Live! from Planet Earth

by George Alec Effinger

Originally intended to be a collaboration with the author, this collection of the most memorable short stories of the late George Alec Effinger is a tribute from those who best knew his work—his friends, fellow writers, and editors. In addition to handpicking their favorite pieces, Michael Bishop, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Mike Resnick, Howard Waldrop, and others have contributed a personal introduction or afterword to accompany each selection that reveals their deep respect for and insights into the author. The short stories "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything " and "Everything but Honor," both Hugo Award finalists, are among those included. Of special interest are seven previously uncollected short stories and a poem written under the author's pen name, O. Niemand. Introduced by Gardner Dozois, former editor of Asimov Science Fiction Magazine , these stories are uniquely written in the style of other authors including Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, James Thurber, and Mark Twain. Considered by Effinger to be "sympathetic homage" rather than parody or caricature, they present his perspective on how these noted authors would have tackled science fiction, such as "The Man Outside," the John Steinbeck-inspired story about a loner in a domed city on an asteroid deep in space.

Genres: Science Fiction, Collections, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

363 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting and unusual book. It is a collection of short Science Fiction stories by Effinger with each one introduced by a noted author. The introducing authors tell stories about George Alec Effinger, their relationship to him, and something about the story you are about to read.

Prior to this book I was not familiar with Effinger. Apparently, while a very gifted author he was plagued through his life by debilitating illnesses. In addition, as his illnesses were all listed as "preconditions", his insurance did not cover his treatments and hospitals stays and all of the writing profits went to cover his bills.

Despite what was clearly a difficult life, Effinger wrote with wit, humor, and incredible insight. While I cannot say that I understood each of these twenty-one tales, each were well written and entertaining. Each story has a dark side, a humorous side, and a very unique perspective on the world. It seems that Effinger looked at the world from a slightly different angle and, despite his troubles, managed to laugh at the world and himself at the same time.

I enjoyed reading this book. If you are up for a journey down the side streets of Science Fiction I believe you will enjoy the trip Effinger takes you on.

[Adam Meek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A posthumous collection of Effinger's most memorable stories, as chosen by his colleagues. Features introductions by genre stand outs like Neil Gaiman and Barbara Hambly.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been a huge fan of When Gravity Fails since it came out, and I recently read and enjoyed the other Marîd Audran books. So I wanted to find out if Effinger's short fiction was as good as those novels.

My overall impression was "mostly not." But even though I disliked a number of the stories for one reason or another, I found it interesting to read a set of stories that had been written over such a long period of time (between 1971 and 1997).

This book was published after Effinger's unfortunately early death and each story (or set of stories) is introduced by a different writer. Do skip the introductions until afterward if you aren't familiar with the stories, because some of them contain spoilers.

One thing I found interesting was that although all the stories are skillfully written, stories written later (generally but not universally) brought up more complex emotions for me than stories written earlier.

Of particular interest are the seven stories and one poem that Effinger wrote under a pseudonym, O. Niemand. Each of the pieces was written in the style of a different American writer (O. Henry, Ernest Hemingway, etc.), and they all more or less take place in the same sfnal world. The gimmick itself is pretty clever, and he pulls off effectively, but I thought most of the stories also worked well as science fiction in their own right. (I read them without knowing the gimmick, and the only one I recognized the style of was the poem.)

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Live from Planet Earth by George Alec Effinger came pretty highly regarded - this is a posthumous collection of his short stories, introduced by other authors. I did not like it very much. The stories tended to drag, and seemed to me to have the JG Ballard-style affliction of the author being convinced of his own cleverness. Many of the introductions by other authors went on at length about Effinger's humor and brilliance, but it didn't come through to me.

[Darren · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story about aliens who knew, like, everything was pretty good, but I didn't like the next few (World War 2 with cars was just stupid, and the chess game had no plot and no story - total grey goo). I just don't like much 70s scifi. Abandoned.