New Writings In SF-2

New Writings in SF #2

by John Carnell (Editor)

Contents

• John Rackham. Hell-Planet. 1964
• Colin Kapp. The Night-Flame. 1964
• Joseph L. Green. The Creators. 1964
• G. L. Lack. Rogue Leonardo. 1964
• Douglas R. Mason. Maiden Voyage. 1964
• Dennis Etchison. Odd Boy Out. 1964
• William Spencer. The Eternal Machines. 1964
• Steve Hall. A Round Billiard Table. 1964

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

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Perry Middlemiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume in this long-running original anthology series. The contents include 2 novelettes and 6 short stories of what can only be described as run-of-the-mill sf, even by mid-1960s standards. The all-male authors represented are: John Rackham, Colin Kapp, Joseph Green, G. L. Luck, John Rankine, Dennis Etchison, William Spencer and Steve Hall, with the best of them being the stories by Rackham and Etchison. Overall, this is not a very interesting set of stories at all. R: 2.7/5.0

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

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[Steve Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short but really high quality collection of vintage British sci-fi from 1964. All of the stories are solid and well written. Most are clever and entertaining. Two are outstanding enough I'm surprised they're not better known. "Hell-Planet" by John Rackham packs in layers of alien society, psychology, and plot, all tied together with strong writing. Colin Kapp's "The Night-Flame" is a dark, enigmatic, and compact story that does a far better job than history books could ever do at conveying the impact that WWII and the cold war had to people for whom the memories were still fresh.

The technology is out of date in all of these stories, but the writing holds up just fine in most cases. If you can get past the vacuum tubes and phosphor screens, the stories are better than what passes for standard fare nearly 50 years later.

[Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

This reasonably short volume has a novella and a group of short stories. Written in the mid '60s, these are good solid science fiction of the era, with ideas being more important than characters.

The title story here, Hell Planet, sees humanoid aliens in a crippled spaceship making their way to the Sol system and being horrified when they encounter and translate the radio transmissions from Earth. The rest of the stories are mostly enjoyable, with a combination of humour and ideas. I particularly enjoyed A Round Billiard Table, The Creators and Rogue Leonardo.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still hardly "the new wave" of science fiction, as it suggests it was, but a marked step up from the first volume in the series. Several fine stories here, though a few of them are showing signs of the times they were written (John Rankine's "Maiden Voyage", for example, while a fine story, shows a few too many signs of both sexism and "man the conquering hero"). Overall, a more than worthwhile collection, though still with a few too many golden-age trappings to be considered that much out of the early 1960s ordinary.

[John E · Rating 3 out of 5]

British SF from the 1960s. Only the last story has any humor (really irony).

[Richard Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice example of its time (when a paperback cost 3/6). Some stories better than others.