Orbit 5: An Anthology of Brand New SF Stories

Orbit #5

by Damon Knight (Editor), Paul Lehr (Illustrator)

A compilation of 12 stories written by SF Greats. Somerset Dreams (K. Wilhelm)/ The Roads, The Roads, The Beautiful Roads--(A. Davidson)/ Look, You Think You've Got Troubles (C. Carr)/ Winter's King (U.K. LeGuin)/ The Time Machine (L. Jones)/ Configuration Of The North Shore (R.A. Lafferty)/ Paul's Trehouse (G. Wolfe)The Price (C.D. Belcher)/ The Rose Bowl-Pluto Hypthesis (P. Latham)/ Winston (K. Reed)/ The History Makers (J. Sallis)/ The Big Flash (N. Spinrad).

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Short Story Collection, Fiction

228 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1969

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 3 out of 5]

Damon Knight's Orbit series of original science fiction stories was the most venerable of the many such books that proliferated in the 1970s. It ran from 1966-1980 and was quite like a bi-annual genre hardback magazine, except it featured experimental, literary New Wave styles and themes unlike the genre periodicals of the era. This fifth volume had good stories by Kate Wilhelm (Knight's wife), Avram Davidson, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Kit Reed, along with challenging pieces by Gene Wolfe and R.A. Lafferty that I wasn't sure if I liked or not. My two favorites were the story from Norman Spinrad and one from Carol Carr, who didn't write much but was quite good.

[Cheryl]

Somerset Dreams (K. Wilhelm)/ Long, more Literary than speculative.
The Roads, The Roads, The Beautiful Roads--(A. Davidson)/ horror or comedy? ask a commuter
Look, You Think You've Got Troubles (C. Carr)/ Jewish farce... I hope Carr is Jewish, else this is offensive
Winter's King (U.K. LeGuin)/ Skipped, as I don't appreciate LeGuin's experimental fantasy
Time Machine (L. Jones)/ dnf, again Literary, but also ugly
Configuration Of The North Shore (R.A. Lafferty)/ dnf, experimental
Paul's Trehouse (G. Wolfe)/ ugly

I've decided the Orbit anthologies are not to my taste.

[Jeffrey Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good collection of late 1960's authors and stories from the pulps. I was only 10 when it came out so I read it many years later. I had never read "The Big Flash" by Norman Spinrad until I read it in this book. Some of these fine Sci-Fi authors are no longer with us but their words survive.

[Earl Truss · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I've gotten more picky (discerning) about what I read lately. I only found one story that was interesting at best, the last one, The Big Flash by Norman Spinrad.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was born in 1969, the year for this anthology was first published. That was the year of The Who's Tommy, Jackie Mason, Vietnam and Nixon. It was a time when everything about society was being questioned. All of these things are reflected in this story collection.

This was one of the better Orbits, since many of the stories had a clear plot and conclusion. Knight hadn't filled his stable of writers with his friends yet, though his wife was always assured of at least one slot of the dozen. He was still open to other, less popular voices, including (I think) an ophthalmologist.

Selections:

* "Somerset Dreams" by Kate Wilhelm/Mrs. Damon Knight. This sad novella about a creepy town would wind up in several other sci-fi anthologies, but it's not one of her best. It's written in a trippy, dream-like way. The Somerset is in America, not England.
* "The Roads, The Roads, the Beautiful Roads" by Avram Davidson. A short, sharp shock about not building more damn highways in America.
* "Look, You Think You've Got Troubles" by Carol Carr. Incisive parody of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? A Jewish girl loves a Martian boy.
* "Winter's King" by Ursula K. LeGuin. This story is part of the Hainish Cycle. It's difficult and disjointed, but try and stick with it, even if you've never read anything in the Hainish Cycle before.
* "The Time Machine" by Langdon Jones. This convoluted novella is nothing more than a wet dream. Skip it.
* "Configuration of the North Shore" by R. A. Lafferty. One of Lafferty's more understandable stories, with a good basic premise, but a disappointing ending.
* "Paul's Treehouse" by Gene Wolfe. This was most likely written in 1968, when it seemed there was one riot after another. It terrified whitebread America, and this gently crafted story taps into that fear.
* "The Price" by C. Davis Belcher. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the writer was an ophthalmologist. This was written soon after the first "successful" heart transplant was done (the recipient only lived 18 days). The legal implications of transplants had not been worked out yet. Despite the advancement of transplantation (and legalities ironed out), this story still holds up.
* "The Rose Bowl-Pluto Hypothesis" by Philip Latham. A very science-related story about a changing universe, mirrored by a bit of the humanities. Written decades before Usain Bolt.
* "Winston" by Kit Reed. Very sad, poignant story superficially about small savant children sold as pets, but really about the ways pedigreed puppies are abused. Get your Kleenex ready.
* "The History Makers" by James Sallis. Very difficult piece about a human trying to live in a world that has a different rate of time. Second piece to mention Dali's "The Persistance of Memory" (the first in Lafferty's piece.)
* "The Big Flash" by Norman Spinrad. Rock and roll inspires popular favor to use nukes in the Vietnam War. Very predictable stuff. Both rock and nuclear weapons terrified many people in 1969.