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First Flight: Maiden Voyages in Space and Time
First published stories by SF masters. Introduction by Damon KnightThe Isolinguals by L. Sprague de CampThe Faithful by Lester del ReyBlack Destroyer by A. E. van VogtLife-Line by Robert A. HeinleinEther Breather by Theodore SturgeonLoophole by Arthur C. ClarkeTomorrow's Children by Poul AndersonThat Only a Mother by Judith MerrilWalk to the World by Algis BudrysT by Brian W. Aldiss
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
63 people want to read
About the author
Damon Knight
580 books97 followersDamon 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 12, 2017
surprisingly solid. something about the writing style of old science fiction sometimes gets to me, but it wasn't so bad here - maybe because they're so short. also i definitely didn't expect all of these people to have such good first ever stories. i guess it turns out they're literary heroes for a reason!
February 22, 2018
Now Begins Tomorrow is a basket of fresh fruit.
March 29, 2014
This fascinating paperback presents the first printed stories from some of the most famous names in the genre. The majority of them appeared in John W Campbell’s ‘Astounding ‘ with the exception of the Merrill & Aldiss stories which were published in ‘Space Science Fiction’ and ‘Nebula Science Fiction’ respectively.
Knight has arranged the stories chronologically so that we see not only the chosen author’s first published story but also a rough overview of the development of the SF short form (in particular the Astounding story) and the growing level of depth and sophistication over almost twenty years. Unsurprisingly, there is only one woman represented, since the sexism which was immanent within the publishing houses and the literary texts themselves did not begin to break down until the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties, at least in the US.
Many of the stories feature no females at all, and of those that do, they appear as only minor characters, such as Mrs Garfinkle in ‘The Isolinguals’ or the doomed young wife in ‘Life Line’.
‘The Isolinguals’ – L Sprague de Camp (Astounding 1937)
‘The Faithful’ – Lester Del Rey (Astounding 1938)
‘Black Destroyer’ - AE Van Vogt (Astounding 1939)
‘Life-Line’ – Robert E Heinlein (Astounding 1939)
‘Ether Breather’ – Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding 1939)
‘Loophole’ – Arthur C Clarke (Astounding 1946)
‘Tomorrow’s Children’ – Poul Anderson (Astounding 1947)
‘That Only A Mother’ – Judith Merrill (Astounding 1948)
‘Walk To The World’ – Algys Budris (Space Science Fiction 1952)
‘T’ – Brian Aldiss (Nebula Science Fiction 1956)
‘The Isolinguals’ – L Sprague de Camp (Astounding 1937) is a compact and humourous tale of an outbreak of genetic race memory. The people of New York are unaccountably struck with a strange malaise in that they begin to be possessed by the memories of their ancestors. An engineering officer of the XXXIInd legion of Rome finds himself in the body of a fruit vendor, a package dispatcher becomes a sergeant in Cromwell’s army, Mrs Garfinkle – a new York native, suddenly starts talking in the language of the ancient Goths, and the numbers of the affected are rising dramatically.
The logical thing happens of course in that people from the same era who speak the same language begin to band together into gangs of isolinguals.
Professor Lindsley and his son-in-law Pierre solve the mystery, which turns out to be a dastardly scheme by an extreme right-wing would-be dictator, which, in 1937 would have been a bit of a topical element.
‘The Faithful’ – Lester Del Rey (Astounding 1938) is a pastoral, somewhat romantic tale redolent of the work of Clifford D Simak who published stories based on a similar premise in Astounding which were fixed up as ‘City’.
Men have surgically and biologically modified dogs, increasing their intelligence and awareness, but shortly afterwards have destroyed themselves with war and biological weaponry.
Hungor Beowulf XIV sets out to collect the dogs together and they embark on a quest to find any men that remain. The last human, who is fighting off the plague with the help of longevity drugs, is discovered and leads the dogs to Africa where they find similarly engineered apes who become the hands of the dogs and ultimately, the dogs hope, will replace Man as their masters.
‘Black Destroyer’ - AE Van Vogt (Astounding 1939) is probably Van Vogt’s best-known story and is often touted as the original inspiration behind ‘Alien’.
On the barren single planet of a star nine-hundred light years from its nearest neighbour, an Earth scientific expedition is discovered by one of the last remnants of an intelligent race, the Coeurl.
The Coeurl – desperate for the scarce and life-giving phosphorus which it drains from its victims – pretends to be harmless, but betrays itself as an intelligent being.
The most interesting aspect of this story is the discussion between the scientists in which they pool their expertise in order to deduce the nature of the beast.
By logical deduction (the rational man of logic is a frequent protagonist in Van Vogt novels) they deduce that the creature is not a descendant of the builders of the abandoned city, but one of its former residents, and therefore highly intelligent and practically immortal.
The story was later revised and expanded in order to comprise the first few chapters of Van Vogt’s fix-up novel ‘Voyage of The Space Beagle’. The rather inhuman ending of the original story, in which the crew plan to return and exterminate the Coeurl race is amended to a decision where the creatures are left to their own fate, presumably to die out from lack of essential phosphorus. It was not, however, a humane decision as much as one which presumably allowed the ship to continue its journey to other worlds unimpeded.
In ‘Life-Line’ – Robert E Heinlein (Astounding 1939) Heinlein grasps the opportunity to take a side-swipe at the scientific community who refuse to believe that Dr Pinero has developed a process by which he can measure a man’s lifeline, i.e. the length of his existence in the temporal dimension, and thus predict the date of his death. Heinlein explores the logical extrapolation of this, in that insurance companies, whose existence depends on statistical probabilities of mortality rather than certainties, would go out of business.
The actual science or mechanics of the process in unimportant, and indeed, Pinero refuses to discuss the nature of his invention. The notion forces one to ask oneself questions, such as ‘Do you really want to know the exact date and time of your death?’
‘Ether Breather’ – Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding 1939) is a slight but humourous tale in which mentalities who can perceive and manipulate wavelengths begin to interfere with experimental colour TV transmissions. Although the story, seen from our perspective in an age where Colour TV is a reality, seems somewhat dated, the characterisation and dialogue is excellent and even today says a lot about the attitude of Americans regarding what they find acceptable for broadcast.
Arthur C Clarke’s ‘Loophole’ (Astounding 1946) is an interesting example of a story written in the form of communications between individuals, in this case between High Level Martian officials, concerned as to Humanity’s recent developments in atomic power.
Unusually for Clarke, the solution is one of decisive military action which destroys the Martian civilisation threatening the Earth and seems at odds with his later, more pacifist work.
Another example of this literary technique (with a much cleverer twist ending) is AE Van Vogt’s ‘Dear Pen Pal’
Poul Anderson’s ‘Tomorrow’s Children’ (Astounding 1947) is the first of two consecutive stories which reflects America’s then paranoia of the consequences of Nuclear war and the ethics of dealing with Human Mutation. It is interesting to contrast this story – which is a male-perspective overview of the possible future of society as a whole - with the following story by Judith Merrill which focuses on one woman’s experience of pregnancy and childbirth in a world suffering from radiation poisoning, although both stories pose the question of whether mutation affects the integrity of the Human Race.
Judith Merrill’s ‘That Only A Mother’ (Astounding 1948) gives us a very personal and moving account of a mother’s story from late pregnancy (in a time of atomic radiation) through to childbirth and beyond, interspersed with correspondence to her husband, on active service in the Armed Services.
The daughter is a prodigy and learns to talk at an early age but it is only when the father eventually arrives home on leave that the true state of affairs is discovered.
It is refreshing to finally see a female perspective, and indeed a main female character, and particularly within the pages of ‘Astounding’.
Interestingly, Merrill seems to imply that fathers would not be so accepting of their mutant children as Anderson suggest, rather optimistically, in his tale.
Walk To The World – Algis Budrys (Space Science Fiction 1952) is another pastoral tale, this time of wanderlust, told by a the son of a retired Space Captain, now running a farm on a colony world.
It’s notable for its vivid and detailed descriptions of the characters involved, and though superficially a simple tale, is actually a fairly complex portrait of a man’s relationship with his wife, his son and his home as well as ultimately questioning the American way of doing things. It’s a subtle piece, well-written and again redolent of the work of Simak.
Brian Aldiss’ ‘T’ (Nebula Science Fiction 1956) is, surprisingly, rather weak in its premise, although very creatively constructed and well-written.
The denizens of another galaxy have seen Man spread out to colonise our own galaxy and now are invading theirs, so they create a fleet of twelve ships containing genetically-engineered beings (composed of merely an arm and a simple brain) which are sent off on a path back through Time and Space to destroy Earth before Man has even evolved.
Due to an elementary error on the part of the aliens, the wrong planet is destroyed and Earth is left to evolve as destined.
Although simplistic, the concept of the ships and their guiding hands are creatively and ingeniously conceived and described and foretell some of the brilliance and originality of Aldiss’ later work.
Knight has arranged the stories chronologically so that we see not only the chosen author’s first published story but also a rough overview of the development of the SF short form (in particular the Astounding story) and the growing level of depth and sophistication over almost twenty years. Unsurprisingly, there is only one woman represented, since the sexism which was immanent within the publishing houses and the literary texts themselves did not begin to break down until the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties, at least in the US.
Many of the stories feature no females at all, and of those that do, they appear as only minor characters, such as Mrs Garfinkle in ‘The Isolinguals’ or the doomed young wife in ‘Life Line’.
‘The Isolinguals’ – L Sprague de Camp (Astounding 1937)
‘The Faithful’ – Lester Del Rey (Astounding 1938)
‘Black Destroyer’ - AE Van Vogt (Astounding 1939)
‘Life-Line’ – Robert E Heinlein (Astounding 1939)
‘Ether Breather’ – Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding 1939)
‘Loophole’ – Arthur C Clarke (Astounding 1946)
‘Tomorrow’s Children’ – Poul Anderson (Astounding 1947)
‘That Only A Mother’ – Judith Merrill (Astounding 1948)
‘Walk To The World’ – Algys Budris (Space Science Fiction 1952)
‘T’ – Brian Aldiss (Nebula Science Fiction 1956)
‘The Isolinguals’ – L Sprague de Camp (Astounding 1937) is a compact and humourous tale of an outbreak of genetic race memory. The people of New York are unaccountably struck with a strange malaise in that they begin to be possessed by the memories of their ancestors. An engineering officer of the XXXIInd legion of Rome finds himself in the body of a fruit vendor, a package dispatcher becomes a sergeant in Cromwell’s army, Mrs Garfinkle – a new York native, suddenly starts talking in the language of the ancient Goths, and the numbers of the affected are rising dramatically.
The logical thing happens of course in that people from the same era who speak the same language begin to band together into gangs of isolinguals.
Professor Lindsley and his son-in-law Pierre solve the mystery, which turns out to be a dastardly scheme by an extreme right-wing would-be dictator, which, in 1937 would have been a bit of a topical element.
‘The Faithful’ – Lester Del Rey (Astounding 1938) is a pastoral, somewhat romantic tale redolent of the work of Clifford D Simak who published stories based on a similar premise in Astounding which were fixed up as ‘City’.
Men have surgically and biologically modified dogs, increasing their intelligence and awareness, but shortly afterwards have destroyed themselves with war and biological weaponry.
Hungor Beowulf XIV sets out to collect the dogs together and they embark on a quest to find any men that remain. The last human, who is fighting off the plague with the help of longevity drugs, is discovered and leads the dogs to Africa where they find similarly engineered apes who become the hands of the dogs and ultimately, the dogs hope, will replace Man as their masters.
‘Black Destroyer’ - AE Van Vogt (Astounding 1939) is probably Van Vogt’s best-known story and is often touted as the original inspiration behind ‘Alien’.
On the barren single planet of a star nine-hundred light years from its nearest neighbour, an Earth scientific expedition is discovered by one of the last remnants of an intelligent race, the Coeurl.
The Coeurl – desperate for the scarce and life-giving phosphorus which it drains from its victims – pretends to be harmless, but betrays itself as an intelligent being.
The most interesting aspect of this story is the discussion between the scientists in which they pool their expertise in order to deduce the nature of the beast.
By logical deduction (the rational man of logic is a frequent protagonist in Van Vogt novels) they deduce that the creature is not a descendant of the builders of the abandoned city, but one of its former residents, and therefore highly intelligent and practically immortal.
The story was later revised and expanded in order to comprise the first few chapters of Van Vogt’s fix-up novel ‘Voyage of The Space Beagle’. The rather inhuman ending of the original story, in which the crew plan to return and exterminate the Coeurl race is amended to a decision where the creatures are left to their own fate, presumably to die out from lack of essential phosphorus. It was not, however, a humane decision as much as one which presumably allowed the ship to continue its journey to other worlds unimpeded.
In ‘Life-Line’ – Robert E Heinlein (Astounding 1939) Heinlein grasps the opportunity to take a side-swipe at the scientific community who refuse to believe that Dr Pinero has developed a process by which he can measure a man’s lifeline, i.e. the length of his existence in the temporal dimension, and thus predict the date of his death. Heinlein explores the logical extrapolation of this, in that insurance companies, whose existence depends on statistical probabilities of mortality rather than certainties, would go out of business.
The actual science or mechanics of the process in unimportant, and indeed, Pinero refuses to discuss the nature of his invention. The notion forces one to ask oneself questions, such as ‘Do you really want to know the exact date and time of your death?’
‘Ether Breather’ – Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding 1939) is a slight but humourous tale in which mentalities who can perceive and manipulate wavelengths begin to interfere with experimental colour TV transmissions. Although the story, seen from our perspective in an age where Colour TV is a reality, seems somewhat dated, the characterisation and dialogue is excellent and even today says a lot about the attitude of Americans regarding what they find acceptable for broadcast.
Arthur C Clarke’s ‘Loophole’ (Astounding 1946) is an interesting example of a story written in the form of communications between individuals, in this case between High Level Martian officials, concerned as to Humanity’s recent developments in atomic power.
Unusually for Clarke, the solution is one of decisive military action which destroys the Martian civilisation threatening the Earth and seems at odds with his later, more pacifist work.
Another example of this literary technique (with a much cleverer twist ending) is AE Van Vogt’s ‘Dear Pen Pal’
Poul Anderson’s ‘Tomorrow’s Children’ (Astounding 1947) is the first of two consecutive stories which reflects America’s then paranoia of the consequences of Nuclear war and the ethics of dealing with Human Mutation. It is interesting to contrast this story – which is a male-perspective overview of the possible future of society as a whole - with the following story by Judith Merrill which focuses on one woman’s experience of pregnancy and childbirth in a world suffering from radiation poisoning, although both stories pose the question of whether mutation affects the integrity of the Human Race.
Judith Merrill’s ‘That Only A Mother’ (Astounding 1948) gives us a very personal and moving account of a mother’s story from late pregnancy (in a time of atomic radiation) through to childbirth and beyond, interspersed with correspondence to her husband, on active service in the Armed Services.
The daughter is a prodigy and learns to talk at an early age but it is only when the father eventually arrives home on leave that the true state of affairs is discovered.
It is refreshing to finally see a female perspective, and indeed a main female character, and particularly within the pages of ‘Astounding’.
Interestingly, Merrill seems to imply that fathers would not be so accepting of their mutant children as Anderson suggest, rather optimistically, in his tale.
Walk To The World – Algis Budrys (Space Science Fiction 1952) is another pastoral tale, this time of wanderlust, told by a the son of a retired Space Captain, now running a farm on a colony world.
It’s notable for its vivid and detailed descriptions of the characters involved, and though superficially a simple tale, is actually a fairly complex portrait of a man’s relationship with his wife, his son and his home as well as ultimately questioning the American way of doing things. It’s a subtle piece, well-written and again redolent of the work of Simak.
Brian Aldiss’ ‘T’ (Nebula Science Fiction 1956) is, surprisingly, rather weak in its premise, although very creatively constructed and well-written.
The denizens of another galaxy have seen Man spread out to colonise our own galaxy and now are invading theirs, so they create a fleet of twelve ships containing genetically-engineered beings (composed of merely an arm and a simple brain) which are sent off on a path back through Time and Space to destroy Earth before Man has even evolved.
Due to an elementary error on the part of the aliens, the wrong planet is destroyed and Earth is left to evolve as destined.
Although simplistic, the concept of the ships and their guiding hands are creatively and ingeniously conceived and described and foretell some of the brilliance and originality of Aldiss’ later work.
January 2, 2024
A edição brasileira desta antologia que apanhei num alfarrabista tinha apenas quatro contos. É representativa da FC clássica, num turbillhão de ideias nem sempre coerentes, mais focada em histórias empolgantes com premissas intrigantes do que em apuração literária.
A antologia inicia com Os Isolinguais, de L. Sprague de Camp. Uma história divertida, com a cidade de Nova Iorque a ser assolada por uma estranha praga: de repente, pessoas totalmemente normais parecem transformar-se nos seus longíquos antepassados, de outras terras e eras. A causa envolve uma conspiração por parte de um grupo fascista para tomar o poder, que usa tecnologia desenvolvida por um dos seus cientistas para acordar memórias do passado dormentes ao nível celular. Segue-se Os Fiéis de Lester Del Rey, uma história pós-apocalíptica onde a humanidade se extingue após uma curta guerra planetária atómica e biológica. Restam os cães, que foram elevados pela ciência para se tornarem inteligentes e dextros, dentro das suas condicionantes, para recuperar uma civilização desprovida de humanos.
A. E. Van Vogt dá-nos uma aventura trepidante, daquelas à antiga. Um grupo de exploradores depara-se, num planeta que exploram, com dois mistérios: as ruínas de uma civilização avançada, e um alienígena de aspeto vagamente felino, que apresenta indícios de inteligência. Enquanto procuram a chave do mistério, descobrem-se a enfrentar a criatura, extreamente perigosa e verdadeiramente inteligente, que urde um plano para roubar a nave e ir fazê-la regressar ao ponto de origem. Como predador que é, vê nos homens fonte de alimentação, mas fiel ao espírito de FC clássica, a criatura busca não as carnes, mas sim o fósforo contido nas suas vítimas. Encerra com Linha de Salvação, de Robert Heinlein, uma história sobre um cientista que desenvolve um método infalível de predição da extensção da vida humana, recorrendo à quarta dimensão. Uma tecnologia que desperta a ira das seguradoras, que vêm o seu modelo de negócio em risco.
Não são contos excelentes, sendo daqueles que fãs conhecedores toleram pelo retrato de época, mas com pouco valor literário para além disso. Representam o dilema da ficção pop (que a FC já foi), escrita para consumo rápido, e que envelhece depressa na sua larga maioria. Mas também são momentos do longo caminho de evolução da FC enquanto género literário.
A antologia inicia com Os Isolinguais, de L. Sprague de Camp. Uma história divertida, com a cidade de Nova Iorque a ser assolada por uma estranha praga: de repente, pessoas totalmemente normais parecem transformar-se nos seus longíquos antepassados, de outras terras e eras. A causa envolve uma conspiração por parte de um grupo fascista para tomar o poder, que usa tecnologia desenvolvida por um dos seus cientistas para acordar memórias do passado dormentes ao nível celular. Segue-se Os Fiéis de Lester Del Rey, uma história pós-apocalíptica onde a humanidade se extingue após uma curta guerra planetária atómica e biológica. Restam os cães, que foram elevados pela ciência para se tornarem inteligentes e dextros, dentro das suas condicionantes, para recuperar uma civilização desprovida de humanos.
A. E. Van Vogt dá-nos uma aventura trepidante, daquelas à antiga. Um grupo de exploradores depara-se, num planeta que exploram, com dois mistérios: as ruínas de uma civilização avançada, e um alienígena de aspeto vagamente felino, que apresenta indícios de inteligência. Enquanto procuram a chave do mistério, descobrem-se a enfrentar a criatura, extreamente perigosa e verdadeiramente inteligente, que urde um plano para roubar a nave e ir fazê-la regressar ao ponto de origem. Como predador que é, vê nos homens fonte de alimentação, mas fiel ao espírito de FC clássica, a criatura busca não as carnes, mas sim o fósforo contido nas suas vítimas. Encerra com Linha de Salvação, de Robert Heinlein, uma história sobre um cientista que desenvolve um método infalível de predição da extensção da vida humana, recorrendo à quarta dimensão. Uma tecnologia que desperta a ira das seguradoras, que vêm o seu modelo de negócio em risco.
Não são contos excelentes, sendo daqueles que fãs conhecedores toleram pelo retrato de época, mas com pouco valor literário para além disso. Representam o dilema da ficção pop (que a FC já foi), escrita para consumo rápido, e que envelhece depressa na sua larga maioria. Mas também são momentos do longo caminho de evolução da FC enquanto género literário.
June 6, 2014
Just refound this book, and seeing as it has a good deal of my favorite sci-fi authors, I am quite surprised that I only gave it 2 stars... so maybe it's time to reread some of the stories.
This is yet another review-in-progress, and short reviews shall be posted of each story in the anthology. And where better to start, than at the beginning...
The Isolinguals by L. Sprague de Camp (18 pages)
This is a peculiar story. Something is happening in the world, people suddenly forget who they are and instead think they are someone else, one of their ancestors. A biology professor and a couple of linguists sets out to find the answers to this mystery. I kinda liked this story, and by the end, you'll even find yourself thinking... this could actually be true... (3 stars)
The Faithful by Lester del Rey (9 pages)
Man have been destroyed by the Plague, leaving behind a world of Dog-people and Ape-people, two successful experiments to give a voice to these animals. However, one day a man appears, Paul Kanyon, and that brings hope to the Faithful... great story, well worth the time spend on it! (3.5 stars)
Black Destroyer by A. E. Van Vogt (31 pages)
A creature lives on a dark and empty planet. He is not only the last of his kind, he is the last living creature on the planet. However, one day a human spaceship arrives. The humans are not only intrigued by the planet, but also wish to understand the creature better. This might prove harder than they thought though, for this creature is... a Black Destroyer. Lets look past the fact that the humans in this story are a little naive, then we have ourselves one hell of a story, a story that offers more than one point of view. Only thing that really bothered me... the ending. (3 stars)
Life-line by Robert A. Heinlein (16 pages)
A man, Dr. Pinero, has made a rather peculiar machine... that allows him to figure out exactly when you will die. However, who really needs to know that kind of information, and if you do know... can you defeat your own fate and live... longer? A nice little read, quite entertaining. (3 stars)
Ether Breather by Theodore Sturgeon (14 pages)
This story is confusing, and that is exactly how Theodore Sturgeon wants it. It takes us back to the early days of television, when a man finally manages to sell his "Seashell" story to a TV company, however, when the ad (that it was used for) is broadcasted, something rather peculiar happens... I ended up kinda liking it, not bad. (3 stars)
Loophole by Arthur C. Clarke (6 pages)
The Martians discover that the people of Earth have learned how to release atomic energy. They are not overly pleased by this, and prepares to send a warning to earth... Personally, I dont like the idea of martians, and you kinda have to... to fully enjoy this short read. (1.5 stars)
Tomorrow's Children by Poul Anderson (27 pages)
The world as we know it is gone. What is left after the great war is a world of radiodust, scattered human settlements and of course, Hugh Drummond and his stratojet. Drummond has been flying around the world, on a mission to see what has become of the world. When he finally lands, he gets a new job from acting president of the states. This time he must gather information about the states, but more importantly, he must look out for mutants, because recently pregnant women have been giving birth to deform humans. This post-apocalyptic shortstory is not only the best in the book, so far, but it is also the best I've read from Poul Anderson. It asks some really important questions and presents us with a moral dilemma that we have kinda been presented with before. This story comes highly recommended! (5 stars)
That Only A Mother by Judith Merril (10 pages)
In the days after the atom bombs were dropped, the talk at the hospital is all about mutations, but Maggie knows that her child will be alright... I am not really sure what this story has to do with First Flight: Maiden Voyages in Space and Time... but it is a nice little read, even though you know whats going to be revealed at the end, I mean... just think of the title a little. (2.5 stars)
Walk to the World by Algis Budrys (12 pages)
A man has settled down with his family, but still yearns for the world around him, however, he is always teaching his son that everywhere is Home. One day, they learn that a new race, not much different from Man, has been found in the nearby galaxies. This race seem much more free than Man, and is always looking for a new place to settle down and make their own. Now the man is called upon, to talk to the new race, who better than one who understands the new race. Great story, slow-paced and with a lot of thoughts and emotions build into it. Highly recommended! (5 stars)
T by Brian W. Aldiss (7 pages)
A small spacecraft is hurtling through space, exploring and looking for enemies. In one of them a creature (that the narrator choose to call T, because its the mark on the spacecraft) is trapped and with only one true purpose in life... to destroy. Interesting, but a bit shallow, we dont really understand why it has to end the way that it does. (2 stars)
Final Thoughts
Ok, having finished this anthology for the second time, I've learned two important things. First, I've learned that it is called First Flight, because these stories are the first stories to be published by the authors, not because the stories containt first flights, or as the subtitle says... maiden voyages in time and space. In this regard, the title makes a lot of sense. The Second thing I've learned is, that I was wrong to give it two stars on my first read, there are some real gems here, and only a couple of stories not really worth reading. I am ending on 3 stars, which makes for a good solid read, definitely recommended.
This is yet another review-in-progress, and short reviews shall be posted of each story in the anthology. And where better to start, than at the beginning...
The Isolinguals by L. Sprague de Camp (18 pages)
This is a peculiar story. Something is happening in the world, people suddenly forget who they are and instead think they are someone else, one of their ancestors. A biology professor and a couple of linguists sets out to find the answers to this mystery. I kinda liked this story, and by the end, you'll even find yourself thinking... this could actually be true... (3 stars)
The Faithful by Lester del Rey (9 pages)
Man have been destroyed by the Plague, leaving behind a world of Dog-people and Ape-people, two successful experiments to give a voice to these animals. However, one day a man appears, Paul Kanyon, and that brings hope to the Faithful... great story, well worth the time spend on it! (3.5 stars)
Black Destroyer by A. E. Van Vogt (31 pages)
A creature lives on a dark and empty planet. He is not only the last of his kind, he is the last living creature on the planet. However, one day a human spaceship arrives. The humans are not only intrigued by the planet, but also wish to understand the creature better. This might prove harder than they thought though, for this creature is... a Black Destroyer. Lets look past the fact that the humans in this story are a little naive, then we have ourselves one hell of a story, a story that offers more than one point of view. Only thing that really bothered me... the ending. (3 stars)
Life-line by Robert A. Heinlein (16 pages)
A man, Dr. Pinero, has made a rather peculiar machine... that allows him to figure out exactly when you will die. However, who really needs to know that kind of information, and if you do know... can you defeat your own fate and live... longer? A nice little read, quite entertaining. (3 stars)
Ether Breather by Theodore Sturgeon (14 pages)
This story is confusing, and that is exactly how Theodore Sturgeon wants it. It takes us back to the early days of television, when a man finally manages to sell his "Seashell" story to a TV company, however, when the ad (that it was used for) is broadcasted, something rather peculiar happens... I ended up kinda liking it, not bad. (3 stars)
Loophole by Arthur C. Clarke (6 pages)
The Martians discover that the people of Earth have learned how to release atomic energy. They are not overly pleased by this, and prepares to send a warning to earth... Personally, I dont like the idea of martians, and you kinda have to... to fully enjoy this short read. (1.5 stars)
Tomorrow's Children by Poul Anderson (27 pages)
The world as we know it is gone. What is left after the great war is a world of radiodust, scattered human settlements and of course, Hugh Drummond and his stratojet. Drummond has been flying around the world, on a mission to see what has become of the world. When he finally lands, he gets a new job from acting president of the states. This time he must gather information about the states, but more importantly, he must look out for mutants, because recently pregnant women have been giving birth to deform humans. This post-apocalyptic shortstory is not only the best in the book, so far, but it is also the best I've read from Poul Anderson. It asks some really important questions and presents us with a moral dilemma that we have kinda been presented with before. This story comes highly recommended! (5 stars)
That Only A Mother by Judith Merril (10 pages)
In the days after the atom bombs were dropped, the talk at the hospital is all about mutations, but Maggie knows that her child will be alright... I am not really sure what this story has to do with First Flight: Maiden Voyages in Space and Time... but it is a nice little read, even though you know whats going to be revealed at the end, I mean... just think of the title a little. (2.5 stars)
Walk to the World by Algis Budrys (12 pages)
A man has settled down with his family, but still yearns for the world around him, however, he is always teaching his son that everywhere is Home. One day, they learn that a new race, not much different from Man, has been found in the nearby galaxies. This race seem much more free than Man, and is always looking for a new place to settle down and make their own. Now the man is called upon, to talk to the new race, who better than one who understands the new race. Great story, slow-paced and with a lot of thoughts and emotions build into it. Highly recommended! (5 stars)
T by Brian W. Aldiss (7 pages)
A small spacecraft is hurtling through space, exploring and looking for enemies. In one of them a creature (that the narrator choose to call T, because its the mark on the spacecraft) is trapped and with only one true purpose in life... to destroy. Interesting, but a bit shallow, we dont really understand why it has to end the way that it does. (2 stars)
Final Thoughts
Ok, having finished this anthology for the second time, I've learned two important things. First, I've learned that it is called First Flight, because these stories are the first stories to be published by the authors, not because the stories containt first flights, or as the subtitle says... maiden voyages in time and space. In this regard, the title makes a lot of sense. The Second thing I've learned is, that I was wrong to give it two stars on my first read, there are some real gems here, and only a couple of stories not really worth reading. I am ending on 3 stars, which makes for a good solid read, definitely recommended.
October 23, 2023
Standouts stories were: Black Destroyer by A. E. van Vogt, Tomorrows Children by Poul Anderson, and T by Brian W Aldiss
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May 5, 2009First Flight by Editor Damon Knight (1966)
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