Inside Man & Other Science Fictions

by H.L. Gold

HUGO WINNING WRITER-EDITOR/NEBULA NOMINEE STORY Fabulous collection of classic humorous and satirical science fiction by legendary writer-editor H. L. Gold. Exclusively in e-book, this don't-miss volume rounds up Gold's uncollected work, including his Nebula Nominee story, "Inside Man." Readers will find fresh, new, delightfully fey wrinkles on ESP (as in "Inside Man" and "The Riches of Embarrassment); the tale of the wife of a pigmy chief whose subtle manipulations of colonial visitors inadvertently saves the world from itself ("The Transmogrification of Wamba's Revenge"); a man unlucky enough to achieve one of humankind's oldest dreams (He that Hath Wings")," two spacelanes con men who manage only fleece themselves ("Grifter's Asteroid") and the extraordinary short novel, "Some to Watch Over Me," a dark and haunting serio-comic inversion that stands traditional notions of hyperspace, monstrous aliens, true love, ambition, revenge, and human values on their heads. "There's nothing machine-made about the short stories and novelets of H. L. Gold. They're individual tales of odd notions, often proving once again that Mr. Gold is almost the only s.f. writer capable of creating lower and lower-middle class backgrounds (a relief, after all of s.f.'s potentates, plutocrats and technological elite)." -The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Gold's SF offers "witty entertainment" from a "sharp and perceptive intelligence." -The Science Fiction Source Book.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Horace Leonard Gold was a science fiction writer and editor most noted for bringing an innovative and fresh approach to science fiction while he was the editor of Galaxy Science Fiction, and also wrote briefly for DC Comics. Born in Canada, Gold moved to the United States at the age of two. He also published under the pseudonyms Clyde Crane Campbell, Dudley Dell, Christopher Grimm, and Leigh Keith.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

H. L. Gold wrote scifi that leans closer to the hardboiled and cynical than most of the genre. As with any anthology, not every story here is great--a few are pretty forgettable, and a couple are just goofy, but most were decent enough yarns, scifi that showed some imagination. Perhaps my favorite in the collection was "Someone to Watch Over Me," where a space freighter makes a connection with mysterious beings from hyperspace.