The Trouble with Aliens: Complete Christopher Anvil, Book 4

by Christopher Anvil

Humans on the space frontiers may have enough problems with befuddled bureaucrats, rules that don't fit the realities of very dangerous situations, and general rear-echelon incompetence without bringing in unfriendly aliens, but it's that kind of universe. On the other hand, as master satirist Christopher Anvil makes clear, the aliens are anything but omnipotent and have plenty of problems of their own.

Here for the first time the stories and short novels of the war with the Outs are collected into a novel-length chronicle. The Outs had mental powers they could use to make humans see illusions and convince them to change sides. Obviously, they were unbeatable - until some troublesome humans found their Achilles' heel.

These and other stories of human/alien conflict fill this large volume by the master of wryly sardonic science-fiction adventure.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Ebooks, Collections, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera

Audible Audio

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Christopher Anvil was a pseudonym used by author Harry C. Crosby. He began publishing science fiction with the story "Cinderella, Inc." in the December 1952 issue of the science fiction magazine Imagination. By 1956, he had adopted his pseudonym and was being published in Astounding Magazine.

Anvil's repeated appearances in Astounding/Analog were due in part to his ability to write to one of Campbell's preferred plots: alien opponents with superior firepower losing out to the superior intelligence or indomitable will of humans. A second factor is his stories are nearly always humorous throughout. Another was his characterization and manner of story crafting, where his protagonists slid from disaster to disaster with the best of intentions, and through exercise of fast thinking, managed to snatch victory somehow from the jaws of defeat.

Reviews

[David Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are a little dated in parts, but this should be expected from stories written between 50 to 60 years ago.But like all good sci-fi, the message behind the stories stand up despite their age.The messages tend to be those most present during the cold war era. Beware of those offering free gifts,technology can help but needs to be modified by humanity ,ingenuity is its own reward, and intelligence needs character as well.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review later

[Katja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice enough but didn't age well

The stories are combined by a common theme of human confrontation with (mostly) hostile aliens and their (mostly) psychic powers. The protagonists are all tough square-jawed men who smoke cigars and make all the right decisions. The few women in-between are either receptionists or hysterical eye-candy. Funny, actually, I never bothered about male-only casts, but here the absence of capable female characters is truly glaring.

Nevertheless, the stories are quite entertaining, some of them more, some of them less. If you're into psychic aliens, you should give it a try - a few of the ideas in there are quite fresh.

a solid 3 of 5

[Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an anthology of stories about human encounters with aliens. Although they all come from the same author, they don't appear to be all part of the same storyline. Most of the stories are of alien encounters and battles, but a few involve cooperation between species.

An interesting collection of well written stories. If you are a Sci-Fi fan, you should add this one to your bookshelf.

[Gail Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

as much as I love Sci-Fi I have no idea how I missed this author before now; but now that I've found him I have much more reading to do.
This collection of short stories tell a great adventure of humans in space.

[Howard Brazee · Rating 1 out of 5]

My tastes in humor only got me through 1/2 of this book. It is a SF book with the human empire at war with alien empires, with SNAFUs.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humans on the space frontiers may have enough problems with befuddled bureaucrats, rules that don't fit the realities of very dangerous situations, and general rear-echelon incompetence without bringing in unfriendly aliens, but it's that kind of universe. On the other hand, as master satirist Christopher Anvil makes clear, the aliens are anything but omnipotent and have plenty of problems of their own. * Here for the first time the stories and short novels of the war with the Outs are collected into a novel-length chronicle. The Outs had mental powers they could use to make humans see illusions and convince them to change sides. Obviously, they were unbeatable-until some troublesome humans found their Achille's heel. * Another set of aliens arrive to conquer the Earth with the promise of eternal youth and healthfulness, and might have won, if some humans weren't too plain ornery not to be suspicious. * Who's the best human envoy to deal with aliens who can read minds and learn anything their opponents know-the man who knows little or nothing, of course, including why he was sent there. * When an investigator was hired to find out the reason for the strange events in a palatial mansion, he quickly solves the case-until he wakes up and finds that his solution was only a dream and the case is still unsolved. And the same thing happens again every night. * These and other stories of human/alien conflict fill this large volume by the master of wryly sardonic science fiction adventure.

[DaughterDaDa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny stories with a bite of satire toward bureaucracies and dogmas.

[Roberto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very uneven.

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of SF, but this one didn't make it. I quit part way through the second story. The first was too implausible, the second was bad space opera.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Classic, but kind of old school.