Le grandi storie della fantascienza 17 1955

Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #17

by Isaac Asimov

Indice:p. 13 - Il tunnel sotto il mondo di Frederik POHLp. 49 - Il prim'attore di Walter jr. MILLERp. 125 - La caverna della notte di James E. GUNNp. 145 - Nonno di James H. SCHMITZp. 171 - Chi? di Theodore STURGEONp. 209 - I Bassi di Raymond E. BANKSp. 233 - Mercato prigioniero di Philip K. DICKp. 255 - Marchiodonte di Eric Frank RUSSELLp. 273 - L'americano evanescente di Charles BEAUMONTp. 287 - Il gioco del topo e del drago di Cordwainer SMITHp. 305 - La stella di Arthur C. CLARKEp. 313 - Nessuno infastidisce Gus di Algis BUDRYSp. 329 - Delenda est di Poul ANDERSONp. 375 - Sognare è una faccenda privata di Isaac ASIMOV

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 5, 1988

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Jim]

It's hard to rate anthologies because they usually contain weak and strong stories. I rate these anthologies 5-stars if they have at least five very good to great stories in them. Here are the stories I admired most:

- "Tunnel Under the World" by Frederick Pohl
- "The Darfstellar" by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
- "The Cave of Night" by James Gunn (a forgotten classic)
- "Grandpa" by James H. Schmidtz (another forgotten classic)
- "Who?" by Theodore Sturgeon
- "Captive Market" by Philip K. Dick
- "Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell
- "The Game of Rat and Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith (beautiful)
- "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke
- "Nobody Bothers Gus" by Algis Budrys

That's more than enough to make this an outstanding anthology.

[Rena Sherwood]

Unless you're really into Asimov or 1950s sci-fi and you haven't read any of the previous entries in this series, skip this. There are in-jokes and references to the previous books. I've read about a baker's dozen in the series, and I'd rate this as "middling." It's more of a 2.5 than a 3 star book, so I rounded up.

There are a bit more typos in this book than in others in the series that I've read, but I don't know if that was just for the particular edition I read (paperback), or if the typos appear in all of the editions. Like with most anthologies, the best selections can be found in a zillion other anthologies, especially Clarke's "The Star."

Selections:
* "Introduction" by Martin H. Greenberg. Greenberg's usual formulaic listing of the most significant events in pop culture, world politics, science fact, science fiction and sports ... according to him. This time around, there's no mention of the Kentucky Derby, and the Mel Brooks in joke really falls flat. We do get a paragraph on Greenberg watching the Dodgers, and an unfortunate reference to sci-fi fans as "the Family." Yikes.
* "The Tunnel Under the World" by Frederick Pohl. A good American wakes up every day to discover it's always June 15 ... and nobody seems to notice but him. Just as pertinent today as when this was first published.
* "The Darfstellar" by Walter M. Miller, Jr. This won a Hugo for Best Novella. Greenberg mentions that in order to include this, "several excellent stories" were excluded from this anthology. What a shame, because this sucked. This seems to be set in the late 2020s or 2030s. Human actors have been replaced by machine-controlled mannequins, but an old human actor plans a comeback. WARNING: Cat abused.
* "The Cave of Night" by James E. Gunn. The "cave of night" is space. This is a story about an ingenious way to ensure public funding of the American space program, heavy on the melodrama. However, the schmaltz is wiped out in the final three pages. The introductions were particularly poignant here, since they were written around the first anniversary of the Challenger disaster.
* "Grandpa" by James H. Schmitz. This is part of the Hub series, featuring young Cord. Rather silly boy's adventure story about human space colonists deciding to use a huge plant-animal thingy as a living raft.
* "Who?" By Theodore Sturgeon. Also published under the title, "Bulkhead." This was one of the few stories written in second person by Sturgeon. It's not one of his better stories. It's an unnecessarily convoluted look at training a space cadet.
* "The Short Ones" by Raymond E. Banks. Very disturbing look at a future America where tiny people called The Short Ones are manipulated by normal-sized politicians. Particularly nice intro by Asimov here.
* "Captive Market" by Philip K. Dick. So -- you've discovered how to negotiate time and alternate Earths. What do you do? Make a fucking fortune, that's what. Absolutely brilliant post-apocalyptic story.
* "Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell. This won a Hugo, too. Amusing look at bureaucracy in the space service, based on the crazy amount of paperwork done in the army and navy. There's a dog, but fortunately, no harm comes to him.
* "The Vanishing American" by Charles Beaumont/Charles Nutt. Possible inspiration for a classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, a 47 year old disappears on his birthday. Although the ending is meant to be happy, it seemed chilling to me. Asimov's intro pokes delightful holes into himself.
* "The Game of Rat and Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith/Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. A.though part of the Instrumentality of Mankind series, it works well as a standalone story. It's my favorite story by this author. It has arguably the best use of cats in sci-fi. This may be why this story appears in a zillion other anthologies.
* "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke. One of Clarke's most anthologized stories, and one of his most beloved. Christians and atheists love it, for different reasons.
* "Nobody Bothers Gus" by Algis Budrys. Unsatisfying look at a mutated human, or alien, or something like that, forced from his home by human urban development.
* "Delenda Est" by Poul Anderson. Part of the inexplicably popular Time Patrol series. Long novellette that fizzles out in the end. WARNING: Two dogs killed.
* "Dreaming is a Private Thing" by Isaac Asimov. Dreamers create something far more intense than movies, sort of like virtual reality. A boss running a "dreamie" studio has a really dramatic day.

[Pete]

I'm actually still reading this, but I wanted to keep track of the stories as I proceed:

The Tunnel Under the World · Frederik Pohl · Creative and scary. 4
The Darfsteller · Walter M. Miller, Jr. · Best in the book & still relevant. 5
The Cave of Night · James E. Gunn · Prophetic.but strained. 3.5
Grandpa · James H. Schmitz · Fun xenobiology. 4
Who? · Theodore Sturgeon · Ray Bradbury x Barry Malzberg. 4
The Short Ones · Raymond E. Banks · Neat idea but execution lacking. 3
Captive Market · Philip K. Dick · Little old ladies are dangerous! 4.5
Allamagoosa · Eric Frank Russell · Clever and funny. 4.5
The Vanishing American · Charles Beaumont · Unexpected. 4
The Game of Rat and Dragon · Cordwainer Smith · Mind-blowing and a little silly. 5
The Star · Arthur C. Clarke · A classic, but why? 4
Nobody Bothers Gus · Algis Budrys · Low key and interesting. 4
Delenda Est · Poul Anderson · You need to be a history buff. 3.5
Dreaming Is a Private Thing · Isaac Asimov · Not developed enough. 3.5

Overall, this was a very good anthology. I'm not sure that the editors are as in synch with the '50s as they were for the '40s, or maybe it is just me.

[Norman]

Uno dei migliori della serie!

[Matteo Pellegrini]

Il 1955 fu l'anno in cui l'allora Germania Federale si unì alla NATO, e Mackinlay Kantor pubblicò il romanzo "Andersonville", che si aggiudicò il premio Pulitzer. Frederick Sanger scoprì la struttura molecolare dell'insulina, Dorothy Hodgkin elaborò la struttura chimica dela vitamina B12, e i ricercatori del massachussetts Institute of Technology svilupparono le ricerche sulle onde ad altissima frequenza (UHF). Il futuro previsto dalla fantascienza incombeva sempre più vicino con gli Stati Uniti e l'Unione Sovietica che progettavano di lanciare satelliti artificiali in occasione dell'imminente Anno Geofisico Inernazionale, e la prima centrale nucleare cominciava a funzionare vicino a Shenectady, nello stato di New York. Il 1955 fu anche l'anno in cui vennero pubblicati gli stupendi racconti raccolti in questa antologia, racconti di F. Pohl, W. M. Miller Jr., J. E. Gunn, J. H. Schmitz, Th. Sturgeon, R.E. Banks, P. K. Dick. E. F. Russell, Ch. Beaumont, C. Smith, A. C. Clarke, A. Budrys, P. Anderson, I. Asimov.

[Carlo Mayer]

Finiti