Science Fiction Stories

by Edward Blishen (Editor), Nicholas Fisk, Arthur C. Clarke

Edward Blishen has always liked science fiction writing. At its best, he feels, it reveals marvelous imaginations at work in the telling of memorable tall tales. And sometimes it goes even further and presents you with an idea that changes your whole view of things. "There's a story in this collection, " says Blishen, "that will leave you aware for the rest of your life that you may have got everything right about a situation...except the one really imporant detail.

The boy, the dog, and the spaceship / Nicholas Fisk --
Invisible in London / H.G. Wells --
Dragon of Pendor / Ursula Le Guin --
Bobo's star / Glenn Chandler --
Yellow hands / T.H. White --
Specimen / Tim Stout --
Of Polymuf stock / John Christopher --
Hurled into space / Jules Verne --
Goodbye to the moon / Monica Hughes --
Shot from the moon / Arthur C. Clarke --
Fun they had / Isaac Asimov --
Fight between lizards at the center of the earth / Jules Verne --
Last man alive / M.P. Shiel --
How we were tracked by a tripod / John Christopher --
War of the worlds / H.G. Wells --
Homecoming / Stephen David --
All Summer in a day / Ray Bradbury --
Greenville's planet / Michael Shaara --
Fear Shouter / Jay Williams --
Wind from the sun / Arthur C. Clarke

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Childrens, Young Adult

253 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Sula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contents:
The Boy, The Dog and The Spaceship by Nicholas Fisk
Invisible in London (from The Invisible Man) by H.G. Wells
The Dragon of Pendor (from A Wizard of Earthsea) by Ursula K. Le Guin
Bobo's Star by Glen Chandler
The Yellow Hands (from The Master) by T.H. White
The Specimen by Tim Stout
Of Polymuf Stock (set in the same world as The Sword of Spirits Series) by John Christopher
Hurled Into Space (from Round the Moon) by Jules Verne
Goodbye to the Moon (from Crisis on Conshelf Ten) by Monica Hughes
The Shot From the Moon (from Islands in the Sky) by Arthur C. Clarke
The Fun They Had by Isaac Asimov
A Fight Between Lizards at the Centre of the Earth (from Journey To The Centre Of The Earth) by Jules Verne
The Last Man Alive (from The Purple Cloud) by Matthew Phipps Shiel
How We Were Tracked By A Tripod (from The White Mountains) by John Christopher
The War of the Worlds: an extract (from The War of the Worlds) by H.G. Wells
Homecoming by Stephen David
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Grenville's Planet by Micheal Shaara
The Fear Shouter by Jay Williams
The Wind from the Sun by Arthur C. Clarke

Blishen (The compiler of this book) says he made this selection in the hope that there will be at least one story that will haunt the reader for ever after (as he was after reading the The Invisible Man) and I can say that Ray Bradbury's All Summer in a Day has stuck in my memory, since I first came across it in this book. Isaac Asimov's The Fun They Had also did. Re-reading now after a long time others in this collection are familiar and I can remember finding them haunting as a child. I was always disappointed that the ones I found most interesting were short stories and not an extract from a longer book I could then discover. I only enjoyed about half of these, and some more for nostalgia's sake.

[Neville Tirimba Ogoti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the collection when I was a young boy and enjoyed it a great deal. One of the stories, Bobo's Star, has never disappeared from my mind. Science fiction does not appeal to me nowadays but I remember this collection of stories with great nostalgia.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review of the 1993 paperback edition.

I've actually read this twice, but the first time was so long ago, that I forgot how most of the stories ended. So, when I found this up at the Internet Archive, I thought I'd give it another go, just to give an overly detailed review to you fine Goodreaders. You're welcome.

Although we do have many complete short stories here, there are several selections from novels that are more like teasers for the books than complete stories. I realize that some of these works were in the public domain (so no copyright to pay), but I think it would've been better to have a smaller book than include those selections.

I'd forgotten how bad the illustrations by Karin Littlewood were. Most looked like they'd been knocked of as doodles while she made phone calls. They were more scribbles than drawings. Things like computer monitors were crooked instead of straight. Sloppy crap like that. Occasionally, some decent drawings popped out (such as the very first drawing of the dog and boy) but most were really bad.

Selections:

* "The Boy, the Dog, and the Spaceship" by Nicholas Fisk. This is a rarity -- a sci-fi story with a dog ... and the dog doesn't die. The dog is the true hero of the story.
* "Invisible in London" by H. G. Wells. From The Invisible Man. Very short, slightly amusing piece about Our Protagonist wandering about Victorian London in the nude, but invisible. Also, this is the bit where Wells talks about how important the sense of smell is to a dog.
* "The Dragon of Pendor" by Ursula K. LeGuin. From A Wizard of Earthsea. I rooted for the dragons, so I was a bit bummed. This, obviously, is a fantasy story. No idea why it's in a sci-fi anthology.
* "Bobo's Star" by Glenn Chandler. This might be a comment on the Ant Farm. The science in this is a bit out if date now. A happy little Apocalyptic bedtime story. Sleep tight, kids.
* "The Yellow Hands" by T. H. White. From The Master. Apparently, this is the first chapter of the book. The people here are hateful. Our Protagonists don't care if their dog is killed. Fuck them. The fate of their dog is unknown at the end of this chapter.
* "The Specimen" by Tim Stout. Complete story this time, with a British boy caught by an alien. Rather sad, really.
* "Of Polymuf Stock" by John Christopher. Set in an England of the far future, a blue-blood boy discovers that his blood is not so blue. The story is a metaphor about racism.
* "Hurled Into Space" by Jules Verne. From Round the Moon. Three Victorians and two dogs endure one man's inane chatter before they are blasted with gunpowder to the moon. Makes you glad you didn't read the whole novel.
* "Goodbye to the Moon" by Monica Hughes. From Crisis on Conshelf Ten. From going to the moon, to leaving it. The first human born on the moon gets a working vacation to Earth. I can't help but wince at reading about the U. N. being in charge of Earth, which was a common trope of the times.
* "The Shot from the Moon" by Arthur C. Clarke. From Islands in the Sky. This an annoying selection, because it ends on a cliffhanger.
* "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov. This is a very short, complete story set in 2157 to state how wonderful school is. Not sure if Asimov was being sarcastic.
* "A Fight Between Lizards at the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne. From Voyage to the Center of the Earth. The lizards, of course, being dinosaurs. This is the bit always portrayed in movies based on the novel, although they set it on land instead of the sea. This is another selection that ends on a cliffhanger.
* "Last Man Alive" by M. P. Shiel. From The Purple Cloud. This is another teaser rather than a full story. It's dreadful and tedious, with loads of dead people and animals, including a "wee pony."
* "How We were Tracked by a Tripod" by John Christopher. From The White Mountain. I'm getting damn tired of these extracts. This episode was clearly inspired by the next selection. Our illustrator actually does some decent work here.
* "The War of the Worlds" by H. G. Wells. Extract from the novel of the same name. You know it. You love it. The illustrator goes back to scribbles here.
* "Homecoming" by Stephen David. This is one of the best stories in the book. There's an alien world that Earth colonists can't wait to leave, there's science and there's conflict.
* "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury. This classic Bradbury story about one hour of sunlight every seven years on Venus is now quite wince-inducing. The story itself is good, but we've learned a lot more about Venus since this was written, and now know it's way too hot to ever colonize.
* "Grenville's Planet" by Michael Shaara. One of those good ol' space monster stories, with plenty of violence.
* "The Fear Shouter" by Jay Williams. Many sci-fi stories at the time had their versions of Starfleet Academy. This old space cadet tells the younger ones a story of meeting the scariest monster in the galaxy. Horrible ending, suggesting that a whole species got wiped out without a care.
* "The Wind from the Sun" by Arthur C. Clarke. Classic Clarke story of a future sport -- sailing the solar winds. Solar sails, of sorts, have been made since this was first written.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of two anthologies I owned by Kingfisher as a kid, the other being Robert Westall's companion piece GHOST STORIES. While this one is handsomely packaged, well put together and has fun little line illustrations within each of the stories, the biggest problem is that a big chunk of the tales are excerpts – and I hate excerpts and have done ever since I was a kid (alongside abridged versions of longer stories). I get that they're included to provide a taste of novel-length work, but the extracts have seemingly been chosen at random and I gladly skipped all of those present because I'd rather just read the full things in due course. Out of interest, the excerpts are from: Wells' THE INVISIBLE MAN and WAR OF THE WORLDS; Le Guin's THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA; T.H. White's THE MASTER; Verne's ROUND THE MOON and JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH; Monica Hughes' THE CRISIS ON CONSHELF TEN; Clarke's ISLANDS IN THE SKY; Shiel's THE PURPLE CLOUD; and Christopher's THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

Which leaves ten short stories in total, a mix of older reprints and newer sci-fi stories written for younger readers, some of them taken from the Richard Davis-edited SPACE anthologies of the 1970s. THE BOY, THE DOG AND THE SPACESHIP is by Nicholas Fisk and one of the latter, opening the anthology with a much hackneyed tale of terrestrial invasion with a twist. You can guess the outcome a mile off, but it's reasonably enjoyable thanks to the writing style nonetheless. BOBO'S STAR, by Glenn Chandler, is my favourite story here, a thoroughly entertaining story of what happens when a schoolboy fails to follow his new experiment's instructions. Tim Stout's THE SPECIMEN is another familiar story about an alien spaceship with nefarious intentions, but there's a good twist and a surprisingly emotive handling of the material nonetheless.

John Christopher, of Tripods fame, contributes OF POLYMUF STOCK, a coming-of-age tale with plenty of world building. I felt it a bit contrived towards the end – a sudden character development doesn't quite ring true – but nonetheless interesting. Asimov's THE FUN THEY HAD is an astonishgly prescient story of future schoolkids doing their homework on e-readers and computer screens, taught by AI tutors. Sound familiar? HOMECOMING is Stephen David's tale of human colonists striving to leave a planet, but I found it a bit overlong and dull, never quite as intriguing as it should be. ALL SUMMER IN A DAY is by Ray Bradbury so is, of course, fantastic, a tale of child cruelty that reminded me a little of Jackson's THE LOTTERY.

Michael Shaara writes GRENVILLE'S PLANET, a mystery on an alien planet covered in a huge ocean and a single island. It takes a little while to get there but the double-twist of the climax is a good one. Jay Williams' THE FEAR SHOUTER is less assured, a juvenile and humorous encounter with an alien monster; I felt the punchline was in poor taste. Finally, THE WIND FROM THE SUN sees Arthur C. Clarke staging a galactic race to the Moon, with plenty of suspense and twists and turns along the way. The ending is as evocative as anything written by the great Carl Sagan. This is a fun anthology overall despite the (for me) dead space, although perhaps it's telling that I ended up becoming a huge fan of ghost and horror stories with a sci-fi a secondary interest; maybe the Westall volume is the better of my two.

[Runal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good introduction to this genre. It contains excerpts from books by famous sci-fi authors which encouraged me to read their works.

[Rick Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories here are excellent and were written by well known authors

[Johnny Dugdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable selection of short stories. I haven't read anything from these authors since I was a young teenager so this a great reminder why I enjoyed them.

[Arlian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Invisible in London, The Dragon on Pendor, The Yellow Hands, Hurled Into Space, Goodbye to the Moon, The Shot from the Moon, A Fight Between Lizards at the Center of the Earth, The Last Man Alive, How We Were Tracked by a Tripod, The War of the Worlds (an extract): 2 / 5 All of are extracts from longer stories. I don't really understand some of these choices. These choices...are super random. These stories randomly start and randomly stop. These selections don't have logical archs. They are just random. The fact that the bulk of the stories in this book are totally random and not that interesting really brings the book down by a lot. The editor could have chosen the same stories to take selections from, but if the editor had chosen better selections the book would have been more enjoyable.

The Boy, the Dog, and the Spaceship: 3 / 5 A cute story about a little boy and a tiny alien. A little unbelievable.

Bobo's Star: 3 / 5 Another cute slice-of-life story about a boy and a toy science kit. A little predictable, but cute.

The Specimen: 2.5 / 5 The name gives the plot away: a fairly run of the mill alien zoo story.

Of Polymuff Stock: 3.5 / 5I actually adored this story, but I disliked the ending. It had all the classic things you’d want from a scifi story: post-dystopian far-future, rediscovering a lost ruin, mutants, war, etc. It’s great. But the ending was really moralistic and silly.

The Fun they Had: 3 / 5 A cute little tongue-in-cheek story that clearly is about appreciating what you have now.

Homecoming: 3.5 / 5 A story about finding your home wherever you are.

All in a Summer a Day: 3 / 5 A very Bradbury story about the cruelty of children.

Greenville's Planet: 4.5 / 5 One of my favourite stories in the book, possibly tied for first. An excellent alien exploration story.

The Fear Shouter: 4 / 5Pretty great little story. Got a good “war story” vibe, with a cute ending. Also a little philosophical too, in that “dad likes to teach you life lessons” kinda way.

The Wind from the Sun: 4.5 / 5 Possibly my favourite story in the book. I’m a sailor, and I love the idea of sailing the black, starry seas because of solar radiation.


The only stories really “worth reading” are the Polymuff Stock, The Greenville Planet, The Fear Shouter, and The Wind From the Sun. And maybe HomecomingEverything else was kinda boring.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book a long time ago. I am not a science fiction fan, but I think it is important to read a variety of genres to students.

There are several good short stories in this anthology. Some of the well-known science fiction authors (Clarke, Asimov, etc.) are in here.

I am partial to "The Boy, The Dog, and The Spaceship". I have learned to read this later in the fourth grade school year as students have matured to be able to understand the "twist". Good story!

[Declan Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of short stories including some excerpts. The pictures provide a break in the stories although sometime do spoil the ending...

Clearly aimed at a younger market there are a number of stories with children as the primary character and the excerpts (all out of copyright material it seems) are there to encourage the reader to try these books as well.

All in all, a nice little collection and worth picking up and reading.

[Alisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories were a bit boring but otherwise it was really interesting.

[Brittany Basalla · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of many short stories under the science fiction genre, which can be a great choice for our read aloud sessions depending on the age group.

[Ben Shee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't unenjoyable, had some nice excerpts with decent explanation. I enjoyed the story about the mostly water planet - Grenville's Planet. Overall fair experience. Intended for children.

[Scarlett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some were good, but most were drawn out, long, and dreary. Not the best