Fuera de los confines humanos

by Judith Merril, René Cárdenas Barrios (Translator), Theodore Sturgeon (Contributor)

Contiene los relatos:

Solamente una madre (That Only a Mother, 1948)
El espía (Peeping Tom, 1954)
La dama era una golfa (The Lady Was a Tramp, 1957)
Quienquiera que seas (Whoever You Are, 1952)
Contacto consumado (Connection Completed, 1954)
En el mismo centro (Dead Center, 1954)
La muerte no puede marchitarse (Death Cannot Wither, 1959)

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Josephine Juliet Grossman

aka Cyril Judd (with C.M. Kornbluth)

Judith Josephine Grossman (Boston, Massachusetts, January 21, 1923 - Toronto, Ontario, September 12, 1997), who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist.

Although Judith Merril's first paid writing was in other genres, in her first few years of writing published science fiction she wrote her three novels (all but the first in collaboration with C.M. Kornbluth) and some stories. Her roughly four decades in that genre also included writing 26 published short stories, and editing a similar number of anthologies.

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good collection of Merril's short stories, most of which I had not read before--the only one I had read was the classic "That Only a Mother," quite a dandy take on the old conceit that radiation would cause mutations giving people strange new powers (it was originally published shortly after WWII). The others here are comparably memorable. Merril generally focuses more on character than on the technology, though one gets the sense that she knew her science well enough as well. Each story here focuses mainly on the inner life of the characters, including a couple about ESP and how it complicates one's abilities to communicate with others, rather than actually making life easier. The stories are all well-crafted and generally unpredictable (there are a couple of twist endings, but it's not a consistent gimmick, so the volume does not become predictable). Most are SF, but the last one is a fantasy in which a woman's dead husband turns up in very bodily form--so much so that he impregnates her. Pretty daring stuff for when it was originally published. Recommended to fans of classic SF.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn, some of these stories were really good. When Theodore Sturgeon in the intro talks up Merril's ability to write about *people* in her sf stories, he means it. The only flaw is that some of the stories are (finally?) a bit dated - I won't say which or how, other than that certain twists that I think are supposed to be dark, just don't seem like inescapable tragedies or horrors in the current year.

Probably the best one overall was "Whoever You Are," but I don't think there was a dud in the bunch.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

HUNDRED BOOK CHALLENGE #1

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"I have long been a fan of both Judith Merril’s fiction and edited volumes. The eponymous novella in the collection Daughters of Earth (1968) is one of more delightful visions from the 1950s I have encountered. Merril reframes biblical patrilineal genealogy as matrilineal–i.e. humankind’s conquest of space is traced via the female descendants of an august progenitor. The story is brilliant in part due to a remarkable metafictional" [..]

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short works authored by Judith Merril, and definitely some treasures here with unique perspectives. I recommend this, the stories each have a good twist!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting anthology of an early female scifi writer who certainly knew what would make a great story, but perhaps needed a little more practice to truly make tales polished works of writing.