ORIGINAL MASS MARKET. STORIES OF THINGS FROM SPACE. Mostly very, very bad things that want to harm humans and destroy Earth. Or take it for their own. Original stories and reprints of classics from the scary side of science fiction!
THE THINGS ARE COMING . . .
As we all know, in space, no one can hear you scream. Which doesn’t mean that anyone is safe just because they’re standing on the soil of planet Earth, because if a thing from out there drops in, screaming probably won’t save you.
Earth has spawned myriad unpleasant life forms which are bad news for humans, ranging in size from the Ebola virus to the great white shark up to the Tyrannosaurus Rex (extinct, fortunately for us)—and that’s just one planet. What even more deadly life forms might the billions of planets in our galaxy have spawned? And suppose the things are intelligent and capable of crossing space and coming here . . .
Considering that very possibility are the masters of science fiction starring in this book, including Robert Silverberg, David Drake, Sarah A. Hoyt, James H. Schmitz, Fritz Leiber, Robert Sheckley, Murray Leinster and John W. Campbell, as well as classic stories of extraterrestrial horrors by H.P. Lovecraft, George Allan England and more.
E.T. might have been happy eating Reese’s Pieces, but other visitors from the void might have less dainty appetites. And there are probably worse things than merely being eaten . . .
Praise for previous anthologies edited by Hank
In Space No One Can Hear You Scream “. . . the 13 tales in this collection blend SF with horror to demonstrate the resiliency of both genres. . . . offers strong tales by the genre’s best storytellers.”— Library Journal
“. . . first-rate science fiction, demonstrating how short stories can still entertain.”— Galveston County Daily News
A Cosmic Christmas 2 “This creative and sprightly Christmas science fiction anthology spins in some surprising directions. . . . A satisfying read for cold winter evenings . . . a great stocking stuffer for SF fans.”— Publishers Weekly
As Time Goes “ As Time Goes By . . . does an excellent job of exploring not only romance through time travel—relationships enabled or imperiled by voyaging through time—but the intrinsic romance of time travel itself. . . . The range of styles and approaches is as wide as the authors' sensibilities and periods might suggest . . . full of entertaining and poignant stories . . .”—Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, IntergalacticMedicineShow.com
A solid collection of space-monster stories, with the majority representing writers from the earlier decades of science fiction (including some lesser-known talents that deserve rediscovery). This does mean, however, that a lot of these are "good ol' boy" tales -- ie, not much human diversity represented. Also, the editor's snarking on about the removal of H.P. Lovecraft's image from the Howard award was a bit annoying. HPL was an absolutely brilliant author, yes, but it's reasonable to limit his idolization given his personal politics (i.e., he was a massive racist).
Hank Davis brought together a whole collection of tales that reminds this reader of The Blob and The Thing. The David Drake tale - "Hunting Ground" - I had read back in the 1980's in a two volume set of Things Hunting Men and Men Hunting Things. Most of the other tales are new to me. A definitely different collection to read.
Cheating here, I only read a short story called The Things by Peter Watts, which is not published separately so it cannot be listed on this website. It's great. Every fan of the movie or its prequel will like it too.
This anthology is a collection of speculative sci-fi elements dealing with "Things" from outer space. Yep, just like it says on the front of the book. While several stories, I thought, bent the definition and theme of the collection, the first 3 or 4 stories (including the classic "Who Goes There" by Campbell and a few riffs on that work) were worth the price of the anthology.
I can imagine the collection might not appeal to ALL readers of science fiction and especially horror. The majority of the works in the collection were written in the "Golden Age" of science fiction and not all translate well to contemporary readers. As a fan of the time, myself, I enjoyed the works for the most part and was delighted to FINALLY read a few pieces I've heard about in the past but have never read.