Science Fiction: The Great Years

by Carol Pohl (Editor / Contributor), Fredric Brown (Contributor), C.M. Kornbluth (Contributor)

Contents
Introduction the First (Science Fiction: The Great Years, Volume I) • essay by Frederik Pohl
Introduction the Second (Science Fiction: The Great Years, Volume I) • essay by Carol Pohl
…And Then There Were None • (1951) • novella by Eric Frank Russell
The Liberation of Earth • (1953) • short story by William Tenn
Old Faithful • [Old Faithful] • (1934) • novelette by Raymond Z. Gallun
Placet is a Crazy Place • (1946) • short story by Fredric Brown
Wings of the Lightning Land • (1941) • novelette by Frederik Pohl [as by James MacCreigh]
The Little Black Bag • (1950) • novelette by C.M. Kornbluth
A Matter of Form • (1938) • novella by by Horace L. Gold

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good collection of classic science fiction stories, all but two of which are from John Campbell's Astounding magazine. The cornerstone is Eric Frank Russell's ...And Then There Were None, along with classic stories by Frederic Brown, Raymond Z. Gallun, C.M. Kornbluth, William Tenn, H.L. Gold, and Pohl himself, writing as James MacCreigh. My only criticism would be that most of them were overly-exposed, having been anthologized many times before (and since) this publication. Aside from the Russell my favorites were the Kornbluth, Brown, and Gallun. I thought the weakest story was Pohl's; he could have picked a much better one from his own works.

[Daniel Moskowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of early science fiction, with the most recent story being published in 1953. Actually the majority of them are pretty solid and/or easy reads. One real highlight and one real lowlight...

Highlight: I have become a Fredric Brown, capital F, Fan. "Placet is a Crazy Place" lives up to its title, describing a planet that is stuck in a figure-8 between two suns and what happens when it's directly in the middle. All a just a set up to a punchline but the joke (and the premise) hit.

Lowlight: I have become a hater of Raymond Gallun's writing. I log every short story I read into a spread sheet with a little rating and a brief description. After (not) finishing "Old Faithful" I checked the log to see if I read any of his other stories before. And lo and behold, six years ago I had the same reaction to one of his other stories. 'Can't stay awake, fall asleep every time'.

Overall average of all of the stories 3/5 even with Gallun's goose-egg.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3634423.html

I got this in 2014 because the last story, "A Matter of Form" by H.L. Gold, was up for the Retro Hugo for Best Novella that year (beaten by the classic "Who Goes There?", which got my vote). It's a collection of seven stories from the Golden Age, published between 1934 and 1953, all by men. The weakest is an early story of Pohl's own, "Wings of the Lightning Land"; several of the others have aged poorly, including Eric Frank Russell's "...And Then There Were None". I don't especially like Kornbluth's "The Little Black Bag" but I think it's a well-executed story.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 1.75 out of 5]

Generally, it's a bad sign when a book has more than one introduction. Unfortunately, the intros were about the best parts of this anthology. Three of these stories (by Klass, Brown and Kornbluth) are considered classics, but they can be found in a zillion other anthologies. Three of the four novellas are just awful. The only good story not found in many other anthologies is the Russell.

Selections:

* "Introduction the First" by Frederik Pohl. Why Pohl blames his parents for introducing him to sci-fi, why he had his wife as co-editor for this anthology, and why good sci-fi needs to be vulgar.
* "Introduction the Second" by Carol Pohl. Much shorter intro by Carol about losing her sci-fi virginity.
* "... And Then There Were None" by Eric Frank Russell. This novella starts slowly, but stick with it. This story of an expedition to the planet Gand is BRILLIANT. Gives you a lot to think about.
* "The Liberation of Earth" by William Tenn/Philip Klass. Darkly humorous alien invasion story, but I had to wince when the human population of Earth was stated as two billion. It's nearly nine billion now. Jesus -- we've invaded ourselves.
* "Old Faithful" by Raymond Z. Gallun. This is the first story in the Old Faithful series, first published in 1934. An old Martian astronomer is condemned to death by the government, so he devised a crazy plan to escape. It's a dull and bitterly sad story.
* "Placet is a Crazy Place" by Frederick Brown. This appears in many sci-fi anthologies. It's a product of its time -- a workplace comedy set on another planet. It was considered wonderful in the 1950s, but has not aged well.
* "Wings of the Lightning Land" by James MacCreigh/Frederik Pohl. One of those suddenly-transported-to-Wonderland type novellas. You might need go look up "cretinism" as the term is no longer used. WARNING: Moon cattle shot to death, winged creature dies.
* "The Little Black Bag" by C. M. Kornbluth. This is Frederik Pohl's favorite sci-fi story, because he suggested the premise to Kornbluth. Unfortunately, it's one of the few Kornbluths that I can't stand. Not only is it depressing as hell, but a dog gets attacked by a drunk, and cut with a piece of glass. This is presented as "humor."
* "A Matter of Form" by H. L. Gold. A power-crazed surgeon switches the personalities of a man and a collie. Sadly, there are a lot of dogs that die here, so I wound up skimming this. Gold might have known how to run a magazine, but he didn't know much about dogs ... or about brains.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

“And Then There Were None”, “The Liberation of Earth”, “Placet is a Crazy Place”, and “The Little Black Bag” are all good stories in their different ways, but I’d already read them elsewhere by the time I read this anthology in 1975. The other three stories included here are less good.

[Peveril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best stories ; Raymond Z Gallun Old Faithful, Fredric Brown Placet Is A Crazy Place, C M Kornbluth The Little Black Bag.

[Martin Empson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, but unchallenging, collection of classic authors.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally read this book in the seventies. I'm enjoying rereading it. I especially like the stories, 'And Then There Were None' by Eric Frank Russell, 'The Liberation of Earth' by William Tenn and 'Placet is a Crazy Place' by Fredric Brown.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old book of my Dad's. Read a couple of stories in here, but I found it uneven. And Then There Were None was my fave.