The Fiend

by Algis Budrys (Contributor), Charles Beaumont (Contributor), Fredric Brown (Contributor)

Table of contents:

Editors of Playboy. Preface (The Fiend)
Frederik Pohl. The Fiend
Algis Budrys. The Last Brunette
Charles Beaumont. You Can't Have Them All
Fredric Brown. Double Standard
Charles Beaumont. The Crooked Man
Hugh Nissenson. The Mission
Frank Dobinson. The Master Copy
Ray Russell. The Better Man
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. Welcome to the Monkey House
Robert Sheckley. Can You Feel Anything When I do This?
Vance Aandahl. Adam Frost
Robert Bloch. I Like Blondes
Arthur C. Clarke. I Remember Babylon
Robert Sheckley. Pilgrimage to Earth
Frederik Pohl. Lovemaking

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome, John A. Sentry, William Scarff, Paul Janvier, and Sam & Janet Argo.

Called "AJ" by friends, Budrys was born Algirdas Jonas Budrys in Königsberg in East Prussia. He was the son of the consul general of the Lithuanian government, (the pre-World War II government still recognized after the war by the United States, even though the Soviet-sponsored government was in power throughout most of Budrys's life). His family was sent to the United States by the Lithuanian government in 1936 when Budrys was 5 years old. During most of his adult life, he held a captain's commission in the Free Lithuanian Army.

Budrys was educated at the University of Miami, and later at Columbia University in New York. His first published science fiction story was The High Purpose, which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1952. Beginning in 1952 Budrys worked as editor and manager for such science fiction publishers as Gnome Press and Galaxy Science Fiction. Some of his science fiction in the 1950s was published under the pen name "John A. Sentry", a reconfigured Anglification of his Lithuanian name. Among his other pseudonyms in the SF magazines of the 1950s and elsewhere, several revived as bylines for vignettes in his magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, is "William Scarff". He also wrote several stories under the names "Ivan Janvier" or "Paul Janvier." He also used the pen name "Alger Rome" in his collaborations with Jerome Bixby.

Budrys's 1960 novella Rogue Moon was nominated for a Hugo Award, and was later anthologized in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two (1973). His Cold War science fiction novel Who? was adapted for the screen in 1973. In addition to numerous Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominations, Budrys won the Science Fiction Research Association's 2007 Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to speculative fiction scholarship. In 2009, he was the recipient of one of the first three Solstice Awards presented by the SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.

Budrys was married to Edna Duna; they had four sons. He last resided in Evanston, Illinois. He died at home, from metastatic malignant melanoma on June 9, 2008.

Reviews

[Carol Tensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fiend is a collection of sci-fi stories originally published in Playboy, which is appropriate because no one ever looks at the pictures in those magazines. In spite of the lurid book covers, sci-fi had always had a history of sidestepping sexual themes. To rectify this, Playboy welcomed sci-fi writers’ visions of sex in the future. Fifteen of these stories were chosen for The Fiend , seven of which are noteworthy. The title story “The Fiend” combines sexual terror and claustrophobia. Charles Beaumont’s “The Crooked Man”, is a sci-fi classic about a time when people are expected to have same-sex relations and heterosexuality is banned. “Adam Frost” is set in a post apocalyptic future and might very well have inspired Cormac McCarthy’s The Road . Both of the Robert Sheckley stories “Love, Incorporated” and “Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?” are fresh and well-written. “Double Standard” has one of most surprising premises for a sci-fi story about sex. Vonnegut’s “Welcome to the Monkey House” offers a wonderful solution to overpopulation – pills that numbs their users from the waist down and make them pee turquoise urine (protection from Billy the Poet is not guaranteed).

[Cameron Skidmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories are dated but overall a nice, concise collection of stories.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science fiction collection from the editors of Playboy. All the stories were pretty good, as might be expected, all had sexual themes, but really nothing too racy.