The Human Zero

by Erle Stanley Gardner, Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Charles Waugh (Editor)

"A space capsule reels into space (in the 1920s!), complete with rocket and weightless passengers. Intelligent ants guard a ledge of solid gold in darkest Africa. A scientific miracle makes people invisible. Fans of Erle Stanley Gardner will be surprised and delighted to discover in these long-unavailable stories that he was one of our earliest science fiction writers - and science fiction readers will regret that he did not write many more. Published in Argosy magazine in the 1920s and 1930s, these suspenseful tales display Gardner's grasp of a vast range of unlikely subject matter and the masterful gift for plot and action that made him the best-selling author of all time. Some of the stories are peopled with his classic cops and killers, tough reporters and sleuths of detective fiction, along with the mad professors and strange geniuses of fantastic science."

Genres: Science Fiction

444 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr.

Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...

Reviews

[Katra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing the real life history behind Rain Magic made it especially mesmerizing.John Samuelson was a very weird egg.

[Ashwin Dongre · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. The Human Zero: Good story, decent fictional science to based the story upon. A scientist figures out a way vanish human body. The plot is a typical of ESG's thriller, something akin to his hardboil pulp fiction era. Science fiction part of it is small, and the fact that it is so unbelivievable that no one believes even when the protagonist realise it. All in all, good four star story, though barely science fiction.
2. Monkey Eys: As much as the first story is a page turner, this one is page freezer. I stopped reading the book with this story. Picked up after a couple of months and finished as fast as possible. Fictional science: Evolution taking a different path. Apart from being a bit dark and nauseating, I didn't like the portrayal of Indians. The religional background is correct. But the build up is wrong, just like Indiana Jones' Temple of Doom. Way too incorrect portrait of India. This one story is 0 star for me. The Science fiction part is fine, but rest of it is put outer.
3. New Worlds: A social story of survival in the face of disaster. Basically a disaster story, based on sound natural phenomenon. But that's all there is, once that phenomenon is explained, there is nothing else scientific about it. But I think its more a great survival story than science fiction. I was bored to read it though. But then that's because it's not a genre I enjoy. I'm sure "Robinson Crusoe" or "Swiss Family Robinson" lovers would love this story. Also, while I think the natural phenomenon is possible in real life, I think it would go a lot slower; the core would slow down before reversing, and that would take centuries to happen. Human being would have a lot of time to learn about it and adjust to the situation.
4. Rain Magic: This is a fantasy story, no science in it; unless you are talking about trained ants churning out gold. The story was interesting, but nothing like any other ESG stories.
5. A Year in a Day: Now this is the second story that I liked. A four starer, based on a fictional science of increasing human speed so much that they appear, the story also explains and takes advantages of the repercussions of it as well. It's a crime story, so it's fun and entertaining as well. It's good that ESG decided to stick with that genre. S
6. The Man with Pin-Point Eyes: I dont think I'll call this science fiction. It's a treasure hunt story with reincarnation (explained as split-personality). A story about a man hypnotising other to become a soldier, who had hidden a treasure in the desert 300 years ago, only to realise that he actually is the reincarnation of that soldier. What follows is a B-grade treasure hunt. A 3 star story.
7. The Sky's the Limit: This one is also a 3 starer. A scientist invents a flying machine and travels to Venus and back. It's okay story, fictional science is also fine, the build up is part correct mostly incorrect. had ESG asked a physicist, most of the scientific errors could have been avoided, I mean Jules Verne did a lot better job over half a century before this story. All in all, it has an unscientific Asimov feel to it.

All in all this anthology is poor, never thought I'd say that about ESG. I'm glad that he figured out the same and stuck to crime thrillers and whodunits. He was The Master in those!

[John A · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 stories of manly vigor - all with a scifi or fantasy center - - stories written in the late 20s and early 30s for pulp magazine Argosy - by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner - they pulsate with more pulp action than space opera - all but one is set on earth - the exception goes to Venus - - for the hyper-sensitive - there's a touch of the old racial superiority in a couple of the stories - altho in one - the white he-man falls for the nubile dark-skinned girl - - scifi fans should know that this is not exactly "science" fiction - it'll appeal more to adventure fans - Gardner in his youth was a red-blooded male - and so was his storytelling

[Magda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some zany stories that are in many ways quaint, and wholly engaging. I loved all the different scenario and the subtly (or more overtly) named characters.

[Clyde Tosalini · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are a series of slightly science-fiction slanted pulp stories. Some are more interesting than others. All are mildly entertaining. Lots of fighting. The one where the poles shift and there is a flood was good until they landed, then it just became a standard off-the-shelf fighting story.

Gardner seems to choose, whether intentionally or accidentally I know not, words and phrases that are archaic or soon-to-be archaic in American English:

"cañon" instead of "canyon"
"clew" instead of "clue"
"bowlder" instead of "boulder"
"inclosure" instead of "enclosure"
"of a sudden" instead of "all of a sudden" or "suddenly"

Three of the five above have a red squiggly line under them.

I'm glad he gravitated to writing Perry Mason stories.