Shards of Space: Stories

by Robert Sheckley

In “Fool’s Mate,” it takes a crazy man and a set of fake orders to break a deadly battle stalemate in deep space.

The ten other stories in this collection are “Prospector’s Special,” “The Girls and Nugent Miller,” “Meeting of the Minds,” “Potential,” “Subsistence Level,” “The Slow Season,” “Alone at Last,” “Forever,” “The Sweeper of Loray,” and “The Special Exhibit.”

From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was “a precursor to Douglas Adams.”

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

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

One of science fiction's great humorists, Sheckley was a prolific short story writer beginning in 1952 with titles including "Specialist", "Pilgrimage to Earth", "Warm", "The Prize of Peril", and "Seventh Victim", collected in volumes from Untouched by Human Hands (1954) to Is That What People Do? (1984) and a five-volume set of Collected Stories (1991). His first novel, Immortality, Inc. (1958), was followed by The Status Civilization (1960), Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962), Mindswap (1966), and several others. Sheckley served as fiction editor for Omni magazine from January 1980 through September 1981, and was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shards of Space was Sheckley's sixth collection of short science fiction from the 1950s, when he was one of the most remarkably prolific and inventive writers in the field. There's one very short piece from Esquire magazine, but the rest all originally appeared in the SF digests of the day, a couple from Campbell's Astounding, one from Infinity, a pair from F & SF, and the other five from H.L. Gold's Galaxy magazine. His work was dependably entertaining and interesting, though none of the ones included here are among the ones I'd call his very best. My favorite was Prospector's Special, closely followed by the surprising The Girls and Nugent Miller.

[MB Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading Shards of Space early this morning before heading to bed. It was a fun read. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’m a real fan of 50s short SF stories. This collection of 11 short stories published between 1953 and 1960 was just what I needed to read as 2012 comes to an end.

Although 50s SF was frequently optimistic, this collection of Sheckley’s stories frequently are not. Even the stories with happy endings can paint a pretty stark world view.

The opening story, “Prospector’s Special” (1952), paints an unpleasant future on the frontier of Venus (oddly for the time a desert rather than a jungle). It’s the story of Tom Morrison, who has spent everything he has to go prospecting on Venus. He just wants to strike it big so he can go back to Earth. I enjoyed this story a lot.

The second story, “The Girls and Nugent Miller” (1960) is a post-apocalyptic story about Nugent Miller the last man on earth, as far as he knows, after a nuclear holocaust. As the story opens he is following recent human footprints, trying hard not to be optimistic about finding other survivors. As many of the stories in this collection, the story end in with a twist.

“Meeting of the Minds” (1960), the longest story in the collection, is about an unusual invader from Mars. It was enjoyable, but pretty conventional and one of my least favorite stories in the collection.

It was followed by “Potential” (1953) a story that I enjoyed more. It’s the story of a man on mission, although he doesn’t know what it is. He has awoken alone on a damaged space ship without most of his memory. Fortunately the ship is on auto-pilot.

“Fool’s Mate” (1953) may have been my favorite story. It’s a tale of computer guided space warfare. The ending was a little predictable for my taste, but I loved the basic concept of the story.

“Subsistence Level” (1954), “Forever” (1959) and “The Sweeper of Loray” (1959) were all quite good and quite different. “Subsistence Level” was a somewhat conventional story about the desire to live on the frontier, although the hardships of frontier life were somewhat unconventional. “Forever” is the convoluted and interesting story of what happens when you invent something that someone doesn’t want invented. And the “The Sweeper of Loray” takes aim at how academic research affects publication.

The remaining stories, “The Slow Season” (1954), “Alone at Last” (1957) and “The Special Exhibit” (1953) were entertaining, with “The Special Exhibit” being the slightest in length and interest.

I was quite an avid SF reader in the late sixties and into the early seventies, but apparently never ran into Sheckley’s work. At time I was devouring the likes of Heinlein and Asimov, and just beginning to shift my focus to fantasy. In some ways I’m glad I missed his work back then; that means I get to discover it now. After reading Shards of Space I added a whole bunch of his books to look for when book shopping. Maybe I’ll go out today…

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Sheckley is always an entertaining writer, with a subversive sense of humor. This collection of short stories is a whole lot of sly fun, and includes one of his classic stories, "Forever". A biologist invents a serum that will make people immortal, and is then targeted by - well, that's the fun part of the story!

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

11 early tales from Robert Sheckley. Refreshingly upbeat and without world-weary cynicism, my favourites: • Morrison runs out of water prospecting for goldenstone in the Venusian desert and is about to be attacked by wolves when he orders a “Prospector’s Special” • After World War III pacifist Nugent finds his nature tested to breaking point in “The Girls And Nugent Miller” • The last Quedak hitches a ride back from Mars with a human mission and starts taking over minds on a small South Pacific island in “The Meeting Of Minds”. A nice horror tale. • in “Potential” a psychiatrist wakes up alone on a faster-than-light ship with the Sun going nova in his rear-view mirror, and a case of amnesia. A hideous crime is about to be committed when he lands. • When “The Sweeper Of Loray” is murdered by humans intent on stealing a longevity drug they learn a hard lesson. • A tailor takes on a job intended for another dressmaker in “The Slow Season” and discovers his worst nightmares have come true. —— A pretty enjoyable read although the shortest pieces are a bit gimmicky.

[jen kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

usually i love these little pulpy things, but don’t go in looking for anything particularly exciting with this collectiont. even given the age of the stories, they feel weak and lackluster. was worth the $1 i spent at half price for the sick cover tho

[Ian Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent…as expected. There is no dud in this collection, though evidently it’s one of his lesser praised. Best sci fi short story writer of the 20th century, hands down.

[Dace ჯ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short sci-fi stories! I liked most of them, there was always some unexpected twist.

[Alex Memus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Довольно проходной сборник рассказов Шекли. Выдающихся рассказов нет совсем. Есть всего парочку удачных: «Особый старательский» и Мусорщик на Лорее. Есть не особо смешная вариация (Поединок разумов) на Кто идет? Кэмпбелла. Есть два проходных, но читабельных рассказа: Девушки и Наджент Миллер, Мат. Остальные вызывает скорее ощущение незаконченных набросков (особенно расстраивает Вечность). В общем, можно смело скиповать этот сборник и еще раз перечитать Билет на планету Транай вместо него.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 11 short stories from the 1950s until 1960, originally published in 1962. Entertaining but not especially memorable. Lots of pioneers colonising the asteroid belt or other celestial bodies in our Solar System. The first story about a gold prospector on Venus was quite memorable, but not particularly original. The best story for me was "Potential" about a psychiatrist with amnesia, trying to understand his mission upon waking up in a spaceship.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Robert Sheckley, primarily for his short stories of technology gone wrong and unexpected twists. Shards of Space is a collection of pulp short stories that are not on the level of his best work. Some are predictable, some are predictably bad (The Special Exhibit), and some maybe were better in their time but didn’t age well from too many similar stories (Alone at Last). The were only two of this collection that were really good (Potential and The Slow Season). The others weren’t bad, but i expected more. Comparing to another short story collection I’m reading from Robert A. Heinlein (The Menace from Earth), most of these don’t match up. I’m not going to stop reading Sheckley altogether, though. Only necessary for completists. I picked it up for cheap at Powell’s.

Prospecter's Special ***
The Girls and Nugent Miller ***
Meeting of the Minds ***
Potential ****
Fool's Mate ****
Subsistence Level ***
The Slow Season ****
Alone at Last **
Forever ***
The Sweeper of Loray ***
The Special Exhibit **

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very mixed. My favourite was "The Sweeper of Loray," which is Sheckley at or very near his best. "Fool's Mate" and "Prospector's Special" are reasonably good. "Forever" and "Potential" are both intriguing, but the endings I found disappointing.
The remaining six stories were mediocre, tedious or outdated. Still, 5 out of 11 is not bad.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m biased and rate his work as genius level stuff. Just want to find more I haven’t read, despite having read some of these before and they’re not all being his absolute best work, the ones I liked left were magic. If you’re unsure just give it a go. Ignore negative reviews, unless you prefer being dutifully good to excitingly bad….

[Heather Warner · Rating 3 out of 5]

“3.5 stars”. This is an enjoyable collection of sci fi short stories written in the 1950’s/1960’s. It had lots of humor and humanity….but it is definitely a product of its time! There was only one story that I really disliked-“The Girls and Nugent Miller”-the ending was awful. Otherwise I enjoyed the rest of the collection.

[Rob Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of fun, as always.

[Artem Zinnatullin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Few were interesting, most were meh.

[Jon Pennycook · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun collection - no real stand-out stories but I didn't skip any either.

[Czytane przeze mnie]

Dnf, po prostu to było nudne

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

11 stories:

Prospector's Special (1959)
The Girls and Nugent Miller (1960)
Meeting of the Minds (1960)
Potential (1953)
Fool's Mate (1953)
Subsistence Level (1954)
The Slow Season (1954)
Alone at Last (1957)
Forever (1959)
The Sweeper of Loray (1959)
The Special Exhibit (1953)

[AlterEgoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,75⭐

Zbiór kolejnych 11 opowiadań SF od mistrza Złotej Ery, które wypadają znacznie lepiej, niż w zbiorze "Obywatel galaktyki".

1. "Superdrink poszukiwaczy" - Morrison wydaje całe oszczędności na pojazd i sprzęt do poszukiwania złotytu na rozległych pustyniach Wenus, gdzie całe dnie spędza najpierw w piaskochodzie, następnie pieszo szukając żyły, walcząc z upałem, brakiem snu, pragnieniem i drapieżnikami... - 3,75⭐;
2. "Dziewczyny i Nugent Miller" - w wymarłym, napromieniowanym świecie po III Wojnie Światowej (zapoczątkowanej atakiem chińskich komunistów na Tajwan), samotny, spragniony kontaktu były wykładowca historii Nugent Miller tropi ślady ludzi. W końcu odnajduje pięć żywych kobiet, którymi dowodzi despotyczna przeciwniczka mężczyzn - panna Denis. Dochodzi do konfrontacji... - 4⭐;
3. "Spotkanie umysłów" - na statek drugiej ziemskiej ekspedycja na Marsa ukradkiem dostaje się Quedak - marsjańska istota/owad, który ukrywszy się pod regałem dociera na ziemię, potem przedostaje się do magazynów, do przypadkowej skrzyni, na statek i ostatecznie trafia na wyspę Vuanu. Tu, wśród amerykańskich poszukiwaczy skarbów rozpoczyna swoją "misję"... - 3,5⭐;
4. "Potencjał" - doktor Ran Ellis budzi się samotnie na częściowo zniszczonym/spalonym statku kosmicznym z napędem nadświetlnym, dotknięty amnezją, odkrywszy fakt, że ziemia została zniszczona w wybuchu Słońca - Novej, ze świadomością, że prawdopodobnie jest ostatnim człowiekiem we wszechświecie i pędzi na spotkanie z obcą rasą humanoidalną na odległej planecie... Nie pamięta jednak o przełomowym odkryciu dokonanym na Ziemi na chwilę przed wybuchem Novej... - 4,5⭐;
5. "Szewski mat" - patowa sytuacja w Kosmosie przed ostateczną konfrontacją armii Ziemi i armii Obcych zostaje rozwiązana przez nietypowe zachowanie wysłannika prezydenta... - 3,5⭐;
6. "Poziom życia" - Amelia wyszła za mąż za pioniera Dirka Bogrena, przeprowadzili się na Południową Czapę Polarną, a gdy się zaludniło polecieli się osiedlić na oddaloną od Ziemi bryłę skały o powierzchni kilkunastu km kwadratowych w dalekim Pasie Asteroidów... - 3,25⭐;
7. "Zastój w interesach" - krawiec Slobold dostaje intratne zlecenie uszycia nietypowych szat dla dziwnych klientek, które okazują się zmorami z Krainy Ciemności - 3,25⭐;
8. "Nareszcie sam" -poszukujący samotności Richard Arwell wyrusza statkiem kosmicznym z zamiarem zamieszkania w odosobnieniu na asteroidzie za Marsem... - 3,25⭐;
9. "Wieczność" - Charles Dennison odkrywa eliksir nieśmiertelności i przez są nieostrożność zostaje złapany i uwięziony przez Sprzysiężenie Grabarzy - 3,25⭐;
10. "Zamiatacz z Loray" - profesor Carver wraz ze swoim ochroniarzem Fredem przylatują na prymitywną planetę Loray obserwować osobliwy wschód słońca. Przy okazji odkrywają lecznicze serum Lorayanów i tajemnicę ich szamana... - 4⭐;
11. "Specjalna ekspozycja" - Specjalna Ekspozycja to odosobnione miejsce w muzeum tylko dla wybranych. To co się w nim znajduje szczególnie podoba się niewiernym żonom... - 3,5⭐.

[Andrewcharles420 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written, with clever, optimistic ideas about the future of technology. Culturally grating many times; left me feeling glad to be done with it.

Single-sentence story summaries:

1) A Venusian mineral hunter risks life and limb in the searing heat hoping to strike it rich.

2) The "last civilized man" dies after meeting some independent women in the dystopian, nuclear-winter remains of the world.

3) An alien parasitic collective intelligence tries to establish itself on Earth.

4) Humanity's last hope escaping supernova is to steal the bodies of comatose aliens.

5) Galactic war hangs in the balance as computers calculate who has already won a battle that has yet to begin.

6) Arduous 5-hour workdays stretch into backbreaking 6- or 7- hour days pioneering the asteroid belt, until it too becomes one of Earth's suburbs.

7) A tailor's best job is also his worst nightmare.

8) A man and his android just want to be alone.

9) The pains of discovering biological immortality.

10) An alien tribe has a cure for deadly diseases? Earth-men should do what they need to do to steal it! (this story was written 400 years past its prime, IMO)

11) Hate your wife? Show her the museum's "Special Exhibit". (this story was similarly written about 400 years past its prime)

These stories were generally clever, and quite optimistic about humanity's technological future. Most of the stories ended humorously, with surprise, or tongue-in-cheek jokes. In that sense, the book was a pleasure to read, and some stories deserve better than a three star rating (1 and 3 in particular). Unfortunately, the perspectives in all the stories reflected white Earth men as the pinnacle of creation. When a women gets in the way of man's plans, she is a man-hating "lesbian bitch". Using deadly force to steal a longevity serum from another race is justified, because the worth of the few Terrans it could possibly aid was greater than the worth of the lives and culture of the natives. What to do with your nagging wife? Off with her head at the shrunken-head producing captive tribe of the local anthropology department. While this book had some interesting and open-minded ideas of technological progress, it predicted a stagnating, stifling, authoritarian cultural progression. I like where the characters go in these stories, but I don't like the ideas they bring with them. I'll be wary reading more by this author.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are old stories, written in the 1950's. But I was entertained by all of them, and I was amazed at their originality. So many of the older stories are hampered by the scientific and cultural naïveté of the times, but these could have been written today. I will definitely look for more of Robert Sheckley's work.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have an earlier version. More of Sheckley's short stories. Some pretty good but nothing really stood out that much for me.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

What great stories!

[RC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories are readable, but not great.