The Ninth Galaxy Reader

Galaxy Reader #9

by Frederik Pohl (Editor), R.A. Lafferty (Contributor), Damon Knight (Contributor)

Contents
Introduction (The Ninth Galaxy Reader) • (1965) • essay by Frederik Pohl
Wrong-Way Street • [Time Travel - Parallel Universe] • (1965) • short story by Larry Niven
A Flask of Fine Arcturan • (1965) • short story by C.C. MacApp
Wasted on the Young • (1965) • short story by John Brunner
Slow Tuesday Night • (1965) • short story by R.A. Lafferty
An Ancient Madness • (1964) • novelette by Damon Knight (aka Mary)
The Children of Night • (1964) • novelette by Frederik Pohl
The Monster and the Maiden • (1964) • short story by Roger Zelazny
How the Old World Died • (1964) • short story by Harry Harrison
Jungle Substitute • (1964) • novelette by Brian W. Aldiss
The Watchers in the Glade • (1964) • novelette by Richard Wilson
The King of the Beasts • (1964) • short story by Philip José Farmer
To Avenge Man • (1964) • novelette by Lester del Rey

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Collections

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 1970

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the last anthologies of the best short fiction from Galaxy Magazine; the stories appeared from 1964-1966, the middle years of Pohl's editorship. Pohl selected some good stories from writers like Lester del Rey, Damon Knight, John Brunner, good early pieces from R.A. Lafferty and Roger Zelazny, etc. He also included one of his own stories, which was sometimes as seen as bad form, but this one is a pretty good story. My favorites were Larry Niven's Wrong-Way Street and Philip Jose Farmer's The King of the Beasts.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

7+ for this pretty serviceable collection of '60s sci fi. Compared to stories from the fifties there's a bit more symbolism here, stories that use the concepts of genre as metaphor. Though there are some holdovers from the fifties in regards of sexism, this was only true of a few stories. Stories about alien bases on the moon start to feel a little stale, as this collection was published shortly before the first moon landings. More commentary on society on display here as well, less tales of pure science. I enjoyed it. Almost all of the authors are still known, so it's a display of quality. Damon Knight has a fascinating regimented post apocalyptic society, with vivid descriptions and a touching story. I liked this one a lot. 'The watchers in the night' by Richard Wilson was a bit too 'symbolical' for me, concerning some reporters trapped on an alien planet, becoming mad and paranoid. It tried to hard to be weird. This one didn't work for me, I like more straight forward stories. Like 'Jungle Substitute' by Brian Aldiss. Another regimented society, another rebel. A common theme in these stories and maybe a sign of the times? I was engrossed in this one, though I don't think this is one of Aldiss's best. Harry Harrison has a satirical story that is a great commentary on the one by Aldiss, I thought it was fun. And Frederick Pohl carries on the satire by taking on his own profession as a marketeer and following a Mad Men-like professional with the thankless task of getting a city on earth to accept the presence of aliens in their midst. A great tale, I thought. Like in some other of Pohls stories there's some dark imagery and themes in the background, which gave the story a bit of spice. Lester del Reys 'To avenge man' is another post apocalyptic tale. A robot is left on the Moon and sees mankind going extinct. Even though I was never convinced of the point of view of the robot (maybe because I'm a bit more cynical as a SF-reader than most were in the sixties?), I liked the descriptions of a deserted earth and the emotional journey undertaken. It has a bittersweet conclusion. I liked it. 'A flask of fine Arcturan' is another great satirical tale, about miscommunication between departments in an organisation, and how in companies this dumb, wasteful behaviour is bound to repeat itself. I had a big grin on my face reading the conclusion. The form (in memo's) made it feel pretty modern too. It could easily have been e-mails. Larry Niven is not up to his usual form here. His story is one of the weakest of the bunch, and I think he only became interesting when he got a better grip on science. John Brunners story was good, but not great and R.A. Lafferty ends the collection with another satirical tale that is a comment on the busy society of the sixties, but for me it was one satirical story too much and it had little story in it. I was not engaged by it. So all in all, a collection of pretty good SF, with a satirical thread throughout.

[Tbfrank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume contains a dozen selections from Galaxy Magazine, 8 from 1964 and 4 from 1965. Ten were written by familiar authors and two who were less prolific and thus less well-known, but never-the-less made contributions to the genre.

The collection includes two short-short stories before flash fiction became a thing:
Philip Jose Farmer - The King of the Beasts - think Planet of the Apes meets Jurassic Park
Roger Zelazny - The Monster and the Maiden - a fantasy along the lines of Jo Walton and dragons with hats only less silly

Then there are five mid-length stories:
Harry Harrison - How the Old World Died - the robopocalypse came to pass
C. C. MacApp - A Flask of Fine Arcturan - a satire of inter-galactic business through memos that detail a situation that is sadly recognizable today
Larry Niven - Wrong-Way Street - a young scientist studying an ancient starship on the moon thinks he's found a time machine
John Brunner - Wasted on the Young - an odd story about a future society where you can mortgage your future - but at a risk
R. A. Lafferty - Slow Tuesday Night - a strange story with oddly named people, grouped by times of day, who seem to experience time in an accelerated manner, the point of which escaped me.

Last, there are five novellas:
Damon Knight - An Ancient Madness - a highly structured society where love is madness
Richard Wilson - The Watchers in the Glade - a first contact story hidden inside a tale of psychology, ethics, and survival
Brian W. Aldiss - Jungle Substitute - a somewhat benign Skynet has made man redundant, and some are finally catching on
Frederik Pohl - The Children of Night - a post-first contact (ala Starship Troopers, Ender's Game plus a bit of The Sparrow) where a PR firm's troubleshooter must find a way to avoid renewed hostilities
Lester Del Rey - To Avenge Man - a human-centric story, though the central character is a robot; mankind has been wiped out - by an alien invasion or internal conflict? Sam, the most advanced machine intelligence in robot form, decides to take revenge on humanity's annihilators.

Frederik Pohl's story (he was also the editor) is easily the best of the dozen (Pohl writes about creating 'deep fakes' before that became big news).
Wilson's has a lot to recommend it but is over long.
Knight's is well-written, even poignant but as a short story unsatisfactory.

[Matt Renstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall: 1.92 Stars

1 Star:
- The Watchers in the Glade
- Jungle Substitute
- The Monster and the Maiden
- Slow Tuesday Night

2 Stars:
- An Ancient Madness
- The King of the Beasts
- Children of the Night
- Wrong-Way Street
- Wasted on the Young

3 Stars:
- How the Old World Died
- To Avenge Man
- A Flask of Fine Arcturan

[Ketan Shah]

A good SF compilation from 1967. Frederik Pohl was editor of Galaxy magazine at the time and he picks some of his favourites from 1964 to 66.Standout stories include Damon Knight's "An Ancient Madness",and Lester Del Rey's "To Avenge Man". R A Lafferty 's "Slow Tuesday Night" takes the idea of fast paced modern living and pushes it to it's limit.Similar in some ways to Kurt Vonnegut's "The Great Space Fuck".Frederik Pohl draws on his own advertising background for his contribution "The Children of the Night",in which a PR agency is hired to represent a physically repulsive alien species that was once at war with Earth.