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Published January 1, 1953
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About the author
Milton Lesser
133 books3 followersMilton Lesser was an American author of science fiction, mystery novels, and fictional autobiographies of Christopher Columbus, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, and Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his detective character Chester Drum, whom he created in the 1955 novel The Second Longest Night.
He was awarded the French Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988, and in 1997 he was awarded the "Life Achievement Award" by the Private Eye Writers of America. He lived with his wife Ann in Williamsburg, Virginia.
His pseudonyms include Adam Chase, Stephen Marlowe, Andrew Frazer, C.H. Thames, Jason Ridgway and Ellery Queen.
He was awarded the French Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988, and in 1997 he was awarded the "Life Achievement Award" by the Private Eye Writers of America. He lived with his wife Ann in Williamsburg, Virginia.
His pseudonyms include Adam Chase, Stephen Marlowe, Andrew Frazer, C.H. Thames, Jason Ridgway and Ellery Queen.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 21, 2019
A Nice Bunch of Old SF Yarns.
This is a a collection of twenty sf stories from the early 1950s or before.
The quality is frankly variable, but there are several gems, including Bradbury's "In This Sign" (aka The Fire Balloons), Poul Anderson's "The Last Monster (Terminal Quest), Eric Frank Russell's "Ultima Thule" and Arthur C Clarke's moving "Transience". For those who haven't encountered them, these relate to Missionaries on Mars, the morality (or immorality) iof interstellar colonisation, a space crew lost outside the universe and the coming and going of Mankind from the Earth.
The others are more obscure, but contain some nice stuff. Murray Leinster's "The Power" is the story of an alien stranded on Earth - in the fifteenth century! His attempts to convey some of his knowledge are sad but only too credible. Lewis Padgett's "We Kill People" is a chilling glimpse of a future "Murder Inc", While Don Wilcox' "The Voyage that Lasted Six Hundred Years" is a very early generation ship story, anticipating Heinlein's "Universe", but far less well known Imho it deserves more reprints than it has had, Walter M Miller's "The Little Creeps" recalls his novella "Izzard and the Membrane". And Isaac Asimov's "Victory Unintentional" is an amusing, tongue-in-cheek sequel, to his better known and more widely anthologised "Not Final".
Finally, Jack Vance's "The King of Thieves" is another Magnus Ridolph detective story. It's good but I have one beef with the author. Ever since reading it as a 12yo I had remembered a line about "the rich, yellow light of Pi Aquarii" , and was still irritated, decades later, to discover that Pi Aquarii is a blue giant. I felt that a bit of my childhood had been nicked.
Still, it's not a bad set of stories, and I still keep a copy. Could make a good present for a young nephew.
This is a a collection of twenty sf stories from the early 1950s or before.
The quality is frankly variable, but there are several gems, including Bradbury's "In This Sign" (aka The Fire Balloons), Poul Anderson's "The Last Monster (Terminal Quest), Eric Frank Russell's "Ultima Thule" and Arthur C Clarke's moving "Transience". For those who haven't encountered them, these relate to Missionaries on Mars, the morality (or immorality) iof interstellar colonisation, a space crew lost outside the universe and the coming and going of Mankind from the Earth.
The others are more obscure, but contain some nice stuff. Murray Leinster's "The Power" is the story of an alien stranded on Earth - in the fifteenth century! His attempts to convey some of his knowledge are sad but only too credible. Lewis Padgett's "We Kill People" is a chilling glimpse of a future "Murder Inc", While Don Wilcox' "The Voyage that Lasted Six Hundred Years" is a very early generation ship story, anticipating Heinlein's "Universe", but far less well known Imho it deserves more reprints than it has had, Walter M Miller's "The Little Creeps" recalls his novella "Izzard and the Membrane". And Isaac Asimov's "Victory Unintentional" is an amusing, tongue-in-cheek sequel, to his better known and more widely anthologised "Not Final".
Finally, Jack Vance's "The King of Thieves" is another Magnus Ridolph detective story. It's good but I have one beef with the author. Ever since reading it as a 12yo I had remembered a line about "the rich, yellow light of Pi Aquarii" , and was still irritated, decades later, to discover that Pi Aquarii is a blue giant. I felt that a bit of my childhood had been nicked.
Still, it's not a bad set of stories, and I still keep a copy. Could make a good present for a young nephew.
June 2, 2021
Collection of lesser known stories by well known Golden Age SF authors. Very enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews