around certain "rules" in terms of content and style.

This innocence and the range of imagination on display might be seen as escapism after the horrors of WW2, when flying bombs and the reality of atomic weapons changed the world.

Two of the outstanding stories for me are Simak's "Desertion", which has a surprise ending, and Don A Stuarts's (aka John W Campbell) vividly imagined "Twilight". The best sci-fi from any era can introduce striking ideas that stay with me for a long time, and I think these two stories will prove to be memorable for me.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten collection of short stories from the great science fiction authors.

*Brightside Crossing Alan E. Nourse
*The Deep Range Arthur C. Clarke
*Coventry Robert A. Heinlein
*The Mile-Long Spaceship Kate Wilhelm
*The Seesaw A. E. van Vogt
*Nightfall Isaac Asimov
*The Million-Year Picnic Ray Bradbury
*Desertion Clifford D. Simok
*Twilight Don A. Stuart
*Happy Ending Henry Kuttner

I enjoyed reading the Coventry, The Seesaw, Nightfall, and The Million Year-Picnic. What so good about these tales was, it guesses about man's plausible future. As if heading for an adventure ahead of your time.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the anthology that got me hooked on written science fiction. It introduced me to Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, and Simak.

[Mike Drinkard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful group of tales from some great familiar names in science fiction. Not a dud in the group but one story stands out; Desertion by Clifford Simak. He authored one of my favorite reads in recent years (Way Station) and this short story still has me grinning. It’s worth the price of admission but there’s lots to like in this anthology.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated only for "Happy Ending," a cute story by C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner (which is available free on Project Gutenberg).

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aside from the great introduction, this was pretty weak. "The Deep Range" (Clarke) and "Nightfall" (Asimov) were good but can be found in deeper collections.

I found "Desertion" (Clifford Simak) to be a highlight among the stories by lesser-known authors, but the rest read like pretty standard 40's/50's space adventure and/or gadget stories, which I'm not really into.

[Ronald]

possibly read in winter 1967