Tales of Science Fiction

by Brian N. Ball (Editor)

Life-Line by Robert A. Heinlein
"Nothing Happens on the Moon" by Paul Ernst
Mr. Kowtshook by John Christopher
Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell
Hide and Seek by Arthur C. Clarke
Meteor by John Wyndham [as by John Beynon ]
But Who Can Replace a Man? by Brian W. Aldiss
Return of the Moon Man by E. L. Malpass
Escape Velocity by Brian N. Ball

158 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Also writes as Brian Ball.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of nine science fiction stories mostly reprinted from genre magazines of the 1940s and '50s. Brian N. Ball was a popular writer of science fiction and children's books, especially in Great Britain, and I was unaware that he had edited any books until I stumbled across this one in a used bookstore. This paperback edition was published by Penguin/Peacock and according to a notice on the back cover was not for sale in the U.S. for copyright reasons, which struck me as ironic since there's a note on the title page saying the cover is designed from photographs supplied by the U.S. Information Service. The authors, all but two (Paul Ernst and Heinlein) of which were U.K. citizens, include Arthur C. Clarke (a nice outer space story), E.L. Malpass (a very quirky story; the author was evidently a humorist best known for lampooning rural life in the U.K.), Robert A. Heinlein (Life-Line, his first story), a nice juvenile story from Ball himself, John Christopher, John Wyndham, and Brian W. Aldiss (his classic But Who Can Replace a Man?, which I always suspected was inspired by Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains and in turn inspired Thomas M. Disch's The Brave Little Toaster). My two favorites were Eric Frank Russell's Allamagoosa, which was one of the few humorous stories to ever win a Hugo Award (how can you not love a story in which a main character is a dog named Peaslake!?) and Nothing Happens on the Moon by Paul Ernst, who was a prolific pulp author best remembered for writing the first two-dozen Avenger novels (under the Kenneth Robeson pseudonym), but who also produced some other fine pulp adventures, including some good sf. It's a fine little book, and I was glad to find it.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story collection from the 1960s, mostly featuring 1940s and 1950s stories, looks unpromising. It was published by Penguin's defunct young adult imprint Peacock, and with its clunky title and unimpressive cover it looks like a waste of space on the bookshelf. But it contains what are simply some of the best science fiction short stories ever written - for any age of reader.
Although inevitably one or two feel a touch old-fashioned, on the whole they've aged incredibly well and have very little to suggest just what classics they are. Stories include Arthur C. Clarke's Hide and Seek, in which a spy in Mars orbit in a spacesuit attempts to evade a battle cruiser, Robert Heinlein's Life-Line, exploring the impact on society of a device that uses the concept of the block universe to predict an individual's precise time of death, Paul Ernst's invisible attacker in Nothing Happens on the Moon, John Christopher's poignant Mr Kowtshook about an alien attempting to evade capture by hiding in a circus on Earth, John Wyndham's Meteor, where a difference in viewpoint between an alien ship and humans has disastrous consequences and Brian Aldiss's But Who Can Replace Man? portraying a future where artificial intelligence is commonplace and struggling to know what to do when humans go extinct.

There are several other stories, including my absolute favourite in the collection, which is Eric Frank Russell's, Allamagoosa, a humorous tale of how an attempt to overcome a bureaucratic confusion in the space navy has unexpected consequences.

I first read these stories when I was about 15 and some of them (notably Allamagoosa) have stuck with me ever since. It's a pleasure to revisit them.

[Tansy Hepton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection put together for younger readers in the 1960's, and I suspect I would have enjoyed it then. Now I found the stories too simple. There were some clever ideas and I didn't mind that they were dated, but the style and language did feel as if it was written with children in mind.