Impact 20

by William F. Nolan

Contents:
• Meeting Yourself in The Timestream: Preface by Gary A. Braunbeck
• Author's Commentary by William F. Nolan
• About Bill Nolan by Ray Bradbury
• The Small World of Lewis Stillman (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Beautiful Doll Caper (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Into the Lion's Den (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Martians and the Leadfoot (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The End with No Perhaps (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Amazon Kick (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Full Quota (short story by William F. Nolan)
• And Miles to Go Before I Sleep (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Public Loves a Johnny (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Dutch (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Of Time and Texas (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Death Double (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Dark Encounter (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Lap of the Primitive (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Nobody, That's Who (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Darendinger Build-Up (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Pigeon (short story by William F. Nolan)
• The Joy of Living (short story by William F. Nolan)
• One of Those Days (short story by William F. Nolan)
• To Serve the Ship (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Ask the Man Who Owns One (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Maybe It Was Joe (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Some Time in Kansas City (short story by William F. Nolan)
• Afterword by Ray Bradbury

Genres: Science Fiction

323 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1963

About the author

William F. Nolan is best known as the co-author (with George Clayton Johnson) of Logan's Run -- a science fiction novel that went on to become a movie, a television series and is about to become a movie again -- and as single author of its sequels. His short stories have been selected for scores of anthologies and textbooks and he is twice winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Nolan was born in 1928 in Kansas City Missouri. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute and worked as an artist for Hallmark Cards. He moved to California in the late 1940s and studied at San Diego State College. He began concentrating on writing rather than art and, in 1952, was introduced by fellow Missouri native (and established writer) Ray Bradbury to another young up-and-coming author, Charles Beaumont. Moving to the Los Angeles area in 1953, Nolan became along with Bradbury, Beaumont, and Richard Matheson part of the "inner core" of the soon-to-be highly influential "Southern California Group" of writers. By 1956 Nolan was a full-time writer. Since 1951 he has sold more than 1500 stories, articles, books, and other works.

Although Nolan wrote roughly 2000 pieces, to include biographies, short stories, poetry, and novels, Logan’s Run retains its hold on the public consciousness as a political fable and dystopian warning. As Nolan has stated: “That I am known at all is still astonishing to me... "

He passed away at the age of 93 due to complications from an infection.

Reviews

[Will Staunton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impact-20 is exactly what I would hope for from a sci-fi short story collection. Nolan puts on all sorts of different and entertaining voices, exploring fearlessly and in every direction, and the stories jump from horror to mystery to space to suburban mania. Above all, the stories are only as long as the plot demands - when there is an interesting concept to explore, Nolan explores it, but he never lets an idea get stale on the page. (The only thing I skipped was Ray Bradbury's introduction.) The writing is fresh, funny, and often absurd. Good stuff.

[Dennis Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pure trash. Horrendously written. Repetitive and without any real purpose.

[Rigsby-666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of shorts stories by Nolan, from his work in the late fifties to early sixties. I really like his style of writing, almost casually descriptive, if that makes any sense, and the stories are so evocative of the period in which they were written, the slang, phrases and parlance used, painted the characters perfectly and for me and enhanced the stories nicely. It was also quite amusing the way in which the female characters were portrayed, harking back to a far more sexist generation, but this has to be taken into the context of when it was written, and if done so, does not spoil the experience.

Overall, an enjoyable and easy read, and a nice initial insight into the writings of William F Nolan.