Spectrum 3

Spectrum #3

by Kingsley Amis (editor), Robert Conquest (editor)

The third entry in the series of Sci Fi anthologies edited by the British novelist and poet, both of whom are self-proclaimed addicts of fantastic fiction, originally published in the U.K. in 1963. The content of this one has been culled from the Sci Fi Pulps of the late 1940s and 1950s and includes works by Theodore Sturgeon ("Killdozer!," Astounding Science Fiction 1945), J.G. Ballard ("The Voices of Time," New Worlds Science Fiction 1960), Poul Anderson ("Call Me Joe," Astounding Science Fiction 1957), Murray Leinster ("Exploration Team," Astounding Science Fiction 1956), Alfred Bester ("Fondly Fahrenheit," The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1954) and Arthur C. Clarke ("The Sentinel," Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader 1951), among others. "First American Edition 1964" stated on Copyright Page

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

272 pages, cloth

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Best known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include Lucky Jim (1954) and The Old Devils (1986).

This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.

William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.

Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner

Reviews

[A.L. Sirois · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given this anthology 5 stars except for its inclusion of a couple of stories I couldn't resonate with. Most of the contents here are classics in the field, stories that every dedicated sf reader ought to know: "Killdozer!" by Ted Sturgeon, which describes what happens when an energy being from the very distant past is released from its cell and takes over an enormous bulldozer on an island where a construction crew is building an airfield; "The Voices of Time" by J.G. Ballard, which concerns a neurosurgeon who has been experimenting on his patients, and on lab animals, apparently in the hope of leapfrogging evolution (I say "apparently," because there's not much in the way of plot here); "Call Me Joe," by Poul Anderson, in which a crippled man in one of Jupiter's moons is living on the surface of the giant planet as an android being via telepresence; "We Would See a Sign," by Mark Rose, a very short post-Apocalyptic tale in which one of the men responsible for an atomic war displays a sign blaming himself for his actions; "Dreams are Sacred," by Peter Phillips, in which a man is sent via machine into the mind of another man, a psychiatric patient who is refusing to return to the real world; Murray Leinster's "Exploration Team," a more or less standard "planetary" adventure on a planet loaded with nasty lifeforms; Alfred Bester's shattering and narratively complex "Fondly Fahrenheit," about a homicidal android and which still packs a hell of a punch; and Arthur Clarke's "The Sentinel," about a momentous discovery on the Moon, and was the basis for "2001: A Space Odyssey." All in all, if you haven't read the Sturgeon, Anderson, Ballard, Bester and Clarke stories, you can find them here along with some inconsequential stuff.

[Tad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this excellent anthology after reading Amis's book on science fiction, New Maps of Hell. With one mediocre exception, I thought the stories were very good to great.

Killdozer! is probably the most famous, but I especially liked:

Dreams Are Sacred - a light-hearted, inventive story in which a newspaperman tries to awaken a guy who's become too wrapped up in cheesy sci-fi/fantasy dreams;

Exploration Team - although at times clunky on a sentence-by-sentence level, it's still a vivid, entertaining adventure in which a pair of humans and their bear companions battle a variety of grotesque flying creatures;

Fabulously Fahrenheit - a psychotic android and his owner go on the lam.

[Irish Gal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most anthologies there are some that are great and some that aren't (although I would have to say most of the writing is pretty good). A couple were too violent for me so I sped through those. "Dreams Are Sacred" was excellent, even funny. "Call Me Joe" was definitely a source for the movie Avatar, and very good. I actually found the introduction to the book very interesting, finding out what public reaction to science fiction was in 1963 when there were many magazine devoted to the genre. Although when you see how they dumb down stories for movies (like Killdozer in this book) it is understandable why some people dismissed it.

[AVANTI KUMAR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent set of stories - thought provoking.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a huge fan of short story collections, but I found the bulldozer one pretty great, oddly enough.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than average introduction by Amis who as a writer is definitely a cut above the usual science fiction anthologist. The stories, by eight established authors are uneven, some quite good, others not. Killdozer, despite its improbable theme (an malevolent steam shovel), is excellent, reminding one of how very good Theodore Sturgeon could be.